It has been a crazy Fall/Winter

Shortly after my last post I got sick. Every single time I ate I wound up in the floor in tears. At first I thought it was a food intolerance. I tried eliminating anything it could be. Nothing helped. I tried antacids to no avail. I tried things like Zantac and Prilosec. Nothing. I finally admitted defeat and more pain than I could withstand and went to the doctor. Given my age and where my pain was they of course assumed it was my heart even though I told them it was my stomach. Lots of tests and blood draws began and a trip from urgent care to the emergency room and by midnight I was diagnosed with a Hiatal Hernia......one that needed surgery. Now given that I never have good blood pressure readings in a doctor's office you can imagine what that news did to me. And then they decided to take my bp again. Which led to a whole new round of medicine.

I saw a surgeon the next week and he petrified me. He didn't know if it would be better to go in through my abdomen or my chest to fix this.....Oh my! A week later he called to tell me he couldn't do it and was handing me off to another surgeon. At this point I took myself in to see a gp that my daughter works for and got a referral to a hernia specialist and was seen that week. It took 3 more weeks before the first surgeon called to "talk" to me about the referral. Yes there was steam coming out of my ears by then. 

The second surgeon ordered a whole new slew of tests and bloodwork. Some of these I can only describe as torture invented by Satan. It took 8 weeks from diagnosis to get surgery. It would have taken longer had I actually been able to eat anything. They took pity on me and moved it up 4 weeks.

Surgery amazingly was done laprascopically and went well. It was much worse than they thought though and said I was filled with inflammation and scar tissue. They also took my gallbladder out as it was inflamed.

I am now almost 3 months out and doing well. I lost a lost of muscle tissue and strength while down with this so am just slowly getting back into the hang of things.

I am quilting! Here's Pat Sloan's Grandmother's Kitchen that I was working on when all this started. Almost together.

 The Anvil quilt that has been a year long project is together and ready to be sandwiched. This one will be tied.

 And last but not least here is my newest start. This one will be for my dd who was a huge help while I was ill. She took care of grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, and getting her younger brother to his classes. It is paper pieced and I am just getting started on it. I think this one will take at least a year also.