We found out the bone marrow biopsy was clear. AND…the tumor, which was toward the back of her tongue, and quite large, has shrunk so much injust over one week that you cannot even see it now! Her doctor was very happy yesterday! Next round of chemo is on the 11th. Thank you for all the prayers! Please keep them coming!
Category: quilting
Finished a Cute One
I finished this cute baby quilt, for a new client. She made the top, I did the quilting. I call this light custom, as there is no SID, and everything is freehand, no marking required.
I enjoyed working on it.
I took my Mom for her PET scan, bone marrow biopsy, and first round of chemo last week. The PET scan was Tuesday, and we went wig shopping before, as she will lose her hair from the chemo. We made a fun day of it. Friday, they told us the scan was clear, except for the tumor on the back of her tongue. It has grown to the extent that it is choking her some. Really causing her problems eating. That breaks my heart. Anyway, we don’t have the marrow results yet, but I expect them any day. If it has not spread to the marrow, then it is stage 1. He said the chemo should start shrinking it as early as a week. I pray it does. The final diagnosis is Blastoid Mantle Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, which is an even more aggressive form that regular Mantle Cell. So, he also wants to do a marrow transplant, using her own marrow, after she finishes her chemo rounds. There should be six of those, once every three weeks, if she handles them well, and the cancer responds like we hope. She has done very well with round one, so far. I appreciate all the prayers and emails and messages from all of you. Your concern has meant a lot to me. I know several of you are going through, or have gone through, similar circumstances.
This Saturday, my “baby” boy will graduate from high school. Soon, he will be off to college. Lots of changes in my life this year. Changes at home, changes at work, lots and lots of change. I sure don’t have time to be bored…lol. Maybe I will find time to work on some of my own stash projects in there somewhere…soon.
Continuous Curve Video Fun
Thought I’d treat y’all to a little video. Hope you enjoy it. Try to ignore what a huge dork I am…lol.
Saturday Catch-Up
I know I have posted this in couple of other places, such as MQR and Face Book, but for those that only read my blog, I will share an update about my Mom. I may just start putting all my updates here, so that those I interact with in other online forums don’t have to see the same info over and over. Mom’s diagnosis was not a good one. She has Mantle Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. (MCL) It is one of the rare forms, more aggressive, more difficult to treat, but it is treatable if caught early. We won’t know how advanced it is until after the blood test results are in, and the PET scan is done. I take her Tues for the PET scan. Chemo starts Friday. My Mom is 73 years YOUNG…she is a feisty little go-getter…not a whiner…good attitude. I know she is scared of the chemo…but she is keeping a strong attitude, and thinking positive. I’m scared to death for her, (and for me) but I’m going to mirror her and be strong for her. I will be glad when we know more about what we are facing, on Tuesday. It’s going to be a rough ride, for sure.
It’s been a rough last few days. We got the diagnosis on Thursday. I was in a conference in Amarillo Thursday and Friday, which helped keep me occupied and probably helped me not fall apart. I didn’t get home til 7:30 last night, and was mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted. I did get to stop by Mom’s on the way home, and visit with her for about thirty minutes. She is in good spirits, and I know that I have to be strong and positive for her. It took me awhile to “get going” today. I stayed in bed til 9:00 am, and just piddled around at things til pretty late this afternoon. I spent quite a bit of time on phone calls, to Mom and with friends that called to check on me. I had a customer quilt to get started on, and I was just really dreading it. I just didn’t have the heart for it. But, once I made myself load it up, I got started on the stitching, I perked up and really started feeling better…I think it was good for me. It’s a cheerful little baby quilt. Now, I’m looking forward to working on it, and getting it finished and back to it’s maker. Here is a little peek:
Happy Mother’s Day
I’ve been a bit of a blog slacker, lately. Lots going on in life. I have been quilting. I quilted a Christmas themed friendship star signature quilt for Judy P. She mentioned putting a snowflake in the blocks, so I used my Circle Lord to make a “snowflake-ish” design in the large plain blocks. The pieced blocks were from a swap, with the makers signing the blocks they made. My client had some filler blocks that she added, and requested that I sign one of them with “quilted by”. I thought that was really neat, and was happy to do so.
