IHSW - and a Whole Lot of Other Stuff

"Do not fret because of those who are evil

or be envious of those who do wrong;

for like the grass they will soon wither,

like green plants they will soon die away."

Psalm 37:1-2

"...do not fret when people

succeed in their ways,

when they carry out their wicked schemes."

Psalm 37:7

_____________________

I know I haven't posted for a few days. Neither have I kept up with responding to comments left on my last 2 posts, nor have I responded to several very sweet emails, nor have I kept up with blog reading for the past 3 days.  I just seem to have a lot of things weighing me down lately, & as you all know, dealing with a lot of things that weigh you down can be rather exhausting.  I want to thank everyone who has sent me their prayers & thoughtful comments & emails.  I appreciate them more than you know.  

First of all, many of you will remember my dental woes last year.  In brief, after my local dentist, Dr. Earlene Greene, who among other things made 3 bridges for me which did not fit, ignored a serious bone infection, treated me rudely, lied to me, offered to give me my money back & then ignored me when I asked for it, I reported her incompetence to the state dental board.  Before doing so, I researched dental specialists, prosthodontists, & made an appointment with one who appeared to be the second best in his field in the state of Kentucky.  He agreed that the bridge Dr. Greene had made me (this would be my third bridge) was made incorrectly.  However, he stated emphatically that he would not be willing to share this opinion in litigation or otherwise.  I then was lucky enough to get an appointment with not only the best prosthodontist in the state of Kentucky, but one of the best in the country.  He agreed with the first prosthodontist I saw but likewise told me he would not share his opinion in litigation or otherwise.  He scheduled me with another prosthodontist in the office who was horrified with what he saw, & this prosthodontist called over another prosthodontist who was likewise horrified because Dr. Greene had used the root canal post connected to the serious bone infection as a point of placement for the incorrectly made bridges.  They even discovered a second bone infection of a less serious nature on a tooth where Dr. Greene had placed a crown.  Of course these prosthodontists also refused to put their opinions in writing or become involved in litigation.  They would not begin any work on me until this infection was taken care of, so they marched me over to another specialist, an endodontist, & I underwent 2 surgeries & a bone graft (both of which produced a lot of pain & a serious infection).  No one will know if the bone graft is successful until January 2014, so all this time I have been whistling like a tea kettle when I talk, drooling out of the right side of my mouth when I drink something, & having pain in my jaw because of the bridge not fitting correctly. Anyway, I put the whole sad story in writing, included copies of Dr. Greene's office notes, x-rays showing the infections she ignored, copies of x-rays taken during my bone graft surgery, & copies of my letters to her explaining the problems I was having, which she ignored, & I filed a complaint with the state dental board.  I received their decision in the mail a few days ago.  It said "The Law Enforcement Committee has determined that there is insufficient evidence of a violation of the Dental Practice Act.  Although the Board lacks jurisdiction to impose disciplinary action in this matter, we will file the complaint in our office for monitoring purposes."  Of course I guess I shouldn't be surprised because none of the specialists would share their opinion of her bad work in writing, but the Board had the x-rays.  If nothing else, it was plain as the nose on Jimmy Durante's face that Dr. Greene ignored those infections.  She gets to keep the $5000 I paid for her services & I will have to now pay money for another bridge assuming the bone graft has been successful. If it has not been successful, my only option will be dentures because Dr. Greene left no teeth in that area to use for a partial.  I am repeating the above scriptures a lot these days.  

