Back Home

No complications with the surgery and I'm back home. My doctor said all went well - the removed bits looked healthy, but the path report will tell us for sure in a week. I'm feeling a bit crampy and tired. They sure don't let you sleep much in the hospital - up at 4 am! My mom is taking excellent care of me - she made a lovely chicken noodle soup and biscuits for dinner.

Michael did not go to the hospital yesterday; he stayed home. I was a bit disappointed and thought he was acting rather selfishly. But he came today to bring me home. Once he'd been at the hospital for an hour, he started to moan, so in retrospect, I'm glad he was NOT there yesterday.

More later, chickies. I'm rather tired.
Hugs,
Cathy

BIG Chicken Cathy

Gotta tell you that Andrea and I had a great time accompanying Jill to the Indianapolis Quilt Guild Show on Saturday. It felt marvelous just getting out of southwestern Ohio, if only for a few hours. Slowly, but surely, Andrea is appreciating my love for fabric and fiber arts and may even pick it up herself. At least she's showing an interest in it. She wanted to know why I hadn't entered a quilt in the show. Can't confess to her that I'm a big CHICKEN! I don't exactly relish the thought of a professional evaluating my sewing skills when I quilt just for the therapy and because I like giving my efforts away. (Cheaper than buying a gift!) Perhaps someday I'll get over that dread with Andrea's help and her choice of colours.

Finished attaching the binding to my boss' retirement quilt, quilted a twin sized piece I've had in my flimsy stack for over a year, got the binding attached to that. So I have two large quilts to hand sew. Good timing.......

Tomorrow's my surgery and I'm getting a bit nervous about it all finally. Despite having to ingest milk of magnesia periodically throughout the day, I am here at the office, desperately trying to finish as many of my files as possible. My mom and her husband will be here about 4 this afternoon. I'm extremely grateful for that support. Although I love my husband dearly, he's somewhat useless when it comes to loving care when I'm less than 100 percent. Smudge gives me more attention than he does! Why should tomorrow be any different? LOL

In a last ditch effort to convince Andrea that a tiny red border on her black and white quilt would definitely make it "pop", I showed the borders to her girlfriends and asked them to vote. I should have guessed - they sided with Andrea and wanted just a wide black border. Sigh!!!!!!!!

Well, I need to get to work, chickens. I'll post as soon as I can to let y'all know how things went.

Hugs,
Cathy

Dancin' To A Happy Tune!

Happy Dance:

1. I finished the quilting on my boss' retirement/signature quilt last night. Next up - attaching the binding and prepare for hand sewing.

2. My doctor prescribed a medication that's keep the dental pain to a minimum. I've had two nights of good, quality sleep and am feeling soooooooo much better!

3. Andrea appears to be over the worst of the crud she came down with.

4. I've been given the medical go-ahead for my hysterectomy on Wednesday. Looking forward to feeling LOADS better!

5. It's Friday - need I say more?

Give-A-Way

Check out this blog for a fantastic fat quarter giveaway:

http://pumpkinpatchprimitivequiltshoppe.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-happy-halloween-giveaway.html

Rearrange

The need to be flexible with my life has really been important recently. My best made plans for last week fell by the wayside with my dental issues. Andrea's home sick today with some creepy crud going around her school. I rescheduled (for the third time) my six month teeth cleaning. And even my quilting priorities are affected. Let me explain.....

I've talked about the signature/retirement quilt I've pieced for my boss who has scheduled his retirement date for the end of March. OK, I thought, loads of time, but just in case he changes his mind (i.e. gets ticked off at the management) and leaves early, I'll have the quilt ready. But, I still dragged my feet - so to speak - on finding appropriate backing material, batting and getting it loaded onto the frame. That was until Friday. My boss stopped by my cubicle to jokingly ask me why none of my producers had any complaints about me. We chatted for a bit and then he got serious.

"I won't be in the office on Monday," he stated. "I'll be in Columbus getting a colon biopsy and it doesn't look good"

"Oh, you've probably caught it early," I replied. (Remember, most underwriters are good about taking care of themselves since we read horrible, horrible medical records every day for our applicants)

"I don't think so. I thought I could put off all my medical stuff until retirement," he continued,"But I couldn't wait any more on this. It won't be good."

Then, he told me to not talk about it with anybody else here at work - only me, his boss and the medical director know what he's facing. My mind is troubled with this and my offer to pray for him seems so insignificant.

His quilt is half-way done on the frame now. It needs to be done and ready for delivery. That's one thing I can do.


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The aforementioned quilt has been challenging - well, not the quilt itself, but my machine decided to act up and I changed my mind on the free-motion pattern half-way into the first row. I've become quite adept at ripping out stitches. Then, I ran out of the thread - quick trip to Joann's and we're back in business. Get back at it tonight.

Joann's sale this week includes Warm and Natural batting - 50 percent off. Good time to stock up.

Quiet week ahead ( I hope). The only appointments I have are on Thursday. But I never know what's next around the bend.

