WELL...DUH!

All this time I thought I was just being lazy.

Turns out, my hemoglobin has dropped again, so my lack of motivation to do anything beyond the Happy Chair was physical and not completely mental (like it usually is).

Please don't worry, my dears.  This is part and parcel of being me, it seems, and the proper authorities are on the case.  I will be right as rain as soon as I get some tender loving care from them, a big shot of Aranesp, and maybe a little transfusion of Venofer to really put me back in the saddle!

This is what happens with my kidney disease...as I progress to the next stage things get a little interesting and we start pushing buttons and levers to keep me upright!  Many of you have asked about the particulars of my health, so...

(Betty, this is the part where you sign off because you don't want to hear my "whining and bitching" about stuff that nobody cares about.  I know you prefer the stitching stuff only, so hang in there and we'll return to it as soon as my stitchy juju corrects itself, OK dear Betty?)

I have a kidney disease called FSGS, which is focal segmented glomerular sclerosis.  This means, basically, that the tiny little filters in my kidneys are busted, and I leak both blood and protein in my urine. (I know...eeeewwwww, right?!) I was diagnosed in 2002 when my family doctor caught it after my annual checkup, and have done remarkably well, all things considered. Now, though, I am nearing the stage when I will have to start dialysis.  Next week I will meet with the surgeon to have the vein graph procedure to make a "bigger pipe" to do so, and then that will heal and I will start a new normal of sitting in a big chair several hours a week watching TeeVee, reading, and hopefully stitching.

(Wait a minute...that sounds remarkably like my day to day schedule NOW!  Who knew that all of this laying about was actually training to be a dialysis patient?)

I don't know how or why I got this, whether or not it is related to family history, my own collection of health issues like Crohn's and thyroid cancer, or the fact that I grew up a mile down wind of one of the largest petrochemical refinery areas in the world...let's just say it is what it is and now we must move ever forward.

Thanks for indulging me there, kids.  I promise to return to our regular programming just as soon as I get needle and thread back in my hands this afternoon.  I have been so inspired by all of your new projects...methinks it's just what I needed to start poking about in the old stitchy basket once again!

Here's hoping that your Monday is off to a rip roaring start!

Onward!