Since July 2nd I have been in the emergency room twice with a severe a-fib attack & once in a cardiac PA's office.  I had not wanted to see my cardiologist of the past 3 years, Dr. Gary Grigsby, because of his rude, lying nurse.  I was not happy when the PA sent me home from his office, still in a-fib (140-150 beats per minute), with a prescription for a new medication.  I was still a-fibbing 24 hours later, & the new medication did nothing for my a-fib but it did make me extremely depressed.  I stopped taking it the morning of my 2nd ER visit on the 13th & I wrote about my treatment there in my blog post that day.  The ER doctor had given me a prescription for another heart medication which brought my blood pressure way down (one morning it was 70/40!) & did nothing for the a-fib.  It did, however, give me a terrible itching rash all over my face & neck.  I had scheduled an appointment with Dr. Grigsby despite his rude, lying nurse.  I received a call last Friday confirming my appointment for this Monday; then on Monday I received a call in the morning from the receptionist telling me that the nurse & Dr. Grigsby had been talking & I was not a patient of his.  I told her I have been seeing him for the last 3 years ... of course I'm his patient!  She put me on hold, apparently talked with the rude, lying nurse, & then came back on the phone to tell me that I had an appointment with the PA in the office earlier this month & it is a rule in the office that you cannot switch to another doctor after you have established with someone else ... you need to stick with the one you establish with.  Well, I had established with & seen Dr. Grigsby for 3 years no one batted an eye when I saw the PA who isn't even a doctor!  The poor receptionist didn't know what to do ... she was caught in the middle, poor thing, & I knew that asking to talk with the rude, lying nurse would be useless, so it seems I am now without a cardiologist as I continue to have little a-fib attacks.  

Now ... the one thing I will forever be grateful for is the PA referred me to a cardiac electrophysiologist.  He is a doctor who deals solely with heart rhythm problems.  I was referred to him to see if I would be a candidate for something called cardiac ablation.  They run a lead up through your leg to your heart & then insert a wire into the lead which has a little electrode on the end &, as I understand it, this little electrode makes little burns around & inside your heart & this is supposed to keep your heart beating in rhythm.  He (Dr. Hesselson) is absolutely wonderful.  He spent 45-60 minutes with me going over my a-fib history, then explained the procedure.  However, I am a bit of an odd case.  Because I had a Greenfield filter placed back in 1995 after my 3rd blood clot in my left leg to prevent future clots, if I developed any, from going to my heart or brain, he might not be able to get the lead through it.  This is because the Greenfield filter I have is an older model.  If if was a newer model, there would be no problem.  He is willing to give it a try though. If he tries to insert the lead & it won't go past the filter, he will abort the procedure. All will not lost, however.  They can also do the ablation by either putting portals in your chest in which they would insert the lead, or by opening your chest to do the ablation. He does not do this particular surgery & neither do any of his colleagues.  I would need to go to the Cleveland Clinic to get it done.  He increased one of my heart medications, gave me a new one to try, & he will see me again in a month & I can let him know what I want to do ... either keep taking the medications, try for the cardiac ablation & hope he can get the lead past the filter, & if not, then decide if I want to go to the Cleveland Clinic for the portal/open chest procedure.  

I have no idea what to do.  I'm thinking I'm probably going to have to have the ablation done at some point so why not do it now when I'm still relatively young.  My brother also has a-fib but his doctor won't allow him to have an ablation because he is too old (71).  Then again, I'm afraid of someone messing around with my heart.  I am asking for prayer please ... for God to give me the wisdom to know what to do.  

Okay ... I have oddles of photos to share & some are probably not even relevant anymore but let me see what I can do.  I'll start off with my IHSW project.

This is a Shepherd's Bush kit called Merry Merry Be.  Well, let me tell you, I have been anything but merry while stitching it.  I don't particularly not like Shepherd's Bush designs but I've been working on this  one for at least 3 weeks now, maybe 4, & I have been hating every minute of it.  I literally force myself to sit down & work on it.  At one point I thought I would just offer it for someone else to finish, but I decided it might be a nice gift to give someone so I've been pressing on.  It would've been nice is SB had provided enough floss for the project.  That white stocking is supposed to have some red specialty stitches on it, but despite my usual carefulness not to waste floss, I have none of the red floss left.  The light green color is also nearing extinction.  Of course SB doesn't give you any indication of what brand of floss this is.  Did I mention it's silk floss?  I've been doing some stash downsizing & included in the huge pile of charts & kits I no longer want is every single one of my SB charts & kits.  I don't intend to ever stitch a Shepherd's Bush project again.

I did finish this LHN ornament (Winter Forest) before starting the dreaded SB project.  I've stitched this one before as a gift but decided to stitch it again for myself using 40-count linen this time instead of the 30-count which the pattern calls for.  I'm not too sure about the outcome.  It's kind of a busy design & I think it might be kind of lost when made into an ornament.  Time will tell I guess.

