G'day. Hubby often admires the Easter Island statues/busts that we have seen in some of the garden centres. I have told him to buy one and we will find somewhere to put it, but this has not happened. He usually just says that they would not suit our garden.
Some weeks ago I was at a nursery in a little country town not that far from us and I happened to see "Fern Head". Straight away I knew this would be my gift to hubby for Valentines Day. The head has been carved from a tree fern trunk, the fern itself having previously died. I love it because they planted a little plant in the top of it and this will come out in tiny white flowers at some stage. It just looks like green hair. The roses have nothing to do with the present, I was just too lazy to move them before taking the photo.
Fern Head is still resting where he was when this photo was taken, we still haven't found just the right place for him yet, but he does look rather nice leaning up against the garage wall. He is rather impressive at just on four feet tall. Funny thing is, I don't think hubby has actually commented on if he likes this unusual gift or not. I think he was too stunned when he first saw him. Maybe not quite an Easter Island head, but not far from it. Anyway he has taken my fancy and I admire him every time I look at him. I will find somewhere nice for him to live in our garden.
I just want to say a very heartfelt thank you to everyone who left their best wishes on my upcoming surgery. I truly do appreciate your thought and prayers. The surgery has been brought forward and will be this coming Wednesday, the 27th. Surprisingly I am not worried. I will take it as it comes. My favourite saying is "Suck it up Princess" and that's exactly what I am doing. Practise what I preach, in other words.
Take care. Liz...
G'day. Yes, it's me that is down in the dumps. Though in truth, the dumps have passed a little bit and my old optimistic self is returning. Fourteen months ago I had a pre cancerous calcium deposit removed from my left breast. All was well following that. Three weeks ago I had another mammogram and last Wednesday received a phone call asking me to attend the Breast screen clinic here in Melbourne, the next day. Hubby took me in and after a three hour wait I had a biopsy done, this time on the right breast. Had to go back yesterday for the results. Doctor thought at the worst it would be another pre cancerous calcium deposit, or that the results would come back "normal"
So, with this in mind I decided to get the train in and then walk the short distance to the clinic. Now to be fair to hubby, he did offer to take me, but I assured him that it would be no different than 14 months ago and all would be well. I like the train and it was a lovely (hot) day.
From all the women that were at the clinic last Thursday, the last three, including me, were the ones that needed to have a biopsy done. Not bad really when you have 25 women in a waiting room and only three need more tests. The other two ladies were in the waiting room when I arrived yesterday and they in turn were called in before me. Because we had kind of formed a bond, they both came out in turn after seeing the doctor to tell me their biopsy test were clear. I had to wait another 45 minutes before I was called and by this stage I had the strangest feeling that something was wrong.
I was shown into the doctors room and two nurses followed me in and we all took our seats waiting for the doctor. Now I knew something was wrong. First question was "Are you on your own today?" I replied that I was and that I had caught the train in. Anxiety on my part was rising. Doctor arrived and without further ado told me the biopsy result was not good and that yes, I have cancer, but hopefully it has been detected early. I will be in hospital within the next two weeks. A large area will be removed and one or two lymph nodes as well, just to see if it has spread. If it has, I face a whole different ballgame. If it hasn't, all should be well. We won't know until further tests are taken on what the surgeon removes.
Then it was more waiting to have the carbon injected, so the surgeon can see where he has to cut. Then finally I was allowed to leave. Rang hubby as soon as I was out and on way to train, he was beside himself to say the least. Daughter couldn't stop crying and son, who is going through so much with his partner having a brain tumour and waiting on surgery, couldn't quite believe it. Anyway, I got home safe and sound and the train trip did give me time to read all the information sheets and books on cancer that I was supplied with. I have also just had a call from the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne and my pre admission day is next Monday. Surgery date will be given to me then.
This is not a "pity party" post, but a reminder to all women just how important a mammogram is. If I had put off this mammogram for any reason, which in truth could easily have happened, I would have a cancer spreading that no one would have known about, until it was too late and that's a scary thought.
Take care. Liz...
G'day. I first saw this table some months ago. It was in the window of a shop here in the country town where I live. It had a little tag with a price on it, but, it also had a sticker saying it was not for sale. I bravely went in and asked about it and was told that they had forgotten to remove the price and no, it wasn't for sale. It belonged to one of the owners and was only there to display some of their other wares. The lady told me that they could have sold it many times over, they had had a lot of interest in it. Needless to say, I was very disappointed as it was just what I had been looking for.
