So what happens when you live someplace where it is really really hard to get in to see a doctor unless you have an issue that piques their interest? You don't see a doctor for regular medical stuff, you wind up seeing a series of PAs and RNs that wildly misdiagnose stuff, and then when you finally start seeing a doctor regularly because one of those misdiagnoses blew up into something serious they start finding all sorts of stuff that should have been being monitored.
Remember a few years ago when I was going a bit bonkers because I had a pain at the bottom of my left shoulder blade that felt like somebody was electrifying just a few specific muscles and making them tremble and spasm? Yeah, the former clinic said it was "unspecified neuropathic pain", and told me to just suck it up because there was nothing to be done about it. I was slightly terrified that later on somebody would tell me it was fibro or something. Well it came and went and came and went, generally lasting a few days or a week and then going away again. Well this last time it came, lasted a month and overlapped a doctor visit. She sent me for spinal x-rays to make sure I didn't have some sort of compression fracture that had been overlooked. Well the bones themselves are fine, but I have scoliosis. It's an S curve that is better than 15 degrees off from straight. How the heck do you live 50 years and nobody notices something like that? The doctor thinks my weird pain is damage to a nerve from long term wonkiness. She is sending me to an orthopedist to make sure that everything is at least stable and to see if anything can or should be done with this. She also scolded me for not going to the ER when the muscle relaxant she gave me made me swell up, including my throat so as to make it hard to swallow. I just looked it up, saw that that sort of swelling and swallowing problem was on the list of side effects, and quit taking it. Apparently that was an Urgent Medical Care situation that required Immediate Attention. I am one of those people that tends to get all the drug side effects, and being as most of my previous experience has been with medicals that say things like, "well yeah, swelling up to the point where your clothes don't fit is something to keep an eye on, but the medication works doesn't it?", I tend to sort of just do what seems sensible instead of making a fuss. Apparently this is no longer acceptable protocol.
So now I have another two pages of bloodwork, a new doctor to see, and a bone density scan on the list of Things To Do. Just for giggles she put me on a calcium plus vitamin D supplement. Apparently bone wonkiness when you have been doing surgical menopause is something they sit up and take note of. She is still keeping an eye on my blood and musing sending me off to a hematologist. My white count and platlets tend to be elevated. I have pointed out to her that I am prone to swimmer's ear and have chronic sinusitis from that big scar that runs through the roof of my mouth into my sinus cavity, and thus frequently have a low level infection of one sort or another. My last bloodwork showed marked improvement, making me think that that is probably what is causing the fuss. Though I will grant that it has caused some misdiagnoses in the past I don't imagine there is much anyone can do if that is what it is all about.
On the quilting side I have been drawing, measuring, planning, contemplating various sheer fabrics, and musing over whether what I have in mind would be better executed in cotton or silk. I am thinking of combining various applique techniques and perhaps throwing in a bit of needle painting in an effort to achieve a "painterly" effect on the project. I am planning to experiment with color combinations in shadow applique, hence the contemplation of sheers. Varying degrees of sheer seem to be more readily available in silk than cotton. I have bowed to my inner control freak and plan on dying all the fabrics and threads myself, though that is really not anything new here. Though dying thread is a pain in the backside (thus I usually just use neutrals for sewing and quilting) if i am going to use needle painting on this I will need the right colors for the job. The plan is to do a figurative subject and not do it cartoonist style. Just the sort of fussiness I need if I am going to do a smaller than my usual massive bed quilt project. At present the thing is keeping it small. I keep wanting to expand the size for one reason or another, but I am determined to keep it under 5 feet across. I do want to finish it in less than a decade! When I start convincing myself to add just a couple of inches so I can do whatever mad thing I am thinking of, I go and knit or spin something. I also knit in waiting rooms, so they are not all completely from averting madness, but a big percentage of a couple of elephants, a monkey, two puppies, a lamb, a rabbit, and a slew of bears for the toys for tots box are. I have also dyed up and spun enough wool for a full length coat. This is being a very productive project even before I so much as snip a single selvage!
NightMist