Three more pages finished

 

Modern Folk Embroidery - Winter Kaleidoscope.  Finished 3 pages for December instead of just two pages.  I wanted to get to the top edge, and that section looked pretty easy.  So this is 9 of 20 pages done.  I just started the 6th skein of dmc floss at this point, so 5 skeins to get this far.  

On the medical front...  I had my heart check this month.  During chemo, some people have a reaction to the chemo medication that affects their heart.  It is something the doctors can fix and correct if they find it.  But in order to find it, they simply check everybody.  I don't have whatever that is.  But they check every 6 months - and last time was just an office visit in June... and then I threw a blood clot to my lung in July...  And I wondered if they would have seen that coming with a heart scan.  But I got the heart scan while in the hospital for the clot to my lung.  So three months later, they declared me healthy and off the blood thinner.  And they checked my heart again with a ct scan in Oct.  So back to the heart guy for my now annual heart scan... and they find a near blockage.  And they show me the video of the scan.  See....???  wanna go for a ct scan???  Now???  Sure.  

So I go to radiology, they get the code wrong to get it preapproved.  But the insurance had just enough time to approve it.  So I have an approved, but wrong test.  But they caught it.  So they would need to unapprove that, and approve something else before doing the test.  Did I want to wait?  Was I willing to pay if the insurance did not pay?  How much?  About $3400.  Now they had just shown me an artery into my heart.  It showed an upper and lower wall of the artery, and what looked like a bonbon candy sitting on the lower wall.  And it was maybe 96% to the top.  Oh, that can't be good.  And he had said this was just before entering my heart.  But we can't tell exactly what it is.  Hence, get the scan.  

My limited knowledge of things like this - and being told to go to get a scan now... to me seemed serious.  Oh, and you can't have food for two hours before, and it was noon.  I had been busy that morning - got there at 10am, and had an 8 oz bottle of water in the waiting room.  So it was noon, I was good, but I sure had not planned it that way.   And radiology is saying this code stuff could take 3 days to sort out.  Wanna come back next week?  It was a Thursday.  I sign saying I will pay if insurance won't pay.  Just as I sign, the phone rings, - they have to code mix up fixed - and approved.  I can get the test now.  

Good Grief.  The guy gets me - we do the test - they use the dye - scans without the dye, and with the dye.  He pulls the needle out, and wraps my arm.  I go to wait in the seating area again.  I had put my winter coat back on, and just sat down, and the lady across from me, who I was chatting with before I went in says - you are dripping blood on your hand.  I am - I go up to the receptionist, and ask if I can get some help with this? please?  She calmly says to walk towards the back again, and the same guy meets me in the hallway to fix this.  I can now feel the inside sleeve of my coat must be soaked in blood.  We get my coat off, the sleeve is full of blood, and the wrap is soaked.  He wipes me down, my coat is something that can be just wiped off inside the sleeve luckily.  And when we unwrap my arm, it has stopped bleeding.  I have good platelets, and I know because I used to donate platelets.  I give blood, - I am up to almost 8 gallons this time, and I gave maybe 5 gallons before they organized to just one place.  So I know what to expect.  This was something new.  He wraps me again, and I say I will go back to the doctors office waiting area.  It is mostly closer to my car.  It will take them time to read the test - and they will report it to the heart guy.  The two places are opposite ends of the hospital.  Going for the test I was fine.  Walking back - even after sitting for maybe an hour - walking back is hitting my stamina limits.  I get to the doctors office and explain I am just waiting... for the scan results, which I know might be a while.  Eventually, they sent out the nurse.  I had thought - maybe surgery - maybe back on the blood thinners.  She gets to explain - whatever scan they did - didn't show the area the doctor wanted to see on a scan.  Gonna have to get another scan...  a whole chest scan.  Okay, I'm still at the hospital - can we just do that now?  Nope - you have to wait 3 days for that dye to get out of my body and out of my kidneys.  Now I have to wait until Monday - and they will have to get that next test approved again...  different code.  

