Long overdue! So, what's in store for 2013?

Hey guys!

I hope you all had an amazing holiday season! I ended up dealing with a few health hiccups over the holidays, here's an overview:
Dec. 23rd - Found a lump in my right breast. We have a huge family history of breast cancer. I panic.
Dec. 24th - Went to my GP, she said she didn't think it was cancer, but one of the symptoms other than the lump, raised a red flag. She said I could possibly have a brain tumor. Scheduling person was out of office, had to wait until the 26th to schedule an MRI and a breast ultrasound.

The ultrasound came back clean, no cancer. The MRI, on the other hand, showed a "fullness" in my pituitary. I have to see an endocrinologist, because I probably have a microadenoma. Lovely.

Fast forward to 10 days ago. I was walking down the stairs to go outside and get the mail, when Codi, my mum's Dachshund, got underfoot. I managed to miss the last two steps and land full weight on my left foot, and my ankle rolled. I felt things snap. My ankle immediately began to swell and I was in terrible pain. I called my stepdad to take me to hospital, but he was busy picking up my siblings, so I had to drive myself! At the ED, I was seen by a doc who thinks I'm a drug seeker. They only gave me Percocet and Vistaril, which barely took the edge off. After x-rays, a questionable visual exam, and medication, they discharged me with nothing more than a bag of ice.

I spent the weekend in agony, walking on my horribly mangled foot/ankle. On Monday morning I saw my GP and told her of my miserable hospital treatment, and she pulled up the records from my ED trip. Turns out I was supposed to be discharged in a splint and on crutches! I agreed to the splint, but since I'd been walking on it, I said to hell with the crutches. Over the rest of the week, the bruising began to fade, but the swelling persisted. Finally, this morning my mum called every orthopaedist she could find, to try and get someone to see me. She found one, and I went to my appointment right after she picked up my x-rays from the hospital. Turns out that the splint my GP had given me was insufficient in stabilizing my ankle. I am now stuck in a fancy Aircast until they tell me I can take it off. Joy. I will post an update soon with pictures of the evolution of my ankle, from right after the injury to whatever day I post.

As for why I was MIA for almost 8 months: 
Basically, I was used by a money grubbing idiot to scam an insurance company.
I got into a car accident in July of 2010. Some woman tried to beat a red light, I happened to be making a left turn, cars collided. About a year and a half later, someone shows up at our door and serves my mum and I a summons. The woman who hit me was suing us for $75,000. Because of this, I had to make my Facebook private, keep my Twitter posts vague, and shut down my blog. It sucked, I wanted to vent about this horrible woman and what she was doing to me and my family, but I had to keep quiet. She claimed she was disabled now, was owed emotional damages and back pay, etc. When we asked for her medical records, it showed she had a TON of pre-existing conditions. She had ignored the doctor's suggestion of PT and went to a chiropractor instead. She was on hardcore narcotics, like Fentanyl and Suboxone PRIOR to the accident! I was livid, she was making up lies! My theory is that she saw the new car (a gift for graduating high school from my parents) and that I was young (22 at the time of the accident) and saw easy money.

In November, the woman agreed to settle. She got $12,500. The law failed me. As for her inability to work and permanent disability? She now works in a coffee shop, which requires standing all day, and she attended/worked the 2012 Renaissance Festival. Basically, she flat out lied...And they paid her for it. Honestly, I'm just glad it's over. I want to forget.

New things in store for Falling Apart At The Seams this year:

• Product reviews! I'm going to try to find companies with useful products for those of us with limitations.
•  Giveaways! I'll be trying to get companies to donate products for me to give away. All will be geared towards disability, comfort, and assistance items.

So, in the famous words of Porky Pig; "Th-Th-Th- That's All Folks!"

-Jess

Help Me Afford A Wheelchair!

I found out that insurance will not cover a wheelchair for me, just because I won't be using it 24/7! I can move around my house, with some difficulty, and walk short distances, but I can't stand for long periods of time or walk longer than a block or two. So I started a fundraiser. Please, please, PLEASE share this with as many people as you can. Post it on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, wherever. I need this to reach as many people as possible, so I can make my goal. Any leftover money after I purchase the wheelchair will go to medical bills and assisted devices.



Thanks guys!

Employed?

