So Much To Share!

Hello again! Well I have lots to share, so grab a cup of tea and settle in.

Last week, I had my 8 week follow up with the surgeon who repaired my wrist. I thought you might find it interesting to see his handiwork.

This is the ulna bone in my arm. It's the one that runs from your wrist below your pinkie finger to your elbow. He sawed this bone in 3 pieces, removing a section in the middle, and bolted the two remaining pieces together using a titanium plate and 6 screws. This is where I have a rather long and spectacular scar on my arm, which is still healing. Surprisingly, this was the least painful of the two surgeries I had done. It hasn't really hurt since after the first 2 weeks post-op. Yay for that! The other surgery, on the heel of my hand continues to be incredibly painful. I am still trying to find the optimal dose of nerve pain medication to deal with that. *sigh*

Meanwhile, in the good news department, on Tuesday, I got an email telling me I'd won a 2 night stay at Summit Lodge & Spa in Whistler. This is the same lovely hotel I stayed at in August 2012 when I went to Whistler for Vivienne's You Are Your Own Muse photography class. Indy blogged a review of the hotel and they are going to share it on their Facebook page on January 27th. They are extremely dog-friendly and we love that because where we go, Indy goes!

In the email they sent, they said if I sent a selfie about winning, they would have a gift waiting in my room when I arrive. I thought it would be fun to send them this:

We look forward to visiting Whistler later this year and I am thrilled we get to stay at our favourite hotel! We LOVE Whistler.

In other news, awhile back, @CBCOlympics asked Canadians to tweet a message of support for Canadian Olympic athletes as part of their #OurAthletes project. I sent them a tweet. Yesterday they let me know that mine was one of twenty selected to be made into a pin. 

(Photo used with permission of CBC Olympics)

Monika Platek of CBC Sports has pinned these 20 pins to her scarf and is taking them to Sochi. As she meets Olympic athletes, she will gift them with a pin and snap a photo, which she will then share with the person whose message appears on a pin. I'd say that's pretty darn cool! I am so pleased to be able to participate in this project-I can't wait to see who ends up with mine! You can read about the #OurAthlete project here.

In other sports related news, I woke this morning to find an email from FIFA. I applied last year to volunteer for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2015. (Crazy to think I'm planning my life 2 years into the future!) Anyway, I was accepted! YAY! I fell in love with women's soccer when I volunteered for the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifier for London 2012 and I couldn't be happier to support women's soccer in Canada (in Vancouver!) again in 2015. No idea what I will be doing yet, though my specialty is serving as a VIP transportation dispatcher, so that's a distinct possibility. I am sure it's going to be an amazing experience!

And while all this stuff has been going on, I quietly decided that this year's word is 

Extraordinary. 

May it be extraordinarily good in as many ways as possible!

Making Plans

(Googly eye graffiti at Granville Island)

Belated Happy New Year everyone! I have wanted to post for some time now, but my wrist is still very painful, so typing on the computer is something I can only manage in small, short bursts.

Normally at this point in January, I would be posting my word for the year. Oddly enough, I've got nothing. I decided not to stress about it. I tend to be a pretty focused person (I'm an Aries-go figure!) so maybe I just need to take a break from this practice this year and to not do what everyone else is doing. I'm okay with that. Let's just say I am leaving myself open to possibility. 

Meanwhile, I have been thinking about things I would like to do or explore this year. For example, I'd like to finish piecing a bullseye quilt top I started years ago and quilt it. It's made with 1930's reproduction fabrics. (Aunt Gracies, for those of you in the know.) The blocks are beautiful and I sewed enough to make a generous Queen (possible a King!) sized quilt for our bed. Here's an example of the block (It's not mine.) and here is an example of the Aunt Gracie fabrics. I'd show you mine, but they are stored away and I haven't had a chance to dig them up yet.

The one downside is that I started making this quilt before Indy was a part of our lives, so the background fabric is white. Indy spends alot of time napping on our bed and I'm not sure this quilt would stand up to the wear and tear and hair of a dog. So then the question is what to do? I suppose I'll just finish it and then worry about that later. 

Art-wise, I will have some fun news to share come the fall. That's all I can say about it for now, so you'll have to wait and see what it is. I've also submitted more work for another book, but it will be awhile till I hear if I was successful or not. *fingers crossed* I have some ideas I've been mulling over in my head for a long time and maybe once my wrist has healed, I will consider pursuing them.

This next week is going to be insanely busy-I have 3 meetings and 2 appointments in 6 days. It's a good thing it's happening now though, since the Olympics begin on Feb. 7th and I'll be clearing my calendar for that and the Paralympics. I cannot wait! Based on what I've seen in the Olympic qualifiers, Canada is looking exceptionally good. I am *SO* excited to see our athletes compete.

Okay, I've reached my typing limit. Signing off for now!

2013: A Year in Review

Things I celebrated:

-Being awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal

-Indy turning 5

-Pete's birthday (Any birthday while you are battling cancer is a big deal.)

-Our 23rd wedding anniversary (Happily every after!)

Things I survived:

-Two NMO relapses. Treatment was pretty rough.

-Indy & Pete being attacked by a Pit bull and both badly injured. We were all traumatized.

-Pete had surgery to repair his injury which meant 3 months of recovery just as he was recovering from having his kidney removed for cancer. The day he went for surgery, the company he'd worked for for 23 years folded. It never rains, but it pours!

-Breaking my wrist for the 4th time, XC skiing. Took me 2 weeks to realize it was actually broken and not just a bad sprain. I spent 8 1/2 months in either a cast or a splint.

