holy toledo!

It's been a while since I've posted anything. And sadly, I have nothing new to share sewing-wise, but there has been a whole lot going on life-wise.

Baby Andrew turned 1 on February 11th. The next day at 4:30am I had to call an ambulance because my husband collapsed on the floor trying to take himself to the ER.

Now for the backstory:
He's been dealing with a lot of lower back and leg pain since before Thanksgiving. He had been seeing a doctor who insisted it was muscular and not skeletal and had been drugging him up with pain killers, muscle relaxants, steroids and diuretics. Nothing helped. A few days before the ambulance incident, he was FINALLY sent in for an MRI which came back negative. The doctor said the only other option was pain management. I had made him an appointment with my chiropractor since they take extensive xrays before starting any adjustments. I figured that would be the best second opinion we could get since the doctor wouldn't authorize it (damn HMOs!).

Anyway, fast forward to February 12th and the paramedics and fire department are in my living room trying to get my husband (who can't walk and is in so much pain he can barely breathe) onto the gurney. Once in the ER, they proceed to try and figure out what's wrong with him. After a little bit of conversation, they got his MRIs from the diagnostic center and then came the shock of the day: The stupid doctor requested an MRI of HIS LEG!!!!! No tests on his back, just his leg. Because the pain was radiating down his leg (even though it started in his lower back), the doctor assumed the issue was in his leg. We know he had ruled out blood clots and some other vascular and muscular issues, but we figured after a few weeks of nothing in that arena he would start looking at his back! Nope, just the leg. The ER ordered an MRI of his back and found he had a severely herniated disk between his L5 and Sacrum. So bad, that they couldn't actually let him leave the hospital for liability reasons since they were afraid it was about to rupture.

A few hours later they got him into surgery and now he's almost back to 100%. But since he is currently a stay-at-home dad and was unable to do any sort of lifting, bending, pulling or anything else that could cause post-surgery complications, my in-laws came to help out. They happened to be in southern Nevada (they live in southern California), so they were several hours closer than they would typically be; however, they were also on a vacation on a lake in their boat. So they cut their vacation short and towed the boat to Reno and here they have been since mid-February. They went home today.

It was great that they were able to come and help out, and it really helped Nate to get better, but it is stressful when there are other people in your space for an extended period of time. What made things more difficult was that I have a very long list of things I wanted to accomplish sewing-wise and the mojo to begin it...but no space since the sewing room doubles as a guest room in the infrequent occasion that someone stays with us - and because the situation surrounding their staying with us was unexpected, there was no time to plan. So no extracting sewing machines, fabric, patterns and notions to another part of the house so I could work on projects while they were here. I just didn't have the time to plan for that.

Now that I have my workspace back, I really hope that my mojo will remain in full swing and I'll be able to get some new garments done. Now, more than ever, I need to really ramp up my wardrobe to be more business professional and less casual or business casual. Wish me luck! I always seem to be needing it!