June 24, 2008

The instructions I got yesterday were to go home, eat dinner, and go to the hospital at noon today. My phone rang at 9:00am. It was Debbie from the Short Stay Unit asking me to come in as soon as possible. I was at the hospital before 9:30 (I was still sleeping when the phone rang, so it took me a little while to get myself pulled together and grab stuff to keep me occupied while I waited).

Anyway, my surgery wasn't until 3:00pm, so I'm glad I had my iPod and a book to read. I took my stitching with me, too, but they had to put the IV in the back of my hand again so I couldn't use it. So no stitching. Honestly, I think I slept most of the time. The Flute Podcast from Magnatune (found on iTunes for free) is very soothing.

When Dr. Martin arrived, he said, "We have to stop meeting like this or people are going to think we're dating."

I had to laugh. I told him, "Some not-so-nice words came out of my mouth yesterday."

He admitted to dropping a few F-bombs when he heard the news.

He also told me that I've been the subject of several conference calls. He and my nephrologists have been trying to figure out what to do about my low blood pressure. They believe it's bp's like the one I had Friday (65/34) that are the main contributor to these clots, but the calcification inside my graft is further hindering the bloodflow.

The section of the graft that had the calcium deposit was replaced and I didn't have to get a chest catheter! I was very excited to see that a catheter placement wasn't even on my consent form, so I knew I didn't have to worry about that today. My arm is very sore and I'm still nauseous from the anesthesia, but that will subside.

Today was a great mail day, though! Two packages arrived today.

First, a wonderful variety of threads came from Debi M in CA, my Dinky Dyes SAL partner. This is what she sent:

She included Bear Brown, Dilly Dilly, Pansy Delight, and Vixen Red cottons by Needle Necessities; Fresh Raspberries and Mango Belle Sioe silks by Crescent Colours; Zinnia, a limited edition color by Gentle Arts Sampler Threads; Friendship cotton Dragon Floss; Patti Cakes and Grape Jelly cotton from Six Strand Sweets; Riverina silk, Madi's Rose cotton, and Kalgoorlie silk by Dinky Dyes; and Cerise Noir silk by The Threadgatherer.

Thank you so much, Debi! You're an angel to send all these beautiful flosses!

Secondly, my package from Wasatch Needlecraft arrived today! If you want any Dinky Dyes items, follow the link!

All Dinky Dyes are ON SALE for 30% off until the end of the month! Plus, when you spend $30 and buy at least one Dinky Dyes item, you will receive a free Dinky Dyes Butterfly Garden chart with threads. With each additional $30 in purchases and one additional Dinky Dyes item, you will receive a free silk thread pack containing 4 skeins of thread. (No repeat in colors) For each Dinky Dyes item purchased, you receive one entry into a drawing for the entire Dinky Dyes silk line, a value of approximately $600!

I have to admit to simply opening the envelopes and then falling into bed to sleep off the effects of the anesthesia. But this is what my order contained:

Mount Coot-tha Chart & Floss Pack, one of the newest quilt squares from Dinky Dyes.

Butterfly Garden with thread pack, also a new Dinky Dyes quilt square. All the quilt squares are part of my Dinky Dyes SAL with Debi. These were freebies.

From Left to Right: Dinky Dyes "Tiny Titanium" scissors that measure 2 1/2 inches, Dinky Dyes silks in Peridot, Monkey Mia, Tutti Frutti, Ruby, 10 Yallingup, and 5 Saltbush. The duplicates are so that I can stitch all the quilt squares in my SAL using the same colors. The first four colors were also freebies.

Lastly, I ordered "Friendhip" by The Sweetheart Tree because it was on sale and I've wanted to stitch it for a while. The Yahoo! Group CrossStitchForever has been doing a PIF/exchange with this chart and the finished piece for a while now.

Unfortunately, the other scissors I ordered for Debi's daughter, Rachel, we not included, so I have to find out what happened to them. Rach doesn't know they're coming, so it's no big deal that they didn't arrive yet.