Day 16 Post Transplant: Waiting for “Engraph”….

After all this waiting, one might ask what are you waiting for? We are all waiting for “Engraphment”. This is when the donor stem cells migrate to the bone marrow and start to produce red, white and platelet cells in the body. This happens around 2 to 4 weeks.

I was talking to W’s nurse and she shared that in most transplants this happens from the 25 to 40 days after transplant. There is a great website explaining this at http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/bone-marrow-transplant

Right now Ws blood and platelet cell count is very, very, low. This is the time where preventing infection is critical, since he has practically no immune system to combat it. He is given blood and platelet transfusion periodically. On the outward side he is doing well. He is still getting up to walk around his room and sitting up in a chair for several hours. His mind is sharp enough to joke around with the nurses and his family and doing Soduku puzzles. We have always called him Mr Pun Man. He is a master using word puns. The Recreation Therapist taught him a card game called Kings Corner. It’s a fun solitaire game with two people. He taught me today, and I got lucky winning both games we played. Tomorrow we are going to learn a game called Traps and Treasures.

The inside of W is another story. Lab results are starting to show some slight changes in his heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. Doctors are monitoring this very carefully, as getting them to work together, eliminating the fluid in his body, is becoming a challenge. The major culprit is his heart and history of heart failure (CHF). We knew, if anything, this might be the kink in the chain of risks coming into this process. We need to be praying for this right now. The heart needs to pump effectively to prevent the other vital organs from being affected.

The doctors are pleased at what they see on the outside, as they say, and if they can get the heart working well with medication, all should be OK. I have to say, it is a pleasure to discuss W.’s condition with the City of Hope doctors. They really listen to family members. They give a significant amount of time listening and answering questions. I have never seen such dedicated MDs and nurses in my experience. This is saying a lot as W has been hospitalized in several hospitals and I have worked in others, although be it many years ago.

Knitting: I am still plugging away on the Red Owl Sweater. The Owls are half done. I will be doing the second cable soon. This is an ingenious pattern. As the weather starts to get warmer, it may be too hot to knit wool, so I am trying my hardest to finish this sweater/cardigan.

We've had unusually mild Spring this year in Southern California. I cherish the mild sunny days in May. Flowers are still blooming and my front planter is looking marvelous, especially since I hired a gardener. It makes me wonder why I didn't do this sooner. For over a year I have valiantly tried to care the the yards myself, when W didn't have the strength or energy because of his cancer. The gardener is worth every penny. Seeing the flowers and lawns look so nice just lifts my spirits to no end and I thank God for such a gift of beauty.

No Idle Hands

I’ve been sick with a cold all week. Felt it coming on slowly since Monday. I was out from work Wed and Thurs. Back to work on Friday, although not 100%. Today, it’s now it my chest. It’s the pits! Thursday was my 32nd wedding anniversary and I was sick! How the Lord tests me! Hopefully, we’ll celebrate this weekend.

Being home gave me a chance to knit and spin, I’ve spun a lot of skeins of mohair trying to make a dent in the fleece I have. It came out soft and lovely but it seems I’m spinning the never-ending fleece. I still have lots to spin.

I finally got tired of mohair and switched to some left over Romney wool. After spinning Mohair, I felt the Romney was too scratchy, so I plied it with some gold tencel roving. It softened it up a bit.

I’ve been working on a variety of knit projects: the fuzzy feet slippers, the Hey Teach! Sweater, dug out my pink striped socks and tried to fix them-still a work in progress. I’ve been knitting the 2nd sleeve for the Babies and Bears sweater. And when I grew bored or tired, I gazed lovingly at my Gerber daisies which are blooming wonderfully and lift my spirits.

I’ve been reading the “No Idle Hands:the Social History of American Knitting” by Anne L. Macdonald. It is so great to hear the hidden history of the Revolutionary War and the courage of the women who used their cunning and skills to gather women together to knit and sew clothing and wool socks for George Washingtons troups at Valley Forge . They passe through blockades in the middle of war, in the cold of winter, to get these desperately needed items to them. They found the troops, by following the bloody footprints in the snow of soldiers who had no socks and shoes to wear. Women worked to spin and knit 24 hours a day to meet the needs of the soldiers and those of their families, which in that time was quite large. Talk about labor intensive!!!

Happy Color!

My babies, my Gerber daisies, are doing great! I am relieved that they have made it through the hottest part of the summer. The reds and pinks are blooming like crazy. The yellows have made a slow start but I am seeing some small buds starting to spring up and I’m sure they will bloom in a few days. It seems my “brown thumb” is fading. The plants look very healthy. I am wondering how long their season is? It would be nice if I can keep they blooming all year. They are so beautiful.

