Stitching Present and Stitching Future

I almost have another finish! It seems this one is taking longer what with all the doctor appointments and other things that have been keeping us busy lately. The Stars are Brightly Shining by Heartstring Samplery! I just LOVE this design. I am half way finished with page 3 and only one more page to go after completing this one. O Holy Night is my favorite Christmas carol and if you recall I stitched up A Weary World Rejoices by Shakespeare Peddler not too long ago as well! Just the intense beauty of this song can bring a tear to my eye! I used 18 count Aida and the recommended threads.

 

Morning sweater weather has arrived! It is chilly in the morning hours then warms up enough in the afternoon to take the sweater off or just change into something more light weight. I do enjoy my sweaters.

The lab work finally came back good and I was able to spend a day at the hospital getting other tests done that had been put on delay. Not exactly how I would normally choose to spend a day but at least I can say I have that part of over with and the treatments can finally begin and are even scheduled! When I first found out all of this and the doctors outlined their plans to me, I thought it would all go smoothly step by step but it hasn't.

Each day I pray for strength and patience. As I do the things I love - stitching, watching my backyard birds and nature, admiring my roses or just sitting with a cup of coffee I praise God for letting me enjoy it all. Sometimes we all get a little misguided and forgetful. God has sent me a rocky journey to give my Faith a jolt in the right direction.

All this time I have been so sure I had RA because of the nodules that pop up in my hands and the horrible hand cramps. No. According to the rhuematologist, I am totally RA free but these are symptoms of Vasculitis! Who knew?

I thought about those long infusion treatment sessions and decided to pack up a special project to take with me just for those times. At home I will be working on The Crown Sampler by Plum Street Sampler (all kitted up and ready to start) after I finish my current stitch. While at my treatments, I will be taking and working on The Apostle's Creed by My Big Toe. I am keeping most of the colors the same in the MBT design but I am changing a little bit of it over to red. I gotta have my red fix! When I begin and as I make progress I will share pictures with you!

DH and I went for a drive last week and ended up going to my LNS! What a nice surprise. I picked up the new Loose Feathers charts they were holding for me along with some threads for another project. Oh, and a nice project bag to carry my stitching in when I take it with me to the infusion treatments.

How many of you read the ingredients label on the back of food? I used to read it once in a while for things like calories, carbs and cholesterol. It wasn't something I really needed to read. Potassium was the probably the last thing on my mind and I don't think I ever think I ever checked for it. Now it is the first and main thing I look for since I am on a low potassium diet. Someone asked me what I could eat on this diet. I told them it was more of a what I could NOT eat type of diet. If it's good, I can't eat it! lol. So many of the foods I love are either a big fat NO or are limited to a bare taste. Coffee, tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkin pie, cheese cake, yogart, lots of greens. chicken and dumplings, whole wheat breads and cereals, nuts, chocolate and so much more! I am still adjusting but I'm getting a little better on it each day!

Thank you so much for all the good wishes and prayers! It means a lot to know my friends in my stitching community are with me during this time. Once again, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. And lo, no one was there. ~Author Unknown

Thank You

First of all, I want to thank everyone for your concern over my recent health and emergency issues. When something this serious happens to you, it really makes you open your eyes to what is going on! There were so many warning signs that I just dismissed as "a weird virus" but now I know.

I had my appointment with the rheumatologist. Time to find out if what I was pretty sure of was fact or just my imagination. First of all, let me just say that I was a dope for putting such a long waiting period between visits. I tried to pretend that age did not matter when it comes to health so I ignored a lot of things and now they have all ganged up on me! It will take time to get a lot of this back on track but I will do it!

Suddenly all the things that have been happening to me during the past year make sense. The dizziness, shortness of breath, mysterious bruises popping up for no reason, constantly being tired and so much more. It has all been explained with one diagnosis. Vasculitis. I have the more extreme form of it and treatments need to begin ASAP but are on hold due to some bad lab results. To make a long story short, I have multiple auto immune disorders (that seem rather harmless on their own) and instead of protecting my body, my immune system has attacked it.

The suddenness and seriousness of this diagnosis left both me and DH a little shocked and stunned to say the least but we are determined to fight it and I hope I will be able to say by the holidays that I am in remission and keeping it under control.

What I ask of my wonderful group of stitching and blogging friends is to say a prayer for me every now and then. When you have that cup of coffee in the morning, whisper a little prayer for me. When you look at some new threads for a project, whisper a little prayer for me. I plan to continue stitching and blogging as I have time so please don't give up on me! I will continue reading your blogs and I hope you will continue to watch for my posts. Thank you for letting me share this with you. I don't think it would feel right to go through this without letting my good friends know. May you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Getting better

I know. I know. I have been awful about blogging this summer but I have been reading all the others I enjoy keeping up with. I don't have the summer vacation or back to school reason to fall back on. I stitched and worked on family history. Unfortunately, I still do not have a finish to show off but I plan to work on getting several WIPs completed. We had several days of an early Fall preview where the days were so chilly, I wore a sweater!

