I'm Back

Thank you for sticking with me!  I've been gone a long time. It's been a long, tough recovery and I'm still not 100% but I'm doing ok and I'm ready to test the quilting/sewing waters again.

I've been MIA since March so I thought I'd fill you in on what's been going on the past few months to bring you up to speed.

March was spent getting the house and my affairs in order in anticipation of a few months downtime. I cleaned, shopped and organized and made sure bills were paid and papers filed. There were multiple pre-op tests performed and several doctor's appointments.

I did find a little time to be crafty, though. After seeing some really cute decoupaged rabbits on Pinterest, I decided to make one as an Easter decoration. I started with this plain brown papier-mâché bunny from Joann's. 

I've had this really pretty tissue paper for years and finally used it for this project. 

I painted the bunny white, 

then applied squares of the tissue paper with mod podge. 

I think it came out really nice!

I also made a new Easter mini quilt in a crazy quilt style. 

 

I used some of the specialty stitches on my sewing machine in lieu of hand embroidery. I sent it to work and asked one of my staff members to hang it up while I was out for the surgery. It was a big hit.

April 2 was my sister, Kelly's (aka Frog's) birthday and also my surgery day. I was pretty scared and nervous. I've had numerous surgeries over the years but this was by far the most serious. That first night after surgery, while I still had copious amounts of anesthesia in my system, I pieced two and a half hexie flowers. 

Since then, bupkis! Nada, nothing, zip, zilch, zero. Huh?!

I spent four days, three nights at the hospital then came home to continue my recovery. I had two weeks of physical therapy at home then started outpatient therapy. For anyone else considering joint replacement surgery, you should know that your therapy needs to be your full time job while you are recovering. You really need to put time and effort into regaining mobility.

 

The rest of April was spent in a medication-induced stupor. Well, not totally, but I found it very, very difficult to concentrate on anything for any length of time.  I was really only on pain meds for a couple weeks but I had trouble concentrating for months and am still having some trouble in that department.

I probably stopped the pain meds sooner than I should have but I don't tolerate the meds well. They wreak havoc with my digestive system.  This time I ended up in the hospital with colitis - on Easter! So that was the end of the first round of pain medication.

Next time, I'll tell you about May and April.