So my former work guy friend comes to help me with a list of things like changing light bulbs, closing off a ceiling vent...  he basically puts my life back on track.  I could barely climb two steps up a ladder - so it's just kind of stupid things.  But he fixes several easy things.  Then Saturday - we get an ice storm.  Nobody is going anywhere - But it starts melting on Sunday.  And on Monday - I go back to the heart doctor to find out about getting the next scan again...  mostly - I wanna get this over and not have a stroke or another blood clot.  So I ask if they have ordered the scan for sure... they have - but it has not been approved yet from my insurance.  So I call insurance and explain - a scan is cheaper than a stroke or blood clot and teaching me to walk and talk again - she says it's approved, and gives me a number.  Then I call hospital approval people with the number - and she explained - they have not yet asked for the test yet from my insurance people.  They can't approve what the hospital has not yet asked for.  But she will call them because I have explained - this is crazy - and kinda trying not to die here.  She calls them, and me back - approved.  Call scheduling next.  Okay - can I come Dec 30?  That is like two weeks wait - but the ice storm would have screwed up the people needing tests - unless I will drive to a nearby town - they just opened a new ER - they have a CT scan machine - they could take me tomorrow.  The only deal is - if they have ER people - you might have to wait.  ER people get to go first.  I go to the Walmart near there - just because I like it better - so this new ER - is fine.  

Next day - I go - and they do have two ambulances come while I am there - but I am fine - I don't have somewhere to go - I am just happy it won't be the two weeks an a December 30th date.  I will sit there all day.  It's fine.  I am just glad to be the person waiting, and not the people on the ambulances.  Not a problem.  I am trying not to be the person in the ambulances.  

She comes to get me - and starts talking that she has called the doctor or nurse to be sure she gets the test correct.  Whatever the guy before did - the heart doctor yelled that the scan guy, and the whole department  - and she was not gonna screw it up again.  I had not said anything yet.  She had trouble getting the needle in me - so called an ER person - which again was fine.  That girl used me as a teaching moment to teach sticking me with a machine to scan the area and see the needle as she stuck me.  Which again - I have been stuck lots of times - I don't mind being to teachers dummy to show him.  I get the scan.  I leave.  

Next day - the nurse had called - I call back.  My test showed the same thing that has shown in all my other ct scans.  It is called something fancy - but it is a non - threatening fat deposit.  

Like I have run out of other places to put fat on my body???  And it has been on other scans - ???  I had wondered if the guy in July also had seen this?  The answer from the nurse was - no meds - no surgery - have a nice day.  

Good Grief.  

So I broke a crown just before Thanksgiving - leaving a tooth standing alone behind it - so I kinda need something to replace that lost crown - and so I started looking at an implant.  That is $6000.  and they have to pull the root out of the tooth I lost first.  They scheduled an appt to just talk about that - for January 2 - and I am a big winter chicken.  Like this can wait - my ride friend is 75, and will take me to medical things they knock me out for - but we don't need to be going on ice and winter storms.  So while in the waiting room - I cancelled that.  

And after coming home from the dental adventure of wrapping my head around the idea of a $6000 tooth implant - I got a jury summons notice for jury duty in the mail.  Oh, and jury duty would be the second week of January.  My courthouse is old - it has steps everywhere.  I can barely manage my steps to do laundry in my house.  Parking for the courthouse is maybe a half mile or more away.  I can't do that distance.  And if the weather was bad - or icy - and I fall walking - I am screwed getting back up.  I'm a fat chick.  Getting up off the floor or ground kinda required me to crawl to something I can use to get up again.  And if I break a bone while on this adventure - there is nobody to care for me - I live alone.  Now if the courthouse was at a mall - where the parking was closer, and no steps - I might have a chance.  I usually get dismissed anyway - so then it is a morning of walking and steps, only to be released, and have to go down the steps - and walk the distance and not fall...   And if I do get picked - and it goes more than one day - could I do this two days in a row?  I start to freak out with worry.  I can feel okay - but since chemo - I have awful stamina.  If you let me push a cart - like shopping - I can do better - go more distance - but if you put stairs in my adventure - it's gonna wipe me out.   So I asked during the heart appt - can you please get me out of this?  I had to explain what were my physical limitations - and I did.  This is nothing new - I have said my stamina has me screwy since the end of my chemo a year and a half ago now.  I started this adventure by actually walking to the other end of the hospital and taking the stairs down - and then back up - and walking back at every appointment just for the exercise.   And I have still done that walk several times - but I can't do the stairs after chemo.  I'd like to be able to.  It's not laziness.  It's stamina.  I walk stores for exercise - I will park away from the store knowing I need those extra steps.  But actual steps just screw me up.  

I started dieting again right before Thanksgiving.  I had wished I could lose weight.  My body just can't support this much weight after chemo - and that's fine.  Before chemo it was harder - but after it's just way way too much.  Then I broke the crown... which meant I had to wait almost a week to see the dentist - which was dieting and drinking just water - yogurt, and broken crackers.  But I was losing.  Then jury duty notice - then heart adventure and how to pay for a $6000 tooth.  It's was just too much.  And there are other life things - nothing major - just life things that cost thousands.  

