I Am NOT A Pincushion! I'm Going Home!

 I don't have anything to post here, I have a card half finished, but run out of energy and ended up having to go back to bed to sleep. I will finish the card maybe tomorrow. I had to go and have blood tests done this morning. I was supposed to go yesterday but had a sore throat and didn't feel like going out. What a waste if energy, none of the nurses could get blood because my veins are stuffed. Having been in hospital 4 times in the last month, I have bruises on bruises on bruises, on both arms. I am NOT a pin cushion, and I am SO fed up with nurses being gung ho and thinking THEY can find a vein, and failing, leaving me bruised and annoyed. It's happened SOO many time and I am fed up. While I was in hospital recently, they ended up getting and Anesthetist Technician to come and put a needle in my arm. She was brilliant! She put some anesthetic in my arm using a very fine needle, then she used the Ultra Sound to scan my arm for a viable vein, and then  put the needle in. NO pain, NO stress No bruise, and NO grumpy Sunshine! She said  to ask for an Anesthetist Technician next time they have issues. So I left the blood lab mumbling that I am NOT going back again and the hospital will have to do without my blood. They wanted to see how low my Haemoglobin levels were, as they were very low when I was in hospital. So I got home (exhausted) and my phone rang. It was the hospital saying they think my levels are ok (due to other tests they did) and that I don't need to have any more blood tests!! Best news I've had all day! I am so glad I don't need to go back for more needles. They all want to "Practice" on me, and they all 'think' THEY are the one who will get blood from my vein. I am learning to say 'no', please find someone who has experience, and please use the Ultra Sound. This 'ain't my first rodeo and I am not a pin cushion! I have nothing against nurses, I support you and know how hard you work, and you are often understaffed, but still do a great job. It's just that...I'm not a pin cushion and I've had enough.

So, I have recently discovered some new stamps, and a new (to me) Artist. His name is Andy Skinner. Have you seen his stamps? Have you seen him create with them/ And do you have any of his stamps?! I ordered some the other day and I am super excited to get them! They'll be a short while as they are coming from the UK. A local craft store her in NZ has them, but they're out of stock. They take for ever to get stock in and I want my stamps 'now'! Gosh Andy is super talented with how he colours the stamped images, and I've watched several of his videos. Let me know if you have used his stamps, and I would love to see what you created! I first saw some videos that Amanda Branston did using his stamps, and I was intrigued. You can find Amanda on FB under Amanda Jane Crafts. She was with Lavinia Stamps, but now has her own channel and does some awesome art work. Ok, that's it for now. Thanks for dropping by! Have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!

Uh Oh, Here I Go Again

 I woke up at 3.30 am this morning, with a very dry sore throat, and feeling very nauseous. I got up and took some Paracetamol, and something for the nausea. I was supposed to have blood test today, but don't feel well enough to go out. I am home under the Hospital In The Home scheme. This means a Nurse/Doctor will call me each day to check in on me. I told them this morning that I am not well and don't feel well enough to go out. They are ok with that and hopefully I feel better and can have the bloods done tomorrow. They need to check my Haemaglobin levels, as they were too low while I was in the hospital. They think it may be due to having had Covid. if my levels are still low I will need to have a blood transfusion. I'm also back to feeling extremely tired again. A friend came to visit me while I was in hospital a couple f weeks ago. Lovely to see her as she lives  hours North of here. She wasn't well at the time, and when she went home she did a Covid test, and it was positive. She waited TWO WEEKS before telling me she had Covid. She knows my immune system is very poor, but she never said a thing. I feel really disappointed and somewhat annoyed with her. It's sad when things like this happen, it's left me feeling that I cannot trust people/friends anymore. We've been friends since we were 10. Just feeling annoyed right now. But...I have made another card last night! 

This is Penelope with her aunt, Esme! As the sentiment says, they are 'out in the elements' looking at the Moon! (As Witches do!) This card measures 3 1/4 by 5 inches, once again done on water colour card. I've used another one of the Ravens. Nothing compares to standing on a hill at mid night, staring up at the full moon! Of course, if one of those Witches was me, I'd have my camera hoping to spot a UFO...!  Thanks for dropping by! have  SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!

