Monday, April 25, 2016

It has been along time since I last posted.  Many things have changed and many things are the same.  I still craft and sew like an addict.  I recently changed jobs to be closer to home, eliminate my commute and to lesson the amount of stress my previous workload caused.

In October of last year I began to have unbearable back pain and a host of weird symptoms.  The NP in my primary cares' office ordered some x-rays and an MRI.  I was quickly scheduled for the tests.  A week later I was referred to a spine specialist due to some bulging discs, and irregular curve in my spine and a pinched nerve.

You assume that when you see one of these highly educated and experienced specialists that they will treat you well and do no harm.  I was referred to a real jerk who told me I was "Depressed".  I thought he was bat s*** crazy, but followed thru with the physical therapy and took the medicine he prescribed.

After about 5 weeks and his continued statements about me being depressed I sought a second opinion.  I had some new symptoms that were complicating my physical therapy and alarming to my  physical therapist:  Itchy skin, swollen lymph nodes, night sweats, bruising and still a lot of pain. 

On December 17th, I had it out with the fruit cake spine specialist and made a second appointment for later that day.  I saw a second spine specialist who in a matter of minutes and a quick glance at my MRI, set some things in motion that have changed my life.  He noticed that the bone marrow levels in my spin were low and was alarmed that  no one had mentioned this or investigated further the finding on my MRI.  He left the office and came back a few minutes later.  He had called my primary care physician and told he was trying not to alarm me but that there was some potential cause for worry in my scans and I needed some follow up immediately.  So the following Monday, December 21st I saw my primary care physician and was immediately referred to MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Three days later on December 24thm yes Christmas Eve, I spent most of the day at MD Anderson meeting with doctors regarding the MRI findings, my symptoms and an elevated white blood cell count that was not sky but had been elevated for more than 2 years and fluctuated enough to hide the problems brewing inside my blood and bone marrow.

January 4th I had my first bone marrow biopsy with aspiration.  It was a blind biopsy.  The staff at the MD Anderson surgi-center were very kind but it was very painful.  I cannot explain how painful.  They cannot numb your bone, just the skin around where they are going to drill through your skin into your pelvic bone.  After 40 minutes of tying to obtain enough of a sample they finally stopped the procedure, three drill holes later.  I was assured they had enough of a sample.   

I went to my follow up appointment on January 18th thinking I was going to finally find out what was going on, only to be told that I need to have a second bone marrow biopsy as they had not obtained a sufficient sample to complete the FISH studies, the most important part of the bone marrow biopsy and study.

Boy did I have some crazy emotions, anger and anxiety set in as a result of this...

Sunday, July 29, 2012

THE BEFORE...

Sew with serious embarrassment, I post pictures of
my Sewing/Crafting Room.  At the moment it is a
work in progress and I can't begin to sew or craft in it,
in it's current condition.  We have had some major drama
for a few months now.  In March we moved into an
adorable, rock house with more charm than I could stand.

It was so tiny, but I was determined to make it work. 
It was cheap...
but as with anything you get what you pay for...
so 3 weeks into our stay
there, we weren't even unpacked
completely when we started having
major problems with the electrical system. 
The house was 90 years old.

So we decided to move.  We spent the next 6 weeks
living out of boxes,
removing 30 years worth of my
grandma's life from her house, and went
back and forth trying to live between
2 places while updating one.  We
cleaned, we painted, we carpeted,
we did alittle of everything.

Well now that brings me to the
Craft/Sewing room...I have no time and
no energy left to get it together, but I am
dying to sew and craft.  I am dreaming
about it oddly enough, I can't sleep at
 night because I have so many ideas
running around in my head
dying to escape into reality.


Don't mind the date on the pictures,
I always forget to change the
date on my little Kodak pint and shoot. 
So this room has serious potential...
I love theshelving, the bookcases and
the storage options.  My only dislike
is the room is small, like 8 x 10. 
I have 10 18 gallon totes of fabric dying to
jump on the shelves.  I have room for embellishments
( the red boxes with drawers came
from the Walmart Hardware isle)
and for all my Close to My Heart stuff...

                                       

I have a heavy duty bookshelf in the
back right that my grandad made
more than 30 years ago, it is hard at work,
holding all my junk.  I love the
IKEA expedit shelves for the
island/cutting table.  I'm a shorty so it is the
perfect height for me. 

It is positively a mess...a giant mess,
but slowly it is coming together. 
I have to use this room for most
of my food storage as well,
so every inch of this room is accounted for.
This is the best find ever...KMART
has the best price and size of these
handy, dandy shoe organizers. 
I have one on each side of the door
and they are packed full.
 My latest find is these sweet magazine
holders, all white 5 pack for $1.99
at IKEA of course.  I will post as I
complete each area...so stay tuned for the
great RE-DO.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

I just love this time of year...
the wind, the thunder, the rain...
but the best is the
smell of wet dirt.
I bet that's not what
you thought I'd say, lol.
In Arizona it's a rare smell.
It will be depressingly humid tomorrow
but the dust will be settled.

Happy Monsooning all my AZ Peeps.

Monday, July 9, 2012

WOW...what can I say. 
I had no idea it had been just a
little more than a year
since I last posted. 
So to get the ball rolling again,
here is what takes
up all of my free time...
My Family...
but I promised myself I would start
this whole blog,
craft, knot,
sew and repeat thing again.


Hope you enjoy my Yankee Baby,
I was so proud of him this year.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Go to my etsy store:


to pick up some of the GONGA deals...




























Thursday, June 16, 2011

Go to my FB page and comment

if you want one:

www.facebook.com/clemzclozet 4 Flat Rate Envelopes of Scraps

12 oz to 20 oz $10 includes shipping

Ice Cream Dress Pattern

6m-4 or 5-12 $12 each



Belle and Pop Garden

Pop Garden and Bijoux Fat Quarters
$8

Plains and Trains

$16

I have tons of yardage:

Joel Dewberry

Celebrate Suess

Wild Thyme
Damask

Minky

lots, lots more
let me know what you're lookin for...






Friday, May 20, 2011

TOMORROW 6AM TO 12 NOON

FOLLOW THE SIGNS FROM THE "Y"

OR CALL FOR DIRECTIONS

SCRAPBOOK PAPER, NOT THE CHEAP STUFF

DESIGNER FABRIC & SEWING SUPPLIES

CABINETS W/ COUNTER TOP

DESK & CHAIR

CLOSE TO MY HEART STAMPS

GOLD CANYON CANDLE LEFT OVERS

BOYS CLOTHES & SHOES

LOTS, LOTS, MORE...