Oh, and my mom once told me - she was gonna die in November.  I said - pardon me?  And you know that how?  She explained - her dad died in August - her mom died in September - her husband died in October - meaning she would die in November....  not all the same years - but it was a monthly progression that seemed to be playing out.  She was really sick - had cancer - had surgery to fix the cancer stuff in October - and damn near did die in late November - I was taking her twice a day for wound care after her surgery - and she was just irked at me that day.  But we were doing wound care in our city - but the cancer treatment was at a nearby university hospital.  So I shoved us in the car, and took her neighbor lady with us - hoping my mom would be nicer in front of her.  She was not peeing - but had said nothing about that - and just happened to be out of water pills that day - so we stopped to get her water pills - and she took that pill knowing she was not peeing - and not telling anybody.  So we got the the other town university hospital that had her records, and knew her - and to the ER - and she still did not say she was not peeing to them.  Her something was crazy high - so they give her the thing to fix that - which sent the numbers completely off the charts instead of lowering it.  That got everybody's attention.  They figured out her tube from her kidneys to her bladder was blocked from the cancer - she was supposed to start chemo like the following days.  We got there about noon, it was nearly 5pm - they said she would need tubes in her kidneys to pee into bags.  The nurst asked the doctor - tomorrow?  No, he told the nurse - now - she will be dead by tomorrow.  Surgery will be asap.   And they did.  

But she darn near died in November.  How long can you not pee before you die?  Not very damn long is what I learned - and you damn well need to be telling anybody that will listen - especially once you get to the ER.  

And I am her only child - so all this order of people dying.... her nearly dying in November - kinda makes me December....  And I have a heart scan with an artery with a bonbon looking 96%  blockage going into my heart....  and no stamina?  Well, that sure would explain the no stamina crap.  So yeah, I wanted the test.  I saved my mom that day by taking her to the ER, and she lived till the following August.  She had a tumor wrapped around her spinal cord when all this started - she knew that - and she had cancer.  They fixed the cancer - she did the chemo.  It even fixed the bladder tubes - they had okayed putting her back together so she would pee normally again.  They told her she was gonna live.  She was in shock after they told her that.  So getting Taxol had fixed both things - bladder and the girly parts area.  So when I knew I was getting Taxol for my breast cancer - I was fine with it.  I felt if I had cancer somewhere else - it would maybe help something they had not found or known about yet.  

When they tested my lymph nodes - I had 3 of 5 bad closest to my breast.  So they pull the next group - and I had 2 of 18 bad.  The limit was 4 - if I had just four bad - they would not have done chemo.  But I had 5 bad - but knowing taxol could fix other things - when I was told part of it was taxol - I knew it was hair loss - I had seen my mom do taxol.  But when I did it - there were things I didn't see, that she didn't talk about.  Side effects.  And what the doctors say is  - everybody is different.  And because I knew taxol had helped other things for her - I was fine with doing it.  Even now knowing the side effects - I am fine with it.  

But honestly - December is kinda spooky for me now.  I know it is not written in stone - I kept mom alive - so I know it might be something I can change - I mostly just pay more attention.  But when your heart guy says - come look at this heart blockage - wanna go get a scan?  And wanna sign off on paying $3500 for the test?    Oh, and while talking to the billing department a day or two before all this heart stuff - they were not getting paid for a doctor bill from the blood clot in July - so I wanted to ask the billing department some information - making sure it was not some scam bill also.  So I had just been on the phone for 2 hours talking to my insurance company the day before all this heart stuff.  So when they screwed up the billing code for my scan... I just had to laugh.  If you can't laugh - and then bleed into your coat sleeve...  and get the scan that doesn't show the right area.... and it's December.... and could I just wait till December 30th for that scan?  