- The 1 yr. anniversary of Pete's cancer diagnosis

-In October, I spent 15 days sick in bed.  Caught what I refer to as "the plague" and couldn't shake it because I am on immunosupressants.

-Surgery on my wrist & arm almost 6 weeks ago. This has by far been the hardest thing I've had to go through medically (even worse than chemo) for a number of reasons. It can't heal fast enough.

Things I volunteered for:

-Universal Access-Ability Advisory Committee

-UBC Med Student Interviews

-MS Society's Peer Support Program

-Canadian MS Society someonelikeme.ca blogger/mentor (I wrote 10 posts this year.)

-Skiing is Believing program photographer

-A friend's political campaign

-Volunteered at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference

-First ever 5 km walk/run for NMO Guest speaker at opening ceremonies

-Health Mentors Program interviews

-The Terry Fox Run

-Health Mentor Program, 2012-2013 & 2013-2014 cohorts

-UBC Patient Panel guest speaker (NMO)

-UBC NMO Day guest speaker

-Organizing Committee for the BC Provincial Wheelchair Curling Championships

-UBC Faculty of Medicine Health Mentors' Advisory Committee

-Assisted with MS fundraiser at two Billy Talent Concerts

Things I did that were fun and/or cool:

-Shared my story on MV-1 Canada's Life Without Compromise website & e-book

-Filmed for 5 days for a tv show which still has not aired-it keeps getting delayed.

-Was invited as an honoured guest for the Ferry Ballet on Canada Day with False Creek Ferries (Your loss Rick Mercer!)

-Saw Melissa Etheridge in concert at the PNE

-Went to Cranberryfest

-Attended my friend Andrea's thesis defence at UBC. She is now a Doctor of Philosophy!

Things that happened in my artistic life:

-Got addicted to Gelli plate printing thanks to my friend Penn

-Was published in Uppercase Magazine (Subscriber profile)

-Had some work accepted for publication in a book due out in spring 2015

-Attended the Vancouver screening of Indie Kindred with my friend Carol (I think I would have had more fun had I not been 2 days post-op and loaded up on pain killers.)

-Had Skiing is Believing photos published in Ski Cross Country Magazine

-Hit the milestone of receiving my 100th Etsy order!

Things I won:

-A year's subscription to Uppercase Magazine

-Tickets for a horse drawn tour of Stanley Park (Which we did on Pete's birthday in October.)

-Tickets to see Shane Koyczan, spoken word poet at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival.

-A beautiful necklace from the Vintage Pearl & all kinds of paper goodies from Curly Girl. They also sent me $25 gift certificates for both companies, which I have yet to use.

-Tickets to the Knowledge Networks premier of Home. I submitted a self portrait and wrote about it to win.

-Tickets to the BC Sports Hall of Fame

-A Sochi 2014 Olympic pin

-A box of Purdy's Turona chocolates (Which should be in the mail tomorrow!)

-Ipad mini & keyboard-this was a gift from my husband's boss and his wife, but it felt like winning!

My word for the year was FOCUS. Clearly, this was a year where that was important, with so many things going on. One of the things I really wanted to focus on accomplishing this year was to do more public speaking about NMO. I was really happy to have the opportunity to be a guest speaker at three different events and I hope to continue to do this in 2014. 

Speaking of 2014, we've been through alot in the last year and a half and I think I am more than ready to have a really good year. I'm hoping 2014 is a kinder, gentler year. 

The State of Me

So I survived the most difficult surgical experience I've ever had. It's the most difficult because I had a nerve block to freeze my arm and I was awake for the whole surgery, which was two surgeries in one. It was very scary because I am not someone who freezes well which has created some very bad and traumatizing experiences in the past.

Luckily, my two anesthetists were very kind and caring men who took excellent care of me. I did have a bit of a melt down when it came to having my arm bone sawed into three pieces. It's very disconcerting to hear the saw and while not experiencing pain, to have the vibration of it rattle through your entire body. Fortunately, the anesthetist came in right away and took the edge off.

I got to see the surgery on the heel of my hand on a tv screen and my surgeon showed me all the damage that had been done in and around the pisiform bone, which he removed. That was pretty cool and when I asked him, he showed me the bone he'd taken out. I know that probably sounds kind of gruesome to some of you, but medical science fascinates me. That poor bone has been broken 4 times, so it was time for it to go. Fortunately, removing it doesn't affect the function of my hand.

The second surgery was to shorten the ulna bone, which is one of two arm bones, running from your wrist below your pinky finger, to your elbow. This was the bone they sawed in 3, shortened and then used 6 screws and a titanium plate to put back together. I've got an incision that runs from my wrist to about 3/4's of the way down my arm to my elbow (about 6-8 inches) and was closed with 17 staples. My friend Carol has dubbed it "Frankenarm". If you want to see, there's a photo here. I can tell you this hurts like H*LL! I ended up having to go to the ER twice in 24 hours to get the pain under proper control. I am managing with the help of morphine every 4 hours, which makes the pain endurable. I will be really thankful when it heals enough to stop hurting-right now there's absolutely no position I can put my arm in that feels comfortable. 

On Wednesday, I'll be getting the staples and stitches out and then I am not entirely sure what happens next. I may have a splint and I know I'll have to do therapy. It will take about 6 weeks for the bone to heal. I am basically supposed to be resting and recovering, which is so hard for me to do, but with only one hand, there's not a whole lot I can actually do. I can't say I miss washing the dishes, but not being able to drive or make art is a total drag. It's a lesson in patience, I suppose.