"Penelope" #2

 

Here's another version of "Penelope". I made this card using water colour card, as I did in my previous post. It's about the same size as well. I've also used 'Specter', the Raven, as well as Mini Rune the cat.  I've used similar stamps to create with and added some water drops as I did on the other "Penelope" card. This one has turned out a bit more 'messy' than I intended, the background is quite 'busy'. But I am having fun and it feels good to be able to sit and create for awhile. I still can't stand for very long, due to weight loss and being unwell for weeks, and am having issues preparing proper meals.  Before I left the hospital I asked about getting help to either prepare meals, or where I could purchase nourishing meals from. Well that didn't work at all. English was not the nurses first language, and she did not understand what I was asking. She came back with a note saying to buy food to cook, online from a local store. I tried to explain to her how much weight I had lost, and how standing for too long was not easy for me, but she didn't understand and wasn't interested. I kept insisting I needed help and was not leaving until it was sorted. Eventually she left and came back with 3 frozen meals. I wasn't happy but could see I wasn't going to be offered any help, so I left and came home. I heated one of the meals when I got home. It was revolting and inedible. Ditto for the second on I tried to eat yesterday. To feed someone who has lost so much weight and been so unwell for the last month, food that is tasteless and has no nutritional value what so ever is pretty darn shocking if you ask me. I have since ordered some frozen meals that are prepared by professional chefs. They arrive either later today or tomorrow. They're not cheap and I really hope they taste great. From what I read online, they seem to be quite popular and are nutritious. Yes I could have ordered frozen meals from my local supermarket, but having tried them before I know they don't have much nutritional value, and they make me sick. The good news is I was weighed before I left the hospital and have put on 4.5 kg in weight. So I have another almost 4 kg to go to be back to my normal weight of 48 kg. I have very little muscle tone at the moment, and I'm hoping I can re-gain all the weight I lost. Feeling annoyed and disappointed with my own Doctor, who did nothing about my weight loss. I saw him twice at that time and he said nothing about my weight. Not having scales at home, I wasn't aware how much weight I'd lost. When they weighed me in hospital 3 weeks ago and said I was 42 kg I almost collapsed. I asked her to check again in case she mis-read the numbers. She hadn't. Since coming home I'm with a scheme called Hospital in the Home. (HITH) This means  each day for the next week, a doctor or nurse from the hospital call me to check I'm doing ok, or if I have any new symptoms. I have blood tests done tomorrow and from there a doctor will assess me. There was an issue with my Haemoglobin levels being too low, and possibly needing a blood transfusion.  This is what they are checking for tomorrow. I just had the nurse call me from HITH and I mentioned to her about meal preparation and how the hospital was not helpful. She's going to look into it and agree'd that I should have had more help. Has anyone had  CT scan before? I had one while I was in hospital recently. I'd had an abdominal x-ray done which had come back with some anomaly which needed sorting out. A Doctor came in and said I needed an urgent CT scan because she thinks I have a twisted bowel. And if that was the case, I was going to  be rushed off to another hospital immediately to have surgery that night! She was not a doctor I had seen before, and stressed the hell out of me. She was convinced I had a twisted bowel and MUST have the CT scan immediately. She said I would have dye injected into my veins, would feel hot for a short time, and would feel like I had pee'd my pants! She said I would go into this doughnut shaped thing when they did the scan. My panic button went off because with my primary health issues, any stress, shock can send my body into a crisis. (I will explain about that in another post.) I refused to have the scan, not knowing if I was allergic to the dye, not having had it before, and told the Doctor about my Primary health condition, and how stress/shock affects me. (I have no control over it). Long story short the scan was put on  hold, but she still pressured me, which ended up with me almost having a panic attack because she was so abrupt in her delivery of what she was TELLING me I HAD to have done URGENTLY. Eventually she changed her approach and after I spoke with my nurse, I said I would have the CT scan done, even though I was very anxious and concerned I may need urgent surgery. The scan took about 8 minutes from go to whoa, and I was taken back to my room. Dinner came and I never saw that Dr again. Next morning another DR came in and said my bowel was NOT twisted, and the anomaly on the x-ray was due to...flatulence...a bunch of stuck farts!! So much for her being convinced I had a twisted bowel. But I 'knew' my bowel wasn't twisted. I let that Doctor know that her abrupt approach didn't sit well with me and how it had made me feel. I also mentioned that she might want to change her approach in her delivery of what tests/scans she wanted her patients to have. Rushing into their room and just dumping it on them does not always work, and is not being mindful of your patients, who are unwell and may be vulnerable. It sure as heck doesn't work for me!  Ok, so that's it for me today! Thanks for dropping by! Have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!

