QuiltsnCats

 January 6, 2025 The Biopsy It didn't work. The doctors said it was a small target and it was hit or miss. It was a miss. I'm laying there in the cat scan machine while the doctor is doing his thing.I feel like coughing but try not to.  My mouth fills with liquid, I swallow. happens again. The nurse starts suctioning out my mouth.  "Well, that's it. We hit a vein." the doctor says it was just too small a target with too many blood veins near it.  I wish they had gone with the original plan of doing three cycles of chemo then checking it on the pet scan. This postponed chemo by a week.   My chemo guide Swapna calls me every couple of days with information on the various pills and stuff I'm supposed to take and about the chemo drugs. The chemo info she sent is 18 pages long. I like that she keeps in touch and gives me helpful hints, Blood test Friday.  She said I will have to have blood tests before every chemo visit.

 December 18, 2025 The Verdict. Finally, the visit with the haemotologist/oncologist. There was the good news, if cancer can ever be good news, the lymphoma is stage one and hasn't spread anywhere other than my neck. 6 to 8 cycles of chemo should take care of it.  Then the bad news. He scrolled down the pet scan to the lungs and pointed out a tiny spot in the middle of my left lung.  Not likely to be lymphoma but there isn't a clue what it is as of now. He's calling it stage four. That sounds scary.  I will be getting that biopsied on January 6. He wants to hold off on the chemo until he finds out exactly what it is so the chemo cocktail can be adjusted accordingly.  I like this doctor; he explains things well and anticipated almost every question I had.  Next step the chemo port installation in two days.

 December 15, 2024 A quilty interlude.   Before Dad passed at one month short of 104 I was helping clean out closets and drawers.  In one drawer were several quilt tops and some applique blocks my great grandmother had made.  I estimated the blocks to be about 100 years old, made in the 1920s.  They were brown with age so I wasn't sure If I could restore them or not.  They were appliqued on a muslin that felt almost like a lightweight canvas,  We sure don't have any muslin like that now.  I held my breath and soaked them in Oxyclean for about six hours. The Oxyclean took away almost all the brown, just leaving a few light stains.  I put them together with red sashing.  Not quilted yet but here it is:

December 14, 2024 Eight years later....  We survived the pandemic, three of the orchid plants are miraculously still alive, my oldest daughter passed, my son is moving to Columbia  and Kipling crossed the Rainbow Bridge last year at the respectable age of 17.  I have quilted up a storm and have quilts piled in every closet and corner.  I have little cartiledge left in my wrists so must wear braces on both hands which is why there will be many typos in spite of proofreading. My days of typing 70 wpm are gone.  Life has been mostly good.  Until recently.  So now there will be the CANCER CHRONICLES. With occasional pictures of cats, quilts, and plants of course. It started last summer.  I thought I had a piece of grape peel stuck in my throat. I drank a lot of water, gargled with soda pop, but it wouldn't go away. It gave me a sore throat. I'm used to sore throats; I get them with my allergies. Fall arrived and my voice left. Laryngitis I thought but...

Last week we shop hopped; an annual event we always look forward to. I volunteered at my home shop early on the first day then went to the three close shops in the time left that day. The next morning we put some munchies and drinks in the car and headed north. We kept getting lost, even though we've done this several times. We only drove about a hundred miles out of our way….. Fortunately the scenery and weather was beautiful and we had plenty of time so we kept in good humor about it, telling ourselves it was one of those senior things. We made it to five shops and then to the same motel we stay in every year and found a new restaurant for dinner. This clematis was blooming at the motel; the blossoms were as big as a dinner plate. The picture on the right is the restaurant we ate at. The fireplace is made of huge granite boulders. I have no idea how they were moved there. Paul Bunyan maybe. The next morning we went to my favorite shop (unfortunately the farthest from home...

I can't believe it -- I've gone two days without sewing a single stitch! Saturday I caught up with Splendid Sampler and 365 Challenge. I'm really disappointed to see we're back to making little dark blocks again in 365 challenge. I thought we were done with those and was looking forward to making the 6" blocks in lighter colors. Getting weary of those dark colors. Besides I was using scraps and I've about exhausted the dark reds and blues . Sunday we met my Daughter at the orchid show. I had some jade plants and other succulents for her so I was happy it was a cloudy day and the plants would be fine in the car while we were at the show. We enjoyed the show immensely and spent more than we should have. I bought 6 small plants; two that will hang on the bathroom wall, and several for the shelves alongside the kitchen window. After the show we went out to the parking lot so I could give her the jade plants and she takes a huge crate out of her ca...