Snip

That's better.

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An explanation?

 Carole called her doctor and has an appointment Monday.  She said she feels a little better today and took another half of her 40 mg Lasix. Ahhh, excuse me, what did you say?  A half?  It seems the other doctor that cared for her in Cleveland this summer regarding the carotid blockage, changed her heart doctor's prescription dosage.  She went from two 40 mg lasix daily to a 20 mg half tablet.  I just found this out and cannot understand this doctor's reasoning when she had her chart from previous visits and diagnoses.  No wonder she is having issues.  First of all, she had no business changing Carole's primary cardiologist's orders.  The cardio she just saw a few weeks ago here, did not question it.  Well I am.  Her wonderful PCP called her personally when he saw she made an appointment, to see if she needed treatment before then.  He told her to follow her sister's advice and take two 40 a day for two days to remove fluid and then one a day, he will see her then.  I'm sure this is the problem and honestly, am surprised she hasn't had a crisis on only 20 mg for months.  That may be a good sign that the meds are helping her heart failure.  But I'm not a medical professional, most crabasses don't qualify.  But we do like to give orders.

The sun is out today and snow is melting.  I think I will move the grapevine to the back and bring that little lighted twig here to the corner.  I found brown wire light strings on Amazon and purchased two sets, just in case I make another tree.  I do like the brown strings much better on any sparse tree and haven't found them in any stores.  So much nicer on the mostly brown German twig trees.

Have a great day folks!!

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Distress and stress

 And I'm running out of Ativan.   Didn't have many to begin with, took several trying to calm the palps.  I mentioned that Carole is having difficulty breathing again at times, and it's been constant for two days now.  Has she called her doctor?  No.  She doesn't want to go to the hospital, and if required, only in Cleveland.  Go get an xray to see if your CHF is causing fluid in your lungs and can be treated.  No.  She will wait another day.  It's fricking Friday and the doctor leaves at noon.  We'll see.  So wait until I hear you panicking on the phone at 3am that you can't breath and have an ambulance take you to a Covid filled hospital.  She had all week to get help.  I thought I was jittery before.  Will I sleep?  No.  Memories of those weeks of mid night calls and panic are flooding me, I knew it would happen again, that's CHF.  But with all the new meds that seemed to be helping, this is troubling.  It's always in my mind that her failing heart will soon give out, and every episode of distress reinforces my fear.

I worked on the body of Elizabeth a little during the palp jitters but there is no way I can hold a steady needle until I have some answers or calm down.  I'm not expecting either anytime soon.

Hope you have a nice weekend.

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Damn

 Monday night

Tuesday morning

Tuesday at dinner

Tuesday at 9 pm

AUGH!!!

From the past

While looking for old blog photos of my trees and how I decorated them in past years (I never remember to use labels on posts), I came across this.  Seven years ago!!  Will menopause ever end?

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With all the Christmas music playing, it's easy to have one get stuck in your mind.  Mine is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Sinatra, Taylor, Garland, Carpenter - anyone's!
I have my own version so hum the tune while you read mine.

Have yourself a merry little menopausal Christmas

Let your mood be blue

From now on, your hormones

have control and rule

Have yourself a menopausal Christmas

Make the yuletide fun

From now on, your emotions

tend to sharpen your tongue

Here we are in our olden days

Sane and youthful days long gone

Faithful friends who are dear to us

Now do fear us and move on

Through the years, we all will be together

If the mood allows

Hang a hormone patch upon the highest bough

And have yourself a menopausal Christmas, now

Here we are in the Santa line
With our wishlist in bold pen
Youthful dreams dancing in our heads
of tighter skin and estrogen

Through the years, we'll all become impatient

Fighting tears somehow

Hang a warning sign upon the highest bough

I'll have myself a menopausal Christmas, now.

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Just in case

 anyone is interested in Mary Beale's Christmas wreaths or those wonderful sampler stockings, did you know she has a website and offers her work?  https://www.marybeale.com/shop  Most are b/w downloads, I'm not sure if all are.  She is also on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/marydbeale/ where you can see some of the coloring pages.

 The sought after Sampler Wreath is available with the Pocketbook Needlework 1999.  Did not know that.  Nor was I aware of the coloring page offers of the Book of Deliverance (also smaller coloring projects to turn into ornaments). 

I never saw this Book of Common Prayer, LOVE that border.

What an ambitious but glorious sampler is this Days of Advent project.  The photo is from Pinterest, redirect was not a valid site so I don't know who to credit.  Margaret from Days of a Sampler Lover stitched this years ago.  Whenever I see a project of this layout including the Hawk series, I would prefer stitching each section individually.  These are about 4.5" x 5.5" so a little too large as ornaments, but each is so lovely I would like them to be showcased rather than grouped.  But that's me.  If you'd like to see this project in book form, visit http://www.stitchershideaway.com/html/ks_2.html and scroll down.  Stunning.

 

Some of her projects are needlepoint (I think the small stocking are), but most are cross stitch.

Thought I would mention this.... just in case!!

During the unsettled week when the new medication was playing with my brain, I did not see new blog posts, IG updates, nor was I replying.  Sorry.  Except for two readers, the rest (blog) are no-reply but I assume we are to respond to IG comments.  I've left many for others and only get a response from a few which is perfectly OK with me, I don't expect it.  I hope to catch up soon!

Today is my final Varithena treatment.  I've received many over the years, two weeks ago was the first time I had terrible pain.  If I had tears, they would have been rolling.  Thank goodness it was only for several minutes.  

Enjoy the last fricking day of November.  The only good thing is we're getting closer to summer.

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