'Penelope"

 

This is Penelope, one of the new Witch stamps from Lavinia Stamps. My new stamps arrived about a week ago and this is the first I have used any of them. I made this card yesterday. I used a scrap piece if water colour card and used a brayer to colour the background. (Soft Cygnet Elements ink, and a bit of Russet Orange, also Elements ink). I Then stamped Penelope and her 2 cats Mini Rune and Mini Jinx. I added the hill and then the moon. I used an LS stamp to stamp the circle of stars around the moon. I can't recall the name of the stamp as it's not on the package. Leave me a comment if you want to know which stamp it is and I will reply. I flicked on some water drops, added some sparkle and some gold glitter, then found some LS stickers for the words. The card measures 2 1/4 x just over 3 inches in size. This was great fun to create, and I'm totally happy with how it turned out. I added some yellow to Penelope's lamp and also a bit around the inside of the moon. You can't really see the little bit of sparkle but it's there. There is another stamp of Penelope, and I hope to create another min card with her. I'm a bit tired, but I'm ok. It's nice to be able to make a cup od tea when I want one, and not have to wait for someone to make it for me. I didn't sleep too well last night, it was so quiet! I had gotten used to hearing beeps and alarms going off! Hopefully I sleep better tonight. Thanks for dropping by! Have a SUSNSHINE day! Always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!

It's Been A Journey...

 Well here's some good news...I am HOME!! I was discharged this morning. I had another Covid test early this morning,  and it came back negative! Unknown to me I'd had it for about 10 days. I had no symptoms except for being ultra tired and needing to go back to bed and sleep during the day. I am so grateful that I am ok, as I have a very compromised immune system and had been cautioned about getting Covid. This is why I self isolated when there were outbreaks. It wasn't fun being at home and not being allowed to leave the house.I was lucky though, I had several people All strangers except one) who happily did all my shopping for me, and dropped it in to me. I then paid them online. It was all based on trust. I trusted them and they trusted me. It taught me a lot about people, people who were literally strangers. There are some awesome people out there for sure.  It's great to be home! Romeo was so happy to see me, he wanted lots of pats and cuddles...and food! In return he gave me lots of kisses and cuddles! It was a surprise to be told I can go home this morning, I wasn't expecting that at all. I had a lovely sunny room with two big windows overlooking one of the wards below. Tonight, or to be exact, at 2 am in the morning we here in NZ put our clocks back an hour, as we go on to Daylight Savings. Luckily all my clocks etc automatically change, I don't need to do anything. I really don't feel lie waking up at 2 am to change the clocks! I need my sleep! Instead of hearing beeps and alarms going off, I can hear birds chirping and children laughing. Ok that's it for now. Thanks for dropping by! Have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!

Oh Bummer.

I've just tested positive for Covid. First time I've had it. No real symptoms except for being very tired at times. I'm on meds for Covid having a compromised immune system. I had a CT scan as they were concerned my bowel was twisted. It isn't so that's good news. Turns out it was a bit of flatulence, aka farts!! Omg I'm having a time of it. I will be here a few more days while they sort a couple of things out. I have to be home before Thursday as Sarah, Wookies mom and family are going away and they are feeding Romeo for me. I don't have anyone else who can feed him. Fingers crossed! Andrea, thank you for your comment you left me. Not sure if it published but if not I will sort it ehen I get home-thank you! I start on the Covid meds soon. I've done well not getting Covid until now. I had to isolate many timeshare home when it first hit. Thankfully they have medications i can take for it now. I have a bunch of NEW Lavinia Stamps and stencils and I almost bought them with me just to look at@ Would have kept mu brain busy! Oh welk, they'll be waiting for ne when I get home. I hope Romeo hasn't played with them and made a card for Wookie! I've had dinner and a lovely cup of tea, and it's dark now. We go off Daylight Saving Saturday at 2 am. I hope I remember to change the clock back an hour or I'll ge on the wrong time, lol! My Haemaglobin levels have dropped, and I may need a blood transfusion. They will check my bloods again tomorrow and will know what to do then. I think I'm falling apart! Ok that's all for now. Thanks for dropping in! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!

Oh No!

Here I am back in hospital again. Dehydrated and not well. It's not where I want to be, but it's where I need to be at the moment. I came in last night and haven't had any sleep, so I'm feeling tired. I've had all kinds of tests and don't want to see another needle. But I know they need to put a line in so they can give fluids. I won't be crafting for awhile, but I just wanted to update onvwhats happening with me at the moment. If you believe in prayer, feel free to pray for me and my health. I would appreciate that. I'm  missing Romeo so much. Thanks for dropping by. Have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!