Tuesday museday - sob story

Blurgh.... that is all. Well not quite all

Last Tuesday, the day after we got back from our weekend away, one which was very busy... I felt like a truck had hit me. At least I felt exhausted and slept in till after 9. My tiredness reminded me of how I felt this time last year when I was diagnosed with Barmah Forrest virus. Barmah Forrest virus (BFV) is similar to Ross River Fever Both are Australian diseases, spread by mosquito bites, which can leave the sufferer aching, tired, feverish etc. BFV  was only identified in 1974 and not a lot is known about it. The information available on line is scant and is usually incorporated with information on Ross River Fever, which is much better known and researched it seems.

I thought little about my one "down" day. By Wednesday I was back to normal and put my tiredness down to increasing age,  and perhaps a slight lack of resilience caused by the illness 12 months before. I even managed to run 5 km twice during the rest of the week. I noticed I was aching in my muscles a bit more but put it down to the extra running.

Monday morning this week I woke up with a pounding headache. Cold weather had struck and I happily stayed tucked up in bed for a few more hours although I was rather stunned to realise I had slept on and off till after 10.30. I made an appointment at 4.30 with my Dr to check out my blocked ear - its been annoying me for a week. I went out to do a few jobs got home at 1.30 and went to bed and slept for almost 3 hours. I woke up just in time to get to my Dr's appointment. This wasn't right. It was just like I had felt with BFV 12 months ago. My muscles had been aching ever since my running and now this tiredness. Oh no.

I was hoping my Dr would say that no, it doesn't recur, that's just an old wives tale. Unfortunately she didn't say that. She said not a lot is known about BFV. She went through my records and said that my last blood test in December was equivocal. That whilst I had developed some  (insert medical jargon here... img or something like that) I hadn't developed (Insert more medical jargon here ima or the like) She said she thought it was possible for it to recur and so she has ordered more blood tests. Sigh. For the record. I don't want to have BFV again. Ok. I like having energy to do things. I don't mind the excuse to sleep in and not do housework when I don't want to... but I would rather do that cause that is what I choose to do, not because I can barely drag myself around..

Despite my big afternoon sleep I was in bed not long after 10 last night. I woke at 7. Note I said woke. I snuggled in bed for another hour. It was chilly out. (for my non Australian readers. Most of our houses, especially in Queensland, don't have central heating. So whilst we don't get as cold as you do in your northern climes...what it is outside is just about what it is inside. A Norwegian boy living in a nearby town once told me that he had never been as cold as he had been in Queensland cause our homes get cold)

Its also going to play havoc with my Fitbit stats. I could barely manage 6000 steps yesterday and Sophie and Frances are both several thousand steps ahead of me. Woe is me !

I went down for my blood test this morning only to find that my Dr had added an extra test or two and I hadn't read the slip and it was to be a fasting one. So... will try again tomorrow. My Doctor is off on 2 weeks leave now so I will have to see another member of the team to get my results.


And to add to my woes.... my laptop died on Friday night and of course I haven't backed it up in yonks. Fixit Guy found the extended warranty stuff and I rang them yesterday and they sent information so one of the jobs I did this morning after I didn't have my blood tests was to post off the laptop to get it fixed. According to my warranty I should be able to get a 'loaner' if they are going to take more than 5 days to fix it. That will be interesting to see if they are actually going to do that. Some how I bet they try to wriggle out of it. Fortunately I have my girlfriends little mini computer she loaned me last year to take overseas and which I keep forgetting to give back to her. The spell check on it isn't as good and the shift key doesn't always work so apologies for any missed capitals.

And I am back in bed this afternoon.. I thought I would have a little rest and play on the computer. My body is saying SLEEP. I don't want to sleep. That means something is wrong and I don't want to be unwell.

Enough whining. I don't even have any pretty pictures to insert. Nothing that fits in with the overall theme of this post. I found a picture of the virus though so its not totally boring

Structure of barmah forest virus by cryo-electron microscopy

                                             


Some links to find out more about Barmah Forrest virus

http://medent.usyd.edu.au/fact/ross%20river%20&%20barmah%20forest.htm

http://access.health.qld.gov.au/hid/InfectionsandParasites/Viralinfections/barmahForestVirus_fs.asp

Tuesday is Museday -My Mum

I got a birthday card from my mum last week. She had typed the message in the card but had addressed the envelope herself. Her handwriting is getting very wobbly and spidery and almost illegible unless she tries really hard and then its just legible. It frustrated her no end till she made herself accept it. Even her typing is not what it was. It is hard for her but she bares it bravely and accepts her limitations without bitterness or anger although I think with regret. She gets the shakes very badly. I think its related to some of the medication she takes particularly for her eyes. She has glaucoma and has nightly drops to keep it under control but one of the side affects is the shakes. Go blind or put up with the shakes. She chose the shakes.

But despite this - her shakes - she only recently gave up playing the organ at church. When she resigned after 32 years in the job at the particular church she has attended on Sunday and Wednesday nights she was given a wonderful send off, as was appropriate. She still plays for devotions on a weekly  basis at the Aged Care hostel she has lived in since Dad died in 2008. She is 92 this year. She has  been playing the organ for church  in the various places she has lived and worshiped since she was 12.... that's almost 80 years.