And that nurse?  She did fax the court people an excuse that got me out of jury duty.  After that - I was just so relieved.  I will be slightly better once December is over.  And I did lose 15 pounds in the past month.  But I have tried cooking for Christmas - so I gained 4 back.  I didn't gain it all at once - and losing in winter is the hardest thing.  So I had a quiet Christmas - I know you can ask the universe for things - and it might pop into your path.  I asked for yogurt to be on sale - it went on sale on the 23rd.  I had wanted a puzzle of something I am stitching - an Escher puzzle - but maybe a still sealed one.  On sale?  That popped up the 24th - the puzzle pieces bag is still sealed, and it was about half the price.  And I wanted Arbys sandwiches - which are normally on sale around Christmas - I got sale sandwiches.  You CAN ask for things - don't ask for lottery numbers - but ask and give it time.  You can ask for even better parking spots - but you can't wait till you get to the store to ask.  Ask before you leave the house - you'd laugh at what can happen.  I ask for silly things all the time.  And I get silly things all the time.  Just be sure to say Thank You aloud after - just like you want to hear those words for doing something nice - and it encourages you - whatever is nice to you - wants to know they are noticed too.  Then the silliness begins, and it learns what you like - and all sorts of fun things get tossed into your path.  But if you don't say Thank You - the game is not fun for them - and they feel not noticed.  And you don't have to believe me - not at all.  But what if I am right - and there is real magic in the world?  That is my gift for you to learn on this Christmas Day.  Just try asking for something small...  The game is more fun the longer you play.  And I have played for decades.  But it is never too late to start. 

8th Finish for the year....

 

Stacy Nash Primitives - Hallowe'en Jack Sewing Roll.  Finish #8 for 2024.  I started this in November of 2019, then it went into the pile of started things and was ignored.  I skipped the birds at the top of the tree, and the date.  I adjusted a few letters to be more pleasing to my eye.  But it is mostly the pattern.  Colour and Cotton Jazlyn 28 count in Steel.  Dmc 310.  One over one.  Below is a photo of when I picked it back up again.  

I tried to finish the Lizze Kate Christmas ABC - but it was not my mood for more than a thread.  So at this point, if it is not my mood, I just grab something else I have already started.  Now I am back to the red one - doing my two pages for December.  Back in 2019, I was also working on Plum Street's - Friends of the Hart, with the deer....  I'm still not done with that sucker yet either, but it was a random grab in September of this year.  Progress - just make progress on anything.  It doesn't really matter.  The point is to enjoy the stitching.  But maybe for you - it is the finish that is important. 

Another new start for 2024

 

A new start.  Hobby House Press - Dasher and Dancer.  This was a pattern I saw and liked a year or more ago.  It just was never at a site that I buy from.  I saw it this time at the Colour & Cotton website.  She sent the pattern, and included two skeins of  Colour & Cotton - Valor Red.... oh, lovely red for this pattern.  So I ordered more of the Valor Red floss.  This is how far one skein of floss got me.  Of course I used Colour & Cotton fabric.  It is 28 count lugana, one over one, the Jan 2022 fabric club Chamomile.  The stitch count is 355w x 168h.  It is actually under 12 by 6 inches finished.  I will change the swans to something else, but no clue what yet.  But it is time to change to something else after finishing the skein.  

I had finished another page on Ink Circles - Squirrels of Sumatra.  That bottom border was just not my favorite.  But I could do that page, finish that border, and get a break, that seemed okay.  Two pages for December seem possible. 

Two more pages completed

Modern Folk Embroidery - A Winter Kaleidoscope.  This is 6 pages completed of 20 pages total.  It is now a 1/4 done.  Still hanging in there with my two pages each month, and this is Sept, Oct, and Nov.  This is 28 count, one over one.  The total stitch count is 383 x 383, meaning 13.67 inches finished area.  Making this something under 7 x 7 inches finished so far.   It is lovely.  
 

Three more pages done...

 Ink Circles - Squirrels of Sumatra.  Finished the next 3 pages for November.  That is my goal, 3 pages a month, on this one.  This is 6 of 9 pages completed.   I am back on my two pages for the red design...

Medical Awareness....

This is 4 of 20 pages completed on Modern Folk Embroidery - A Winter Kaleidoscope.  My two pages for October, plus a bit more going up.  That big star looking thing is the middle center on all the sides.

On the doctor front, after the blood clot to my lung on the 4th of July, and being put on blood thinners for three months...  I had said since this was my only weird blood clot adventure, I didn't want to be on thinners forever.  So I took the thinners for almost three months, then got the chest scan again to make sure the clot was gone.  And it was.  But I even tried to do exactly what I had done the first time.  I went to give blood 48 hours before the scan, because I had donated a pint of blood 48 hours before the clot.  And to be fair, I felt really exhausted that middle day, so I should have known something was screwing up.  But I had not donated blood for awhile, and after treatment, you have to wait a full year before you can donate.  But there is a big difference from feeling exhausted, to blood clot on my lung and I can't breathe if I lay down, and somebody squeezing on my chest if I try to lay down.  You can't tell if it is your heart, or your lungs.  And you know, that if something inside moves, this can't breathe thing could also change in a heartbeat to can't breathe - period.  

