Well, 2020 escalated pretty quickly for us.

Construction on the house FINALLY came to an end, and it seemed like we might be winding back down to normalcy. That is, until late January when my leg became swollen and painful without explanation.

The pain and swelling worsened over a two week period until I was ultimately diagnosed with a superficial blood clot (which is ‘not’ dangerous and presents a ‘very low’ risk) and I lost my ability to walk. Then, in mid-February, during a procedure attempting to drain the clot I experienced an attack that caused for my blood pressure to plummet and for me to lose consciousness twice. Long story short, I was sent to the ER and diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism in my right lung. I’m sure you noted my use of quotation marks earlier – apparently I fell into that tiny percentage that experiences an embolism from a superficial clot. It happens so infrequently that I can’t even find a percentage to throw out, but I was told while in the hospital that the chances of it happening are fewer than 1%. Not exactly odds I was looking to beat, I assure you.

I had an EKOS treatment done to blast the clot, which leaves my heart and lungs clear. My leg has been a different story, as there isn’t anything that can be done for it other than wait for the clots in there to either heal on their own, or at least heal enough to be drained, as the initial attempt to do so failed. For now, I’m out of work on an elevate, heat and compress directive. The swelling has gone down significantly, much to my relief, and I’ve been able to walk again for short periods of time.

Where does that leave the homestead? Well…. thank GOODNESS we weren’t milking anyway. And being winter there isn’t much of a garden or anything else that needs to be tended to, so largely the homestead is all set for now. I’ve been knitting like crazy here to pass the time, and so far have completed two Christmas stockings and two sweater vests. And we’ve had a lot of read aloud time; we’ve been through multiple Happy Hollisters and Hardy Boys, as well as King Arthur and His Knights. And don’t forget Brown Bear Brown Bear… we’ve read a lot of that. It’s just about the only book Peter will sit still for. He mostly likes the parts where he gets to turn the page.

The goats are due in just a month, so I’ll need to be up and around soon. Kidding and milking are not exactly low key activities for healing. A week ago I was somewhat worried if I would be ready to handle a home dairy by the end of March. But, though walking is painful I am at least able to be up without worrying about toppling over now. (I had the dubious honor of being labelled a ‘fall risk’ while in the hospital, if that tells you where I was at!) Progress is progress!

All that said, better days are surely on the horizon. We’re pretty positive that Peony and Black-Eyed Susan are bred, as we caught Colonel Mustard in the act. Pepper we weren’t too sure about, as we never saw her mate with him. I haven’t been out to the barn in quite literally weeks, but Rachel told me that Pepper’s belly is hanging pretty low and she appears quite pregnant. So, that’s good news. Now I just need to heal in time!