What Was I Thinking?

Carol here ~

Sunday I loaded Dan's quilt #42 on Lena and decided to stitch the pattern PEARLS AND PAISLEY on it.  What was I thinking?

It's a very dense quilting pattern, lots of stitching, took almost two hours for Lena to make one pass across the quilt.  Plus there was not enough thread in the bobbin for the whole pass so I had to load a new bobbin mid pass and match the pattern so Lena could continue stitching.  

I don't usually do that.  If I know there is not enough thread in the bobbin for another pass I will load a full one.  

By the end of the quilt I was getting better at it, not quite so much cussing!

Good Grief

Carol here ~ 

Many years ago when I was out on my early morning walk a dog came running out from behind a house and grabbed my arm.  The owner called him and he let go and headed back out around the house.  It was winter.  I had on a thick wool sweater and my parka.  The dog still broke the skin on my arm along with bruising it.  Ever since then I have been very leery of strange dogs and even dogs that I was familiar with if their owner wasn't around.  I am OK if I know the dog and the dog knows me but......lets just say I'm not a dog person.  (nothing against those of you that are, that's just not me)

We'll get back to dogs in a minute.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening. Sitting here wondering where the time goes. Since my surgery I do a lot of sitting around or taking a nap. I’ve gotten quite adapt in the nap department. Sadly, sometimes the nap wins out over going up to the studio to sew. Solitaire is a popular pastime as well. 

I have been managing my 5000 steps around the house, at least no more days of accomplishing the process in 3-5 minute segments before I need to sit for a while. That said, remember, I live in a very small house. I have surpassed the 2022 mile marker but it just doesn’t seem like that big a deal anymore. I won’t set out to aim for 2023 miles for next year. I only hope something comes along more interesting to fill those non walking hours. If I remember right, that was what started the walking.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

December 1. The last month of 2022. 

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. Carol went to Vanessa’s home and celebrated with the family. Alas, I stayed home. As I briefly mentioned last time I had issues and was not up to traveling that far. Truth be told I’m still not. I had surgery on the 21st and was not willing to go. I endured hemorrhoid surgery, not something I would wish on my worst enemy. 

Merry Christmas To Me!

Carol here ~

Well, I did it. On Wednesday I completed the 8th cycle of chemo treatment for my Multiple Myeloma. If you are new here you can read my original post here.

This and That

Carol here ~

This was me yesterday.

We had to make an unexpected trip to the oncologist so I could get an IV of fluids because I spent most of Monday barfing and was very dehydrated. I have had several of these “episodes” during my treatment, no idea why, they just come on me all of a sudden. I felt OK until early afternoon, then it was all downhill from there. I will tell you one thing ~ I will never be drinking a blueberry smoothie again. Gross.

Flowers and Food

Carol here ~

Dan decided to go up to South Paris last Friday to get us a flower bouquet for our anniversary. He loaded up to go to the Transfer Station as it was on the way. The Transfer Station attendant told him to stay away from Route 26 as there was some Halloween event happening and traffic was stopped/backed up etc. Okay, says he, we will stop at the florist tomorrow on our way to Vanessa’s. Good idea. We get there, it was closed for renovations. No place open on Sunday. So, Monday off he goes to South Paris to get our overdue bouquet. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here Wednesday afternoon, Carol has taken herself to chemo today. I had oral surgery and had a tooth forcefully removed from my mouth. Needless to say she probably felt safer driving herself. The pain is about under control and jaw is swollen and sore. I guess I’ll be sore for a while, I doubt that is what will kill me.

Well, I got the sashing border on my quilt complete and sewn on. 

There's No Place Like Home

Carol here ~

I am NOT a city girl. We went to Boston on Monday. I had an appointment with a Myeloma specialist at Dana-Farber. My oncologist wanted me to go there to (1) get info about stem cell transplants and (2) see if the specialist had recommendations on my treatment.

I’m pretty sure the stem cell transplant is not for me. First of all, even if I was a candidate after all the testing, it would mean up to an additional six months of feeling crappy ~ way worse than I have been feeling. I would have absolutely no immune system for several weeks and lots of drugs to be administered among many other things.

This and That

Carol here ~

Vanessa, Kailey and Jakob came over on Friday. We had a lazy afternoon sitting under the awning on the patio. The kids swam and Vanessa even went in for a bit of floating.

More Visitors!

Carol here ~

Yesterday, friends Michelle and Stephen rolled in on their motorcycle for a visit! They are RVing, staying in Scarborough, and cruising the back roads of Maine on their bike. We enjoyed lunch at the picnic table and a relaxing afternoon on the front patio, chatting and catching up. It was a beautiful day, not a ripple on the pond. So good to see them!

A Bit of Stitchin'

Carol here ~

Happy Friday!

I have been doing a bit of stitching. I sewed the binding on Dan’s door quilt and have been puttering on the hand stitching here and there. Almost done, down to the last side. We have been using it without the binding done, it seems to work as he had planned.

