Seizing the Opportunity to Tangle with the Karma Bus

Wow! Holy applesauce, Batman! Crap just hit the fan. Shit just got real.

Last November, when I turned 50, I made a promise to myself. I was going to become fit, fine and fifty. This would be the year I started taking care of myself. I've been slowly puttering towards that goal. I've been modifying my eating and getting back to working out. Nothing radical, nothing too fast or hard and definitely no deprivation. I've just been taking small steps towards becoming healthier. I've decided that I am worth it!

I was beginning to think that I was making some progress. My jeans were getting looser, my arms firming up a bit, my knee sausages were shrinking and my breathing was getting easier. The numbers on the scale were even starting to creep lower.

Like I said, things were improving slowly. Baby steps! Things were looking good.

Enter . . . . . the Karma Bus!

Clearly I've been very, very naughty.

It began like any other day. I got up had two cups of coffee. Just two, limiting caffeine as part of the health kick. Did a little sewing on the current block of the month applique. Piled into the car and went and got my monthly blood work taken. (Part of the whole rheumatoid arthritis gig is regular blood work.) After that, I drove to Along Came Quilting to meet a friend for a bit of fabric shopping and after that some lunch. So far, so good.

Into the store we go, stirring up trouble and kibitzing with the staff. Lots of fun and laughter along with some fabric stroking. All of a sudden, out of no where, I started feeling weird. Not bad, just a bit off. Then things started to go dark, like when the electricity dips and the lights go brown.

Crap! I realize that I might pass out for the first time in my life. The next thing I know, I'm fighting off hunky ambulance attendants in the parking lot.

What the heck?

Through the crowd of attendants my friend (a nurse) starts trying to reassure me that it is okay. I've just had a seizure and that they were taking care of me. Her words fell of deaf ears because, needless to say, I was just a little freaked out and totally disoriented. I panicked a bit and they had to drug me to get me into the ambulance. It seems that up to that point, I had been following instructions fairly well. Shoot!

So, they drag me off to the hospital, my friend in hot pursuit. Run some tests. CT scan was clean. Heart test okay. It seems that I had a grand mal seizure for no immediately apparent reason. Holy crap-a-doodle-doo! I've got a boat load of bruises, I tore a big chunk of skin from behind my ear when I hit a hook and I've got aches and pains galore, but it could have been a lot worse.

Over the next two weeks the real fun begins. MRI, chest x-rays, EKG and EEG all coming up in rapid succession. I've seen a plethora of doctors this week and they are all fairly confident that this is likely a one time thing.

The trouble is, I can't drive until I have been three months without a seizure. It has only been a week and I am already chaffing at the bit. I find that I am not liking being tied down and needing a driver. Sigh. Oh well, better safe than sorry. I shall survive this debacle. I'm just glad I live in Alberta. In the rest of the country, they take your license for a full year. :(    

 

What strikes me the most about this whole unfortunate event, is the quick response from the fire fighters, then the ambulance attendants. They gave me great care, even when I resisted it (in my state of panic.) The staff at the hospital was patient and helpful. But most wonderful of all was the attention from the staff at Along Came Quilting. They were quick to react and help out. They remembered my usual cohort's name and called her for my emergency contact information. She didn't have my husband's number, so she told them where I worked. They called work, work called my daughter, and she called my man, who raced to the hospital. Quite a chain of caring.

A couple days later, Linda, the owner of ACQ called me to check up on me and to express her staff's concern for my well-being. While we were chatting, she told me that someone on her staff said it was a good thing I didn't put the hook through my neck. Linda said it was a good thing I didn't take my eye out with it. YIKES! I hadn't even thought of that. Thank heaven for small reprieves!

While I am, understandably, nervous about the upcoming tests, I can't help but be grateful that they are all happening within two weeks. I guess when your brain is screwy you get good service! I am thankful for the excellent care I received at the hospital and en-route. I am also thrilled that the ACQ staff reacted quickly and efficiently. I'm glad my friends, family and boss were all there to help out. I'm not sure if it is good or bad that I'm at the quilt store often enough that they remember me and know who my usual cohorts are.

This strengthens my vow to get fit and take better care of myself. As soon as I get the all-clear, I'll be hitting the treadmill again.

Now, if only they would give me back my car keys.

Hugs
Cath

The Long Awaited Return of My Sanity

These past few weeks, I have been in my happy place.

 

You guessed it. I've been in my studio. My writing has taken a backseat for a while as I have been feeding my other inner artist. I've been long arming a bit, but more importantly, I've been piecing.

 

I am working on a Rapid Fire Hunter's Star Quilt. I am taking a class at Along Came Quilting with my good friends Deb and Wendy. Our instructor Kim M. is fabulous. She is a great teacher and puts up with our antics and smart comments very patiently. I am ecstatic that I decided to take this class. Not so much for the class itself, more for the companionship and the piecing. Having lots of homework due for the next class means many, many hours in the studio and I love it.

 

I love how there are so many options of how to put this together and how it looks so different in each layout. I have not shown all of the options here. Just the ones I like the best. Most are just a fraction of the quilt, as it takes too long to layout the entire design. I can easily picture myself making many color combinations for this pattern.

 



The fabrics. 20 Fabulous Batiks.
Blues, teals, turquoises and purples.

 

Possible layout #1.
Not too bad.

 

#2 Too Ziggy.

 

#3. Didn't care for the light
Center. This is for My Man's
Bed.

 

#4 Too stop-sign-ish. Yes
I know that stop signs
have eight sides!

 

#5 The stars don't pop.

 

#6 Looks like a target.

 

#7 Nice curving edges,
but again too light in the
ceter.



#8 This is the layout I decided on. Sewing the units together has begun.



I am a little disappointed in my color choices. There are a few light blues that are too light and one of the purples is too dark. However, overall it reads okay.

 

This will be the center of Dave's small queen sized quilt. I am planning on adding dark blue borders. The outside edge star points will extend into the borders. (If all goes as planned.) I am optomistic that the dark blue added to the borders will make this more masculine. It isn't exactly feminine now, more gender neutral-ish, but I had hoped for more masculine.

 

Hope you enjoyed this peek at my current work in progress.

 

Cath