We interrupt our scheduled ranting...

To deliver something in the degree of bad news. My Beloved is in hospital -don't panic!- they're getting some IV antibiotics and, once that's done, all should be well.

You know how I am about qualifiers, so you can guess I'm trying to keep calm about this noise and failing.

The Story...

Thursday evening. Beloved takes their shoes off and reveals an absolutely NASTY welt that looks, to me, like a spider bite. No matter what we tell foreigners, there are not-supremely-venomous spiders in this deadly land of ours¹.

It was purple and the size of a walnut.

Overnight, the purple faded (yay) but the walnut blister remained. I repeatedly demanded that Beloved take this injury to a doctor. Beloved refuses because they're going to make them see an endocrinologist about the diabetes thing. This is the same objection that stops them from seeing anyone about the shoulder that's pained them for months, now.

Holding myself hostage and demanding that they see said endocrinologist anyway has had no success.

Beloved remained stoic throughout the long weekend, and limped a lot whilst I demanded they seek medical care.

Finally, as I was trying to fall asleep, last night, Beloved announced that they were going to hospital. The blister had burst and their foot was hot. A sign of infection.

So now the love of my life is in a hospital and getting antibiotics by drip. They'll probably try to feed them carbs (eurgh) which is the LAST thing you need with an infection. But you can't convince hospitals to serve Keto food because they have to tow the party line about what's healthy.

And in other news - I am desperately trying to find an audiobook publisher that is NOT affiliated with Audible. Audible is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon, and Amazon likes to own the rights of anything you publish there. Does such a thing exist, or am I going to have to find a podcaster somewhere with a really nice voice who also likes my work?

Or perhaps a team of the same?

I really despise Amazon for the whole rights-stealing shit. Staying away from them has become my goal.

Any and all help appreciated, my dear readers.