Mum at the organ playing for devotions at her aged care hostel

She also keeps herself busy doing fancy work. This is something she learned to do at her mother's knee, just as her mother and grandmother before her had learned to do it from their mothers. It bemuses me that her handwriting is barely legible but she can still manage to do lovely stitching. I keep her supplied with fabric to fancy work - tracing off patterns from magazines and elsewhere for her to her to embroider.

Many of these I incorporate into quilts for new babies in the family.

 

Lucca's quilt

William's quilt

Lucy's quilt

Lucy's quilt a bit closer

Bluebirds quilt. My sister in law, Christine, designed the embroideries and mum did the fancywork. I made the quilt. This is on my bed most of the time now. Kym from PQS did the quilting

It was a block of the month pattern featuring a bluebird on each block. Top row was February, depicting Valentine's Day. Bottom left is April, depicting ANZAC Day and bottom right is May, Mothers' Day

Top left... it was something obscure for September... national cup of tea day or the like. Top right Halloween for October Bottom left you can just see a smidge of November - bird on horseshoe for Melbourne Cup Day - Australia's major horse race (known as The Race that Stops the Nation) and bottom right is Christmas.

Christine blogs at Bluebirds and Bumblebees

Mum recently completed 8 doilies, embroidering one for each of her children. They came from the stash of my Aunty Doris, who died aged 99yrs 9 months back in September 2012. Doris was my father's sister who married my mother's brother.

Inside the card that my mother sent me this week was another sample of her hand work. This time it was a crocheted coaster for my coffee cup. Its beautiful and I will treasure it just as I treasure the wonderful woman I call Mum.

Tuesday Muse: My weekend retreat

I had a great weekend away. I flew down to Brisbane and joined a group of women I have known for over 12 years through my links with Australian Breastfeeding Association. This is an association that supports women who breastfeed and promotes it within the community. It is a marvelous organisation that is celebrating is golden anniversary this year.

I was a counselor for almost 20 years and these women were current or former counselors too. We "met" on line via an email group for ABA counselors who wanted to talk "off Topic". We were all on the official ABA email group but we were the ones who were most often off topic- discussing things not related to our work as ABA counselors. So our list mum set up this other email list for us to chat about our lives, husbands, kids, lovers, food, craft, gardening or what ever took our fancy. 



Many of us had never met in person when we joined "Buddies" although various state and national conferences run by the association in the time since we formed have enabled many of us to meet up. Sometimes when we travel on holidays we have arranged to catch up for coffee or lunch and have even stayed with each other. 

We have become very close over the years and supported each other through a number of terrible crisis and tragedy. 2 women in the group have lost young adult children in car accidents in the time we have been a group and a couple have been widowed. Some of the women have been divorced. Others have had babies and many more have become grandmas. We've built houses, changed jobs, experienced depression, had children marry and and divorce... the whole gamut of human experiences. This group of women have sustained and supported each other. 

There are about 50 of us on the list although some are more active than others. Some are completely inactive, others come and go depending on the busyness of our lives. Some comment prolifically, others just read. Me... I dip in and out. Its an amazing group of women. We come from such a variety of different backgrounds. Our commonality is just that we were or are ABA counselors or community educators. Our ages range from early 30s through to mid 60s. We have a range of educational background, professions, financial status, religious faiths. It is interesting to share. Some of them even quilt! Several are my pals on fitbit

Our get together this weekend was facilitated by one of our group who is in the process of setting up a business to run women's retreats and we were her "guinea pigs". It is the first time we have travelled just to get together as a group. 9 of us were in the gathering and we met up in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. We didn't have formal activities most of the time and it was very flexible depending on what people wanted to do. We went shopping, had coffee out, visited a cheese factory, went out for dinner, did some beading, did a session on mindfulness, went in the spa, went for walks and generally just hung out and had fun together. 6 if us were from Queensland, 2 from NSW and one woman flew up from Melbourne

We went out for dinner to a lovely restaurant in Mapleton. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The host (and proprietor) was a real delight. He was very cheerful and helpful and kept us amused all evening and nothing seemed too much trouble. The restaurant doesn't have its own web page but gets lots of mentions on websites reviewing restaurants so the link will take you to them. They do have a facebook page but not much information on it.

The Retreat Group out for morning coffee at Poets Cafe in Montville. The setting was amazing but we did find it rather pricey ($7.20 for my skinny decaf cap.) and the staff didn't seem impressed that we were just having coffee and no breakfast or morning tea

Chatting over coffee

Rikki, our facilitator on left with a member of our party

Beading workshop. We made a very simple necklace which was lots of fun. We all wore them that night when we went out to dinner

My necklace in progress

Rainforest walk. Just beautiful

Rikki is planning a retreat in NZ at the end of the year. I would love to go but initial discussions with my husband aren't looking too promising but we can but wait and see. It looks so good. Sigh. Guess I can put it on my "Dreaming" list. Doesn't it look great? I would love to do it
                                 

Thursday Thoughts

Just in case in the future I want to write something on a Thursday... figured I could call it Thursday Thoughts. Sad but true. I can't seem to have a theme for a blog post but it has to rhyme or have some alliteration with the day of the week its about. Every other blog poster seems to be the same so I don't feel too badly about it. 

