September has arrived

This year is really flying by. I have finally faced the fact that I will never be caught up. I did spend most of last week weeding flower beds, some that hadn't been done all year. I still have one big bed to do and it must get done because I ordered some tulips and daffodils to plant in it. I thought maybe that would give me more incentive to get 'er done.

My quilting friend Kris gave me this charm pack of Gobble, Gobble fabrics from Moda by Sandy Gervais and challenged me to make a quilt. Snowballs from charm squares are easy and I love the fall fabrics, so this was a quick quilt to make. I added the applique because I thought it needed something, but maybe just a print border would suffice. Either way, it's finished and hanging and that's a good thing.

Tuesday this week I went to Madison with Steve & Kim. He's been going every 3 months for an MRI and check up. All of his scans have been clear since the surgery, radiation and chemo. I haven't gone along on most of them -- some have been scheduled at oh dark thirty in the morning. He always calls me as soon as they leave the building, too. So, this time we made plans to do other things after the appoiontments at the clinic and it included a stop at a quilt shop! And no, Kim doesn't quilt, but they stopped for me anyway.

Steve's scan this time showed a small white spot that hasn't been there before. Ian (Dr. Robbins) and Dr. Mehta think it looks peculiar and they aren't sure what it is. So, instead of 3 months return visit, he'll have to go back in 6 weeks to see if it is still there, if it's grown, static, or gone altogether. Ian did say that it does not look like a recurrence -- he actually came back into the room and said that. And I tend to believe a man who only treats brain tumors and even though he reminds us of the absent-minded professor, he has probably seen enough recurrences to know what he's talking about. And he waited to get Dr. Mehta's input and we haven't seen Mehta since the first month or so. It is quite possibly a necrosis (dead tissue -- kind of like scar tissue from the surgery/radiation/chemo). Necrosis is probably pretty common in brain tumors -- at least I've read about it quite a bit.

We were all a little freaked about this spot --- just because we expected the scan to show nothing like all the previous ones. I am not allowed to go back with them ever ;-)! Cooler heads prevailed after we digested the information. Steve has a great attitude and pretty much hit the nail on the head here. I told him earlier in the day that I already had a talk with God and this cancer is not coming back ever.

The quilt shop was Stitcher's Crossing and also had a large yarn section and a large cross-stitch/stitchery section. And, of course I bought a few fat quarters and two books and the new Quilt Sampler mag.

Gratitudes:
Spending the day with Steve & Kim even though the news wasn't as good as we expected.
I have a lot of confidence in Ian and the UW Madison clinic.
New quilt books to soothe the soul!