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5-5-2023

Ok, so I didn't realize that dialysis was going to cause extreme fatigue...

I'm not on the track I expected to be on, but we thankfully are still working at a really good clip and getting at least 15-20 orders out a day over the last week. It's my trial week off from dialysis to see if my kidneys are functioning properly on their own, so I've not had to deal with the 3 day a week appointments and fatigue. If all goes well I'll be done with dialysis and can get back to my normal work pace/schedule.

Thanks again for everyone's patience!

 

4-16-2023

Hello all!

While it seemed I was on the mend on April 3rd I was unexpectedly hospitalized with acute kidney failure and have just been released yesterday. I was completely out of contact with the world for weeks.

Before going in I had finished nearly 3 dozen orders up through mid December ready to go. I had hoped to ship them today but ran out of time, so they will go tomorrow morning on the way to my dialysis. For the next two weeks (minimum, it *could* be longer) I'll have dialysis appointments 3 days a week. This is not my ideal schedule as it's going to completely steal 3 days a week. After Friday I'm aiming to have the time switched to the evening so that I'm able to get a full day of work in before having the treatment, since I'll likely be too wiped after the appointment to work when I get home. 

 

So...here's the thing. I'm not going to be available for messaging. I'm not going to be on my socials at all, I just don't have the time. If you message me on Facebook or Instagram I'm not going to get a notification or see the message. It looks like I've got about 3 weeks before I'll be able to do much with socials, but I *will* try to post more frequent updates.

The real issue is that messages take a TON of time because the app doesn't work right and my computer is on its last leg so it glitches out and needs to be restarted frequently. It also in all honesty is just stressful for me. While most people are respectful and are just checking in, many who understand that I also struggle with health issues due to the EDS, some are very much not. One of the things that comes along with my AuDHD  is RSD, so those few disrespectful emails can really mess me up for days. Currently the spoon theory is very applicable for me. I only have a certain amount of energy to give, messaging really saps that energy for many reasons, and I feel like the most important way to use it is physically get the splints made and shipped.

I can also say that actually making the splints is something I truly enjoy doing, so if I'm able to just (hyper)focus on *that* I can get everything made and out shockingly fast. I can spend an hour fighting with my website app to get a message answered about an order status, or I could just use that hour to finish the order and get it to the post office. Additionally, I had had chronic kidney issues for a while, which had caused severe fatigue and general malaise. I had attributed this to just EDS, you know how it is. Something acts up and you just go "that's new" and add it to the list of other annoying weird things that you deal with, Anyhow, after my first week of dialysis that went away. Physically I feel healthier than I have in at least 5 years, unfortunately mentally not so much. So I'm looking forward to attacking these piles of splints and know how much I'll be able to do.

So here's where we are and what my planned schedule for the backorders is: 

Everything up to mid December is finished and waiting to be packaged. There were a bunch of orders marked for shipment before I went in, they will finally be going out. There's a few marked as shipped that are still going to take a couple days  because some splints have disappeared in the black hole that follows me around, so I've got to remake them.

By the end of this week, so we're looking at 4/21 I should have the remainder of December orders completed and out.

I will be working extremely long hours to do this, BUT I think I should have the remainder of January and February out, and be well into March.

So basically, I'm aiming for-and this is going on how much better I feel in my overall health compared to the last several years-I'm pretty confident I'll be able to bring this back within a two week processing time by the end of the month, and once caught up I'll be able to keep within that range even with the increased order volume from my EDS Awareness Month sale for the month of May. By the end of the month of May I fully expect to be on track.

The caveat here is that obviously I had to let my only employee go because I myself have been too sick to work reliably. However, this is a good thing. Rather than improving and advancing with the work, he had been slowing down and doing worse. I'd have to give the same batches back three times just to get them to a "close enough" point (which I hate, because I have really high quality standards) just so I could get the orders out. It slowed me down SO much. I have a new employee that did better work than even I do on his first day. And he's already working much faster, as well as is able to complete more tasks. There's going to be a learning curve of course, but I've finally got someone by my side with the same quality standards who is already nearly keeping pace with my speed. It's something I haven't had that since August, and I'm very excited to have it back.