Things I learned...  The time it takes to get that thinner med out of your system... two days.  And I was trying to get covid and flu shots recently.  My chemo doctor said she wanted me to skip the covid shot.  She has had a few of her patients get blood clots after taking the latest covid shots.  Since I did that WITHOUT taking the covid shot, why take the chance to do that again from a covid shot.  So I got the flu shot, and will be avoiding the covid shot.  I did get the free covid tests in the mail.  Read about it here ---    https://covidtests.gov/  ---   and order them from here ---  https://special.usps.com/testkits ---.  The second site is the link from that first page with the information.  And I did see somewhere that scammers have decided to try to collect info from making a page that looks like this, so be aware, and alert.  You don't have to give an email, just an address.  I ordered mine like the first or second day, and got them in less than a week.  But you know if the government is offering free tests again.... something is coming that you might NEED free tests again.  And if you read enough blogs, places where people gather, those people are starting to talk about getting covid again.  So order free test kits while you can.  When I had a few days I felt like crap, I finally grabbed a covid test kit and checked, just to know.  Kids are back in school, the holidays of people gathering and exchanging germs, and people on planes....  and then we all go back to work and pass those germs.  So tis the season to have covid tests in your home.  Especially FREE covid tests.  And please keep in mind, this latest covid shot might give you, or somebody near you, a blood clot.  And I will agree, those people that doctor sees, are already medically dealing with cancer at some stage.  But it is something to be aware of, if not for yourself, for the people around you. 

Finish #7 for 2024

 

Finish #7 for 2024.  Mary Woodrow, Violets & Verses.  Dmc 3799 floss, on Dove Gray 28 count jobelan, one over one.  I changed the word 'youth' at the end to be the more matching style of letters.  It was fun.  As I said before, I started this when I started chemo.  Then it got pushed to the side.  It's now been almost two years, and there were months when I didn't stitch, so it's lovely to have it finished.

This is A Winter Kaleidoscope from Modern Folk Embroidery.  The first two pages of twenty completed for September, and I'm going back to this next for the two pages for October.

Ink Circles - Squirrels of Sumatra.  This is three pages finished of nine pages total.  It's a third done, but the end pages are a bit smaller to be fair.  The colors are way off in the photo, it's more of a brown on brown. 

Another new start...

 A new start - Modern Folk Embroidery - A Winter  Kaleidoscope.  On 28 count antique white jobelan, one over one, using dmc 498.  Started with 16 skeins.  Not wild about the color, but it was what I had with the same dyelot in my stash.  The pattern is 20 pages, this is the lower right corner, pages 19 and 20.  And page 19 is completed.  I was hoping to do the annual pattern, but it's not something I wanted to do, so I picked this one, and will see if I can do 2 pages a month.  But I'm starting it now, these are my two pages for September 2024.  

I picked up Lizzie Kate's ABC's of Christmas, and added more to it, while waiting for this to arrive.  Here is an old photo.

And after adding to it.  It's on a steel gray fabric.  Using the Weeks suggested floss conversion.

A New Start for September...

A new start...  Ink Circles - Squirrels of Sumatra.   It's on Fiber on a Whim, 28 count lugana, Brown Sugar.  dmc 3371 started with 7 skeins, one over one.  Almost finished the bottom right corner page.  It's the smallest of nine pages.  I did get up to the top border. This is actually showing 6 of the 9 pages partially stitched.  The photo is not very pretty, it's more of a brown on light brown. 

Finish #6 for 2024

 

Finish #6 for 2024.  The Goode Huswife - Old Alphabet Blocks.   Used suggested dmc flosses.  On 28 count antique white lugana, two over two.  Took 3 days to stitch.  It was fun to stitch, which is what we hope for when we stitch something.  

I did finish those birds on the bottom left, but trying to look up numbers that would work in the spacing was something I was not having much luck with.  So it went back in the pile again.  

But since I was looking for my alphabet books, I took two of my totes of started things, and pulled a few things out that were calling for me to stitch them again.  So I now have just one handy tote to grab from of things I want to grab again.  And I can ignore the rest for a while.  Although, there is one more that I can hear asking to be stitched again.  It's just somewhere in the other two totes.  I even found one that I was sure I had finished, that clearly was not finished.  I know finishing the one above looks like the obvious one, but I don't like the stuff under the tree, and I don't have anything else that is an obvious fit for that space.  So rather than get stuck, I just move on.

