Wednesday, December 10, 2008

4:54 pm Wed.

Jean, I have been thinking about you with that shoulder and wanted to mention that you have probably found doing up a bra at the back hard for you. Because of my shoulder problem, I started wearing sports bras which do up in the front....much easier for me but there was an underwire under each cup. I wore them for years until last year, when I had a guest here with the B&B, who mentioned that she had been having pain in her rib cage as a result of wearing an underwire, I mentioned that I did too. I stopped wearing them and have gone back to the back do-up. It hurts me most of the time but the stretch is good for me. I still can have echo pain in my upper rib cage area. Just thought you might like to have that information to keep in the back of your mind. Sounds like you had no choice but to repair the damage, which was extensive from the sounds of it.

Hi Brenda, nice to see your post. I'm sorry to hear about your hubby loosing his job, not a nice thought at any time of the year, somehow Christmas makes it even worse, to me.

The storm that we had come through yesterday covered pretty much all of southern and central Ontario. Snow, then rain, then snow, then snow...then snow ! Man, are we getting it this year.

Rosey

This and that

Rosey, I injured my shoulder by falling on the concrete floor in our warehouse. The shoulder took the full weight of the fall. I wound up with two tears, a bone spur and the biceps tendon pulling away. Ouch! It was a mess in there. I fell over a year ago, but it didn't start to bother me until a few months later. I tried PT, but when that didn't work I had an MRI which showed just how bad the shoulder was. I really had no option but to have the surgery. The doctor told DH that if I hadn't had it done, in a year or two I'd have had little use of that arm left. Sigh. I'm five weeks after surgery now and I'm just starting to be able to sleep. Last night I slept 6 hours without waking up!! That is huge for me. The pain is getting better; now I have to work harder on getting my range of motion back. Got more exercises to try at home from PT today. SIGH.

We started out with pouring rain today, then it turned briefly to sleet, and now it's snowing. DH went to pick the kids up from school. I hope he doesn't have any trouble on these slick roads. DD is also driving back from a school function. I'll be glad when all of my family is back home safe and sound.

Tomorrow I may try to wrap some Christmas presents. Don't know how that's going to go with one bum arm, but we'll see how far I get. Probably not too far!

Jane, you are in my thoughts. You've been dealing with crud for far longer than I have. I guess we'll learn patience through all this. Hopefully.

Jean in VT, where it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (insert musical note here)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

out of lurkdom....

I've been reading, sympathizing with the afflicted, but not posting. Guess it's time. Jane, I'm sorry you're having such a rough time. It must be incredibly frustrating. Jean, I hope your shoulder is pain-free soon. And, Sara, hope you have a healthy husband again soon. I like the sound of your party with the baby gifts. Rosey, you're getting all the snow we used to get before the weather got wierd. We have a bit, but not a lot. It is getting very cold though; -27 the other morning. Donna - love your crazy quilt.
I have finally got into the Christmas spirit and the quilting spirit as well. DH got laid off, and my 92-year-old mom passed away all within less than a month. I have been feeling like skipping Christmas, but last weekend I did some sewing and baking while listening to Christmas music, and I felt that anticipation stirring. I've been concentrating on the good things and it's working to lift my mood. I even sent out Christmas cards for the first time in a few years. I seem to have a new appreciation for our friends and extended family. We had our 40th anniversary in between the lay-off and Mom's getting sick. Our girls gave us a wonderful party. We are also expecting a new grandchild in May. So, by the 20th I'll be all psyched up to go down to spend a week with the girls and their families. My son and his girlfriend will join us. We'll be about 17 for dinner - that's the way Christmas dinner should be. Especially when I don't have to do the big cooking or the cleaning....
I'm working on a quilt for our almost-2-year-old grandson - his first big-boy quilt. I also made a Christmas stocking for our son's girlfiriend. It was such a pleasure to be sewing again. Hope I can keep it up.
Hugs to all, Brenda in Nn Ontario

Tues. afternoon

Well, it's good to read somc "chat" on the board, even though it's not all good news.
Jane- Was wondering how you are doing. My RX is to put some Christmas CDs or find a radio station with Christmas music and play it all day.
Did Sandra in S.C. get her Kenmore bobbins?
Jean in VT- sorry your arm is huring so, I don't think the cold weather helps it any. I'm sure the snow is beautiful.
Anyone giving/getting any special gifts this year? DH is now the owner of a new 52" flat screen TV. We watched the football games in High Diff. this weekend, and there were beautiful and clear. This one is a Sony Bravia, but we almost bought the Samsung, the consumer reports rated them the same.
Thursday night I'm having a Christmas Tea party. Everyone is supposed to bring an unwrapped baby gift for the local crisis pregnancy center. I recommeded diapers, but sent out a short list with the invitation. So far 16 people are coming. The tree is up and decorated, the front door is done, all I have to do is bake and "assemble" things on Thursday morning.
DH said he would make his wonderful chicken salad.
DH is slowly getting better. We met with the ENT Dr. yesterday, and he referred us to yet another specialist. This is an infectious disease Dr. More blood work, more waiting.
At least DH is feeling better, he is going to work every day, but not till about 10:00AM. He is a bit of a crab cake, but not so sick like he was a few weeks ago. The swelling in the neck is going down also.
I'm trying to set up a time to take the youngest GS to see Santa. I realized that I have no pictures of the grands with santa--where was my mind? The youngest is 7, the older boys have stopped beliving in Santa- sigh. . . . .
I put out a cute picture of DD at about age 7 with a Santa, and another one of her about age 6 ripping into presents on our brown shag rug.
OK, all for now.
Sara in Fla.

