Journal: Quilting, Quilting... and Bad News

 

Last Tuesday, I paused with Leroy’s quilt in order to make a pillowcase for his little sister Elsie, whose 8^th birthday would be Thursday.  I had a few pieces left from her Playful Kitties quilt; I used them as trim.  I ordered a new Serta pillow for her, too.

Leroy’s 13^th birthday would be Saturday, so I made him a pillowcase, too.  He already had a new pillow, so I ordered a dark blue hoodie for him.

I caught a cold last week, complete with sore throat, earaches, and headache; so I spent Wednesday evening snuggled into my recliner with a fleece blanket, a hot cup of chamomile, honey, and vanilla tea from Kurt and Victoria at hand, ordering clothes for the grandchildren for whom I’m not giving a quilt this Christmas.

Thursday, I got a call from Prairie Meadows asking my permission to take Loren to the hospital, as his blood pressure was very low, especially when lying down.  I gave the necessary permission, and they promised to let me know more as soon as they could.

I continued cutting fabric for Leroy’s quilt, ‘The Heavens Declare Thy Glory’, pausing in the early evening to take Elsie her pillow and pillowcase.  She was tickled pink, so I’m happy, too.

After cutting as many pieces for the quilt top as I could until black background fabric arrived from Marshall Dry Goods, I started cutting squares of the glow-in-the-dark Space Planets fabric for the back (left over from Leroy’s brother Grant’s ‘Consider the Heavens’ quilt) in order to make the center back a checkerboard pattern.  I then calculated how much more I would need for the backing, and went and got some navy star-printed fabric from Hobby Lobby.  

Home again, I ate some Campbell’s sirloin burger and vegetable soup, along with pineapple yogurt and Martinelli’s raw apple juice, and pecan Sandies for dessert.  I gulped down a dose of Nyquil with Elderberry, and headed back to my quilting studio.

By 11:30 p.m., the central section of the backing for ‘The Heavens Declare Thy Glory’ was together. 

Amy was sad that she hadn’t gotten enough of the Space Planet fabric for the backing for both quilts, but I think she’ll be happy with the checkerboard back on this one.

A nurse called from Methodist Hospital in Omaha to tell me that Loren’s blood pressure had been stabilized after they gave him fluid and electrolyte therapy via IV; it seems he was dehydrated.  They would be keeping him in the hospital overnight.  She asked for more information on Loren’s general condition.

“He’s been declining, especially in the last few months,” I told her.  “He uses a walker now, but doesn’t really do much walking anymore, except for when one of the nurses at Prairie Meadows helps him to a couch or a chair and tells him to stay there.”

The nurse laughed, and then told me, “He’s been checking to make sure all the nurses are going to be able to sleep tonight.”  She paused, then added, “He’s very kind.”

She might quit thinking that, if his medication wore off and no one thought to give him the next dose!

Friday morning, I had several more calls from the hospital.  They had run a number of tests and X-rays the previous day after he complained of pain in his back, and had the results:  he has cancer in his spine.  This was not a total surprise, since the last time he was at the hospital, an X-ray had shown a small spot that was possibly cancer.

Doctors and social workers were in agreement with me that it would be best for Loren to be returned to Prairie Meadows that afternoon, and then request Angels Care Hospice to assist three or four days a week, more often if needed.  This group has treated his pressure wounds.  He still has trouble with those, though the man from Angels Care who later helped Loren with a shower and bed preparations told me the wounds are now superficial, and healing.

He will be given medication to keep him as comfortable as possible, but no ‘heroic treatment’, as they call it, will be given.  Loren did sign a living will back in 2020, with a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) request in the case of terminal illness.

They assured me that they are able to manage pain quite well with transdermal fentanyl patches, which is what they will be using.

It got up to 64° that day, and the flies seemed to be having one of their last hurrahs.  (I no sooner wrote that, than a fly landed right on my hapless pate!)  By the middle of this coming week, however, we might see our first snowflakes of the season.