I may have just acquired the most bizarre, yet amazing job ever. Will be going tomorrow to register as a business, just so I can get access to certain things for now. Probably going to have to put my product review blog idea on the back burner and start a second blog about my work.

It's nothing you'll ever expect.

Be prepared.

Super Thankful Thanksgiving, Family Friends Lose Everything In Thanksgiving Eve House Fire

On the eve of Thanksgiving, some family friends were at home when a smoke alarm went off. They managed to call 911 and get out, however their dogs were trapped inside. The house burnt to the ground.

Video of the fire.

Photos of the fire.

This morning, they were sifting through the rubble when they found both dogs, alive, in the basement! However, everything else in the house was lost. The family has three kids, all still in school. Here's a link on how you can help, including a number you can call if you'd like to make a monetary donation:

Help the Haslett-Marroquin family.

Pass their story along to as many people as you can!
Thanks!

Welcome to the family, Mika!

After three years of nagging, I was finally allowed to get another dog. Oscar is frequently bored and lonely, and could definitely use a companion, and my siblings wanted another dog, too.

After being rejected by one rescue over false info they refused to clarify, we finally found a good fit with a dog from Midwest Animal Rescue and Services!

So here she is!

Name: Mika
Breed: Chihuahua
Age: 11 months (we're putting her birthday at October 31st, 2010)
Weight: 9 pounds!
Color: Fawn with a couple dark patches on her tail and bum, and white toe socks

She is amazingly cute, you can learn more about her here:

#1 dog site for dogs & bipeds!

Also, I don't really have the cash to get her any cute outfits, and she's going to need them, as it's starting to get cold around here. So if you have any doggie outfits in size Medium, or other accessories that you no longer want/need, send me an email at jelsen@hotmail.com, because they'd be of great use to us!

I leave you with a video of Mika playing with a toad

STOLEN! Update

So, we gave up on the recovery of my original games. They are long gone. However, my parents have been kind enough to replace the games I lost. Now I just have to get the items and Pokemon I lost back. I will post the list again, and if you're willing to trade or can help in any way, please contact jelsen@hotmail.com

Thanks for the help and support!

Pokemon:
Celebi
Shiny Suicune (from B/W gamestop event)
Shiny Raikou (from B/W gamestop event)
Shiny Entei (from B/W gamestop event)
Spiky Pichu
Pikachu Colored Pichu
Shaymin
Arceus
Deoxys
Mew
Phione
Manaphy
Darkrai
Victini
Zoura
Zoroark

Items:
Oak's Letter
Liberty Pass
Member Card
Secret Key
Enigma Stone

STOLEN! FAQ

First off, to those of you sent here via Twitter, either from Neil Gaiman's feed or someone else's, welcome!

Now, I've gotten some questions about my previous post, and I will answer the most common ones here.


Q: Why didn't you file a police report?
A: First off, I didn't discover that my games had been stolen until several weeks later, as I had decided I was going to take a break from playing my DS for a while. Second, we are under Sheriff's department jurisdiction, and they're not so nice about small thefts like this, unfortunately.

Q: Why not just use an emulator?
A: Because I like having physical copies of the game. My DS is portable, easier to use, and made for these games. I don't want to have to use a computer to play it.

Q: Why not just buy new copies of the games and use Action Replay to get your stuff back?
A: I don't really have the cash to buy $150+ worth of games again, and using Action Replay is not only cheating, it can also damage the games, as it is not a liscenced Nintendo product. I got the games originally for the challenge and fun of working towards the goals in them, I'm not going to cheat just to catch up.


If you have any other questions, feel free to email me at: jelsen@hotmail.com

STOLEN! A Disturbing Trend Hits The Disabled Community.

It started with a story.

Specifically, this story about a disabled McDonalds employee who was duped, and had $5000 worth of his Superman collection stolen. In a follow-up piece today, it was reported that comic fans all over the world were outraged, and had taken it upon themselves to collect rare pieces and autographs to give to Mike Meyer to boost his collection once more, what a sweet thing!

But it also reminded me of a theft that happened to myself at the beginning of the summer.

