A Rollercoaster Week

Posted on | January 26, 2008 |

It’s been an interesting week. Previously this week I posted about my paintings, and I am so glad that I did. There have been some really low lows and some really high points in the past two days. You might want to grab a cup of coffee or tea for this long entry!

Let me start with the low point. On Wednesday, I was still feeling quite ill. My balance was still off, but I was determined to get some work done in the studio. Daytime TV is just not uplifting and I couldn’t leave the house, nor could I read for very long with my vertigo. Angie and I had planned months ago to attend Quilt Camp hosted by Quilting in the Desert, and I had to pull together my supplies. I was in the studio, slowly moving and trying hard to make sure I had everything. Angie called, and we were coordinating our heavy supplies. We knew I’d be using my walker and that Dave would be driving me to Angie’s for us to go together.

As we were talking, I was standing up at the table putting some things in a bag for the class. I guess I turned my head without thinking (when having vertigo, I have to move carefully and with deep thought before I move at all or I could lose my balance). The next thing I knew, I was grabbing onto the studio table with my left hand and I fell into my chair. Still on the phone with Angie, I was relieved that I hadn’t hurt myself, but I turned the chair a moment later and realized that, though my Starbucks travel mug was about 3 feet from my lifeline of the computer, had flown across the table and onto my MacBook. I panicked.

I told Angie I’d call her back, and I hoped that the iSkin I covered the keyboard portion with would save it from what I my gut told me was sure was to be a terrible destiny. My gut was right. The MacBook was dead. I was freaking out. I called Angie back and I was fairly hysterical. The computer has been my lifeline to my friends and a way to work with and share my art. Spending 3 weeks in the house can become quite depressing when you don’t leave and no one is home during the day. This was not a good combination. This had broken my spirit. And I was afraid of how long it would be before I got myself back online.

I sent a text message to Tracey, who I usually chat with all day online I had suddenly disappeared from IM, and I wanted to explain why. I sent a text message to my husband who needed to know that I had fallen and that I wasn’t doing well. I knew he was seeing patients at the hospital, doing his rounds, and that calling him would mean that I would likely catch him with a patient and that’s not fair. Dave called me and I was, well, pretty hysterical still. I am not one who cries a lot. But I cried and I felt terrible for bothering him during his work day. My husband, though, is pretty much a saint. He was amazing. He just told me to be calm, that he was glad I wasn’t terribly hurt and he’d call me in a little while.

About an hour or so later, Dave called me from his car. “I’m coming home now. Should I stop at the Apple Store and pick up a new MacBook for you?” I was shocked. I saw the light at the end of my vertiginous and dark tunnel of isolation. He asked me for the specifics about my MacBook and said he’d call me from the store. About an hour and a half later, he called and said that he got the one I used to have, but with a faster processor and more RAM. I do realize that I truly am one of the luckiest women on this Earth. I can say that despite the vertigo and the balance issues. I can say that because I have a man who loves me and wants me to be happy and not to feel isolated.

Dave came home and we talked. We decided that I needed to get on prednisone to try to stop the vertigo. That puts me on three immunosuppressive agents. And if THAT doesn’t knock this vertigo out of me, we’re not quite sure what will. Soon after we talked, he handed me the new MacBook. I opened it and hooked it up to my external hard drive, which has Time Machine on it (a Leopard OSX feature). Within an hour and a half, my new laptop was up and running with all my programs on it, most of my preferences saved, and no major issues. I think I could be on a Mac commercial!

So on Thursday morning, I started on prednisone. It gives me energy, which is good. But it takes a while to get rid of the vertigo and has all kinds of other side-effects. If it gets rid of the vertigo, it’s worth it. I’ll be on it at this dose for at least a week, or until we find that the prednisone is helping. And the timing was good. Angie and I had our class on Thursday, and all of us were concerned that I might not make it through an entire class with the medications… Thanks to the prednisone, for the most part, I did.

We took Fabri-Scapes with Martha Nordstrand, a local quilt teacher, who has won awards internationally from her fabulous art quilts. She doesn’t do traditional quilt piecing, and Angie and I don’t, either! It was a good way for me to get out of the house and for us to spend time together learning something that has interested us for a long time.

Martha taught us an easy way to piece the layers of the quilt and also taught us an applique stitch. She creates her pieces completely with hand stitching. No machine applique, no machine quilting. They are amazing to see, especially the full sized quilts. To the left is my quilt in progress. It’s just been pieced, and I’ve started to stitch it together. I’ve never done anything like this before, so it’s interesting. To the right above is the original photo I used as my reference. When I look at the quilt up close I cannot see the design yet. But when I took this photo, I was pleased with it. It’s on the right track. I’m going to try to create it completely by hand, but I don’t know that I’ll make it through that. We shall see!

Yesterday, Angie came over and we watched Project Runway and Quilting Arts TV on TiVo. She was kind enough to also cut my hair, which desperately needed it. It was good not to be home alone all day. Today Dave and I will be visiting his parents. It’ll get me out of the house and it will be good to see people. The vertigo is still there, but I’m being extra careful and I’m doing some stitching after I publish this post. It’s been a roller coaster of a week, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Comments