I hope your January is going smoothly! I am so glad 2009 is over, it really was a bad year for me and I'm hoping and praying that 2010 is going to be much better!
To catch you up on what had been going on:
I had been sick most of the year, it took the doctors until August when I ended up hospitalized due to my asthma to find out that I was severely Anemic. I had to go through 8 IV iron treatments in September/October but afterwards I did start to feel a little better. Next they had to figure out WHY I was so anemic.
Turns out, I had tumors in my uterus---not only were they causing the anemia, they were also causing a lot of the pain and discomfort I had been going through at the time.
In the meantime, we lost our Border Collie, Annie, to cancer in October and 2 w
eeks later our old cat Flounder died of old age at the beginning of November. I see his pictures all over my blog and my computer, I still miss him horribly. He was my partner/companion. He was always there when I made the meals, always lying on the laundry when I was trying to fold it, always on my neatly washed and pressed fabrics when I was creating and taking over my quilts as soon as they were finished. He would come with me to the garden and sit and keep me company while I planted or weeded or harvested. He was always on the walkway or the porch waiting for me when I came home. My chores and hobbies and whatnot are so lonely without him--even though I am in a house full of people and animals. He was a good cat and I will miss him always!
We got through Thanksgiving ok and then it was time for more tests for me and we had to take Seamus to Akron Children's Hospital Neurological Center to be evaluated. Turns out that our little boy has Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD. The doctors feel that with proper therapies he can possibly lead a normal life, so we are taking him to get enrolled in a developmental preschool and he'll have to see a Speech, Occupational and Physical therapist to help him overcome his obstacles. I am hopeful and feel good about his possibilities---while at the same time I am scared for him. I will be optimistic, however!
After all my tests it was determined that the best course of action would be for me to have a hysterectomy. I was fine with that, I've had 6 children and no plans for anymore and personally, I was looking forward to no more visits from mother nature! She'd been pretty rough on me!
The surgery was scheduled for December 29th. I was also having bladder surgery because my uterus was so enlarged due to the tumors that it had caused some minor damage to my bladder.
The day of surgery I was feeling pretty good, ready to get this all over with and get back on the road to health! The doctors were feeling good about things, they warned me that this will be a MAJOR surgery and even though I am raring to be healthy, it's going to take 2 months to heal. That's ok with me, I'd been sick for a year, what's 2 months in the scheme of things????
When I woke up from my surgery my Urologist was there waiting for me---she was very upset and tried to explain what had happened but I was too groggy to understand. Later, in my room, my husband and my mother told me that there were complications, I had bled out and the surgery was more difficult that they expected. I found out that the OB had to take one of my ovaries as well because it started bleeding. Apparently, when I was bleeding out and my OB was trying to stop the bleeding, she nicked my bladder twice with sutures. She found one of them and then closed me up---but when my urologist went in to do her surgery, she found another suture in my bladder so she had to take it out---which resulted in a hole in my bladder. She sewed up the hole but she wasn't able to do her surgery, after being opened and closed 3 times, and with my bladder now injured, I wasn't going to be able to handle her surgery for at least 6 months while my body healed. I had to leave the hospital with a catheter, which I endured for 2 weeks but by then it was causing such pain and discomfort that she took it out.
I'm still healing, I'm 3 weeks out from surgery now and feeling a bit better---although I am having problems with my bladder still----it spasms and hurts---the doctor said that'll probably happen until she can get in to do her surgery. Fun.
So, I'm just concentrating on getting stronger and healthier. I don't know when I'll have the other surgery---I can't have it at the beginning of the summer, I have my garden to get in and since we depend on it for our food, it's not a little thing to be put off. After surgery I won't be able to lift anything heavier than 5 pounds (which I am dealing with right now, too) so summer is not a good time for me to have surgery. I can wait until fall, but with the kids being in school, I wouldn't have anyone to help me during the day with Seamus. I see the doctor at the end of April, hopefully we'll come up with something that'll work for everyone!
One thing that happened in 2009 that I was excited about, I got a bigger, better sewing room! LOL! I have to laugh because if you look through my blog, I've had 5 sewing rooms---each one better than the last. This one is a keeper---unless one of my older kids decides to move back home! I'm still organizing and fixing it up, so I'll have pictures when I'm done!
After all the pain and illness and sadness of 2009, I am still blessed! When I think of those poor people in Haiti what they are going through, I know I am incredibly fortunate and my little problems are just that---little problems. I wish you all a belated Happy New Year and blessings and good things!
My goals for 2010:
Finish all my quilt UFO's.
Make Christmas gifts for next Christmas---starting NOW!
Get all my WIP's finished or at least get quilt tops done!
Finish painting my dining room
Remodel my bathroom (simply--nothing grand or over the top like on HGTV!)
Finish my kitchen
Paint and fix up my bedroom
Paint and fix up my sewing room
Expand my garden
Lose weight
Exercise as soon as I am able and get a daily routine set up
I guess that's it for now---although I'll be happy if I get half of that list done!
Leslie:-)
