Some Pretty Things

Some friends gave me these lovely tulips this week.

This is a hat I crocheted. It’s the magnum opus of my crocheted hats. I made about ten other hats along the way and learned something from each one that added to the skill set I needed to make this one. (The colors in this image are not accurate... I'm not quite sure what happened)

My Favorite part is the four color spiral at the top, where I began the hat. If you want to know how to start a multicolor spiral, check out THIS LINK.

I also like the border because of its subtle picot pattern.... This picture also shows the colors most accurately, except the darker purple is a true dark violet-purple and what looks like black is actually a deep indigo blue....

Here is a similar hat in progress: You work each of the colors for so many stitches and then repeat, repeat, repeat, so you have the ends of each color hanging loose until you’re finished. I may try one with six colors, just for fun.

I’m still having mostly good days, tinged with the digestive crud. The hip pain is still pretty terrible—and much worse later in the day.

It’s really hard to know what’s going on with this stuff. There is definitely enough crud to make me think the partial bowel obstruction is a reality, and I am definitely only drinking water and Ensure, but the whole thing is variable enough that it’s hard to get a grasp on.

Trying to understand this physical process is kind of like trying to catch a slippery fish with your hands; you can feel it and see it but you can’t quite get a hold of it.... : )

I’m still praying for a clot instead of the bowel obstruction (and every time I type that, I type “bowl” and then imagine of all the ways a bowl of cereal could be obstructed—cheerio dams etc).....

I treated myself to two humidifiers today (two because I don't want to have to move one back and forth between the front of my house during the day, and my bedroom at night). I’ve been coughing and coughing, to the point where I almost vomited several times a few nights ago... My wonderful nurse brother suggested that my house is very, very dry and the dry environment could be causing the coughing. I never thought of that; it’s a knee jerk reaction at this point to blame everything on the cancer... I can’t wait to see how the humidifier works...

Also, I’ve gotten a huge number of very, very, very encouraging, kind, and thoughtful emails and comments on here recently—they are really super awesome and I really appreciate them. Thank you!

Peace, Martha