Now, i'm sure many of you have heard of Pokemon, an extremely popular game from Japan. They have cards, video games, cartoons, and collectables. From the time they came to the US, I have loved the Pokemon games from Nintendo. Your goal is to collect and train Pokemon, eventually hoping to collect them all. I have been playing my games for years, working hard to catch and trade pokemon, and attending events to get pokemon you can't find in the game. I play these games as relaxation when i'm having bad pain days, I've played them in the hospital and in bed after surgeries. I have put about 4-5 years and hundreds of hours of effort into these games.

This summer, they were all stolen from me.

The probable culprit? A well regarded nanny my parents had hired to watch my siblings. Though she came with great references, because I was home during the day, I could see how she treated my siblings. She called them brats, told them to shut up. She ate all of our food and then complained there was nothing to feed the kids, when we had two fridges and four freezers that were full. She gave my mom a list of food she wanted her to get for lunches, nothing but chicken nuggets, pizza, and juice boxes. She would take my siblings to the river and then sit on the other side of the path, reading a book, not even able to see the children. After telling my mom this, and she discovering things around the house that had been destroyed, the nanny was fired after less than a month.

Unfortunately, the theft of my games was not discovered for another few weeks. Why? Because after she'd stolen my games, some of which were gifts while I was in the hospital, by the way, she put my game case back in the exact position it had been it. As I had decided to take a break from my DS for a while, I didn't immediately notice.

So what all did she take?
6 games; Pokemon Pearl, Pokemon Platinum, Pokemon SoulSilver, Pokemon Black, Pokemon Ranger and Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
4-5 years of work
Hundreds of hours of my time
Event-only pokemon, that you can no longer get, including:
Celebi
Shiny Suicune
Shiny Raikou
Shiny Entei
Spiky Pichu
Pikachu Colored Pichu
Shaymin
Arceus
Deoxys
Mew
Phione
Manaphy
Darkrai
Victini
Zoura
Zoroark

And the rare items Oak's Letter, Liberty Pass, Member Card, Secret Key, and made me miss out on the Enigma Stone.

I went to the local GameStop to see if she'd sold them, but the told me they couldn't let me see the games without a police report, store policy. I would later learn this was a lie.

I was and still am devastated by this. As someone who has trouble doing many things, these were what I was good at. Several of those games were gifts, some I'd purchased myself, but they all had meaning, and I will probably never see them again. It hurts to already have a disability, and then have someone take advantage of you because of it.

Unfortunately, there are people willing to take advantage of the less fortunate among us all the time, so beware!

EDITED TO ADD: If you have any questions, feel free to email me at: jelsen@hotmail.com

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, First Week of 2011 Edition

The Good:
I left for Nebraska on New Year's Day, drove ALMOST 7 straight hours, with an hour nap at a rest stop in between. I made it safely, and was so happy to see my friend. I was only supposed to stay for two days, but I ended up staying for five. We went to various places, and she introduced me to new food, like Phở, a Vietnamese noodle soup. I even helped her treat an abscess in one of her rats. All in all, it was a great time, and I made the 7 hour trip home in one go, and got back safely.


The Bad:
When I got home, my legs were super stiff, and I was exhausted from all of the driving. I also discovered I had an abscess of my own (unrelated to me treating her rat). I also received a call today from my apartment's management company, saying I hadn't paid rent (totally forgot) and then they threatened eviction. I paid the bill online almost immediately. This was absolutely nothing, though, compared to...


The Ugly:
My first day back, I got a letter from my school. I knew it was coming, but it still hurt like nothing else. I received a one year academic suspension, effective immediately. This is because, for more than one semester, my GPA has been below 2.0. Now, I do realize that part of this is my fault, but some of it can be attributed to my health and also to some shady stuff in one of my classes, and a worthless instructor in the other. The letter stated that I could file a petition for reinstatement, but with my record, it's probably about a 10% chance they'll reinstate me. I am devastated, I have been giving it my all this year. I finished filling out the petition today, and will have to drive up and turn in it by the 12th.


All that said, I am looking forward to try #3 at having a 22nd birthday party for myself, which is going to be this Saturday. I'm hoping for good weather, and NOT another blizzard! 


Hope you are all well, Happy New Year, and I wish you guys the best!

The cost of keeping a dog

At this point, they're very high.
My little mini Dachshund, Oscar, has just been diagnosed with Cushing's.
Due to my medical bills and tuition, and my lack of a job, I cannot afford to pay for the final set of tests, let alone treatment.

This kills me, he's my baby :/