This is Mary Woodrow from Violets & Verses.  It was something I started while I was doing chemo.  Borders were easy to do while in the chair.  But I finished treatment, and this got tossed in the pile.  This month is two years since my surgery, which was before my chemo.  Some people do chemo first, then surgery.  I love all the funny extra letters, so I really do love the pattern.  Below is what it looks like now.  Just a note if you have the pattern, the U and V are reversed.  I corrected it before, but other things, like it not having a 10, I left per the pattern. 

That, then the other, then something else....

 It has been a while...  I worked on Unicorn, Peacock, Badger for a while.  I finished the upper right corner fill in.  I think ithe top third is complete at this point.  But it got tossed back in the pile.

Worked on this for a short time.  Friends of the Hart from Plum Street Samplers.

Simple Living Sampler from Heartstring samplery.  I started the words, but the lettering was something I wanted to change just slightly, so the vines will have to adjust on the left side, meaning the words all have to come first.  It got tossed back at this point.  

After seeing this hanging in a flosstube video, mine had to come back out again.  This is where it was when I picked it back up again.  I reversed the bunny.  

This is where it is now after I finished adding the letters at the top, and reversing the rooster.  It's Heart's Content - Splendor.  I am using dmc 815 not the suggested 902.  

The Goode Huswife - Old Alphabet Blocks.  This was a pattern I added to another order, and am stitching it first.  It's on 28 count antique white lugana, using suggested dmc floss, and I'm stitching it two over two.  It was gonna be like 3 inches square if I stitched it one over one.  It has used almost the whole skein of the dark color to get to this point.  

I ordered fabric, and floss, and a pattern that I had liked a while back.  Nothing in the fall show caught my eye enough to order, so I ordered that old caught my eye pattern.  An older pattern I ordered used anchor flosses, and that took me a moment to figure out.  But I got the floss, and fabric, and it's two over two, because it has a silly one over one in the center, so stitching this two over two is a bit of practice for something I don't do very often.  But I am jumping around a bit from one started thing to something else, to wanting to start something new.  The Old Alphabet Blocks should get finished just because it will only take another day to finish it.  Three days total, and it will be done. 

Finish #5 for 2024

 

Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.   Finish #5 for 2024.  Dmc floss 938 on PTP Vellum 28 count lugana, one over one.  Used 10 skeins of floss.  The finished size is approx 12 x 12 inches.  The photo is not an accurate color.  If you are looking for a masculine color combination, this works.  I enjoyed stitching this, but I enjoy stitching many of her designs.  

Scarlet Letter - Peacock, Unicorn, Badger.  Back to this one again.  Filling in the right hand side.  My plan is to fill in all the things, not sure about stitching in the background.  I have a while to go before I need to decide that. 

This is what it looked like when I picked it back up again.  I seem to have last worked on it in February of this year.

Just to update on medical stuff...  I went in for a scan to check me for cancer again.  When I was in the ER, and that scan, showed I might have something on my adrenal glands.  I could not have told you where my adrenal glands even are...   My friend seemed to know.  Something about on my kidneys... looked odd....  Hey, when basically being able to breath is the problem, them telling me about adrenal glands looking slightly odd maybe..., not a darn thing I can do about that from the bed in the ER at midnight.  But that got me passed back to the chemo doctor to get another scan about 10 days later.  That next scan was the one using the radiated sugar, which makes bad things glow.  I had to wait a few hours to get the result, and the doctor said, nothing glowed, no cancer.  But  she wanted me back on the same estrogen killer pills.  Said that the estrogen killer pill does NOT have blood clots as a possible side effect.  One of them might, but not the one I am on.  So go back to the estrogen killer pill again.  Continue the 3 months of blood thinners, and they will do the ER scan again, and see what that looks like.  But my lesson... when I picked of the meds to start the blood thinners, I said, not gonna need that estrogen killer pill anymore... to the pharmacy.  That was my mistake.  Cause 10 days later, doctor says go back on it to keep the cancer away....   But asking the pharmacy, did you cancel the script?  Oh yeah, they did.  So I would need to go to the doctor again, which would be no problem to explain.  I was really convinced the blood clots had to be a side effect.  At the moment, there is no explaination for why I had the blood clots.  But the test is a sugar fasting test, so they said I'm not diabetic. It was a test that I had gotten sometime during the breast cancer stuff.  That all becomes a blur of what test was when, and at this point, doesn't matter to me.  But I do know places I have been before. But to be told, nothing glowed, no cancer...  that is nice to hear. 

