Good news!

I realized this morning that I hadn't shown some new pieces of furniture yet!  Shame on me for being stingy with the eye candy!  This pretty green silk set is called "Gloucester in Green" and is custom dressed for a gorgeous Gloucester mansion.  The buttons on the upholstery are chrome delica beads in the exact same shade of green as the upholstery and the accent pillows and throw are a soft ecru with a teeny ivy print.

This swan chaise and matching chairs are also custom dressed and will be living in the same house as the elegant library set that I recently dressed.  These pieces will be in the games room with chess tables and pool tables and dart boards.  I love the combination of buttery yellow stripes with the black and red pillows.  There will be drapes to match soon, so stay tuned for updates!

I want to thank everyone for all the support you've given me about my health issues.  There's good news too! I saw the oncologist yesterday and he immediately said that he wants to do a full thyroidectomy!  Yay!  I'm gonna get my throat cut after all!   LOL  He said the danger of cancer is too great to do a partial even tho they won't know that it's cancer for sure until they get it out and get the pathology report.  Right now I don't much care if it is or if it isn't.  The main thing is that it's coming out and I won't have to worry about it anymore!  (I'd been seriously considering doing it myself with my dremel and some duct tape!)   I'll only be in the hospital for two days and then there will be that energy drop while I go euthyroid.  (I'm already so tired that I don't think I'll notice an energy drop at all!)  After that, I'll get stabilized with thyroid suppliments and have a nice, consistent hormone level for the first time since I was 8 years old.   The surgery is set for May 17th.

There's only one little potential complication and that's my heart.  There's always a risk of a thyroid storm on the operating table and since I already have an accelerated and irregular heart beat that's a concern, but the oncologist said the risk of cancer outweighs it so unless I have a bad ekg or something in my pre-op checkup the week before the surgery, we're good to go.  

I did get one surprise this week at my appointment with the internist.  I mentioned my concern about my oxygen saturation levels and how it might effect the fibromyalgia so he said we'd test it right there.  I started out at 92% so he told the nurse to take me for a walk around the nurse's station.  It dropped to 88%.  He told her to take me on one more lap and halfway thru she looked at the meter, looked at me and yelled, "Oh my god!"  I wish they wouldn't do that!  I thought I was fine till she yelled and then she scared the shit out of me!  LOL!   My sat level had dropped to 81% and I guess I looked like I was going to faint so she grabbed one arm and the doctor came running down the hall and grabbed the other arm and they half carried me back to the exam room.  I wasn't sure what the fuss was about since I'm sort of used to hanging onto walls.   But as soon as I got home, someone showed up with an oxygen concentrator and some portable tanks and here I am hooked up to an air hose.  It's not so bad since I think that the oxygen smells a little like rain but it's a bit disconcerting to have to have help doing something that I've done all my life.  

They did a chest xray to see if the breathing problem is something in my lungs and I had a copy of the results sent to the oncologist.  He said the xray looked good with no sign of emphysema or other lung issues so it's probably got something to do with my heart.  Personally, I'm pretty confident that when the thyroid comes out, the heart issues will resolve themselves.  Even tho my thyroid lab tests are all "normal", it doesn't mean that everything is okay.  When they first found the nodules back in '97 I tested hypo (low) so they put me on a thyroid supplement and three weeks later I was in the emergency room in a full blown storm and my labs all showed me to be way too high.  According to the doctors, that's impossible and could never happen.  So when they tell me that my "normal" thyroid couldn't possibly be causing cardiac symptoms that are stereotypical of Grave's Disease I just smile and nod.  There's no point in arguing with them about something they swear could never happen.  I already know that I don't fit into their medical mold (and I don't think that many other people do either!)  The main thing..........the best thing......is that they'll get this horrid, lumpy, toxic thing out of my throat.  I know that I'll feel better right away just by getting that mass of negative junk off of my throat chakra and the rest will all fall in place as I recover.

Oh, I have to share one more thing.  Last week I finally gave in and bought a walking cane.  I've been in denial about needing one but my best friend is coming up from Oklahoma at the end of the month so we can go to the quilt show and that was the final motivator I needed.  I want to be able to enjoy the quilt show as much as possible and having something to lean on will make it easier for me to get around the whole show.  I admit that my vanity was taking a hit about it till I realized that there are some really cool canes out there!  These are not my mother's canes!  They've got some awesomely nifty designs to choose from and that made it much easier.  I finally settled on a emerald green "cyclone" design with a cherry wood handle.  It almost looks like tiger stripes if there were such a thing as a chrome tiger in emerald green.  So for the quilt show, I'll use my wicked-cool cane and carry my oxygen tank in a leopard print shoulder bag that's big enough to also hold my shopping treasures.    Yep, I might look like an old lady, but I'll be a stylish old lady!

Back to miniatures now!  I have a lull in orders which is good timing because I need to do something for myself now.  Some of y'all know how much I've been looking forward to building my Sea Side Resort Tennyson and I put it into dry fit earlier this week.  Ooooooooooh, it's sooooooo pretty!  This house has a small footprint, but there's a lot of house there!  The rooms are really nice sized and I love the huge attic.  I have all the furniture for it already and every single piece is white wire wicker.  That sounds a bit monochromatic and it is but I'll be adding color with upholstery and accessories that will create a very unique decor.  This is a laser cut kit too so it will go together pretty fast.  I have my wallpaper all selected as well as the flooring.  I just need to order the lights and we're all set.  I wonder if I can get it built before the middle of May?    I think I'll give it a try!