Oooh pretty

Wow, the woman who is our sponsor in Paris got into our apartment to set it up for us to live in (or my husband anyway) until our belongings arrive. Anyway, she took some photos. This is the building:

And I think this is the formal living room: (There is also a family room/sitting room which may just end up my quilting room.)

Doesn't it look beautiful? That floor is gorgeous - I'm really excited. We have loads of windows and even some storage. She sent a photo of the kitchen too, which turns out to be larger than I was expecting. Woohoo. I expect we're going to have a lot more empty space than I was expecting as well. An opportunity to shop!!!

Needed some good news right now. Turns out I don't get to go over to Paris until my medical situation is resolved. I don't know for sure yet, but sounds like that'll take a minimum of 7 weeks. I've come up with a back-up plan tho (staying with my parents in Florida) so I'm pretty upbeat about it, even if my Dad is going to complain about the cats the entire time. It'll be nice to have some sunshine this winter and Florida will have that.

I can't believe how disgusting and lumpy the area is around my incision. It's huge. Guess it's that big inside my throat as well which is why it has been difficult to swallow. Bleck.

Guess what, I started quilting last night! First time since the surgery, so that feels good. Sci-Fi Channel is running a marathon of "Heroes" so I think I may just tune in to that and get some more work done. Unfortunately my quilting callous has come off, but I think I can get it whipped back into shape quickly.

It's also sunk in that I just won't have my Christmas decorations this year. Not a chance. I always figured I could buy some in Paris, but that's not going to happen. If I work up enough energy tomorrow I have a plan for a holiday quilt top. Even If I just get the top done, I could put it up with painters' tape (like Dawn does when she takes photos) and enjoy it that way. This is an opportunity to be creative. As I said, I'm feeling upbeat today. Life is good.

Thank you all for the continuing support and well wishes. I appreciate each and every one of you. Hope you had some sunshine in your lives today too! Thank you.

Oh Shoot

Got some not so good news yesterday. The thyroid was indeed cancerous (Papillary - the "easy" kind) which was not surprising. The surprise is that they also detected traces of cancer in the lymph glands, which means it had spread. Sucky, sucky, sucky.

So now there is an additional test I have to do, in which they send iodine throughout my body and see if cancer shows up anywhere else. Of course I can't do that test right away because I had an MRI with contrast and you can't do this other scan for 4-6 weeks after. Aaagh. It's all this waiting around that's the pain.

Can I convince the endocrinologist to give me the go ahead for moving overseas and having the treatment there? Can we convince the beaurocratic layers at my husband's work that it's okay for me to have the treatments overseas? What will happen? I have absolutely no idea.

As usual, I hate the waiting and the not knowing. I don't like limbo, not a bit.

No News

Visited the surgeon this morning and got my sutures out. Still haven't gotten a really good look at my scar - it remains covered up with tape. My husband has surprised me by being fascinated with the wound. I think it's freaky and avoid looking, but not him. Plus, I swear he watches me drink to see if liquid is going to start leaking out my throat.

Unfortunately the pathology has not been done yet on the thyroid. Guess that isn't surprising because of the holiday. Also, I misunderstood the resident. Turns out that he told me it was the lymph node that was benign. They'd just had to take it out because it was in the way - not because it was cancerous. So don't know what it is up with the thyroid at all.

I'm feeling better. Less fuzzy, which is excellent. Have an appetite back - actually ate pizza last night (pineapple, ham and onion - my favorite). Generally I feel pretty much the same now as before the surgery - no over- or under-active thyroid symptoms. Hope I'm going to be one of those people who easily finds their dosage level.

I finished reading Max Brooks' World War Z yesterday. A novel about the Zombie war. Probably not the happiest reading I could have been doing, but certainly so far removed from reality that I was able to escape myself.

Hubby and I finished the first couple discs of Stargate SG-1 Season 9. I miss Jack, but have been very pleasantly surprised by Cameron Mitchell. Fun character and he has a bit of that Jack levity. Plus it was fabulous to have Varla back for awhile - I hope she makes a return appearance soon. I'm so not into the whole Jaffa thing - hope we don't have too much of their politics - rather boring.