I haven’t been blogging much because I’ve been too busy working, knitting and spinning. I have two new projects on my needles. I’ve started to make some Christmas presents, again knitting some fuzzy feet for special people. This time, however, I tried adapting the pattern to do “toe-up”, which means I won’t have to finish the toe. Kitchener stitch is not a favorite, and toe-up means no kitchener. Yea! So far they are coming out OK, I tried to make them a little bigger as to fit a large male foot. It’s not easy to know for sure if they will shrink enough in the felting process, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I started organizing my paper patterns in binders……yes, bindersssssss! I had no idea how many I had. I created a database to inventory all my patterns and search where they are located. What a chore! I had no idea I had so many. Too many to actually make them. Still they inspire me.

The other project I started was a sweater I found on Knitty.com called Hey Teach! It looks like it would look great on any body shape. I found some stash cotton I had and cast on. This time I started with the sleeve to determine if it was doable before I knitted several skeins worth of stockinette. It ended up very easy and I can’t wait to get to the pattern again.

Thoughts of Enlightenment

I had a thought of enlightenment today!

How does one know when they are a fiberholic? When one gazes at the clouds in the sky during sunset and sees fluffs of teased mohair locks ready to be spun. Can you tell which one is the fiber and which are the clouds? If I wasn’t there myself, it would be very hard to tell.

Answer: On the left are the clouds, the right are the mohair locks.

My babies….the Gerber daisies are needing a lot of care. I had to buy a flower spray to kill the white flies that were attacking them. Many of them cannot cope with more that 3 hours of sun. They suffer sun exhaustion and drop so sadly. I am hoping that if I keep them somewhat watered they will be able to get through the hot sun.

So what do I know about a drip irrigation systems? ….Absolutely nothing. To Home Depot I go, and low and behold I find the perfect system, “Drip Irrigation for Dummies”!. Perfect! It has everything I need. I plan it out and cut the hose to the proper lengths and connect everything and hope for the best. Everything worked except one connection, but with my husband’s help we fixed the leak and where in business.

I had a lovely lunch out with two of my friends from high school. We shared what was going on in our lives and compared each other’s grey hair that our grown kids seem to be giving us. The fact that the years are passing ever so quickly now, simply seemed to escape our thoughts. ;) I wish I had remembered to take a picture. We need to meet up more often.

Ravelympics: I am on the home stretch for my Sampler Vest. I finished the Button band and one armhole. I will start and hopefully finish the other armhole tonight, weave in the ends and sew these cute daisy buttons on. I must be in a happy mood, or be obsessed with daisies this summer. I am really liking being home on vacation. It is going to be hard to go back to work on Monday.

A Vacation Garden

In my quest to go through my vacation list, I was able to check off another item: Plant a flower bed. I have a flower bed that has been neglected for the past 6 month growing wild asylum and marigolds. I was determine this week to condition the flower bed and plant some nice summer flowers. I haven’t had much of a “green thumb” in the past, especially since I’ve been working full time. Yet, I want to try again to celebrate the color in my life.

I made a trip to Home Depot and picked out some very colorful Gerber daisies. Without knowing much about the care of such plant I purchased about 8 pots of them in a variety of colors. These flowers seem to have a life and personality of their own. I’m not kidding! Since planting them I have found that they don’t like much direct sun and they are very thirsty. After a few hours in the intense sun they start to droop and wilt. If I notice this in time, I give them a drink and once the 12:00 noon shade hits them they perk up, straightening their flower stems and opening their flowers like a “happy smile” that daisies are known for. Luckily, they only have direct sun for about 6 hours and the rest of the day they are in shade. They are aptly named “Gerber daisy” because they are so cute and beautiful like a cute Gerber baby and need attentive care. They are going to be my “babies”.

Ravelolympics progress

I’m almost done with the main body knitting of the cotton Sampler Vest. I have a few more rows of the right front shoulder and will be starting the Button hole band. I have found, however, that this project has not been the greatest to watch the Olympics with. I have made repeated stupid mistakes that were easily fixable. However, the Olympics has been getting more exciting and often distracts me when I need to concentrate on my project. I really enjoyed the Swimming Freestyle Relay Final last night! It was so exciting! Go USA!!!!

Spinning

I mentioned before that I have all of this mohair fiber and was feeling, as I washed it, that I really needed to do something with it. The staple length was about 6-7 inches and I knew it would be impossible to card with my drum carder. So I decide to flick it open with a flicker brush and spin from the open locks. I wanted a very soft yarn so I set my spinning wheel to a low ratio about 5:1 on my Joy Spinning Wheel. I treddled very slow to make a very fuzzy low twist type of yarn. One of the disadvantages of this is that it tends to fall apart easily. I wondered if I could set the twist in singles, but thought that with the low twist it would not keep the yarn together. I decided to 2-ply it to make it a stronger yarn. After setting the twist, it ended up into a lovely soft yarn with lots of luster. WOW! I still trying to figure out what I will make out of this. Any suggestions? :) Yes, it feels as soft as it looks!