That day, I added a narrow border of the glow-in-the-dark fabric to the central checkerboard part of the backing, then wide borders of the star-printed navy.  There are only a couple of small pieces of glow-in-the-dark fabric left; I managed to use almost all of it.  Next, I sewed sashing to two sides of the 12 Black Space fabric blocks.

I put some chicken legs and thighs in the Instant Pot for our supper that evening.  Larry hasn’t felt much like eating for the last few days on account of sores on his gums.  Perhaps they are caused by his dentures, or perhaps he has the same virus I do, as I have sores in my mouth, too.  We added potato salad, green beans, peach parfait, and pecan Sandies to the menu and had a good supper, regardless of the fact that neither one of us had much of an appetite.

Victoria has been getting her house decorated and ready for our Christmas gathering.  She sent a picture of Baby Arnold, all intrigued with the Christmas tree she just put up, and another of her living room all shined and pretty. 

“Hopefully it stays that way for a month 😏, ” she wrote.

“You’re going to farm out your kids for a month?” I asked.

“Well, no 😂,” she answered.

At noon on Saturday, it was 59°, on its way up to 63°.  It was bright and sunny, with – amazingly – hardly a breeze.  (Not long after I wrote that, a few 30-mph gusts hit hard enough to rattle the house.)

The black swirly fabric I’d ordered arrived, so I made myself a hot cup of TheraFlu tea and hurried upstairs to cut the remaining 156 pieces for 'The Heavens Declare Thy Glory' quilt.  I did not go to see Loren, because of this cold I have.

Wouldn’t you know, the pattern I chose for every other block has eight Y-seams in each block!  There are 13 blocks.  That makes 104 Y-seams.  I know a couple of ways to cut blocks so that one can avoid Y-seams; but it might be a toss-up as to which is easier:  Y-seams, or remembering to add the ¼” seam allowance to all the pieces one would cut in half to avoid the issue!  😄  Ah, well.  I’ve done enough of them that just doing them is probably faster than any method of avoiding them.  Besides, I like the look of a good set-in piece better than when that piece is halved and a seam put in – or even worse, when the star rays themselves are halved.

Later that afternoon, I took Leroy his birthday gift – the pillowcase and the hoodie. 

Elsie was playing with Ethan’s big Anatolian shepherd puppy, Atka, when I got there.  Those are the gentlest big dogs.  He’s probably 100 pounds by now, and he’s only six months old.  I could rest my elbow on his head without even bending over.  I petted him and talked to him and made his eyes go all dreamy.  😄  It’s always good to be friends with really big dogs, don’t you think?

A little while after sunset, there was a red fox out in the yard somewhere, screeching its head off.  They are the funniest sounding things!  It was too dark to see him, but a fox’s yelps and screams are unmistakable.  (Photo by Mathieu Vandewiele.)  

Here’s what it sounded like:  Fox screeching

By the time I quit sewing last night, I had a nice-sized stack of half-quarter blocks done.  I will do all the half-quarter blocks first, not putting them into full blocks until I finish, so that I can then lay them out in whatever colorway I find most appealing.  And, once again, I find that I just plain like doing tricky quilt blocks!  😅

I stayed home from church today, as this cold seems a little worse than it did yesterday.  I have earaches, sore throat, cough, headache, sores in my mouth...  I sure didn’t want to pass that around.

Larry has such a bad sore on his bottom gums that he left his bottom dentures home.  You can’t tell it, looking at him; not even when he talks.

Someone once gave my father a card – business-card size – hoping he’d buy a bunch of them (he didn’t):  On the card was printed a black cat.  Under the cat it read, “If you are feeling unwell, breathe on this cat.  If the cat turns purple, you are sick enough to stay home from church.” 

Of course, it was just black ink; no color-change possible.  My mother found me breathing on it long and hard one day when I’d stayed home from school with the flu.  I was so disappointed when that cat didn’t turn purple!  I was sick, after all!

Daddy, though he had a marvelous sense of humor, wasn’t much one for ‘religious’ jokes, as the majority of them are irreverent, really.  Still, he did keep that card.  😄

Bedtime!

,,,>^..^<,,,          Sarah Lynn          ,,,>^..^<,,,