Luuuuuuuuucy, I'm hooooooooome

Oh my, it's been awhile and I didn't mean to keep anyone hanging.  Real life has been a series of ups and downs.  The biopsy on my thyroid came back negative which is not necessarily good news.  The ultrasound is 80% accurate and the biopsy is also 80% accurate.  Um, what the hell?  I'm not sure how they do the math on this one but they opted for going with the biopsy results. I don't quite see how we can ignore a picture of the whole nodule full of microcalcifications in favor of a tiny tissue sample taken by a microscopic needle.  However, my doctor looked me straight in the eye and said she strongly recommended that I go see a throat surgeon and tell him how uncomfortable the thyroid nodules are and how they inhibit my breathing, swallowing and circulation.  There's a chance they might be able to justify the surgery based on that.  One of my friends said that it's like living with a ticking time bomb in my throat and that describes it pretty well.  I'm seriously pissed at the way insurance companies dictate medical treatments.  So at this point I'm babying my hands and trying to get by on cortisone shots as long as possible and hoping I can find a surgeon who'll take out the thyroid.

However, all that's been put on hold because of my hubby's unexpected medical emergencies.  That's a rather redundant sentence.  Emergencies are never expected.  We certainly didn't expect that he'd take an ambulance ride and end up in the hospital overnight with what appeared to be symptoms of a heart attack.  A ton of tests later and they said that it definitely wasn't his heart.  They saw a rather large gall stone in his bile duct on an ultrasound but since he was feeling better they discharged him and sent him home after two days.  We were home long enough to get one night's sleep and within about 24 hours of being released from the hospital he was back in the ER almost passing out from the pain.  This time they looked a little closer at the gall bladder and the next thing we knew there was a surgeon in the room telling us that they'd have him in surgery within 20 minutes.  They called in a cardiologist to be there just in case because of Bruce's heart history.  I was relieved about that because after three heart attacks we don't want to take any chances.  The biggest danger was bleeding since Bruce takes so many blood thinners.  They gave him a transfusion of blood platelets and away he went.  We were in the hospital another day until they said the bleeding was under control and let him go home.  Since he was on the cardiac ward both times they let me stay and "sleep" all night in a geri chair in his room.  We had one more trip to the ER  a week after the surgery because the day after they took out the stitches one of his incisions started to bleed.  They patched it back up and sent him home.

Bruce is doing great and feels better than he has in a long time.  The gall bladder was probably part of why he hasn't felt good for about a year.  They kept saying it was his ulcers but he had all the classic signs of a bad gall bladder.  The surgeon said that if it had stayed in him much longer it would have gone septic so we're grateful that they got it out when they did.  I had a major fibro flare up two weeks ago and was actually bedridden for a couple of days.  It was the worst I've ever had and something I hope I don't go thru again.  I'm still not back to my version of normal but at least I can make it down the stairs now.   I think it was a combination of a fibro flare and a surge in thyroid.  The two escalate one another.  But with all the unexpected medical bills from an ambulance ride, two trips to the ER, four days in the hospital and one emergency surgery, my surgery is going to have to wait for awhile.  Even with the insurance paying their share, it's still a big ole pile of bills!  Bruce is fussing at me about not going to the surgeon but it's really not that big a deal.  I've lived with this for years and I can live with it a little while longer.

Bah!  Enough of that negative shit!  I feel like I've been trapped under a dark cloud for so long that  I can't find the sunshine.  I know it's there and I'm going to keep digging my way out till I find it.    

My sanity has been this beautiful, wonderful Pierce that I'm building.  Despite all the interruptions I'm almost done with her.  I'd show pictures but I'm at the point where I want to wait till she's all done and "unveil" her.  I'm working on the shingles now and as soon as that's done, she'll be ready for the landscaping.  I'm dying to do that!  It's my favorite part.  What can be more wonderful in the dead of winter than creating this fabulous green garden full of trees and flowers?  I've picked out some of the prettiest mini lilac bushes and a gorgeous little tree with purple flowers to go in the yard and there's a sweet rose trellis for the side of the house too.  I have a surprise for the owner that's going in the yard.  Shhhh......don't say anything.  Oh wait.  She reads my blog.  Darn it, now I let the cat out of the bag.  LOL!  But I didn't say what the surprise is going to be so we'll just leave it at that and you all can find out when she does.    I can surprise everyone!

I've been doing a little work on furniture and draperies for my favorite mega-Garfield.  Its owner has been very patient with me but I've finally reached the point where I can work on both the furniture and the Pierce at once.  The picture I posted at the top of the blog is the library furniture that I just finished for him.  It's a very masculine room and I liked the contrast of working on the delicately feminine Pierce one minute and switching to the cigars-and-leather look of the library the next minute.  The Garfield owner sent me the desk and chairs for the room to be recovered. I stripped the leather off the desk top and replaced it first, then I re-upholstered the chairs with a buttery soft textured leather and gave the cane chairs a dash of color with the striped pillows and bolsters.  Isn't that fabric perfect?  I found that in a remnant bin at Hobby Lobby over a year ago and snatched it up with no idea of why I had to have it.  It's just kind of funky-cool and yet elegant all at the same time.  When I started planning this library I realized why I had to have that fabric.  This room needed it!  It's really the perfect fabric for the drapes and pillows.  It adds a strong and vibrant dash of color to the room without being stuffy.  This room says that the owner likes the finer things in life but he likes to have fun too.

I'll be starting on some dark red drapes for the music room next while I'm still shingling the Pierce.  There's a whole LOT of roof to that house!!!  I'm dying to see get the shingles finished so I can start the painting on them.  The Pierce owner chose a beautiful technique that I used on my french cafe of applying a grey wash to the shingles and then dry brushing some lavender into it.  It's going to match the stone foundation beautifully and give the house so much character.  Right now it looks rather stark but those shingles are going to bring it to life!

So, that's what I've been up to lately.  I'm kind of proud of myself that I'm still creating even thru all the chaos.  I consider my miniatures to be the lighthouse that keeps me on track when the seas get stormy.

Oh, I finally set myself up on Facebook (thanks to Tracy and Heidi pulling me along and insisting that I needed to be there)  As usual, they were right.  LOL!  I'm glad I did because it's another wonderful way to connect with other miniaturists and make some new mini friends.  If you want to drop in there, I'm Deb's Minis there just like I am everywhere else.  Come be my friend!