I also made a drawstring bag to use as a gift holder. The pattern is called Travelin’ Totes by Atkinson Designs. The pattern has several sizes of bags, it has been one of our favorites for many years. I looked online so I could include a link for it but could not find it anywhere. Hmmmm.

More Summer Fun!

Carol here ~

Dan’s flower boxes of SunPatiens along the front retaining wall are finally filling in and showing off. Look how beautiful they are!

Yesterday, Vanessa and Jakob came over along with Vanessa’s sister-in-law Amy, her two kiddos Lincoln and Marin and mother-in-law Candy. It was a swimmingly good day for them to be here. Jakob just got new googles like Lincoln’s and Marin’s. He is a bit hesitant about trying new things and had never really “gone under” before. It was so cute ~ Marin was instructing him on how to use the googles and by the end of the day he was going completely under water.

Mostly Good News

Carol here ~

We had another early Wednesday morning in Topsham this week, didn’t get my blog post out so figured I’d just wait until today.

The good news is my red blood count and my white blood count are still good. The better news is the result of my monthly check on my myeloma markers ~ they have decreased over 50% in one month of treatment. Doc says I’m well on my way to remission! Yippee! He said he started my treatment fairly aggressively and that I am responding well to it. Let’s git-r-done!

The not so good news is I hurt my ribs/side. No idea how, I have been so careful. The PT thinks it is the muscles along side my lower ribs. Of course, I am babying it which is throwing the rest of my back off. Fingers crossed I didn’t do anything to my spine. I have one more week before my follow up with the spine surgeon.

So, two steps forward, one back.

No More Socks!

Carol here ~

Woohoo! No more compression socks! Which means I am halfway through my month of no BLT’s ~ bending, lifting, twisting. I’m sure Dan will be more than happy when I'm able to start doing my chores again. He hasn’t complained (well, maybe a couple small whines) even though I know he doesn’t like doing them. I’m actually looking forward to functioning like normal again.

Yesterday was my three appointment day. 8:30 in Topsham, 12:15 in Lewiston and 2:15 in Auburn. Twas a long day. It was also the beginning of month #2 of my chemo treatments which meant I also had the monthly bone density infusion. The first time I had it I had side effects ~ pounding headache, lymph nodes in my neck aching, nausea and vomiting. Ugh, not a happy camper. This month they tweaked it ~ added more saline to the infusion and slowed down the drip. So far, so good!

This and That

Carol here ~

I missed my blog post yesterday so you are getting it today. I was slow moving yesterday morn plus we had to leave fairly early to get to my Chemo/Oncologist appointment. Bloodwork results still good.

My surgery last week eliminated my intense spine pain (just a bit stiff and sore) but my supporting muscles did not get the pain free memo. I had a rough weekend. I ached all over. When I went for my PT appointment on Monday the therapist said I had some very “angry” muscles. Yep, they’ve been screaming at me ~ but a little less screaming every day. She gave me a handful of exercises I can do sitting down that will help with core strength and lower back strength. She also massaged part way down my back on either side of my spine. Ahhhhhh, that felt wonderful. She didn’t do my lower back as I still had some bruising going on and she didn’t want to rile things up. I have another appointment this morning so hoping she repeats that spine massage.

Surgery Update

Carol here ~

Yesterday was the day for my back surgery. They actually did a kyphoplasty instead of vertebroplasty. I think the difference is with a kyphoplasty a thin tube with a ballon tip is guided into the vertebra, then the balloon is inflated to create a cavity in which the liquid bone cement is injected. The balloon is then removed and the cement is injected.

It worked! Went to sleep in with back pain, woke up with pretty much none! It feels really weird to be walking about without my wheelie! (Dan nicknamed me Wheels) The wheelie was my mom’s. She had two of them. We donated one to the Assisted Living Home she was at when she passed and we kept the other one. Thank goodness! I couldn’t have gotten around these last few weeks without it.

I’m a bit sore/stiff this morning in my lower back/hip area. Got the ice pack on it so hoping it loosens up as I move around more ~ suppose to get up and move about every hour.

And I slept in the bed last night ~ first time in weeks! Don’t know if Dan took advantage of it and got some sewing done or not, he was still out by the fire when I went to bed.

Thank you!

Carol here ~

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the prayers, positive thoughts, kind words and messages you sent my way following my post last Friday. I truly appreciate every single one.

My Vertebroplasty surgery is scheduled for Thursday, June 3rd.

I will be having radiation. On Tuesday, June 8th I will meet with the radiologist where he will “map” the exact area on my spine to be treated. I will then have ten treatments.

The combination of the surgery and the radiation should get me pretty much pain free. YAY!

I will also be going to PT twice weekly. I can’t wait to be able to move again!

Prayers and Positive Thoughts Please

Carol here ~

Dan got the flower boxes planted along the top of our new retaining wall yesterday.
Going to be beautiful!
I supervised from my chair in the corner of the living room.

**Long post alert ~ you might want to grab a cuppa before you settle in**

I debated sharing this but as we stated when we started this blog, it was to be a journal of our lives here at the pond and well, this is how my life is at this time.