So obviously this is just me letting everyone know the real side of what's going on. I'm not trying to word things to sugar coat or be vague that I'm just experiencing health issues. I'm just going to be real about it. I've had chronic kidney disease for about 6 months, and it's significantly impacted my ability to work for months. I'm now two weeks deep on dialysis, feel much better, but I do have a ways to go still.

I've been through worse. I have been through some extremely difficult and traumatic life events. I have been through Hurricane Maria as a resident of Puerto Rico. Things have been rough for a couple of months, but it's finally truly on the upswing-the way it's needed to be for a while-and I'm excited to bring it back again.

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I truly apologize for the delays. I honestly feel awful, I'm very stressed about it. I want them out as much as you want to receive them. And I really, really appreciate the patience and respect I've received during this time.

I'm really, really sorry about the current inability to deal with message replies. I will start getting back to everyone. I'll get back to being able to provide direct live support via the chat feature (which I currently have disabled). Just give me a few weeks to focus on getting these splints made and getting my health back. While I'm feeling much better overall physically, my mental acuity is currently gone out some window. I'm a zombie that is having trouble recalling really simple words and losing sentences halfway through.

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Thank you all again for your continued support. It means a lot during this difficult time. I'm in a position where I'm completely alone, I don't have friends or family locally to provide support, so the many of you that have reached out with well wishes has really meant a lot to me, even if I haven't been able to respond yet.

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I got this <3

 

4-1-2023

I am finally mostly on the mend and working through orders as quickly as possible. There's still some significant delays, but as long as I can keep the pace I've got going I should be caught up and back to typical processing time in 2-3 weeks.

Unfortunately I've also run into some supply chain issues and will be out of stock on my 14g nickel free stainless wire until approximately the end of May. Due to this IP joint splints smaller than size 7 will not be available in nickel free stainless during this time.

I sincerely apologize for the unexpected delays and backorders. I'm just one vEDS Zebra over here doing the best I can <3

 

3-13-2023

Dropping a quick update as I've had to extend my time away. I was put on a new medication which really messed with my already not-so-great heart and am still getting back to normal. On top of this, I am in an extreme state of burnout. I haven't taken time off since I started 8 years ago, and MUCH of this time has involved working 12+ hour days weeks in a row. Last winter after recovering from my arm injury I spent weeks working 30 hours straight, crashing out for 10-12, then doing it again. I have just pushed myself far too hard for far too long, and the combination of having been extremely sick and having a bad reaction to the medication just pushed my body to breaking point.

I'm still working on getting orders out, I go nuts if I'm not physically making things, but I need to do anything possible to reduce my stress levels so have notifications turned off and will not be available for messaging/chat for a little bit longer.

I sincerely apologize for the delays and inconvenience and truly appreciate everyone's patience while I nurse myself back to health.

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2-1-2022 

Hey all. Just dropping a quick update regarding delays. I picked up some kind of bug in early January and spent a couple weeks being deathly ill, but unfortunately it kicked off a cytokine storm so I've been in really really bad shape the last couple weeks. I'm doing my best to keep up on what I can, but between the brain fog and the fatigue it's been challenging. Unfortunately I'm a very solitary person, so I don't have family or friends nearby to help, so I'm toughing this out alone.

There's also been a bunch of delays with USPS and I've had quite a few sit in "in transit, arriving late" for nearly a month then just turn up delivered, There's unfortunately not much I can do about it at this point, I can put in a search request if it's been more than 2 weeks, but it's taking USPS several weeks just for initial contact on them, and so far all the shipments have shown up before then. Tax season, it's always a mess.

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So please allow a little extra patience for the next couple weeks. It's been well over a year since I've been hit so hard with something, but I'll catch up in no time just like I always do <3

 

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