Newsletter: Medical, Quintuplets Contest, and general updates! (Patreon)

Hi, all! 

It's been a hot minute since I've done a general wellness update for the folks who aren't members in the Discord, so I wanted to give a general rundown of what's been going on.

TL;DR, stories are still actively being worked on. Progress is progress, and I've actually quite a few things that I'm trying to tie together very soon. Unfortunately, a lot of my recent writings have been through writing on my phone, which is *not* ideal  (will explain why in details below), and these often require more thorough reviews / rewrites on my part. However, I've managed to find a position where I can actually work at my laptop for more than a half-hour at a time, so I'm hoping that I should have some great new releases over the next few week, including stories for Growing Soft, Five Buns Full, Struggling Diet Warriors and Reflection Behind the Door, as well as a one-shot or two! 

As for Story Arts, I've been able to work out some big ideas that I'm extremely excited to share with you folks. I've had this one in my head for a loooooong time. It's a massive project, and is by far the most involved I've ever had to be in photoshop on my end lol but it's looking to be wonderful. Please look forward to that soon.

With that summed up, onto the full update!

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On the medical side of things, I've some really great news, but a lot of bad, too. I've not been too talkative about it, honestly I really dislike talking about medical stuff at all, but many of you know I've been having a pretty major health scare over the last year. I was diagnosed with Polycythemia and they'd to do a whole bunch of tests to figure out what was causing it, with a large possibility being that it could be caused be a genetic mutation (Polycythemia Vera, blood cancer), or by various OTHER tumors leaking chemicals into my bloodstream (numerous possibilities for other forms of cancer). 

After numerous testing, disqualifying Polycythemia Vera as well as a few other possible causes, I was ordered to have a CT scan done to check and see about the later option. My doctor practically assured me that I must have some form of cancer, and that the CT scan would find it, then we'd begin treatment. But, the CT scan found nothing. Which is the good news! Really great, honestly.

Still, with that crossed off, we now have next to no clue what could be causing the Polycythemia. The blood Doc has ordered me to basically sit on my hands for the next few months to just wait and see if anything comes forward. Which is where the bad parts start coming in.

Since November, I've been suffering a severe flare of Chronic Bronchitis, a respiratory disease that fills the lungs with mucus. I've been on Albuterol, Flovent, and now Advair inhalers, as well as a few rounds of steroids to try and kick it through, but nothing has quite done the job. I've improved substantially, but have consistently maintained a loud, violent cough, which about two weeks ago caused me to pinch a nerve in my neck.

See why I hate talking about medicals? Lol it's just a domino effect of bad.

The pinched nerve has been the biggest bother, and is the reason I'd been doing most of my writing on my phone, because I've been laid up in bed. If I were to sit normally, in my chair at my writing desk or in a seat at the library, within a half hour my head will be throbbing from the pain and it'll feel as if someone has taken a needle and is trying to scratch their initials into my spine. I've been taking hot showers and doing stretches, as well as trying different chairs and sitting styles, which has had some nice effect, which is why I mentioned being optimistic on compiling some stories very soon.

The last medical issue is that I have Gallstones. This was discovered last year around the same time as the Polycythemia, but was obviously a much lesser worry then 'You might have incurable blood cancer' lol. Since then, I've had a few Gallstone Attacks, and they are... quite unpleasant, but I'm taking steps to address this as well, having a consultation with a surgeon in about two weeks.

So, those are the big four things. Unknown cause for Polycythemia, Pinched Nerve, Chronic Bronchitis, and Gallstones. But, no cancer, taking steps to address nerve pain, I've scheduled a PFT with my Pulmonologist for the Bronch, and I'm getting surgery soon for the Gallstones. 

Honestly, the biggest blows have been mental. I am really sick of feeling sick lol seven months is just too long, and putting this all out there always just feels so... awkward, for me. I picture my job as that of an entertainer, I'd rather you think about the stories or characters rather than the fella behind it, but you also deserve to know why there's been so many delays on different things. 

Oh, speaking of, The Quintessential Contest is still ongoing. I'd a few folks ask about that. The delay there is I offered every submission a full reading & review before finalization, and I have straight up not had the will for reviews. They're by far the longest and most time consuming thing I provide on this page, and while I do enjoy reading and working with each writer as an individual, sometimes it just takes a lot to really go through and restructure an entire document. I will be doing more work on this, and have even got some really exciting things to share, but this one's going to need a little more patience, and I'm very grateful for your understanding.

I believe that is it for right now. As always, if you've any personal questions you'd rather ask privately, please message me on here, or you can ask in the Discord. If you're not in the Discord, well what are you waiting for? :D https://discord.gg/2Y6mHnVr come and check out all of our stickers and emotes! We just added 6 new Princess Zelda stickers, two for each Bloated in the Wild, Phantom's Hunger, and The Reflection Behind the Door. I'll probably make an art post about those later, and show off all the other wonderful emotes we've got for our stories.

As always, thanks for reading ^^