Life's a Stitch

Live and learn, or maybe more appropriately, learn and live. I’ve benefited from many teachable moments throughout this ordeal. Some of them are life saving, some are insights into relationships and some have to do with knitting. Leave it to a knit blogger to tie a heart attack to knitting! Here is what I’ve learned:

1. Learn what triglycerides are. Unlike the dietary fat you learn about in regard to cholesterol level, triglycerides are a kind of fat that is made by your body. And cutting out fatty foods won’t control them. Whenever you eat more calories than your body can handle, even if it’s good food like lean meat or veggies, your body turns the excess into triglycerides, a fatty substance, in your blood. Although his cholesterol was under control, C’s triglyceride level was seven times the normal rate, presumably due to the entire bag of candy he consumed prior to his "event."

2. You can be having a heart attack with very few symptoms. He only had chest pain in the centre of his chest, none of this radiating to his arms or jaw. Any symptoms need checking out.

3. I physically shake after being given bad news.

4. He is sick of telling his story and listening to others; I need to tell it and hear others’ experiences.

5. There is such a thing as too much knitting. You, probably like me, knit to deal with stress. When your wrist swells, turns red, and is excruciatingly painful, it is time to take a break, get out the ice packs and put on a wrist brace.

How about a Marina picture, getting to the very top of the body.

 

I heard Chuck having a talk with the boy, who appears to have started dating, although would never admit to it. He and a girl were headed to a movie the other day. I asked if it was a date and he said no. I asked who was paying, he or she? He replied "you." OK then.  So, back to the eavesdropping. We’ve had flowers around due to Chuck’s hospital stay and they led to this conversation:

Dad: I’m going to teach you how to score points with a woman.

Son: silence

Dad: Here are the rules:

1. If you bring flowers home you score points.

2. If you bring them home for no good reason you score extra points.

3. If you picked the flowers from the parking lot at work you lose points. (This scene was fresh in his mind as our Easter flowers arrived wrapped in a plastic garbage bag and a rubber band rather than cellophane and raffia).

4. If you picked the flowers from the cemetery, and she finds out, don’t bother coming home. He didn’t really say that. I added it because I knew some guys in college who lived next to the cemetery and let me in on their modus operandi.

5. If there is a special occasion and you don’t bring home flowers, you lose big points.

Son wasn’t overly impressed, but I give Dad points for trying.

Knitting content: I have found the yarn I would like to have with me if stranded on a tropical island or in the waiting area of an cardiac cath lab. It is Art Yarns Regal Silk formerly known as Royal Silk. I bought two skeins from Christine’s stash. It is a high cholesterol yarn  – soft and rich as butter. It has a lovely sheen, good stitch definition and doesn’t separate into strands as do other silk yarns. It is expensive, not something I’d buy in a store, at full price anyway, so I’m particularly appreciative of Christine’s de-stashing opportunity. Here it is, soon to be a feather and fan scarf.

Chuck got in yesterday at St. Paul’s Hospital. They’ve decided not to put stents in, as placement was not possible in the areas of the two major blockages(80 and 70%). Fortunately these were not located in the main artery. The main artery only had 50% blockage and they are confident that it is treatable with "aggressive medication." So that’s about as good as it gets newswise. He’ll be home in a day or two.

Thanks for your positive thoughts and prayers. Chuck’s hospital records had not indicated a religious preference so I felt free to register him as a Catholic, figuring if it became necessary, a priest could do a fine job. Chuck has now dubbed himself my Catholic-in-law. Works for me.

Update: I met with the cardiologist who says that it isn’t quite as pretty as I made it out to be, but with treatment we can stay positive for now. I guess we don’t get a choice; positive sounds good to me. My wrist is killing me from furtive knitting!

No news except look what was delivered to the hospital room:

It’s the White Lies Designs wedding sweater yarn. And guess who delivered it? The bride herself, who also happens to be a pediatric cardiology nurse. She flew in to be with us for the next few days, hopefully for the angioplasty. It is so comforting to have someone living right in my own house who can interpret what’s going on. So what if her patients weight 150 lbs less than Chuck, she knows what a cardiogram is supposed to look like and what all the drugs are for.

When this happened I had a feeling we were either going to be pleasantly surprised with our medical system or disappointed. So far, so good. Despite the fact that no angioplasty is done in the regional heart hospital (in a city of 2 million), Friday through Sunday, things seems to be working well. Since he is in the hospital it will be done this week as opposed to being an outpatient, when the wait is a month and a half. The dr felt it was too risky to send him home. Thank you all again, for your ongoing support and prayers. It means so much to be part of this community.

I couldn’t make up the weirdness in my life this past year if I tried. One thing after another, too many occasions to have been offered the prayers of others. This is getting downright embarrassing. You see, just before the weekend, Chuck had a heart attack.

I guess heart attacks, unlike pregnancy, can come in degrees. You can’t be a little pregnant, but you can have a little heart attack, usually a precursor to a bigger one. Lots of details, but the short version is that we did all the right things and caught it early. He will stay in the hospital until early next week, when he’s transferred to our regional heart hospital, most likely for angioplasty.

