Time is Flying!

Hello faithful readers! I so appreciate you! I really do! I mean who else would keep coming back to read a blog that doesn't have postings but once every 2-3 weeks! You guys are the best and I am blessed to have you peeking in...

With that said, I wanted to update you with my life: Daddy was released from the rehabilitation center about a week and a half ago, and he has since decided to sell the family home and move into an apartment. And that is all going to happen Nov. 21st! Yep, for an 84-year-old guy, he's moving fast! He still has considerable swelling in his operated leg and was told by his surgeon that he may have that for a month and perhaps some swelling off and on for the rest of his years. He just has to use common sense after being on his feet awhile and elevate his leg as needed to rest it.

I have begun coloring my new illustration of my little yellow cottage for my blog and hope to have that up and running by Dec. 1st! I know that that sounds like forever, but it's really not...Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

Tom and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary on Nov. 16th and we are blessed enough to go away to Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ for two nights to stay at the Cashelmara Inn, a Victorian style seaside Bed & Breakfast. I've included a photo of the B&B from their website, above. We hope to breathe some fresh salty air, stroll on the non-commercial boardwalk, eat some marvelous food and enjoy a movie or two in the Cashelmara Inn's Victorian Theatre, complete with velvet chairs and free popcorn! I will have photos to share when we return, and the following weekend, Daddy's moving into his apartment...and then the following Wednesday, the Nov. 25th, Christopher will be home from college for Thanksgiving break! I really am shooting for stamping a card Thanksgiving weekend! So, please don't give up on me!

I'll see you back here after our anniversary trip with some photos!

Update on My Father's Surgery

Hello! I wanted to give my followers an update on my father's leg aneurysm bypass surgery. Monday was a very long day as his surgery wasn't scheduled until 1:30 pm. His surgery lasted approximately 2 hours and then he was in recovery for about 90 minutes. The surgeon met with us and said that the surgery was a "success", however there is a huge danger of blood clots which would not bring about a good prognosis for the future of his leg. Since my father lost his other leg in 1978 and extra arteries were used from his "good leg" in hope of successful natural artery bypass on the lost leg, there were no available arteries left on his good leg to use for this surgery. So, an artificial artery was grafted in, and his aneurysm was clamped closed to prevent bursting and blood flow through the original artery. With leg aneurysm bypasses (called popliteal bypass), using a natural artery is more beneficial with a better prognosis. Since Daddy had an artificial artery bypass, he is not out of the woods for some time. But the medical staff has gotten him out of bed yesterday and today, he took several steps with the walker.

He will be released from the hospital tomorrow and then he is going to a rehabiliation center for awhile, so that he can gain his independence back. We don't know how long he will be in the rehabilitation center, as it depends on the "goals" that he and his doctor set. But we are hopeful that he will be in there, at most, a week. The blood clotting prevention is being done with a blood thinner Rx, compression stockings and he will need to keep moving his leg through exercise and/or regular use.

I want to thank everyone who has been faithfully praying for him, and my family. We so appreciate your heartfelt prayers and we ask that you continue to hold him in prayer until he is out of the woods. It humbles me to know that so many people whom I have never met has prayed and is continuing to pray. Thank you again!!

A Need for Prayer

Hi Everyone! I wanted to update my faithful blog readers with information regarding my father's leg anuerysm surgery. By the way, his name is Roy Unger and he saw his vascular surgeon this afternoon and has scheduled his leg bypass surgery next Monday, 10/19 at 1:30 pm. It looks like they will be using a synthetic artery to do the bypass surgery since no natural arteries are available (from being stripped from both legs for his 1978 bypass surgeries). I'm told that the synthetic artery bypass has improved much since then, however, it is more beneficial to have a natural artery to use for the bypass. My sister, Dianne, is flying up from Georgia on Sunday to help Daddy out when he comes home from the hospital and I'm so glad she's coming for emotional support, as well! Please keep her in prayer for travel mercies and please pray for Daddy's surgery on Monday: that his leg would not reject the artificial artery or that infection would not set in and that the surgery would be successful.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and I'll will update sometime Monday evening or Tuesday morning. I so appreciate my followers!

When it Rains...

Good Morning! I have no idea who may be reading this after the long absence of postings here lately, but should you be reading this, I have yet more disappointing news to share.

