update

wow, 2008 already and January is nearly over. Life for me hit a rather big speedbump at the end of September and it sent the family and I into a tailspin. Having a heart attack was the last thing i ever thought i would have let alone having emergency open heart surgery to save my life. But that is what happened. At the time it was all very surreal and I kept hoping that pretty soon I would wake up from the very lucid dream I seemed to be in. I had to be flown by helicopter 400 klms away from home to be operated on, the upside was that the medical team looking after me were all very good looking and very attentive. If i was going to die at least I would be surrounded by gorgeous guys. It was a very strange feeling being wired up to all these machines and watching my heart rate and blood pressure slowly dropping and then having the doctor pump more stuff into me. All i wanted to do was just close my eyes and go to sleep but they wouldn't let me. When we got to the hospital i remember looking up at the ceiling and commenting that they hadn't shifted the spiders webs and birdnests from my previous visit 6 days previously. From then on every thing was fast paced, they stabilised me but not for long and it decided to operate first thing in the morning. The next thing i remember is waking up in ICU all wired up and despite having pain relief there was still a lot of pain. But i was alive.
For the next 6 days i was made to walk the corridors, do exercises and attend classes for heart education, I was prodded and poked and filled with meds, had blood taken twice a day. On the seventh day I could go home so I arranged my flight and I was out of there. The doctors find it hard to believe that I took part in the Relay for Life earlier in the year and also did a three day intensive CPR training course in August, with my arteries in the state they were in (90% blocked) I should have dropped dead at either event. In fact they find it hard to believe I had no symptoms and was leading a very busy life. Those angels of mine have certainly been working overtime.
I am eternally grateful to the wonderful friends who gave me lifts, cleaned my house, made meals and kept me sane during my recovery, my son who stayed at home and cooked me nourishing meals, my other sons who ran errands, the neighbours who all checked up on me when family wasn't there - I am truly blessed.
Now just over three months on I am slowly getting back to normal, I am limited to what I can do - do too much and I certainly know it the next day. The heart attacks and the triple by-pass that followed could not have been stopped. Despite a healthy diet, not smoking and only very moderately drinking it was in my genetic make-up. My father had his first attack at an early age and died not long after having a by-pass at age 53. I think stress played a big part in all of this - looking after Mik for so long and then his death and getting my life back together all contributed.
At the time of the heart attack I was resting, relaxing and meditating, my life was sweet. I was enjoying my work and looking forward to retraining. I was at a point where I could sit back and think "yes, I'm happy".
Plans for the Future - not sure, i'm just going with the flow for now. Following doctors orders to the book. Resting, relaxing and chilling out with friends. The house is falling down around my ears - a crack has appeared in the laundry wall, the floorboards need renewing in the spare room and all the chips in the cars windscreen have been joined up with a big crack. But you know what - I am not going to worry about it, the roofs still good and the car still goes and there is food in the freezer. I have cherished friends and good neighbours and three wonderful sons, a beautiful daughter in law and the most adorable grandchildren. I have just about enough money to pay all the bills for the coming 6 months and work is keeping my job open for me till I can return. I have enough bead stashes, fabric stashes and threads and yarn stashes to keep me busy for a long time, I have a 'to do' project list a mile long and theres three libraries out there with enough reading material to last me a fair while - so my mind, body and soul is all taken care of for the next few months.

I started to make a small narrow beaded curtain for the bathroom window a week ago, just making it up as i go along, its fun to do and portable and so far so good. But give me another week and hundreds more beads and i might be thinking of adding it to the UFO box. I've started drawing again and designing a few embroideries. I've been on the puter and designed a couple of cross stitch pictures and have played around with a few ideas. My attention span at the moment is terrible so when the mood hits me I do as much as i can on the different projects.



Jan