I've become sucked into Sudoku. I bought a whole book with a variety of levels, but the easy and mediums are too boring. I'd rather be challenged and lose badly than do win without making my brain hurt. I've just started doing those again today, so that's another sign that I'm becoming functional.

Lily must think I'm doing better now too. Up until last night, she has slept curled up at my side and not left the entire night. I've been drugged up enough that I'm not tossing and turning, so it's easy to sleep with my arm around her. Very sweet. And Pokey has been extremely sweet - she spent hours and hours curled up on my sweetie's lap while he watched old movies on TCM this weekend.

I haven't quilted in at least a week though. Way back then, I put aside Cranky Witch and started working on Merry Penguins - I want that one finished and up on the wall. I'm doing free hand fans in a spiral around the border, but in the center I'll just go in one direction. I'll show you a pic one of these days. Quilting isn't a good thing for me to do right now. Looking downward is hard - it closes up my throat and makes it hard to breathe. I'll be glad when my throat is back to normal.

Hanging in There

I'm hanging in there. It's taking seemingly forever to recover from the thyroidectomy, even tho I've felt tons better every single day. I just want to instantly be well. No surprise there.

I'm still on pain meds and a bit fuzzy. Not as much as before tho. As I said, getting better every day. I think the resident told me that the immediate tests on my thyroid showed that the nodules were benign. I was a bit out of it when he was talking to me though, so I'll have a much better idea of how the surgery went after meeting with the surgeon on Monday.

Thanksgiving was pretty pathetic here. My darling sweetie ate a chicken pot pie and I was able to eat a couple of crackers, as well as jello and applesauce(during the day, not all at once). Sweetie made me a pumpkin pie (made as in put it in the oven and cooked it) so I was able to have some of that last night.

I put up our limited Christmas decorations. We have our Egyptian applique stockings (to read more about them, go here) which are bright and happy.

I'm having a hard time focusing on this, so I'm going to sign off now. Ya'all take care.

On the Schedule

I'm having the thyroidectomy on 21 November. That's two days before Thanksgiving. I'm not worried tho - I can go and have a nice turkey dinner before the surgery and we weren't planning to get together with friends or family anyway. I'll be eating lots of ice cream and jello since I'll be on a liquid and soft food diet after the surgery. I'm happy to have a date on the calendar for the surgery.

Yesterday was an excellent day. My friend M came over and we worked on her quilt that has been in progress for 15 years. That's how many years ago I taught her to applique and she first started working on the blocks. When I was in town 3 years ago we started basting it and yesterday we finished basting it. She did get about 10 inches of quilting stitched into it tho. I just hope she'll keep working on it this time since she's actually at the fun part.

She also showed me a very cool part of Bethesda that's full of restaurants and a big Barnes and Noble bookstore. Even better, it's only a few blocks away. I kind of feel like an idiot for not getting over there myself, but at least now I know where it is.

It's improved my mood immensely to have had glorious sunshine yesterday and again today. Hope you all have had some lovely fall (or spring for you down-under types) weather too.

I watched the Sci-Fi channel miniseries The Triangle. I knew going in it would be stupid fun, and it didn't disappoint. Gotta say the air turbulence and high seas were too realistic. I had to keep quilting and NOT look up during those scenes. That's so much easier to do when my sweetie is here to harass - What's going on now? What did I miss?

I hate using the computer in the common room. Not very conducive to staying for long and getting creative in my posts. I'll do much better once my husband gets back with the laptop. Not that it will be the same laptop as before, since he managed to spill coffee all over that one. Glad that was him, not me. Anyway, I am totally behind in reading blogs - sorry about that.

Do check out the first issue of the Bent Needle - textile goodness now on blogstands near you. I haven't gotten a chance to check out all the links, but it looks like loads of fun. Go on, go look.

