Hello my crafty friends!
Long time no...blog. Or craft for that matter.
Let me give you a wave:
So what happened? I hear you ask. Well its a long story as things always seem to be with me.
Start of April I got juiced up and unlike my last infusion, this one seemed to be working well I was feeling better until...about mid month I lost feeling in my thumb, index and middle fingers combined with pain electric shock sensation etc.
I did what I always do and ignored it. This approach worked well for 48 hours as symptoms ramped up to full intensity and had me climbing the walls. I was pretty sure I had carpal tunnel syndrome but typically symptoms are intermittent and stop when you "shake it off shake it off shake it off" (sorry!)
Ironically it was faster and easier to get in to see my hand surgeon than my GP (who I have an indefinite referral with given all the work he has done on my left wrist).
He confirmed my suspicions, declined my request for an enormous steroid shot into the affected area and sent me off for nerve testing.
Several days later testing showed severe carpal tunnel syndrome - to the point even the neurologist looked shocked and I saw my wonderful surgeon afterwards who said surgery was the only option and "How about tomorrow?" I could have kissed him.
The only issue with that was that this was happening the following day:
I reasoned that I could still go since it was a day procedure and a doddle compared to my very involved orthopaedic surgeries of years gone by.
Essendon was actually reasonably close and Not Pink Crafty Hubster was more than prepared to take me!
Arriving there I discovered it was a (free) class and while I didnt pre-book, there were spare spots and spare kits. I couldn't believe what was in the kit! And free too!
I asked NPCH to be my hands and he said "Can't you do it left handed?" I thought for minute and figured I could. The first steps were merely stamping and watercolouring which work well messy anyway.
Here's what I started (since the class was almost finished) but you have to imagine it without all the extra uncoloured cameras stamped onto it. I added those later at home. Many of them will be covered up anyway.
I apologise for the terrible photo. Apparently I cant do this either!
Of course no trip to Spotlight is complete without shopping. NPCH was lovely about it. (And we got to keep the stamp sets and ink pads we used in class!)
I took a couple of Project Life cards from several Dear Lizzy collections with me. I picked ones with an image, but enough room for Lizzy to sign.
She was so lovely and chatty and friendly to everybody. Really down-to-earth and generous with her time.
So I'm about 10 days post-op now. I've improved since before surgery but unfortunately I still have pretty bad deficits in the most-used fingers of my dominant hand. A problem when you want to craft. You should see the amount of typos on this draft since I cant fully feel the computer keys.
Shimelle is starting a new class (probably within the next 12 hours) which I'm eager to do but how much I'll be able is another question.
I also haven't finished the layout I started with DL last week. It will probably be several. I already had her "Happy Place" paper pad at home which has the A-sides to her collection so I have plenty to work with combined with the kit and extra things I bought. I just can't find my pack of word stickers! It arrived a few days before my surgery and I was not in the best frame of mind so it could be anywhere. :-/
So please stay tuned - i'll do my best to get scrappy again! I have a mountain of Glitter Girl and Shimelle challenges to catch up on and NSD is coming up!!!!
It's the first Saturday in May, but scrapbookers tend to take the whole weekend to celebrate! And yes I'm posting this on Sunday, but there are challenges running all weekend. Shimelle is declaring the whole weekend and that's good enough for me!
And believe me when I tell you that it's the most flattering angle of this disaster area. So why don't I do something crafty and fuuuun? Why indeed?
Oooh!