Donna, your crazy quilt is simply beautiful. I hope you'll post photos when it's all finished. I'm just reading the series on Elm Tree quilters and a crazy quilt is part of the book I'm into...it's a good series to pass the winter away.

Jean, I've been reading about your shoulder. Did this happen because of quilting your quilts...was it overuse or something else? I've had a frozen shoulder, now it's just chronic stiffness and pain but bearable. I have massage every two weeks and it helps; also going to Curves has helped build up strength around the area and it no longer crunches when I exercise. I hope your shoulder improves but it must feel frustrating for you not being able to do things that you normally would because of it.

Jane, not that old sinusy cold again for you! That thing just keeps hanging around, doesn't it...wonder if it has anything to do with all those anesthetics you've been having. You've sure had a lot of medical problems over the past few years. If you weren't so gritty about it you might have succumbed going over that embankment. Hope you can manage on your own up there on your mountian. The alternative doesn't bear thinking about just yet. The aging process isn't a nice one.

Still more snow here overnight. I had planned a trip to another city today but won't get out on the highways today. The snow started just after we had cut down a little Christmas tree which we keep out on our back porch and put tiny lights on it so that it shines in through three windows and rooms in the house. We got it tied up with fishing wire and that night it snowed and hasn't stopped. I can't get near the tree to put the lights on it and it's almost toppled over into the sliding glass door with the weight of the snow. I'll be having cabin fever by Christmas instead of the end of Feb.

Rosey

Monday, December 8, 2008

I AIN'T DEAD YET

I’ve been among the missing for a long time but have been checking in. My absence has been largely medical but I’ve observed that there are a lot of folks in much scarier circumstances than I. However, I’m so #*&$* sick of being sidelined with the remnants of that accident last spring. The tendon repair of 11/18 turned out to be a far more extensive surgery than surgeon and I had both anticipated. The tendon (the one that runs from medial (inside) side of ankle down along the foot and under attaching to the foot was just about gone and he had to remove some tendon tissue from a nearby healthy one and attach it to the injured one (my crude understanding of a tendon transfer). Then he went to work removing a ton of scar tissue all around the joints as well of a mass of newly developed arthritis in the same area. While he was in the area he removed the five screws from the tibia and fibula fractures as those were perfectly healed but which had left in their wake the other mess. I am back in a wheel chair, depending on others to drive me to the necessary doc offices, grocery etc. The big difference from last spring is that I don’t have the resources with which to pay as generously as I did last spring. It’s been a horribly expensive year to say the least. To frost the cake I’m dealing with a nasty cold. My eyes are so itchy I suspect that I have conjunctivitis. The computer at times acts as if the virus has infected it but the symptoms are sporadic. After three days in hospital I made the decision to go to a local nursing home which I had never known offers rehab-to home service. I just didn’t feel strong enough because of exercise limitations for so long, to handle the walker etc. I then spent about ten days there where I received excellent help. The vast majority of “residents” there are dementia patience. I’ve decided that when I’m fully functional I’ll take Shadow there for visits. Now, ladies, you may send some cheese to go with this whine as I have plenty of that.

Contrary to my plans before the surgery, I haven’t touched needle and thread. I came home to a terrible mess of my own making and when not napping I’ve been plowing through several weeks of mail. About caught up by now

Extra hugs to those suffering various types of misfortune. I am thankful that my own are not much in comparison.

Jane in NC

Brrrrrrrr!

I woke up to two degrees below zero and windy this morning. Yuck! I have to go in to work to do the bookwork and I don't even want to poke my nose out the door. I have to do it while DH can walk me over though (We live next door to our business.) so I guess I'll just have to brave the cold. PT is at 1:30, so I want to be done my work by then.

Coming up on five weeks in the sling as of Wednesday, and I can't wait to be rid of this thing. PT is starting to hurt more now as they move the arm more, but I guess that's to be expected. I'll whine a little today and see what they say.

We got our Christmas tree yesterday and the s decorated it. It looks so pretty and smells so good! I finally had DH take me Christmas shopping on Saturday so most of my shopping is now done. Now I've got to get my DDs to wrap for me. There's so much I can't do with this bum arm! I can't wait for it to be better.

Off to work to peck at the computer with one hand...

Jean in VT