The main reason I wanted to put something up today (besides avoiding anything more constructive I could be doing) was I wanted to update my Tuesday musings and I wasn't sure I would remember it if I kept it till next Tuesday. I could have just gone back in and edited the Tuesday post but then if you had already read it you wouldn't necessarily go back in and read it again anyway. So... a new post... and since it was a new day (and not connected in with any other bloggers topics or activities) ... it had to have a new name.

OK... on Tuesday I outlined my planned projects for the month of April. One of the things on my list was to find the pattern from my Tea Shop Quilt. I bought it in the UK in September. I went looking on line and found the pattern... well I think it is the pattern. Fangirl told me the name of the shop we had gone to which was Puddleducks in Sevenoaks. They have an online presence and I found the pattern... only its a pattern for a tea cosy. I dont' recall that at all but maybe I bought it knowing it was a tea cosy but planning to change it to a quilt. I am not sure. But its the same picture. Its by Gail Penberthy and I think it is beautiful

I found many other patterns by Gail and she does some gorgeous ones. I found most of them at Daisy Chain Designs. (when you search patterns go to page 9 as this is where they start)

              

These are two of my favourites that I would love to stitch. The one on the left is Tea and Friends and the one on the right is Tea and Company. Are you sensing a theme here?

Another update on my Goals for April. I forgot about the curtains for the spare room tha I want to stitch and Fangirl has asked me to make coverings for the couches that will be used in the forthcoming play that she is directing and producing (and I am prompting for) They have to be covered in black fabric. They don't have to be done in a proper upholstering fashion... just covered in black fabric.

So my April Goals are (in no particular order)

1. Finish Sombrero Stars (quilt 3 of SOMB quilts... Shirt Off My Back)
2. Finish Not so Sombre Stars
3. Make an Easter Wall Hanging
4. Empty Scrap basket - cut into useful units and put away
5. Look for and hopefully find Tea Shop Applique Quilt pattern 

6. Cover theatre couches in black fabric

7. Make Curtains for Spare Room.

Annie Update

I had Annie at the vet again on Tuesday and they withdrew fluid from her lung which the vet then viewed through a microscope. he discussed his findings with a pathologist. I talked to him yesterday. Basically they didn't find tumour cells which would have been a definitive diagnosis but in the absence of other things that would have indicated an alternative the vet thinks that in all likelihood that is what it is. There is nothing to be done unless we wanted to go in for drastic thoracic surgery (which we don't). She is much brighter than she was so is obviously feeling a lot better for having the pressure relieved. She is more active, is eating better (not great but better) so we are enjoying her company and spoiling her as much as we can. The fluid will build up again and we will decide what to do when that happens. Thanks for all the loving comments

Tuesday Musing

Not sure what I will do on a Tuesday for my blog. I might not end up doing something every Tuesday but when I do... it'll be my Tuesday Museday!!

First Day of April. Time to set some goals for April. Trying not to set them too high so that I won't fall flat splat kerplop on my face. My goals for this month

Finish Sombrero Stars (quilt 3 of SOMB quilts... Shirt Off My Back)
Finish Not so Sombre Stars
Make an Easter Wall Hanging
Empty Scrap basket - cut into useful units and put away
Look for and hopefully find Tea Shop Applique Quilt pattern (I bought it in England in September but managed to lose it)

This is SOMBrero Stars. Finished putting the top together tonight. Now to make a back and quilt it!! You can see my shadow as I stood on a stool to take the photo

Not So SOMBre Stars. All the pieces are cut up and in their box.. Apart from the 5" 9 patches (which were part of the 350 or so I made from the shirt fabrics from the swap) no stitching has been done. But cutting all the pieces was a mamoth effort so it is well on the way

The fabrics and buttons purchased for my tea shop quilt. Finding the pattern is going to be a challenge. After I got back from the UK my husband and I went on a camping holiday in Southern and then Northern inland NSW. I bought fabric for it at several shops. I had the pattern then. Since we got home and I unpacked all my stuff... I haven't seen it. Oh dear.

Annie Dog

I took Annie to the vet today and they removed a heap of fluid from her lung by syringe. The vet is going to check some of the fluid under the microscope and will be able to tell if the fluid is from tumour or something else apparently. She came home after a couple of hours and is happy enough. She refused to come for a walk today (or a stroll... she rides in the stroller) She did come this morning and even walked for some of it. She seems a lot brighter in the mornings. If there are tumours then it will be just care and attention till we think her quality of life is too diminished. If it is treatable then we will treat her. The vet said to give her the diuretic tablets but she is becoming very wily and it was a battle to get them into her tonight... she puts her tongue up in the way to stop the tablet going down but we won in the end.

Annie on our morning walk. She is quite comfortable in the pram and seems to enjoy the outings

Annie and I

Our other dog Jack who is always looking for any extra attention that is going