Nice Surprises

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 car and says "Happy Birthday!" I about fell over; eight big, beautiful orchids plants in that basket. I'm blessed to have her as one of my own.

They are in the sewing room until I can find a safe place for them. I have a spot in the backyard in mind for an orchid bench that will work good until the fall and cooler weather when I will have to find a cat-proof place in the house.

Speaking of cats, here is Kipling laying in his favorite sunny spot in the morning:

Gotta warm up that tummy!

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 it was still there two weeks later so I made an appointment with the doc. She sent me to the ear, nose, throat doc who carefully threaded the camera tube up my nose and down my throat to take a peek. She used a nasal anasthetic so no pain, thankfully.  The camera showed a paralyzed right vocal cord.  

The next step was a CT scan. They injected the dye in my arm and into the machine I went. A day later we got the results: There was a 2.6 by 1 centimeter tumor growing on my thyroid.  Easy peasy I thought, remove the thing and everything will be normal.  The next call was from the oncology department nurse who said I would need a biopsy, a pet scan, and a chemo port installed.  What?? A chemo port??  Holy shit -- all of a sudden this is starting to sound serious.

The biopsy was almost painless except for the anesthetic novocaine type needle pricks.  The next day the test results came. Lymphoma. Not really what we wanted to hear.  Next on the itinerary of this two week trip was the echocardiogram and ptscan. Then donating lots of blood. I am so proud of myself for not fainting.

    

So now I am holding my breath, waiting for the results of the ptscan, hoping against hope that the lymphoma has not spread.  Hoping that the blood tests and echocardiogram show that I am healthy enough to have chemo. Just crossing my fingers and hoping......

Four days until the appointment with the oncologist.....