Two steps forward one step back

I've been finishing things.  A baby sweater

Some golf club covers

About half of my radiation treatments.  

And I've got stuff in the works.  A couple pairs of socks for charity, a shawl for me.  And as of yesterday 21 days of antibiotics to treat Lyme disease.   Coming from Minnesota I recognize the telltale bullseye rash of Lyme.  Showed it to the doc.  He confirmed and now I'm on med's.  I looked it up, there aren't many reported cases in Florida. Guess I'm special.  And lucky he doc was also from up north no familiar with the little buggers.  

Now that was different.

We are spending our first Christmas without either of our girls and with no living parents.   It is a bit sad but surprisingly not weep in the corner bad.   We haven't had our parents around for the holidays for years so their absence was most noticeable shopping..you know those "this would be perfect for " moments.  Mostly that made me smile remembering gifts and moments shared.

Knowing that dds were together even if not with us made it less sad.  With the miracle of apple technology we shared a beer and opened gifts together on FaceTime.   It was almost like being there.  

So we have made it through this first holiday of different.  It wasn't all bad.  It was just different.

Dining out.

The best and worst experience.   We went to dinner at a near by Italian restaurant, that has been highly recommended...we received our drinks, had our order taken, received salads...then were forgotten. Until a person, not our waiter stopped by to see if we'd enjoyed our meal and saved room for desert.  We point d out politely that we'd never received our meal.   So 3 1/2 hours after arriving we finally left.  We did get food, no apology from management or even our waiter.   No comp like a drink or dessert.  And the food was only ok.  We won't go back. Yet I imagine it will be successful in spite of itself.

Last night we went to a new tapas restaurant.  The food was amazingly. The server attentive.  When the wine we ordered was unavailable we were offered a higher priced similar wine for the other price.  

Sadly because it is such a different food style I fear it may not last.  

So just in awe I indulged in desert.

Finished

This was one of those projects where the pattern is good and the finish sweater is nice but the knitting was painful.   If I make this pattern again I will make a smaller neckline.  It's a bit too wide for my taste, but Frogging and re-knitting is out of the question.   

A treat for me.

For most of my life I only had hand mixers, and not great ones at that.  Finally I splurged on a kitchen aid.  Love it.  Now after 5 years in Florida I decided it would be nice to have one here.  Target online came through with early sale, plus my red card discount, plus a discount from all the med's I've filled lately.  So it was about as good a deal as I would ever find.  Only problem is its "professional ". So bigger then I expected.   Not sure where I will store it.  And I certainly need to start putting it to work.  

Knitting in public

I had a lot of down time in between steps yesterday.  I had sentinal lymph node biopsy.  So I took advantage of the time as a good knitter should.    It's not glamorous like knitting in public in Paris, or charming like a fiber festival, or fun like a ballpark.  But it helped pass the time.  Besides what else can you do sitting around in your underwear in a backless gown. 

October is for breast cancer awareness

This year is the year that my diligence in getting routine mammograms paid off.   So this appears to be my year to celebrate breast cancer awareness with a suspicious mammogram.  Following an ultrasound, then a next day biopsy it appears that I have a dcis.  A non invasive ductal carcinoma.   They also biopsied a suspicious looking lymph node, but that was benign.  Initially I was going to work with the nurse navigator and schedule surgery and follow up in Florida, but after a preliminary consult with the surgeon here I'm going to go ahead with surgery here next week.  Not because it was more urgent, but because he just gave us a good feeling and he has an opening next Wednesday.   So barring unforeseen findings in surgery..My plan is to meet with the oncologist here and the nurse navigator to coordinate follow up radiation in Florida.   

The surgery is outpatient in Brainerd.  So I am really glad we made the move to local docs in the spring.   I'll let you know how it all pans out.    While I won't be golfing immediately when we return, I can still participate in the dining component.   And I have no idea how other post surgical treatment will impact my energy level for golf..perhaps I will be on the friendly tees for while.   

But the bottom line is that screening really does pay off. 

On the knitting front I finished my never ending shawl and a couple of hats to donate as chemo hats.  

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