I've been on the new drug regimen for a full month now, and it hasn't been as bad as I feared. Hot flashes are up, which was expected and makes me wish longingly for snow. (And I'm not a big fan of the white stuff! LOL)
The side effect most unexpected was the change in my taste buds. Salty things taste saltier. Sweet things are sweeter. And some foods are simply "off", like steamed broccoli and pizza.
In the meantime, the plastic surgeon has kindly suggested I lose weight. By kindly, I mean he said, "Your current BMI is X, and for the best odds of a transplant success, it needs to be between Y and Z," instead of "You're fat, lady!" I definitely appreciated the pep talk instead of the finger-wagging I usually get from health professionals.
"Transplant?!" I hear you all saying.
Actually, the plastic surgeon said I'm a good candidate for a new technique where he would use my own belly fat and skin to create the new breast. Science is totally, fucking AWESOME!
(I say that even though ANY reconstruction means hospital time, and it's going to hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. And I'm still on the fence about what I want to do.)
In the meantime, Darling Husband has been walking with me in the evenings he doesn't have any soccer games (he runs the clock and spots for the announcer at our local high school). We've made a concerted effort to stick to healthier foods (though we definitely slipped this weekend). Our general practioner is happy with our progress over the summer. In fact, he's lowered one of my blood pressure meds.
Any long term changes need to become ingrained habits, which takes time and effort. The plastic surgeon's guidelines also means I have time to make my final decision. No intentional surgery is going to happen before the end of the 2018 calendar year.
What does that mean for the writing and publishing?
September through December is when traditional publishers put out a ton of books, mainly for holiday gifts and in preparation for the winter snuggle-down-and-read-because-the-weather's-bad. Indie releases have a tendency to get lost in the white noise of the New Hallowthanksmas season (a term coined by my former colleagues at a Houston Hallmark).
So my plan is to keep writing and editing books through the fall. The good thing is I'm getting back into my regular rhythm, and I'm almost back to my first quarter word production.
The first drafts of the first two books of the 888-555-HERO series are done. I'm roughly a third of the way through the first draft of
Hero De Novo. Then I'll finish the last three books of the Bloodlines series and jump back into
A Matter of Death.
I'm planning (fingers-crossed nothing else untoward happens!) to publish starting in January. So the 2019 release schedule will essentially be the 2018 schedule that was rudely interrupted.
In the meantime, I have more than a few unpublished short stories that I simply haven't had time to find homes for. A new tab will be up at the top of this page on Monday, September 10th, called Free Short Story. There will be a never-before-published short story each month, culminating with a Justice Thalia story in December.
Happy New Hallowthanksmas, everyone! And thank you for your patience!
