The London Marathon

As most of you guys know I have Multiple Sclerosis.  My son James, who I am inordinately proud of, is running in the London Marathon this year to raise money for the MS Society.

This is Jamsie Boy  (this was my late mother's nickname for him)

who is now a man in his own right with a wife who is just lovely.  Anyway I digress, just for a change, so back to the subject at hand.

MS can be, and sometimes is for me, very debilitating in all manner of ways that people just don't see or is obvious and I really don't want to go on about it but if you are at all interested may I please suggest that you visit the MS Society website which you can do by clicking on the links that I have put here as well as the link to James' Page for this on both Facebook and the Just Giving website.  You know you see people in wheelchairs and have sympathy for them.  Sympathy is the last thing I want or have ever wanted - a cure is what I want!  Okay not for me because I haven't got it nearly as bad as was my initial prognosis so I am one of the lucky ones but it's the children and the young people who have the more aggressive type that need a cure so badly.  Please don't forget that it's the symptoms you can't see that can be the worst.  

Anything you can donate will be greatly appreciated.  From £1.00 upwards because it all counts and there is a widget on the side of my blog for just this purpose.

Thanks for listening to me ramble and for visiting my blog.

Patti xxx

Good & Bad News & Presents & Exchanges ....

Well there is bad news and good news. The bad news is Larry is coming home tomorrow after only two days in the hospital, which is bad for me because I become his slave again. Mind you this to-ing and fro-ing to the hospital in all the traffic hasn't been much fun either and has zonked me out. But the other patients have been entertaining. So no stitching photos because I just haven't had time to take them. Sorry ladies but I did pinch a few from other boards of things I received.

The good news, for him anyway, is that he is coming home tomorrow and he has a much smaller and lighter cast on his leg and it is only on the bottom half of his leg instead of all the way up to his you-kn0w-where and they are sending him home with a zimmer frame.

Anyway I did want to share with you what I received from Yuko. It was a total and complete surprise and she sent me these things just in time for Christmas.
This is the front of the simply gorgeous ornament that Yuko stitched and finished to perfection for me and we weren't even in an exchange. This parcel just arrived from Japan and Larry (dh) and Stacy (younger daughter - would say dd but she isn't right now) were agog as was I. We all stood around the dining room table whilst we, and I mean we, opened the parcel. I was just amazed and excited and just you wait it'll be your turn soon to be amazed.


and this is the back of it. Such pretty pretty fabric. Holy and Candy Canes. When I was a child I just loved candy canes - bet I wouldn't love them now as an adult.


And the gorgeous coasters you can see above were actually made for me and they are just gorgeous and I shall have to ask Yuko how she made them so I can make some more to grace my Christmas table next year.



And finally I was in the Legacy Exchange and I received this from Mayte and you really can't see how tiny, perfect and gorgeous this is. The tin that she sent it in is just so cute and is sitting along with my other tins, like I need something else to collect, but I do like them. The stitching and finishing is just exquisite and totally perfect in every single way. I have, for quite a while, been envious of exchanges and presents that other people have received but this year has beaten all and mostly everything I have received in exchanges has been incredible and I would like to thank each and every one of you for stitching such beautiful things for me.

Thank you so much for stitching these things for me. They really are priceless and precious and will be with me always.

Until next time

Patti xxx

Manic it's been here

Things have really been manic here that's for sure. Firstly I always sign up for the Legacy Board Quaker exchange and for some reason, who knows, I got it into my head that it was to be mailed on the 15th of this month. Don't know why it was just in my head so I didn't bother to check on the Board. Silly me - it was due to be mailed on the 5th! And seeing as I was late last time sending it out will she let me on the next one I ask myself.

Secondly my dh has broken his leg in two places - g-d forbid he should have broken one bone. He broke both the tibia and fibula last Friday morning. So last Friday morning he went by ambulance and I followed in the car. Now I don't know if I have said this before but I have MS and a very very heavy electric wheelchair and I have a hoist fitted in my car to pick up and put it down. But the reason he fell down the stairs was they were collecting my car because somebody had smashed into it and tore off practically the whole of the passenger side so they were here to collect my car and deliver a replacement, but the replacement, although it's the same car as I own, doesn't have a hoist so I can't use my chair. Anyway I went into the hospital and found him and I was walking like a duck with the stick because that's the way I walk when (a) I'm tired and (b) I have to walk more than a few feet. So there we stayed for a good few hours and they plastered his leg up good and properly from his groin to his toes, and so the saga began. We didn't get much sleep Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights and I had a 72 hour bug of some sort which I woke up with on the Friday morning and was feeling dreadful and his leg was hurting and he was yelling and I was yelling back.

Monday we spent the morning in the hospital where they x-rayed him again and said all was well and we went out after that by going to a place in the shopping mall called Shopmobility where they loaned me an electric wheelchair and him an electric scooter and we did our food shopping that way. Tuesday was quiet and I slept most of the day I was so zonked out.

Wednesday night we were back at the hospital again in the evening because he was in so much pain and they cut a little hole in the front and this gave him some relief for a few hours. But no sleep.

Thursday night - guess what? Yep we were back at the hospital again. This time the doctor said that he (a) shouldn't walk at all except to go to the toilet and (b) the reason his leg was so swollen and hurt so much was because he wasn't keeping it elevated enough. But, he hadn't been told not to walk on it at all except to go to the toilet before and why didn't anybody else tell him that and why didn't the doctor tell him to keep it elevated all the time and why did they give him crutches and a leaflet on how to use them? So we thought ok this seems really reasonable we'll go home and get all the pillows out and under his leg on the bed but it was no better so this morning we (that's Stacy who is dh#2) called the ambulance again because he couldn't walk at all and they game and ferried to him hospital. We have just come back and they have split the cast but we have to go back again on Monday. Oh what a joyous life I lead.

So sorry ladies but no stitching to be shown today because I haven't put needle to silk or fabric in over a week. I remember sitting in the hospital last Friday morning thinking it's ok my exchange isn't due to be mailed until the 15th and I can sit and stitch next week as we will definitely not be going out! Yeah Right!! And anybody that tells you that the worst thing about having MS is the walking or not walking is so wrong it just isn't true. The worst thing as far as I am concerned about this disease is the acute tiredness that comes over you for no earthly reason but this time I had an earthly reason and do you know that I have had a new printer for the past two weeks and haven't even loaded it on my computers yet so that should tell you how tired I've been but dh is really the one you should be feeling sorry for because he really is in pain.

Until next week.

Patti x