They must had gotten tired of people asking about it, because it disappeared from the window not long after that. Now as I said, this was some months ago. Today, early this morning I received a phone call from the lady who is the leader of our Weight Watchers meeting, asking me if I would like to have lunch with her in one of the little cafe's in town. Carol and I have become good friends, so of course the answer was yes. This cafe is also owned by the same people who run the gift shop where said table was displayed. They sell some beautiful items in this cafe and the food is pretty jolly good too. After sitting talking for a good two hours, we decided it was time to get going, we both had things to do. Just as we were getting up from the table, one of the guys who works there, put this table just off to the side of us. I couldn't believe it and told Carol the tale of trying to buy it. She said to hurry and ask if it was for sale. "Yes" said the woman and told me the price, which was less than half of what was on the original little tag. "I'll buy it" said I, full of excitement, before they could change their minds. When I took the money out of my wallet, she said you can have it a bit cheaper still, because a couple of screws for the legs were missing and it had a few scratches on it.
Well, I couldn't get it out of the door quick enough and race home with it. The top is just bare wood and the legs have been painted off white and lightly sanded back in shabby chic style. I don't intend to do a darn thing to it. It's perfect as is.
This will become the table for my embroidery machine, then I can reclaim back the larger table for my sewing machine. I have the laptop on this new treasure at the moment and it looks pretty good, but my plans for it are firm. My sewing room is only small, the old kitchen dresser that is home to most of my sewing things is rather large. I have needed to make the most of available space.
I threw an old lace tablecloth over the table and it looks good, but I will at some stage (probably be awhile, so don't hold your breath) make a pretty patchwork top for it, just to protect it and the bottom of the embroidery machine. My sewing room will also get an overhaul. The lovely green velvet drapes will go in favour of something pretty and floral. A delicate lace curtain, that can be drawn back will also be added. We have made a lovely garden area looking out from the window and I want to be able to enjoy it.
I yearned for this table, knew it was what I wanted right from first seeing it. Was saddened when I couldn't have it, but thought, Oh well, there will be something else. I never forgot the table and would look in the shop from time to time to see if it reappeared. And now it's mine. Oh what joy.
Thank you to everyone who left a message about my last post. I appreciate it. My son's partner has the operation on April 3rd. This was the earliest it could be scheduled. The operation takes between 6-8 hours. It will be a difficult wait.
Take care.
Liz...
G'day. Son and I returned from Paris last week. A fabulous time was had by the both of us. Yes, it was cold, one or two days it didn't get above -2 and on one chilly day it was -4. We were hoping to see snow at the Eiffel Tower and it didn't disappoint us. I think it snowed for 3-4 days. A truly wonderful sight to see all this fluffy white stuff. We were concerned that our flight home may have been cancelled. Not that it would have been too hard to have to remain in Paris for an extra day or so, but it would have thrown other plans into chaos.
I was also lucky to meet my blog friend Penny. She had travelled by train from her home in the country side to visit her son for a few days and it was on one of these days that we were able to meet for the first time. Thank you Penny. It was lovely to meet you. I will post the picture of us on my next blog.
Only drama for me was that I got a bout of food poisoning. This was from eating a hamburger patty that wasn't cooked properly. I was in bed for 2 days, with mad dashes for the toilet to vomit and had the worst diarrhea that I can remember. But, not to be outdone, we two intrepid Aussie, made the most of our time in this beautiful city and we saw as much of it as we possibly could. I would not hesitate to go back again at this time of the year. I know not everyone would like the cold, but we just loved it. Reports from back home here in Australia were of 39-40 degree days. We didn't miss that, believe me.
Had some bad news when we returned. My son's partner has a brain tumour. This result from an MRI scan came through the day after we left for Paris and not wanting to ruin our holiday and knowing that we would turn around and get the next flight back home, we were not told. The family were sworn to secrecy. The MRI was to find out why a severely tender nose was giving problems, so tender in fact that even a hair falling on it would cause terrible shooting pains up into the head. The neurosurgeon thinks that the tumour has been growing for a number of years and the good news is, he doesn't think it's malignant. They can tell this by the colour of the tumour on the scan. So lets hope he is right. Hearing will be completely lost in the left ear, but that is a small price to pay. We are waiting now to hear on the surgery date, this depends when the neurosurgeon and the ear, nose and throat surgeon can organize their roster, as the two of them will work together on removing this nasty growth.
I have been having some trouble with this, you beaut, relativity new laptop of mine. I have somehow managed to get a lot of plugins and other nasties that I don't want. I wrote this blog earlier today, but when I previewed it, there were all sorts of links added and I had no clue whatsoever as of how to get rid of them. So, I have spent the last few hours, yes hours, going through the computer in hope of finding what the problem was. Finally went to the control panel (again) and had a real good look through that and found the problem hiding there. Voila, at the click of a button, problem has disappeared. I hope !!! All my best laid plans for my last day at home (I go back to work tomorrow) have gone out the window, so to speak. It's now 2.32 pm and I am off to the supermarket for some green vegies for tea tonight. Something that I had planned to do this morning. Oh well, if that's all I have to worry about, I have it pretty lucky, don't I?
Take care. Liz...
