Monday, November 10, 2008

Been Gone Too Long...

It has been a long, difficult and painful summer and I am glad it's over! In January my right knee minuscus spontaneously tore one day while I stooped down to the lower part of a filing cabinet and I could hardly walk at all.
I figured the body would heal itself, so I waited and hobbled around, living with pain all the time. The worst part of it was not being able to go for my morning walks! My body got depressed. I got depressed. I was teary a lot of the time. I am addicted to my own endorphans!

Well, by May I had had enough and went to see an orthopedic MD. He gave me a cortisone shot and said if that didn't clear up the pain, surgery was the next step.
The shot did not help. At all.

Grrrr.




I waited some more. I worked and limped through the office. And getting up from a chair was not fun at all. Think about how many times a day you get up and down from a chair or the commode. Not Fun!

Since I was stuck in a non-moving-much mode, I started to make these multitiered skirts. And, in doing so I learned how to use my gathering foot. What a neat tool for my sewing machine. I've had it for years but never used it because I figured you could never know exactly how much fabric to cut for a project ( and I honestly didn't think the little foot could posible work, it's so simple looking)

WRONG. It works great!


So I began by cutting lots and lots of 6 in wide strips, sewing them together and letting the foot have at it.



It turned out to be great fun! It was easy sewing and it didn't take me long to cut out the strips, which was the other reason why I got into making these skirts. I just could not stand and bend over my table to cut out anything complicated when I was in so much pain.

The knee crisis came crashing down on me one day in the office when all of a sudden, I just could not walk without support. We got crutches out of storage and I had the surgery two days later.

The surgery wasn't bad at all, but the healing time after it has been HORRIBLE. And, long and drawn out and seemingly neverending.

However, two weeks ago, I realized that I no longer had pain when walking or getting up from a chair. Halleluya! I actually began to feel good everyday. It's been ten long months of limitation and I am so glad it's over. No more tears for me!

And, by the way, I have made a total of 27, YES, COUNT THEM, 27 multitied skirts. Comfy to wear and now my new uniform.