18 of 20 pages completed.

 

Act of God - Long Dog Samplers.  18 of 20 pages completed.  Have almost finished the 9th skein of dmc, so it is gonna take 10 skeins for sure.  Stitching one over one, on 28 count lugana.  There have been backstitches that I not stitched, it just becomes too messy and solid.  But on a different stitch count, I might stitch those same stitches.  It is a lovely pattern, but I enjoy stitching this designer, and have stitched many of her designs. 

Filling in... 14 of 20 pages completed.

..
 Long Dog Samplers - Act of God. I have 14 of 20 pages completed now.  I did a few puzzles to take a break from stitching, but I'm back to working on this again.  I am working on the horse with wings area now.  On July 4th, I ended up going to the ER, and they said I had blood clots in one of my lungs.  And possible pneumonia.  I had pain and in my chest at my sternum if I tried to lay down, and couldn't breathe.  If I just sat upright on the sofa, not a problem, no pain.  If I tried to lay down, couldn't breathe.  And it felt like somebody was squeezing my right lung intake.  I called a friend to say I wanted to go to the hospital, and I sounded like I was crying, because I couldn't breathe properly.  And since it was July 4th, at 8:30pm, and the city shoots off fireworks downtown.  Which happens to be between me and the hospital...  we had to loop around a bit to get there.  But I was fine as long as I was sitting up.  But that is the lesson, I tried to just go to bed, and oh, laying down in the bed meant not being able to breathe at all... game over, call the friend, go to the ER now.  They kept me that night, the following day, and released me on the third day.  They gave me antibiotics, and heparin.  And I get to take the pill version of heparin for 3 months.  Now the kicker...  My breast cancer, which I am now a year past the end of my treatment....  I take estrogen killer pills, because my type of cancer feed off the estrogen I produce.  I didn't get along with the first version.  At three months, I would wake up with crazy knee pain, and cry it hurt so bad.  Then be just fine during the day.  Nothing wrong with my knee.  But after several days of that, I felt I would rather die, or do that entire chemo year again, rather than continue that pill.  So I stopped taking it, and in about three days, I was fine.  I called the chemo doctor, and they saids, - let's try another version.  So I start it.  I am on it 3 months, and the heart guy says, your pressure is too high, side effect of that pill.  I am a fat chick, but I don't have high blood pressure.  But since I wasn't tracking it, it WAS possible, and I always read high anywhere near medical anything.  So I took the pressure pills, and started using my pressure cuff.  That put me at crazy low numbers, like 89/51.  And getting up to pee at 4am, I was light headed....  and scared of falling basically.  Screw that crap.  I stopped taking both pills in January.  I had a colon test at the end of March, and figured I didn't want to deal with something else screwing that up.  So the day after the colon test, I started taking estrogen pill #2 again.  Now I was at 3 months and 1 week after restarting that pill, and this happens.  So I start asking, is this a possible side effect of that stupid estrogen killer pill?  Well, it IS....   but it is very rare.   Hi, nice to meet you, I'm gonna bet I'm stupidly rare.  And see, they don't really know I took that three month break.  And they found something else for the chemo doctor to check....  So rather than seeing her in early August, I get to go back sooner.  So there is a third version of estrogen killer pills.  But so far, the pills to kill my estrogen appear to be trying to kill me.  And they just hit that 3 month mark, or slightly more, and I just have just dodge that bullet the first time with the heart guy.  But it got me the second time.  I did get a mammogram in June, things are okay for another year.  I looked at breast cancer shirts and things when I first got breast cancer, but I'm not the person to wear that shirt.  But I did find a coffee cup that said - 'Sorry your boobs tried to kill you'.  That felt like the closest version.  But now it's the preventative stuff that seems to keep trying to kill me.  I look at it that we learn from each other, and the more you know, the better off you are.  

And on July 3, I watched a lady drive off from a gas pump with the nozzle still in her car.  Yep, broke off at the nozzle, the hose was still pouring out gas like a large garden hose.  I know there are pump emergency shut offs, but I didn't know where they were at that gas station.  She tried holding up the hose, then dropped the hose, and went running towards the store with the nozzle in her hands.  She needed a better plan.  I needed a better plan.  So if this happens and you are pumping gas at the next pump over, what would YOUR plan be???   I was several cars away, parked, putting banking stuff away in my purse.  When I went to leave, she was leaving, so I was watching her leave first.... when I saw the nozzle still in her van.  And I could see her realize, and stop...  she tried, she just didn't have a plan.  We ALL need better plans.   