Also, I quilted this cute little lap quilt for Betty C. The quilting is Linda Taylor’s Feather Meandering pantograph.
My heart is a bit troubled this Mother’s Day. We found out Friday that my sweet Mom has lymphoma. She had a growth come up on her tongue…quite rapidly…she had a biopsy done and we got the results late Friday afternoon. All we know, at this point, is that she will have radiation and chemo. The growth is already so large that it is interfering with her swallowing, and certain foods make her feel like she will choke on them. The ear, nose and throat specialist, who did the biopsy, will be scheduling her an appt. with an oncologist. Hopefully, we will find out who and when tomorrow. I am anxious to know more than we know now, and am praying for a good outcome to this.
Thank you!!!!
The Circle Lord contest winners have been announced! My quilt, For the Love of Eleanor, is a winner!! Thank you so much to everyone that voted for it. I’m so excited about it. It won the Viewer’s Choice award, as well as a 4th place prize in it’s category. My congratulations to all the other winners, as well! I’m in such great company! There were some really awesome quilts posted. I can’t tell you all how much I appreciate it! And, thank you to Michael, for throwing this contest and for his amazingly generous prizes!
You can see the list of winners here:
Working on a fun one!
This one is from Erma, and she has given permission to share pics on my blog, while I work on it. She is also letting me “have my way with it”…lol, and I really like that. 🙂 It’s still very much a work in progress…but here are some previews…
I know some quilters don’t like to post customer quilts, but I think it’s a fun way to keep my clients “in the loop” and involved with their quilt. Lots more to do on this one…so stay tuned!
I hate to bore you, but…
I’m still quilting away on my quilt, trying to get it finished in time for the Circle Lord challenge. So all I have for you is more pictures of the same old quilt.
I do have a gadget report to share. I used this neat little open rope template from the Gadget Girls, for the first time. I will definitely be using this one again. I really like the way it looks and I found it easy to use. I don’t quite have the corner turning down to a science yet. This first corner is how I think they all should be, but somehow, I couldn’t wrap my brain around making it work out that way on the next corner. Two corners are one way, and two corners are another way. I look at the photo on their website, showing the corners, and I think…oh, I get it…but when I get to the actual quilt…I can’t quite figure it out. I hope it’s ok like this…I think I can live with it.
A Small Preview
Lots of stabilizing still to do.
Edited to add: The “suns” are done using my Circle Lord. I’m not that talented with a ruler…lol.
What is happening to my hair?
My hair has been straight, all my life. Til lately, I’ve been noticing a bit more wave to it. So today, I decided to try to go with it. I put some curl booster spray on it and scrunched it, while I was drying it. I usually can’t get it to have this much wave if I use rollers…weird…
See my new header? That is my neighbor’s pine tree. It is right on the edge of his yard, by ours. There are actually two of them. I hope they never cut them down. They were so beautiful today, with all the frost on them.
Tonight is the end of my little “stay-cation”. It’s back to work time. I’d love to have one more week to stay home and quilt. It’s been a nice break, but not the best vacation, as I had a couple of bad headaches, that lasted two days each. And, I’ve just been really achy. More so than usual. Not just in my shoulder, but my spine, my right arm, my feet, my hips, across both shoulders. Really achy. My bones are not happy for some reason. Maybe just the weather.
I did make four more pillowcases yesterday. This time, I did not add the trim, as I realized how much pressing the trim needed after I washed it. Since these are donation cases for pediatric cancer patients, I would think less ironing would be more desirable.
I have one border to add to the Oklahoma Backroads quilt I am making for Mom. I also made the backing for my remaining 9P & stripe quilt, and need to finalize a quilting plan in my mind. I’m trying very hard not to start anything new just yet, and get some thing finished. I would like a longer finished list in 2010 than I had in 2009.
Hope you have a great week and find time to do something you love!
Ramblings From Randi, The Wild Rose Quilter 