August 13, 2022
I am loading my longarm machines to play 'catch up' with my clients. The last 3 years have been difficult for many reasons. Covid was not the only occurance that really threw all of us off for a while.
As many of you know Mr. OLT had battled cancer since he was 35 years old. Most recently bladder, kidney, and oral cancer. Dick died of heart failure on August 9, 2021, one year ago last Tuesday. To say that this has been a huge adjustment for me and my family would be a great understatement. Knowing that he would not be walking in the door on Friday afternoons has not kept me from waiting to hear the lock turn. The dogs have finally stopped looking for him, but, I haven't. Loosey still won't get up in his chair. So much has gone 'un-done' since all of this has happened. In the same time line, so much has happened.
As Dick was taken to the hospital in July, something happened in my knee. I was also having alot of pain in my left arm, but all of that had to take a back seat as we tried, valiantly, to get him well. He fought hard for 2 weeks to just live. He celebrated his 74th birthday in ICU. The staff sang 'Happy Birthday' and brought him special gifts. He loved it and that day he felt good. That was August 4th. So much happened over the next 5 days and I'm really not so sure that the procedures should have been pushed so hard. He grew weaker as each day passed.
One good thing out of all of this is that Vickie and Dusty had the chance to spend some quality time with their Dad. We took turns being at the hospital with him and the hospital 'kicked' us out each evening because of Covid rules. Hopefully, Vickie and Dusty had good conversations with their Dad. Ones they will remember forever and share with his Grandchildren.
Shortly after Dick's death I saw a surgeon about the pain in my arm that I was sincerely afraid was from a torn rotator cuff. It was determined that the problem was coming from disc compressions in my neck. So, off to surgery I go in December for a plate to be placed on the vertebral column in my neck. That was really interesting. I'm not really sure, even now, that it helped the pain in my arm as I still have times when it bothers me.
Anyway, the day of that surgery, I had extreme swelling in my knee. No pain, it was just 2-3 times the size that it should have been. So, I was then referred to an orthepedic/sports medicine practice to check on that. It took several months and injections before it was finally determined that I needed a total knee replacement.
Keep in mind that I was still longarming for clients, working the floor of a large quilt show, and conducting quilt retreats. You gotta do what you gotta do, right?
Surgery for the knee replacement was June 29. All went well. Lucky for me I have some fantastic friends that helped me through recovery, because all of my family was out of town. I had a 'window' of 5 weeks until I had the summer retreat for One Loose Thread scheduled. I had no intension of changing that.
Well, we all came home from camp last Sunday. I have been told that this was one of the best camps that I have ever hosted. I have been trying to figure out what made it so special and I think I know. All of you. Most, of the 'Frayed Knots' have known what was going on over the last year. Most knew that I had major surgery 5 weeks before. All of you know that I try to be very independent and have a hard time accepting help of any kind. But, you would not let me say no thank you. You didn't even ask, you just did whatever needed to be done. Everyone who attended camp this time had been there before. Either once or many times. Don't get me wrong, I welcome 'new Frayed Knots', but it was probably a blessing that I had returning 'Frayed Knots' with me this time.
It's going to take me a several weeks to catch up with promised quilts. I have a week scheduled for continuing education in September, so I will be working around that. Physical Therapy will continue for at least another month. I pretty much move around the house without a cane or walker. When I'm out and about I take my cane with me, but, don't rely on it. So, things are improving.
Cooper is looking forward to the day that he can get up in the chair with me and be a Lab---blanket. I look forward to that day too.
I think this brings us up to date and probably gives you and the WWW more information than it should, but I really wanted to let everyone know that: LIFE IS GOOD AND GETTING BETTER EACH DAY. Thank you for listening and caring.
Now:
LET'S GO SEW!!!!