As for me, the big news happened last week. The day after our anniversary and the day before DH's birthday. I had been feeling especially tired and off my game in general. We were at the grocery store when DH noticed I was having trouble breathing. I felt like I would fall on my face. We got out of the store and stopped by the doctor on the way home. Next thing we know, I am on my way to the hospital via ambulance. They were afraid I was having a heart attack at first. After almost a week in the hospital, tons of tests, blood transfusions, lots of poking, proding and constantly feeling like the room was spinning, they came up with the diagnosis that I was on the verge of a bleeding ulcer. I have been taken off all aspirin products. I told the doctor that I was too tired to argue and would follow his orders. After all, he IS the doctor! I have known for some time that I have RA because of my hands, the swelling and the nodules that appear. My doctor set me up with a rheumatologist. Now to find the proper treatment. The summer just slipped away.

As I have said before, I only feed the birds between the months of November to the end of May. This schedule helps them out during the cold winter months and also during nesting season so "mom" can leave the nest and get a quick bite. During the Summer and Fall months, nature provides them with lots of insects, worms and berries on bushes (many planted in our yard). Our yard is not void of activity though during the off months. Butterflies flock to our several butterfly bushes and Hummingbirds are more than abundant at all four feeders around the yard. If the feeders go empty, they do let me know. There is always one or two who are brave enough to fly up to me as I sit on the deck and squeak out their complaint! As I fill the feeders, they hover at a short distance ready to move in for mealtime once I walk away! It was so nice to finally get back home and enjoy my birds and backyard again. I even bought a bag of birdfood to put out early in celebration!

 

Before I went to the hospital, DH gifted me with Hibernation and The Stars are Brightly Shining by Heartstring Samplery! I can't wait to start them! After I got back home, he took me out for a ride and we ended up at the LNS where I bought A Yuletide Welcome and 1837 Crown Sampler both by Plum Street Samplers! I will post more as I work on them.

 

Thanks for stopping by. I have missed everyone and I hope the road to recovery is a steady one so I can enjoy all the special aspects of my world.

Already August!

Where did June and July gone to? By the way, where has the summer gone to? Oh yeah, out the window! For some reason, this summer has seemed to fly by faster than usual. Let me try to do a little catching up in this post.

I have been stitching on She Feeds Them Well by The Scarlet House. I still have a little more stitching before I can call this one finished. I have had to make a few adjustments here and there to make it work on the 18 count Aida I am using. I had already started on it once before on 28 count evenweave. I had practiced just for this piece because I wanted to do it so badly. I thought I was ready. I ripped out so many stitches and got so frustrated with that evenweave! Normally, an experience like that would have me packing up my threads and the chart to hide away in a drawer never to be seen again but I really like this pattern by Tanya and I was determined to stitch it. 

My first 2013 Loose Feather chart arrived! Wild Berries by BBD. I love this year's series dedicated to family history, samplers and birdwatchers! Three of my favorite things! I have a special plan for the series and can't wait to share it when I finish Wild Berries but it will have to remain a secret for now.

I normally shy away from BAPs but when I saw A Yuletide Welcome by Plum Street Samplers was going to be released soon, it was love at first sight! I know what I will be working on.

I have already decided that beginning in 2014 I will go on a stash diet -- again! Except for a few special charts, fabric and threads I plan to stitch with what is already in my stash. I don't think I will get bored or run out!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Is Mr. Spock Here?

Thank you to everyone who showed concern about my new allergy reactions. I went to see the allergist and had all the tests. Turns out I have what the allergy doctors call copy cat allergies, of all things! Not one true allergy among the bunch but all the seasonal suffering and all the symptoms, none the less. Plus I am taking even MORE allergy meds now! Sounds like a bunch of hooey to me. LOL. A few other little things were found wrong but I am feeling like myself again (for the most part). Yea!

Dr. Doorknob (a well deserved nickname based on his personality) told me that I have Idio Yabba Dabba Do (some long word that sounded like Vulcan). Huh? After he told me this several times and I reacted the same way he finally said "I guess I have to speak English for you". Yes, please. Now live long and prosper! Basically this alien word means I have a sensitivity to aspirin products. I can still take them but in moderation. Uh, isn't everyone supposed to do that?

 

It also turns out that I have over active Mast Cells. These cells (located on your skin) have histamine in the center of each cell and histamine is what makes you itch and break out in hives. I know this because Dr. Doorknob gave me an oral pop quiz before I left his office! When I asked him WHY my Mast Cells were so over active, he looked at me like I had just asked him to solve the mystery of the universe and said "because". An answer any parent is familiar with when your child asks a question you don't know the answer to or don't want to answer.

He tells me I need to have a list of bloodwork done BUT my insurance will not cover it. When I checked it out, these tests will cost hundreds of dollars so on my next visit I asked him if these were life or death tests. He looked at me with his blank stare and asked what I meant. I said "if I get these tests, can you find a cure that will stop all this and possibly save my life or if I don't get them will it continue to get worse until it kills me? Life or death tests." He looked at me like I was crazy and said "No. The tests will only provide me with some information that really won't make your situation any better or any worse" Ok. Problem solved. I told him that unless HE was going to pay for the tests I would not be getting them because I could not afford to pay that kind of money for (basically) useless information!

When we moved on, I asked him why I had been losing my voice so much. Turns out I am hyper sensitive to the chemicals in cleaning products! First of all, it seems like I am a really sensitive person with these hyper sensitivities! Second of all, now I have a reason NOT to clean and it is from the horse's mouth! LOL.

Between now and a few months down the road I have to decide whether to go back to the Office of Vulcan or just let my PCP handle it for me. If you stuck with me and read all this post, I salute you (Vulcan style, of course)! Thanks for stopping by!