I've not been on here for a while, partly that was rejigging things on my computer, then other things kept me away.
I received a hug quilt from this group just before Christmas last year, I had a nightmare with post partum depression and at times the included me posting stuff on this group that shouldn't have been in the public domain.
I'm pleased to say that I have made a full recovery, I'm still on medication and I will likely stay on that for a year or so before making any attempt to come off it. Last time I had PPD (with my first baby), I stayed on meds until he was 3, which coicided with my 2nd baby being 1 and came off with no problem. As long as there are no side effects, or only manageable ones, it makes sense to be safe rather than sorry!
From the neck up I feel the best I've felt in about 10 years, I have narcolepsy, which was only diagnosed 3 years ago, but I'd been affected by symptoms for about 10 years by that point, they just hadn't got specific enough to get the relevant tests (apparently this is typical, diagnosis occuring 10-15 years after onset of symptoms), then it took a while to figure out which medications worked best for me for that, I was only on them for a few weeks before I was pregnant and had to stop them, I'm back on them now and it's amazing to be able to stay awake and even if my physical body is tired and not coping, my mind is how it should be, I'm me again!
The bad news is that all the family problems that I think I mentioned have actually got a lot worse, here is not the right place to go into details, but those of you who know me a bit better are welcome to contact me offlist and prayers and good thought, or fairy dust, whatever it is that you do are also very welcome and needed. Right now I am not with my children as much as I would like, but I did have a wonderful visit with them yesterday.
The other bad news is that my hip that had surgery in 2007 suddenly did something about 5 weeks ago, originally I said flare up, but time and the exact symptoms have made it clear it's not a flare up, I'm not aware of injuring it, but either something was so fragile it got injured by normal activities, or somehow something else changed, but I'm still waiting for test results and my surgeon is out of town so I don't see him until 13th August, so I won't know more until then, but surgery is a distinct possibility and unfortunately a year after having been pregnant and had a c-section I'm not in ideal shape, there has also been significant deterioration in my other hip, making it less able to cope with the extra strain surgery would put on it (I have a bony abnormality of both hips, the left needed surgery first because I dislocated it and the abnormal bone shape tore tissue that wouldn't usually have been affected by that kind of injury). So for being a mere 30 years old, my body is rather a mess and as I can't drive far or often due to the pain, I can't get the best treatment I can access because I can't get there often enough.
Through all of this it has been my quilty friends who have stuck by me, who have ferried me around, who have facilitated me seeing my kids, my psychiatrist who has been fantastic is also a quilter, I'm getting to the point that I feel I should interview doctors and lawyers and the like by asking them if they quilt! I don't have many personal belongings with me, but one thing I do have is my hug quilt and it will be coming to court with me tomorrow, I can fold it different shapes to prop up or cushion what the chair or bench I'm sitting on needs and each way I fold it I see the name of a different person who I know is rooting for me, even if they don't know it at that particular moment.
Thanks everyone, I hope I will be back in here soon talking about quilty things, I joined a local quilt guild a few months ago but never attended a meeting, but they called me and connected me with someone who lives nearby and who can give me a ride to meetings - it came out of the blue, but it's perfect timing. Depending on what happens with my hip, it may be a long time before I can sit down at a sewing machine, but when I am able to get more of my personal belongings I have applique that I'm working on and a binding to finish. I've been keeping my fingers occupied with knitting the past few weeks.
Anne