Well I've been to hell and back

It's been seven (7) months since I last posted? It really seems as though I've been to hell and back. Last November I had a surgery that was supposed to be a

small thing......local anesthetic....no stitches....no pain....no biggie....per the surgeon's mouth. It was to be a biopsy the size of my thumbnail on the scar where my mastectomy was. That was done in March 2010 and it had healed up great!!! I had this patch of dry skin along the scar though and it scared my oncologist that it might be a recurrence of the breast cancer so he ordered the biopsy. I arrived at the hospital on Nov. 2nd. Mickey took me, of course. I told the surgeon in the "holding room" that I was afraid that since I already took so much pain medicine that I might wake up or feel the surgery. He talked it over with the anesthesiologist and they decided to give me a general anesthetic. When I woke up in the recovery room the Dr. told me he had cut open the whole length of the mastectomy scar (close to 5 inches long) to "relieve pressure", WHATEVER THAT MEANS!?!?! I had stitches inside and out. After about 10 days I had the stitches removed. The nurse didn't really Remove them, she clipped them.....I Removed them myself with tweezers in front of the bathroom mirror later that day. Proceed to Nov. 28th. I was lying on the couch on my right side. The same side as the surgery. And I used my elbow to skooch up on the couch a little. I felt this splat..... and fluid. Lots of fluid. I ran to the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth. I knew what had happened before I looked. The whole incision had split wide open.

Of course it did. Because I had had radiation on that skin. There is no blood flow to the skin that has been radiated. I know that. Didn't the surgeon know that? Well, yes it seems he did. He told me that when I asked about getting a skin graft to the huge wound since he said they couldn't stitch it up again. "There's no blood flow there because of the radiation so you can't have a skin graft. Remember I told you about that before the surgery?" Um, excuse me....you said it was going to be no biggie, no stitches, no pain!!!

So I've been going to the Burn and Wound Unit at St. Johns Hospital since the first of December. At first twice a week, now I'm down to once a month. I have had to change the dressings at home and try to deal with the PAIN. Eating pain pills like candy and lying on the couch for almost 5 months. I am Finally feeling like myself again and doing my usual things. Still have pain, just not near as bad and I guess I've learned to tolerate it.

BTW....we have talked to an attorney about this, but he hasn't gotten back to us yet. He said the surgeon will probably say he did what he had to do. blah blah....bull shit.

I want to say the biggest THANK YOU to all my blogging and real "in person" friends who wished me well and prayed for me. I got cards in the mail almost every day for a while! Isn't it great that we can make such great friendships on the web and not have to leave our living rooms? again....THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

BUT during my down time on the good days I started packing up my craft room/studio into boxes with the intention of redoing it in a bright Bohemian style. Of course I bit off more than I could chew and the boxes sat all over the house for Weeks. In the living room, dining room, and the other 2 bedrooms. The basement is about to explode!!!! How did all that stuff fit in that little 10' by 11' room? I don't know, but I got lots of it back in there and I'm letting go of the rest. I figured I can't have the whole Hobby Lobby Sheri store in my house. If I didn't use it last year I let it go. If I want to take up those old hobbies again I'll just have to go buy the stuff again!

I'm going to show a few pictures every day. That way I'll get back into the habit of blogging and I can show you what all I did. I literally made Everything that's in that room! From the bedspread to the painted floorcloth, curtains, pillows. You'll see!

So after I got that room finished, the rest of the house looked kinda blah. Remember, I had all white slipcovers and a real shabby look? Well I had to redo all the other rooms too!

Here's the first thing I thought of to do. I had this old loveseat that my Grandma bought at a garage sale 20 years ago. It is so comfy I couldn't get rid of it. So I PAINTED IT!!! With a roller and latex paint! Now it looks just like purple leather!!!!

Here's before

During

And after

You can see the bright turquoise wall. That's actually the first thing I did was to paint 3 walls turquoise and the other one chocolate brown. (You'll see that later!) That purple tapestry you see hanging will become a curtain for where I took down the closet doors. At the Salvation Army I ran across some lavender curtains with sequins along the top. Made just for a teenage girl's room!!! Guess who had to have them? Part of them and part of the tapestry became this curtain for the closet.

Well sorry, but now the old Blogger that I forgot about fighting with is back. I can't put my pictures at the bottom of the writing. I have to cut and paste!!!!! Sorry, but I can't do that tonight. I'll work on it tomorrow and have Lots more pictures for you.

Glad to be back

Peace,

Sheri