Do I dare say it again? See March 30th post. Maybe I didn’t say it with enough conviction – ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

I’ll be back with updates when I have them. Meanwhile, lots of bedside and waiting room knitting happening.

Li

No stupid dogs, just stupid owners. That dog owner would be me and there is no way I’m showing my face at the same bank. See post from not that long ago – April 3rd:

Started with dogs and ending with Kat’s, Kat’s blog contest that is, here are five places where I have kit:

1.In the pre-op room before knee surgery.

2. In the recovery room after knee reconstruction surgery. Heck, I was awake for my surgery and I would have knit through it if they had let me.

3. In physical therapy while hooked up to the squeeze and freeze machine.

4. In stop and go traffic

5. The mile high club of knitting – on the potty in a plane. Just had to finish that row I started while standing in the line up!

I found that subject on an e-mail in my in box over the holiday weekend. How much fun, being re-united with pen pal, Kate, from 40 years ago! I can picture the two of us attending the concert at the Pan American Union, in 1966, and agreeing to stay in touch. The last time we communicated was briefly during college. A lot of life has happened over time and I’m looking forward to picking up where we left off.

It made me think, though, how sad it is, that if a woman changed her name, it is nearly impossible to find her by Googling. If I hadn’t have mentioned on my blog that I grew up with the complicated name of Lilice Lesinski, this wouldn’t have happened.

Recently, when my daughter announced her intentions of marrying, I was disappointed that she was planning on taking her husband’s name. I realized that I did just that. I did it, however, because after a life of Lilice Lesinski, a somewhat simpler last name seemed appealing.  I’m a little sad about it because my generation of girls are the last of the Lesinskis. I know a couple who agree to give their boy babies his last name and the girls hers. That would have worked for us. Confusing for the kids, maybe.

Is there anyone else from my past lurking out there?

Here’s Marina, nearing the completion of the body. I’ve gotten past the hesitation regarding the fact that it is too cropped for me and that I’ll continue for another inch and a half. You can see the armhole steek that will require stitching up an inch and a half from the bottom to compensate for my adjustment. I was quite relieved at knit night when a very experienced knitter showed me how a simple mattress stitch will work just fine. I had disasterized the situation into the possibility of some fancy grafting.

Easter treats:

Treat #1: A Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory caramel apple Easter bunny. Marshmallow cheeks, licorice whiskers, gumdrop nose and Smartee eyes; all coated in white chocolate. Even Bryant found it too sweet.

Treat #2: Hot Cross Buns? Look again, those aren’t currants and candied fruit. They’re very decadent chocolate chips.

Treat #3: Pumpkin Creme Caramel. Yumm.

Treat #4: In Canada, if you work for the government or non-profit social services, you get a four day weekend. The first days off since Christmas.

Nature’s nasty trick: my best cousin ever has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

I know, I sound like a broken record. You can tell my age by that one, what would be the contemporary equivalent? Anyway, you’ve heard me say it before – Marina and I are back together. Sometimes I think the breaks in our relationship are a good thing; that we’re still together because of our times apart. I’m optimistic that we’ll make it work in the long run if we respect our requirement for breathing room. Mine, at least. I wasn’t going to tell you because I didn’t want to disappoint you if this stretch was a short one.

If you look carefully at the photo, you’ll notice that the last inch and a quarter (above the last crimson band) is new knitting. The colours are absolutely accurate and look amazingly like the Woolcraft Marina photo rather than the colours called for in the Starmore pattern. Thank you to Denise, who requested the list of colour substitutions I used in Marina. You’ve gotten me started again.

Oh my goodness, a four day work week, followed by a four day weekend, followed by a four day week! It’s a little strange not having the girls at home, we’re taking a break from students, and Bry and Chuck have to work on Easter Day. I still plan on cooking because going out feels like a one hour holiday and there are no leftovers. A joyous Easter weekend to you all.

Don’t you hate when that happens? My 9th grad math teacher, Miss Lahrman, supposedly a former nun, told us, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Well, I work with a woman named Audrey. Consider Audrey’s husband, who has hell to pay as far as his wife is concerned. He’s doing his penance by calling their insurance company. You see, he had all good intentions of helping Audrey leave for a business trip. He even took her laptop outside and strategically placed it behind the car so she could load it into the trunk. Can you see it coming? She didn’t. Audrey now has a laptop with tread marks on the screen. I really really hate it when that happens.

My good intentions of listing all the Herringbone Ribsters has been delayed. I intended to make a database of all those to whom I’ve sent the pattern, adding their name to the sidebar as I see their progress on their blog; or if not a blogger, when they send me a picture of their finished scarf. Help me out, please, if you’re a blogger and are posting about the scarf, let me know and I’ll put a link on the sidebar. If anyone has a photo, please send it to me and I’ll add it to the gallery. My e-mail address is: boesencrew at shaw dot ca.

One more note about the scarf – it will remain available on my blog for the price of a comment. I decided not to publish it as I would have to relinquish ownership and I’d rather keep it to give as a gift to all you nice knitters. This is Shanti modelling her scarf. Shanti might be the talk of knitting blogdom right now. She posted about her stash on Sunday – over 700 high quality skeins of it! And she has the most amazingly organized database to keep track of it.