Monday, September 24, 2012

An itch to scratch.

On Tuesday 18th September, I was acutely admitted to CHCH woman's hospital and booked for surgery at 8.30am the next day. Let's just say I was quite nervous and didn't sleep much the night before with the constant monitoring and noise. I had a longstanding issue that I could no longer ignore due to intense pain, and had a laparoscopic cystectomy done (yeah... go look that up). I'm not prone to Dr's visits, and am not a fan of pain killers or hospitals, but I could no longer ignore this one. 

It was a pretty major surgery removing a huge cyst (think large grapefruit size filling the left half of my pelvis) no complications on the day so that's good! (There have been a few hurdles since but am working through them!) The last thing I remember before falling asleep was looking up at the theatre lights. Then I woke up in recovery 2.5 hours later mumbling to the nurses some nonsense about a dream I'd had about surgery. (eek...was I awake for some of it ?) I can imagine they hear some funny things when people wake up! So 4 holes in my tummy later, I am resting up on my 5th day, and recovering at home in bed. It was my first surgery and hopefully my last! 

Hence this post. I'm itching to be creative, to do something fun or at least get some work done, but I can't. I'm confined to bed while I heal, and even if I wanted to get up and sneakily do some work when my hubby isn't looking, I can't!  I tried a quick trip to the kitchen to make a cup of tea today, and that had me back in bed dizzy & tired, for the rest of the afternoon. I've also got 3 kiddies whose new hangout spot has become my bed and so in between listening to stories about lego men or checking out new doll outfits,  I'm trying to stop my 2 yr old from kicking me in the tummy, and trying not to catch his vomiting bug (which he got the day I came home)

I'm just not used to sitting still or laying in bed for so long. I've read a wonderful book by Nancy Atherton, trawled through stumble to get a creative fix ( couldn't live with out my iPad right now!) and slept 100+ hours & even folding washing. It's times like this I wished I knitted, did crochet, sketched/ painted or something easily done while lying or sitting up in bed. Any ideas? I could be in bed for another week or so! 
I could do boring things like paperwork, and probably should, but that's not very exciting is it! ( and quite frankly I'm lacking the motivation to do that... and this post along took quite a while to write with regular breaks)


So in the meantime while you or I dream up things for me to do, here are some things I found over the last few days -to do with the kids or for yourself or just to inspire.


ENJOY!
Incredible artwork by Abby Diamond

Chocolate bowls by Bakerella

String balloons
(wrap string coated in PVA glue around a balloon)


Gorgeous Hand stitching by Freckled Nest

Paper Cup Garland from Hello Gorgeous


Map Garlands from Bookity

Most of these ideas are pretty self explanatory, but if you need any help with how to get started just ask.

So in the mean time, I'll continue to look at lovely things and try not to panic... I'm making my debut at two HUGE Christmas Fetes starting October 25th (Culverden Christmas Fete and the Geraldine Summer Fete) they are only 1 week apart and I really need to be rolling, cutting, shaping, smoothing, firing and glazing right now! Not to mention there is only 1 week left before School Holidays start, and I'll have 3 young kiddies with boundless energy bouncing around the house.

I didn't have any control over the timing of this surgery, but I guess it is better that it is over and done with, rather than living with the pain for a couple of months.


Talk soon x Gill

10 comments:

  1. Oh you poor thing! Glad you went ahead and got yourself surgery cysts can be horrid things having had one myself - size of an apple on my ovary! Maybe you could get to sketching some new ideas? might help to pass the time and make you feel like you are doing something a little creative at least. Get better soon!

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    1. Thanks Kate... Yes I should get some more ideas in my note book. Glad it's gone, was as big as a large grapefruit, crazy to see it on the MRI.

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    2. Wow that is a biggy! Rest up and get scetching :-)

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  2. I hope you recover quickly Gill and see a marked difference in your health!

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    1. Me too Justine! I wonder how much impact it has had for the last few years.

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  3. Whoa! These cyst thingees must be more common than I thought - my Nana had a 5lb one removed off her ovary when she was 16 and I thought she must have been one for the Guiness Book :) All the best for your quick recovery Gillian... hopefully you will find the bed rest leaves you refreshed for the exciting Christmas crafty times ahead!

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    1. Thanks Stacey -they are quite common actually, just usually not so big and they also usually disappear as well all by themselves. Yes, I feel bit more refreshed every day.

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  4. Oh. My. Goodness Gill!!! I had the same thing after having Jellybean! Mine was 14x15cm big basically the size of his head at the time! Brooklyn was born prematurely because of it, and surgery had to be done by the oncology ward because they were unsure about it. It sounds sadistic but I really like hearing about other woman that have gone through this, it helps somewhat to understand what I went through. Two years later (almost) it is just a fuzzy memory now, let's hope it stays that way!! So glad that you are back to being your creative self again!! Looking forward to seeing you at 'Around The Table'!!

    :) Hazel
    www.hazellovesdesign.com

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