Slow going on the next C&C and Harmonic Resonance chapters... · 9:07pm Mar 23rd, 2022
And not helping is the fact I had a recent health scare I'm still recovering from.
Six nights ago, I suddenly started running a sharp fever that had me shivering violently, and by morning I had a crushing headache that my OTC (over the counter) drugs barely touched. My fever yo-yoed for the next several days, and my crippling headache would not go away. And yet, I had no congestion like you'd expect with a bad cold of flu, and I'd already had the latter anyway. I took a home COVID test and it was unsurprisingly negative, given the symptoms didn't even remotely match what I’d experienced back in December and my sense of smell was intact.
I consulted a doctor on Saturday morning via a virtual appointment, and she said a word that chilled me: Meningitis. She said the symptoms were at least a partial match, and advised me to go to the Emergency Room if they got worse before a direct appointment on Monday when they could give me a full exam and bloodwork. I then had a miserable night with practically no sleep as my fever continued and headache was worse than ever, pulsing and throbbing. Worse, I was starting to develop an odd rash, which was another potential Meningitis symptom.
So I went to the hospital around noon on Sunday. They examined me, pumped me full of fluids and painkiller for the headache, and gave me a CT scan to see if they could identify the source of my pain. I mentioned Meningitis, and the doctor—who clearly worked out religiously given he had two of the biggest arms I've ever seen—just kind of chuckled, saying that if it was Meningitis, I wouldn't be lucid after four days of it. He checked the rash and the results of my bloodwork, concluding that I had Shingles.
For those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically a recurrence of the Chicken Pox much later in life, resulting in a patchy and often painful rash. Fortunately, I've avoided the painful part of that so far; it's just mildly itchy and not noticeable unless I pull up my shirt to display my stomach. I was discharged after four hours once the IV was empty and they got back the results of the CT scan, which showed nothing wrong save for my usual sinusitis. To my great and welcome relief, the painkillers they fed me knocked out the headache completely and finally gave me relief, allowing me to sleep for the first time in several days.
No joke—I came home and crashed, sleeping for three hours into the early evening, got up for a couple hours to eat, then went back to bed and still was able to sleep through the night. That's how tired I was.
Since then, my yo-yoing fever has continued but at a progressively lower amplitude, and the headaches have significantly lessened to the point that I can control them with some leftover liquid Ibuprofin from my tongue surgery last September. I'm on the mend, but my lethargy remains, and my motivation to write has been understandably low. I've got barely over 2600 words written to this point between the next Feathered Hears and Harmonic Resonance chapters.
At this point, I think it's going to be at least ten more days to a chapter release, most likely C&C first. And though it's not much of a teaser, you'll find out in the coming chapter what the Marines nicknamed Twilight and Starlight during their stay in Equestria. A minor moment of levity during what's going to be another breakneck-paced combat chapter as our heroes try to survive long enough to escape the steadholt. This will be all-new content that details an escape from Bale to the next steadholt, attempting to evade the Cloven using magical means supplied by the Ibex.
As for Harmonic Resonance, the biggest sticking point I have right now is trying to determine the nature of Pinkie's ascension and the nature of her new goddess powers. Needless to say, it should go well beyond explosive confetti. It's also hard trying to keep her in character during all this, given she's the only one who embraces instead of fears what’s happening to her.
But let me worry about that. Your patience is requested as I slowly climb back to health and try to dig up my muse again, which was laid low by all this.
Shingles? Man, that's not something you usually see in people under 50.
Goodness. Glad to hear you're on the mend, relatively speaking. Here's hoping your condition continues to improve.
That's hilarious. You now know a Shakespearacles and a Doctoracles!
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Sorry to hear about your Shingles but if anything good came of it, even Kalash93 of all people were wishing you the best of luck on Discord. I let everyone know you're alright and they're happy to hear it. I speak highly of you over there and they all know how much you mean to me. Rest well and may dreams of Ebon the Umbreon bring you comfort.
Health first, stories later.
So get well!
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My dad had a bad case of it in his early 40s and ended up giving the Chicken Pox to me and my two brothers. I was ten at the time.
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It seems to be, though there’s still some pressure in my head. Nothing like it was, though. Thanks for the well-wishes!
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If they ever met, the universe would shrink into a singularity from the unsupportable amount of sheer awesomeness!
That’s true. Thanks for passing on my info out there.
I should be so lucky!
And best of luck with your story. An early feature! Looks like you won’t need a rescue this time. I’ll be blogging it later today.
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You are correct, sir. And I’ll do my best. Thanks again for all your comments on Firefly!