Hugs on Monday!
Cathy

Back Amongst The Living

I wouldn't wish my past three days on ANYBODY in this world. The endodontist couldn't perform the repair work until the antibiotics had a chance to work. So, I started taking a pain medication in addition to the antibiotic which made me even sicker. Finally, got the root canal, crown repair procedure started yesterday. It took nearly three hours to remove the old crown and the post, clean up the damaged area and fill it all up with medication and seal it. Round two starts November 9. I still have some residual numbness from the lip to the chin area which the doctor wants to evaluate this afternoon. Could be anesthesia or the medication "leaked" into that area. But, I am no way in the amount of pain I was before all the treatment started.

My co-workers were absolutely spectacular in keeping up with all my cases. I did miss nearly two days of work because of all this.

Couldn't have chosen a worse time for the tooth to act up. All my producers are in town for meetings - wanted to take me out to eat, meet with me, etc. I've had to cancel all the plans except for lunch today. Oh, well, they'll get over it......

Got a favor to ask all you quilters who read my blog. I'm looking for a pattern - a lap-sized quilt with a Pottery-based pattern. In other words - the blocks are pieced to look like clay pots or even an appliqued pot. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Miss Andrea took her PSAT test yesterday and was very discouraged. I told her it didn't matter - it's just an assessment to determine weak spots for the SAT next year.

No sign of the raccoons since Monday. I guess our Daisy told them what for!

My sister in law is winging her way as I write to Haiti for a mission trip. She went last October and was really taken with the country and its people. My brother will join her next week. It must be wonderful to have training in a medical profession where you can help people like they are. Both of them were on a "high" for weeks after their last visit and I expect they'll have loads to talk about when they return on the 31st.

Hugs from rainy Cincinnati!
Cathy

Falling Apart

Hanging onto the remaining bits of my cold, I woke up Sunday morning with a raging toothache. Just been to the dentist and he's referring me to an endodontist. I managed to get an appointment with the specialist at 4 this afternoon, but cannot take any pain medication before then so it won't mask the symptoms. I'm not so convinced that I'm literally falling apart!

A bit of excitement this morning when Andrea let Daisy outside. Seconds after the dog hit the back patio, we heard her bark and cry as if she was being threatened. Sure enough, she was being chased by two of the biggest raccoons I've ever seen. We got her back into the house and one of the raccoons tried to get into the house behind her! Once we got Daisy settled, I looked back outdoors and saw one of the critters was standing on his hind legs in front of the back door as if he was begging to be let into the house! It doesn't look like Daisy was physically hurt by the raccoons, thank goodness. Sure frightened Andrea and I!

I got to sale at Joann's yesterday after the Bengals game. I bought a piece of wide backing and the batting for my boss' retirement/signature quilt. Bought a few other bits and bobs and headed home.

Managed to get the retirement quilt loaded onto the frame. Couple more decisions to be made - colour of thread and design. I may just go with beige/taupe thread since that goes with just about everything on the scrappy quilt.

Michael's over his cold, but I honestly think his lungs are worse the last week or so. He struggles more for breath even with the simple task of walking from one room to another. I can't convince him to use his oxygen any more than he does. It's tough to watch him struggle when he has tools (i.e. oxygen, inhalers, nebulizer) that can perhaps help.

We went out for dinner with Bev and Martin on Saturday night. They are both so depressed over Martin's health and their finances, it's difficult to know what to say to either one of them. Let's just say it wasn't a fun evening.

Counting the minutes until my next dental appointment .....

Hugs,
Cathy

Down, But Not Out

Greetings from the Sick Ward in Mason, Ohio! Michael and I both came down with Miss Andrea's cold (She's so SWEET to share with us, isn't she?). I can't remember a time when a cold knocked me down as hard as this one has. Since Thursday night I haven't even turned on the lights in the sewing room! But, Michael is the one we worry about. He must be feeling poorly since he finally agreed to visit the doctor this afternoon. Fortunately was able to get him an appointment - tough to get with a lot of folks coming down with crud of one variety or another. That's one good thing about having a terminal lung disease - he gets an appointment no matter what! If he was still working at the dairy, he would have been exposed to a lot more viruses - another good thing about his retirement/disability.

Speaking of disability, we've tried for almost a week to get in touch with Social Security to give them Michael's national insurance number from the UK - it took three weeks to get that number from across the pond. Does it take SS that long to answer a phone message? I e-mailed our congressman's aide AGAIN and she was going to speak with the caseworker's supervisor.

No quilting, but I did fish out a couple of half-way done cross stitch projects to work on whilst recovering from the creeping crud. These will be good to work on after my surgery as well.

We postponed a dinner with Martin and Bev on Saturday night. Martin will just have to be patient and expect his birthday quilt next time we see them. They're going through rough times - Martin's been disabled for months and his doctors still don't know a diagnosis. He had to give up his car - couldn't afford it with no pay coming in. I'd hate to think that Martin's medical issues are going to cost him and Bev all that they've worked a lifetime to earn.

Other than feeling strange with this cold, I'm somewhat at loose ends since I missed church on Sunday. Attending service always sets me on a good path for the week. I'm not exactly wobbling around directionless, but off-center a bit. I'll get back on track soon!
Hugs,
Cathy