Post Surgery

I wrote this post back in September and haven't had the courage to publish it. I received an email from Lyn who told me her story. She reminded me of the power of sharing and that one sentence can make a difference for someone else who is suffering.
To Lynn: Thank you for sharing your story. My heart hurts for others who have trials like yours and those who suffer silently. Here it is...


They're gone, I'm sporting an ace wrap that you could wrap a house in and then there are the drains. I'm sure many of you have experienced the post surgery drains; they are the worst and it will be a happy day when I get them removed. I empty, measure and chart the contents 3 times a day.

I actually ended up having 2 surgeries as one side developed a hematoma and 2 days after my initial surgery the only way to relieve this was another surgery. The second one kicked my butt and I was pretty much a wasteoid. I didn't start to feel like a human again until a full week after the second surgery, not quite a full human but getting there. I wanted to wash my hair.

The hardest thing after the surgery was taking a shower. The engineer took off the ace wrap and helped me hang the drains on a ribbon around my neck then I saw myself in the mirror for the first time. I gasped then cried. I quickly turned away, it was devastating. I looked again through tears which brought more tears. He held me from the back and rubbed my back lightly while telling me how much he loved me. I sucked it up and took my shower while thinking  life could only get better from this point. It felt glorious to wash my hair.

As you can imagine I'm not doing any quilting but thinking about it a lot which makes me happy!

Cancer Is Consuming, Quilting is the Best Distraction

     I don't want to be a downer but when you have a cancer diagnoses it is all consuming. The engineer and I held the news in because we thought we didn't want to talk about it. Looking back I think we were still in shock at the news and there were so many unanswered questions.
     The only thing that made me forget about my cancer was quilting, and I did. I'd helped two young teens in the past with a fun pattern called "Disappearing Nine Patch" which turned out so cute. I wanted to do one for myself. I had four Timeless Treasures Tonga Treats Charm Packs, two of Coffee Cake and two of Champagne in my stash for some time and decided to use those. I loved the light and dark values of the Treats.

The Champagne treats are values of creams...hang on you'll see them in the next few pictures. 

     While I don't have a picture of the actual nine patch from my quilt here's one I found on the web. It helps you to see the concept.

     Being in my sewing room brings me peace and the time flies so quickly. Before I knew it I had my four charm packs sewn into nine patch's, next step cut them down the center horizontally and perpendicular then I squared them up keeping them in batches of four of the same block. I had no instructions, just thought I was supposed to do it this way. 

     Layout! I love laying out a quilt and since I don't have a layout wall I use the guest bed. I tried several designs over two days, giving me plenty of time to look and think then look again. On the second morning I decided to scrap the idea of keeping the four same blocks together and arranged them by color and value, Eureka! This was it! I sewed it together in rows and got this. 

Both the Engineer and I like the gradient look with the darks being in one corner and the lights in another. What do you think?  I used all the darkest blocks for the center of the nine patch, which is the patch that gets cut into 4 small blocks. You are also seeing the border for the first time. I got this batik backing and border piece for 50% off! What girl doesn't love a sale?!?! I had some champagne squares left over and put one in each corner of the border. I was so excited to get this one done and still hadn't had surgery yet, bilateral mastectomy, so I quickly scheduled some long arm time. I used a sort of detailed pantograph and King Tut variegated thread called Caravan. This picture is a close up of the quilting plus you can see some of the Champagne Tonga Treats a little better. (look for the rectangles)

Surgery is coming up, it's schedule for September 9th. Not sure how I'll feel for a while. Glad I have some quilts to snuggle up in.