Waiting

Hi guys.

The appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday went well. He thinks the best option is to take out the whole thyroid. On Wednesday I had an MRI of my neck done so that he would have all the information he needs going in. His surgery coordinator is supposed to call and tell me when my appointment is, but so far I've heard nothing, which is making me crazy. I'm afraid to wander away from the phone. I'll be a pest tomorrow. The surgeon said he thought the earliest he'd be able to do it was in a couple of weeks. So it's gonna be awhile.

Today I did a lot of quilting on Cranky Witch while watching Emma (the tv version with Kate Beckinsale, most definitely not the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow). Jane Austen is so wonderfully comforting. I then watched the Project Runway marathon on Bravo. I hate couture - what ugly clothes. But the show was fun, even if my favorite designer didn't win.

I miss my sweetie, but the cats are keeping me good company. I haven't been spending much time on the computer at all, but I have gotten your comments and emails. Thanks for the good wishes. I'll catch up with you later.

Sweeties

A picture from Cairo. This was when I was trying to sort through my sewing and craft stuff to figure out what I was going to toss and what was getting packed. Cats of course had a great time.

Ya'all are very sweet. Again, thank you for all the supportive comments and emails. You're fabulous.

Turns out my sweetie and I were overreacting. We'll still make it to Paris. We just need to stop worrying.

My husband is leaving this morning to go out of town for two weeks. This has been planned for ages and there was no compelling reason for him not to go. My marvelous friend M lives not too far from here and is willing to step in and take care of the cats and me if it turns out I can actually get in to surgery in the next little while. Which I hope I can.

He's taking the laptop which means I won't be spending as much time on online, but not to worry, I will keep in touch.

On the good news front, my favorite aunt and uncle are in town. We all went out last night for dinner and it was wonderful to get caught up. I considered doing some sightseeing with them today, but then decided I really didn't want to see the capitol building, so maybe I'll just meet them for dinner.

Still Sighing

We're lucky to have cats that all get along with each other. Even so, the combination of Lily, Pokey and Howler all sleeping together is unusual. Much more likely to see the little girls with Habibi. Anyway. In size, one big cat would be equal to three of our little ones. They are big cats. And fat.

Well, the bad news is that the biopsy results came back with a "suggestion" of cancer. The good news is that it's the easy cancer. Papillary thyroid cancer is highly treatable and curable. So now I have to find myself a surgeon to remove the nodule so that tests can be done. Have to say my endocrinologist was completely unhelpful, so I've spent some frustrating time on the computer researching exactly what kind of surgeon I need. And are they covered by my medical insurance. Sigh. Think I've got what I need now and I'll start calling this morning.

My sweetie and I do NOT want to lose the posting to Paris, so he's going to investigate whether or not he can go on ahead and then I'll come over with the kitties as soon as I'm done with all of this. I'd rather take care of this on my own than miss out. It sounds doable. But can I just say it again, what a pain in the ass.

Thank you all for your kind words and wishes. I'm hanging in there.

Update: I've got an appointment with a surgeon at Georgetown University Hospital for next Tuesday, so all is good. Sorry for being so whiny - I'm better now.

Heavy Sigh

The fabric is washed but I have yet to actually sew. The dining room in the apartment is just plain dark. Cats are making use of the fabric anyway.

I still haven't gotten the results of my thyroid biopsy. Heavy sigh. Turns out the doctors have been consulting and now my endocrinologist needs to give me the news in person. That can't be good although it's not necessarily bad. It may just mean that the test was indeterminate and now I have to have some other kind of test like a surgical biopsy to know for sure. I can't get in to see the doctor until late this afternoon, so that gives me way too much time to worry.

This whole thing would not be such a pain in the ass if it weren't for our impending move. We're living in an expensive temporary apartment and just want to get to Paris. I imagine whatever the news is it's going to throw a monkey wrench into the works.

Sorry to whine to ya'all. Just needed to talk to somebody. Thanks for being here for me.