Mystery Stole 2 "Scheherazade" -- and Barbara's Gallstone

It's been quite a while since I posted. I finally finished my Mystery Stole "Scheherazade" in late October or so -- but I had purchased blocking wires -- and then had ordered special U-shaped blocking pins from KnitPicks, and was waiting for them to arrive.

They finally arrived -- and one weekend, I had a killer headached that knocked me out of commission -- the next I was busy for other reasons. So, I finally blocked the Scherazade Stole on Sunday. I think it's dry, but I've left it blocked just to be sure. Maybe I'll take it out tomorrow and photgraph it.


The sad news is that Barbara had another of what I guess is called a bilious attack around 5am on Wednesday -- and was vomiting hard, with blood in it. When she called me for advice, I told her to go to her Santa Cruz Medical Foundation urgent care. They took lots of ultrasounds and diagnosed a large gallstone in her gallbladder -- and needs surgery since she was in great pain. They gave her a shot of painkiller because she couldn't keep the first pain pills down. Then they gave her a prescription for Vicodin. Barbara's had problems for about 5 years -- and had been misdiagnosed as having gastric reflux. Her gallstone is huge -- 2.3 cm -- about 1 inch in diameter.

She saw the surgeon yesterday (Thursday), and they scheduled the surgery for next Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. He also prescribed stronger pain meds. I'm taking Wednesday off from work to drive up to Santa Cruz, and will take her to the surgery center. We hope she's in the 90% who can just have outpatient laparascopic surgery -- but they don't know until they start.

So the Thanksgiving holiday and her 22nd birthday the following Saturday are kind of on hold. I'm going to just buy a turkey breast -- in case we can come back to San Mateo after her surgery -- and we'll just have a small feast on Thursday. If I end up having to stay in Santa Cruz with her (or if she has the big surgery and is in the hospital for 4 days) -- then Steve can put the turkey breast into the freezer for some other time.

So -- I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her, and keeping her in my prayers (whether she likes that or not!).