8 skeins of dmc used...

 Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  This is 8 skeins of dmc used, but again, no more pages completed.  Still at just 10 of 20 pages done.  On the upside, the border met up properly.  I have all the pages started.  There will be some backstitching omitted.  Stitching one over one, on 28 count, some backstitching just becomes too much.  It's a crappy photo, but I do look at the photos when I feel like I am not making progress. 

Used 7 skeins of dmc so far...

 Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  No more pages completed, so still 10 of 20 done, but this is the 7th skein of dmc added and completed.  The big deal was coming up on that right side, and having it actually meet above that hole in the middle.  

I did my mammogram this week, and things were fine.  The end of the month is my one year post treatment.  My hair is back, and now I can't seem to connect to the girl that used to cut my hair.  It's been two years.  She has family in other places, so she might be out of the country.  My hair started to grow back in June a year ago, so it is still less than 5 inches long.  I get to try to donate blood again once I am a year past the end of my treatment.  So I made that appointment to try.  I am O-, and they ALWAYS need O-.  Trying to get my act together.

10 of 20 pages completed

 

Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  This is 10 of 20 pages completed.  It is also 6 skeins of dmc floss used.  My breaks from this have been to do a jigsaw puzzle, and I have done several at this point.  As I have said before, no other stitching has been calling me to pick something else up... but I just saw the photos of the Unicorn, Peacock, Badger.... and it said, hey, remember me???  Like some boy I liked and forgot about. 

8 pages of 20 completed...

Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  Finished 8 of 20 pages at this point.  Finished the 5th skein of dmc.  The rows are five pages across, so I'm in the middle.  The top row shows the width of the middle page, so I have some done on several of the middle pages, where the last couple pages on each row have nothing done, except the bottom where I started at.  It certainly is a lovely design, and I am enjoying it.  I started with 12 skeins of dmc, same dyelot.  I wanna take a break from it, I never stitch something this large from start to finish.  But nothing has been calling my name. 

Six Pages of Twenty Completed.

Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  This is 6 of 20 pages completed, and 4 skeins of dmc used.  Three corners completed.  I do like stitching on this.  It's not symmetrical, so it is something you have to watch carefully.  I had the corner of a motif that I was suddenly wrong on, so I took it out, and then restitched it exactly the same wrong way again... so it was 3 tries to get it correct.  I don't get very far before I realize I am off, but I would not want this to be the first pattern from this designer that I tried.  It is 12 inches square, stitched 1 over 1, on PTP 28 count lugana.  Actual measurements. So framing it might be easy, but I am a long way from completing it.  But I have not had the feeling that I want to stitch on something else.  But now that I have said that... all bets are off. 

Back to this one...

 

Long Dog Samplers - Act of God.  Went back to this one.  It is making progress, just slowly.  Still on the third skein of floss. 

A finish again... #4 for 2024

Cross Stitch Collectibles - Escher - Heaven & Hell - ES-05.  Finish #4 for 2024.  Used dmc floss on a 25 count white jobelan, one over one.  It's a solid sucker, and 25 count works the best for me.  The stitch count is 196 x 201.  Started it in 2018, and picked it up this time and finished it.  There is another picture I can add below to show there was progress between.  It wasn't my favorite of the Escher patterns I have done, but it was an easier one.  Not sure what I am gonna pick up next.

Escher cross stitch that I have completed.

 Escher's I have stitched or started at this point.  And even framed.  They are all from the Cross Stitch Collectibles as the designer.  I have other ones, but I try not to start too many at the same time, and that partial one is a lot of pages... Hence the reason I am working on Heaven and Hell, just because I might get it closer to a finish. 

Partial in the started baskets.....

The one I am currently adding stitches to at the moment. 

Escher has progress....

 Cross Stitch Collectibles - Heaven and Hell.  This was last picked up in 2018 if my blog is to be believed.  But I love MC Escher.  It would be a hard to find pattern, but there are other versions out there if you want to stitch Escher.  I just prefer to stitch the ones from this company.  It is on a 25 count and uses 9 dmc colors, one over one.  I usually just see the bats first, but the angels are white between.  Had five pages completed when it came back out.  I have completed an additional three pages in this photo.  You can easily see how large a page is in this photo.  It is about 7.5 inches across if you are wondering, and the stitch count is  192 x 195.  I have completed several other Eschers....but I don't think they appear on my blog anymore. Here is where it was when I picked it up again.