With a Little Luck

A few months ago I noticed what I thought was a spider bite on my right arm. I get them now and then thanks to the bugs here, and they always heal with no problem. Only the spider bite didn't heal, and became a puffy lesion. I then assumed it was a patch of psoraisis, to which I'm also occasionally prone.

Although I disinfected it and wore bandages to keep it clean every day, the lesion wouldn't heal. It also seemed very fragile; I tore it open twice with only the slightest of bumps. Since I have had skin cancer in the past I made an appointment with the dermatologist to have it checked. When she looked at it she agreed it was worrisome, and did a biopsy.

After that all I had to do was wait for the test results. The days dragged. I was ready for it to be cancer, as I rarely have good luck with such things. I've handled a lot of health issues in the last few years, so it's hard not to expect bad news. At length the call came in from my doctor, who said the test results came back negative for cancer. The lesion is simply a benign growth.

Now the damn thing is finally healing, ironically. Still, I will feel a little lucky this time, and remember to be grateful.

Comments

nightsmusic said…

Anything like that is scary! I've had to reset my dermatologist appointment three times now because of other things that came up and I'm hoping I can get into this one. We had to have Murphy's toe removed last Monday for a growth that wouldn't stop bleeding and after 7 weeks of trying, I gave up. She had to take the entire toe and sent the whole thing out for testing. I'm really hoping it's not cancer. No one is immune, so I'm glad yours came back benign.

June 10, 2022 at 6:26 AM

Maria Zannini said…

Part of getting older is constantly finding some new growth or lesion. I'm betting yours took so long to heal because of your diabetes. Greg is the same way. His injuries take a very long time to heal. That's one reason we're worried about his knee replacement. Who knows how long that incision is going to take to heal.

Right now, he's in a lot of pain. Neither of us have had much sleep since he needs help getting to the bathroom or even turning in bed. At least the dogs have been remarkably well behaved and keeping their distance as he struggles to walk.

June 10, 2022 at 9:20 AM

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Valerean

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