Sarah Downton Beads and Jewellery

Friday tea time

I’m back! Actually I came home Sunday teatime but this is the first time I’ve felt like having a chat here. I’m sitting on an arm chair like lady muck while Rick cooks dinner yet again, with an Ikea shelf laying across the arms to rest my laptop on. Cool huh? So do you wanna know how it went? eh, eh?

I won’t bore you rigid with details, but it has gone really well so far. I have to admit to being nervous as I walked down for my surgery, in my backless gown, white support pop socks and racy foam slippers, and meeting my surgeon in the hallway covered head to foot in scrubs, with what looked like a wrap-around J-cloth around his head (only his face visible) and knee high wellies, looking like he was about to slaughter a cow! Holby City or Casualty it most definitely was not and I started to wonder just how much blood there would be. The anaesthetist and her assistant quickly and efficiently put me to sleep, and the next thing I knew I was in recovery, feeling numb and extremely chilled. Brilliant. Armed with my class A drugs clicker and huge dose of anaesthetic in my legs I was thankfully very chilled all day and the next, and actually as the feeling came back things haven’t been too bad at all. All in all it has so far not been too bad an experience, much better than I’d been preparing for, and way better than my last surgery 14 years ago.

So here I am, the 10th day post op, I’ve been walking up and down the stairs, doing lots of exercises and walking outside a little bit further every day, all with my crutches. It truly is as amazing as everyone I’ve spoken to has said, and I feel like I have been oiled in my hip. I’ve also decided that I’m not a fraud, as my femoral head had grown itself a lovely lump of bone on it that was stopping movement, and had worn itself into an oval shape, which in turn had shortened my leg by up to an inch. I’m now the proud owner of legs the same length, bliss. Thank you so much Mr Benson.

Monday afternoon

So this is it, my last post before my surgery tomorrow, by lunchtime it should all be done and then I can start getting better and looking forward to a healthier, more active lifestyle like I used to have. I still have 99 things to do, of course, but then I have spent more time organising things for my daughter who isn’t really old enough yet to sort out her own stuff. Anything else to do with my business will just have to wait until later next week if I feel up to it. If you’ve sent me a contact form lately and I haven’t replied yet I hope you won’t mind waiting a couple of weeks, I can’t quite get my head around them at the moment, not sure why!

I plan to start teaching again in September, and dates are booking up quickly, so there will be more opportunity during October for beadmaking lessons. That sounds such a while away, but I’m sure it will slam into us real fast, as time generally seems to have a way of sneaking certain dates up on us, no matter how well prepared we thought we were.

I must go now and finish packing my bag for my stay in hospital. Bye for now.

Thursday morning

It’s Thursday again, how did that happen so fast? You can see my hip hop day is fast approaching, and in case you hadn’t realised is filling my mind most of the time, well, it would really wouldn’t it. Maybe it’s the thought of hopefully being able to do all those things that I’ve been unable to for the last 14 1/2 years or maybe it’s the thought that a very clever surgeon (and I’m happy to say that I’m privileged to have one of the best in the country again (he also has an international reputation)) will be cutting into me next week and chopping away one of the rubbish bits of bone that has been causing me so much grief over the last few years. This thought is good but also scary, as I know it’s not going to be nice, and that I’m going to be in post operative pain for several days, if not weeks going by past experience. The good part is that I know I have to go through this to achieve a happy outcome.

We attended my pre op appointment yesterday and it was fab to hear the physiotherapist talk about not needing my walking stick after a certain number of weeks. This is something that I never thought I’d hear as my internal view of me has been with a stick until my old age, so I’m elated about this. So, it is with very mixed feelings that I travel the next few days until my surgery, happy, excited, nervous, hopeful, apprehensive, sad that I will be loosing a bit of my body that can only be replaced a couple of times (as current medical practice stands).

So please excuse me for getting more personal about me today, but I think I have good reason, and I want to share my good news and nervousness, as this is such a BIG deal for me. I’d better get on, I have 101 jobs to do before next week.

Thursday tea time

Another stunning hot day, the weather is just obscenely gorgeous at the moment, but too soon, the heatwave should be coming in June when I’m back home from hospital and recuperating in the garden. Ooops, looks like I’ve let it slip that I’m having my operation at this time of year so I can sit and enjoy the weather, well, the choice was now or in October and when I sat and thought about what I’d be doing, it turned out to be a real no-brainer. Add to that the thought of being normal again sooner rather than later and we have our date. OK, so stop being rude about me never being normal.

So I’m sat here outside on the bench again, and I realised that I had my clock set wrong for the blog entry times, 2 hours too early. Did anyone notice? nah. Oh joy of joys, the phantom nose hooter is back, tootling his nose (or maybe her) like a magnificent trombone, and just listen to the birds. It’s actually quite noisy here one way or another, but in a natural way. The garden’s not looking too bad either. I actually managed to get Rick to do some gardening on Saturday and Monday this week, goodness knows what happened to get him to change a habit of a lifetime. He did say yesterday that he realised I’d have to look at the mess outside if he didn’t do something about it, I’m just hoping that the impetus continues, and doesn’t end when I’m able to do the garden later this year. Although what does bother me slightly is that he thinks it looks OK now, whereas I think it needs much more time spending on it. Oh well, better trot off and check on our lamb shanks roasting in the oven. TTFN.

Tuesday morning

What a lovely day. It’s so nice that I’ve taken up my old habit of sitting outside on the bench in front of my studio to type this entry. It’s truly lovely, and it’s days like today that make me so glad that I don’t work in an office for someone else any more. Being self employed is hard in itself because you seem to work loads of hours for not much profit,well, that’s the case with most art related designer makers, although if I was in another line of business I’d make real sure I was making a decent profit, but then art is about so much more than making a quick buck. However, I digress, yes, it’s days like today that make you feel glad to be alive and happy to be at home.

So 2 weeks to go, and my jobs are getting done even though I haven’t planned their timing to the nth degree. I’m hoping to get into my studio and make beads for my Open Houses jewellery again today, even though I’ve almost managed to fill my cabinet with pieces made previously. I now have the mind numbing chore of making earwires and headpins to make up my earrings and pendants, yawn! I do like making jewellery, it’s just that some jobs get a wee bit tedious and the fun part is making up the pieces and looking at all the lovelies! Today I’m hoping to make some more hollows to complete some fun fab necklaces, along a similar design idea to my large hollows necklace that featured on all of last years Open Houses literature. Oh, my tea mug is empty, that means our time is up for today, must pop off and fire up the kiln.