Feels Good to be Able to Report Good News!

Hello Everyone!

I have so much news and the majority of it good. It feels so good to be able to report good news after being under what appeared like a black cloud of bad news for so very long.

Jack had had to go to a nursing home when he was released from the hospital in mid-January because he was being given an IV antibiotic to kill the staff infection he had in his incision. He was there for exactly two months. He went to the nursing home January 11 and came home March 11. What he had to do to be able to come home before the construction on the house was complete to make it 'disabled friendly' was climb stairs with his one leg. Jack did that a full week before he came home in the therapy department. Then it was the red tape of doctors, insurance etcetra.

During the last three to four weeks at the nursing home, the doctor had put him on something called a 'wound vac', which on one hand was aggravating because he had a vacuum like machine attached to his stump, but on the other was good because it made the rather large tunnel in the wound get smaller. When Jack came home the wound vac was still attached, however, because the tunnel had narrowed so much, he was quickly removed from it. Originally the tunnel was about 7 or 8 cm and the wound on top that the tunnel came off of was about the size of a quarter. Now, the tunnel is gone completely and the wound on top is about as big around as a #2 pencil led. No drainage in the wound at all any more, which until a couple of weeks ago, there was drainage every day.

Jack and I went to the surgeon's office yesterday. While we were there, the prosthetic company came and gave Jack a smaller stump shrinker. He is so excited, as am I. Jack was officially cut lose from the surgeon and was told that he could be fit with his prosthetic leg in two weeks. He is so anxious to get about and do things. He has basically had to spend 98% of his time in bed since November 2008. He hasd gained a good amount of weight and he wants to start going to the YMCA with me and start exercising and maybe get some of the weight off. He is so proud of me for my weight loss, he wants to see what he can do to lose some of his weight.

The construction on the house started the week after Jack came home. First thing done was the tearing down of the back porch, which we consider a kitchen extension since that is where we had our refrigerator, standing freezer, cabinet that held dry goods, and our plastics cupboard.
That happened on a Friday. The Monday of the next week they poured the concrete for the footing of the foundation of the new room. After the cemente had cured, they put the brick to form the foundation. After that cured, they came and put in the walls and floor, then the outside door, window and the door to the basement. The electrician came this week and put in the plugs and wiring for ceiling fixture. The doorway that goes from the kitchen to the dining room was widened this week as well. The roof on the back half of the house is complete. They still need to put the inside of the walls on the new room, put a new roof on the front of the house, widen the doors that go from the kitchen to our room and our room to the bathroom. The also have to still put in the concrete driveway and then the ramp. They will also be painting the room.

The other thing that has needed to be done around here for the longest time is new ceiling fans in both bedrooms and the dining room. All three ceiling fans had died. Last summer was miserable around here because we had only one working ceiling fan and it was in the living room. Jack and I were finally able to purchase new ceiling fans. We hired an electrician to install them last week. It seems odd, in a good way, to have a decent amount of light in my dining room! I am so use to it being dark in that room!

On the stitching front, here is my finish I finished just a day or two after Jack returned home. It is 'Footprints in the Sand'. I am having to show it to you in two pictures because it is so long. I did this on 32 count evenweave. I must say that I have never worked 32 count before and I am not sure I ever will again. It was very frustrating! I know alot of it was words, and maybe that is why I was frustrated, but still... I have no problem with 28 count but 32 count is so much smaller!

The material and light effects color that I ordered from 1-2-3 Stitch arrived last week so I can start the Precious Moments picture for my niece's baby, but I want to finish the bookmark form Wes first.

I am working on a bookmark for my daughter's boyfriend, Wes. He has enlisted in the military and reports to Army Boot Camp in mid-June. He graduates from high school in May. Jack and I are very proud of him. He treats Sarah like she is the most important person in the world. They met last summer when Sarah started volunteering at the stables at the edge of town. They started dating just a couple weeks before school started. It is hard for me to believe we are in the fourth quarter of school. Even with everything this house has been through, the past few months seemed to have flown by.

Wes just arrived here, Sarah got home from softball practice about 20 minutes ago. Wes is now massaging Sarah's feet. She plays on the high school junior varsity team. She plays right field most of the time on this team, but she is the back up catcher. Sarah is also signed up to play summer softball. She has played since she was nine years old. She is considered the best catcher in the league. I haven't heard from Sarah's summer coach yet.

Sarah's shoes for Wes's prom arrived in the mail today. She is very jazzed. She loves the look of them. I would never wear something like them, first of all, they have a picture of a skull on them. Secondly, they are very spiked heels. The dress is probably ready. I took Sarah over to Deena's. She can alter clothing. Deena took my clothes in when I had lost so much weight. She also altered my husband's suit as well as my step-son's suit for my son's wedding.

Rachel is at softball practice right now. She also plays summer softball. She started playing 5 years ago. I heard from her coach a couple of weeks ago and this is her second week of practice.

As far as my running for Alderman in Ward 4 (seat on the City Counsel) I lost. When I originally put my hat in the ring, no one else had. The second person who ran was the husband of someone who was Alderman a few years ago. A good number of people voted for him because they liked his wife. Well known name...he is the person who won. There ended up being a third person on the ballot; a guy who changed his mind about running after he filed, but never took his name off of the ballot. He got 61 votes. I lost by 70.

Our van was hit-and-run at the grocery store a week or so ago. The damage wasn't horrible. Enough that the front passenger door 'popped' when you opened it, but it would open. Sarah and I discovered it when I picked her up from school. I filed a claim with the insurance company and Jack and I took the car to the repair shop Monday. We picked it up Wednesday. They not only fixed the damage from the hit and run, but we had the shop put a new mirror on the left side (that mirror was not wanting to stay in position), fixed the latch on a window which didn't want to work, and figured out and fixed why my brake lights had an attitude, sometimes working, sometimes not. Between the deductable and what we added on, we only had to pay a little over $311. I don't think that is too bad!

Well, I need to be signing off. I promise, I won't wait forever to update again. Take care and happy stitching.