I had decided to return to the CDS design team in time to produce November sneak peeks, but there has been a family medical concern that is taking my focus away from anything else. My father who has been living independently (my mother passed away in 2000), as a leg amputee (he does wear a prosthesis and can walk), has developed an aneurysm behind the knee of his "good leg". It is rather large and will require surgery either with a stent or bypass surgery. My father has arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and lost his leg to an aneurysm in 1978, after several bypass attempts were made, that failed. So, you can imagine the fear that he has of losing this other leg should this new aneursym surgery should fail. That would render him a double amputee and would certainly change the dynamic of his independent living. Us children (my sister, my brother and myself), may be facing some decisions regarding our father's care should the surgery not succeed. So, because of this, I have decided that returning to CDS as a design team member is not in the best interest of CDS, as my focus is foremost on my father. We do not have a surgery date at this time, as he is still in the midst of more testing and needs to see a cardiologist for cardiac clearance, as well (he has had 3 heart attacks). My focus and my time will be directed toward my family and although I regret that I am not able to return to CDS at this time, I feel that it is the right decision.

That doesn't mean that I won't be posting card-related posts. I hope that at some point after my father's surgery, I'll be able to stamp and relax for therapy and I will share those creations when I do. On a positive note, I have some news to share...I have, for some time, not been happy with my blog photo of my little yellow cottage. So, I have asked my sister, Dianne Dashler, who is an artist, if she would "sketch" my little yellow cottage. She has just finished her final rendering and as soon as I receive it in the mail, I will be anxious to colorize it and hope to upload it to my blog in 2-3 weeks. It is a big difference in artwork and hope that you come back to see it.

Just an update

Good morning! It has been a month since I have posted and in one sense, time has flown, but medically and pain-wise, not so much!! I am doing well in my total knee recovery, and getting ready to celebrate my 6-week post-op next Tuesday, with being cut loose from physical therapy! My therapist has been the best therapist, and has rehabbed me three times: once for my first TKR, once for my frozen shoulder last Spring and now with this second TKR. I want to thank her, Karen Pirovolidis for all her continued encouragement and help as I struggled to make each moment count!

And, I also want to announce that I am resuming my duties as part of the Clear Dollar Stamps Design Team, beginning October 1st, which will generate November sneak peeks at the end of October. So, I hope that you will visit back here then, to see what I've come up with. In the meantime, I will be jumping back into the swing of stamping sometime soon, as I will just be making a few cards for my own personal use and I hope to have those to share with you within the next week or so. It has been a very long haul through this surgery and I want to thank everyone for all their kind thoughts and uplifted prayers. See you soon!

I'm Home From the Hospital

Good morning! Just an update on my total knee replacement surgery. I was discharged from the hospital last Friday, 8/14 and was so glad to come home to get some much-needed rest. Between the blood drawing, IV changing, medication dispensing, meals arriving, physical therapists coming to get me, etc...there was no sleep to be had more than a 2-hour stretch. But, the operation was successful, physical therapy in the hospital went very well and today, I had my first in-home physical therapy session. My physical therapist said that because I am doing so well so early on (my surgery being less than a week ago), that she will release me to out-patient physical therapy mid-week, next week. That means I can go to my favorite physical therapy place, Agape Therapy which is located within a health/fitness club. There, I will be able to use their exercise equipment as well as therapy pool to rehab the knee.

I'm spending alot of my days stalking other cardmaker's blogs, watching television, reading, napping, icing the knee, elevating the knee and doing my physical therapy exercises. I'm tired most of the time because of the pain meds, but I'm so glad that the worse is over.

I hope to get upstairs this weekend and see if I can sit for a spell at my craft table, at least to sort some buttons and ribbons that I've ordered from Paper Trey Ink...and who knows, maybe I'll start a card! How cool would that be! Thanks for staying in touch...

Time Off for Some Surgery

Hello! I wanted to share with my readers that I will be taking a "cardmaking hiatus" effective today and for a little while longer. For years, I have suffered from osteoarthritis in both knees, which has led to the need for total knee replacement surgery. I had my left knee replaced in September, 2007 and now my right knee will be replaced in a few days. I will be involved in intensive physical therapy 3 times a week, so that will leave very little energy to create cards. I have stepped down from my CDS Design Team duties for a few months, but plan to return as soon as I am able. I hope that this news does not disappoint my readers or turn them off from ever returning to visit my blog. Should you feel inclined to pray for my upcoming surgery, I would be most humbled, as I have a strong belief in the power of uplifted prayer.