Life Update (or something along those lines)

  Hello, everyone. Mafy here!

  As some of you might know, I've been having some health problems that have been affecting my usual writing schedule. I know it's an unavoidable situation, something that's totally out of my control but I still end up feeling like I'm just giving excuses for not doing something. Even if none of you feels or thinks that way, I still can't help but experience that guilty sensation.
  That's why I feel I need to be a little bit more transparent and provide further explanations other than just saying "I'm sick so I can't update my stories as much as I want".

  For around 4 years now, my health has been slowly but surely declining. What started as some occasional joint pain in my knees has become constant pain all over my body, mainly in my legs, back and arms.
  On a good day, I'm in constant, although kind of bearable, pain.
  On a bad day, which there has been a lot in these last 2-3 months or so, I'm in so much pain, I can't get out of my bed. I can't walk, I can't sit down on a chair because my knees are so stiff and sore, I can't lift my arms for long enough to pick up my cellphone, let alone type on the keyboard of my computer.
  I've got a drawer filled with several types of painkillers and none of them fully takes the pain away. And due to previous medications I had to take as a teenager, my stomach is very fragile - sometimes, I have to choose between taking one more painkiller, always while praying that one pill actually works that time, only to then experience intense stomach pain from ulcers caused by constant meds usage, or not take any painkillers at all and suffer through that wave of maddening pain until it finally calms down on its own. Not to mention, I'm severely underweight. Pinpointing the right dosage when you're an underweight adult is not an easy task and I ultimately end up experiencing a lot of side effects with some of my meds thanks to it, adding even more to my discomfort.

  Covid played a very big role in delaying proper medical care as I spent 2 of these last 4 years without access to any type of doctor but fortunately, I'm now being followed by a team of doctors, who are trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with my body. I still don't have a diagnosis, no one knows what exactly I have. I have bi-weekly appointments at the hospital and I'm frequently repeating several types of exams and blood tests to monitor the development of this... something.
  The list of possible diagnoses ranges from fibromyalgia, an auto-immune disease or cancer. Hopefully, it will be the lesser of all those evils but I will hold off on making any assumptions until the doctors directly tell me what it is.

  This will all be a very slow process, as our health system is on the verge of collapsing and there's a perpetual lack of medical staff. Although I have the privilege of having bi-weekly appointments and reasonably fast access to the exams and blood tests, I am paying a pretty penny for it all since I had to go full private hospital for everything. If I had gone through our public health system, I'd still be on the waiting list to get my 1st appointment in years with my assigned family doctor so they could then send me to another waiting list for the correct medical department.
  My pain doesn't allow me to wait any longer, it's impacting my life and mental health too much, so I had to make the decision to say goodbye to hundreds of euros every month in the private sector rather than rely on our free but extremely chaotic public sector.

  Under normal circumstances, I split my days between doing my assignments as a translator working from home (the great blessing I was graced with during this insane 2020 decade) and writing after I'm done with that day's share. However, at the moment, I never know how my condition will be that day. I might be well enough to do a bit of both, like usual, I might not be that okay, so I need to pick one of the two, which more often than not ends up being the translations since I do need the money to pay for the hospital bills, or I might not be able to get out of my bed all day because of the unbearable pain assailing all of my body.

  So!
  Now you know why my upload schedule is all over the place and why so many of my fanfictions and original stories are on a long-term hiatus. I wish I could write more, it's the one thing I love doing above everything else, it's my passion in life.
  But my body won't let me do it. It has waged a war against itself and the biggest victim of it all ends up being a normal life.
  So please forgive me if I take a break for several weeks or if I don't update the fanfiction you want to read the most for a long time. I'm trying my best here to finish all of my ongoing works - yes, all of them, I'm not leaving any of my babies behind, I can assure you of that - while trying to rest and restore my health as much as I can.
  It will take a while, my stories will probably drag on for several years until I finally finish them but I'll be counting on your continuous support, on all of your wonderful, motivating comments (which I read again and again, even if I don't reply all that frequently) and on all the kudos you so kindly give me every day.
  If you're willing and able, please consider joining me on Patreon. I upload all of the chapters there as soon as they are written instead of on a weekly basis, like I do on Ao3. But since I'm so slow at writing right now, I feel bad about even mentioning that I have a Patreon. It probably isn't worth the money for anyone but anything goes if it helps me pay those hospital bills and gets my health back to normal as fast as possible. (I said I'd be as transparent as possible and that includes being honest about what you'd get out of Patreon. It wouldn't be fair of me to promise more than I can give just so I can trick people into giving me money. So to those that have been supporting me through Patreon all this time, to those that wish to support me in the future, please know I am extremely thankful to you all and I wish I could provide you with more chapters than I currently am. I promise I will fully repay you by bringing to life more and more amazing stories as soon as I'm back in shape!)

  Thank you very much for reading my rant.
  I wish you all a great start to the week and stay healthy!

  Mafy