I've received a couple gifts lately!  First is this one from Marie at Creative Thread.  A while back she posted her progress on her Prairie Schooler Alphabet.  I thought it consisted of such wonderful designs!  I wrote to ask Marie about the designs & she said I could find some of the designs on eBay.  I did find a couple on eBay, & 123 Stitch had the rest of them with the exception of G-H-I. Marie had told me that if I couldn't find any of the charts to let her know & she would check her LNS.  I wrote to ask if she would check for me, & the next thing I knew, I received G-H-I in the mail from her as a gift! Thank you again Marie!

I was also gifted with an RAK envelope full of goodies from cucki, cuckistitchingcove. There is a little package of Seeds of Friendship, a cute little spoon with a little recipe for cherry pie, a little nuts bag, & a lovely little handmade gift card.  Thank you again cucki   : )

This third photo shows both a gift & a win. Recently Vickie at A Stitcher's Story offered a traveling pattern, Lizzie*Kate's Friends Are Like Angels.  I'm not a big Lizzie*Kate fan but I liked this pattern.  I entered for a chance to be the next person to stitch it & my name was picked!  Along with the pattern, Vickie sent a lovely notecard & she made me a set of her counting pins.  Vickie makes the best counting pins ever!  I should stop stitching that blasted Shepherd's Bush project & start the Angels pattern so it can travel to someone else.  Good idea   : )

After my visit with the cardiac electrophysiologist, who by the way is in Lexington, John & I stopped by a favorite store or two, one of which was Barnes & Noble.  I love looking at their bargain books. I was so excited when I saw this one, & even more excited when I looked through it!  So many luscious soup recipes!  I love soup but I rarely make it because John does not care for it.  When I do make soup, I end up freezing some to eat at another time.  I can't wait until my diet is over & I can start making some of these soups!  I am fantasizing about myself this coming winter, fireplace burning, sitting at my table looking outside as the snow is falling, enjoying a delicious bowl of soup.  This depends, of course, on whether we sell the house or not since I have no fireplace now & our snowfall is basically nil ... but either way, I will be enjoying a lot of these soups!

Speaking of selling the house, we had a real dry spell of several weeks when no one came to look at it.  On Monday evening we had a very nice young couple with 2 children come to view it.  They were here quite a long time & said they were very interested.  They want to come back sometime this week to walk the property line.  My fingers are crossed, but whatever God's plan is, it's fine with me.  The realtor said another buyer expressed interest in seeing the house but he hasn't heard back from them yet.  We are once again in "where will we live if the house sells/what if we're doing the wrong thing" mode.  It is kind of sad that we each see both the pros & cons of moving & staying put.  We still have no real idea where we will move if the house does sell.  The biggest contenders are northern Kentucky across the border from Cincinnati, Ohio, somewhere in Ohio, Crossville, Tennessee where we've lived before, possibly somewhere near Knoxville, Tennessee, & maybe somewhere in Wisconsin.  We are even thinking of just heading up the road to Lexington since I have some good doctors there.  We are, however, pretty much open to anywhere.  We always loved the western part of the country ... we love the mountains ... but now that we're older, moving that far away from everyone doesn't seem quite comfortable. Whatever happens, God will lead & provide.

We are excited to see our hummingbird visitors back again.  I think we have maybe 3 of them who enjoy gorging themselves on our hanging baskets & especially on these flowers which I forget the name of.  I like how in the second photo he or she is taking a little rest   : )  

And here are the last of our daylilies.  All have bloomed now.  I need to get outside & trim off the flower stalks.  Hopefully I can do it without causing too much stress on my back.  My back has been improving with physical therapy, home exercises & pain medications.  Hooray for me   : )  I still have twinges of pain, but nothing like the pain I was experiencing a few weeks ago.  Anyway, the first daylily is one you've already seen ... the Midnight-something which is one of the "rare" ones, so I've been told.  This is a much better picture than the last one I was able to take.  The others may not be rare, but they are all pretty.  I've enjoyed sharing them with you   : )

And tha-tha-that's all folks!  I hope you are all doing well.  Hopefully sometime today I will be able to chance to catch up on my blog reading.  My hugs & prayers are with you all.