Pesto Party and Some Eye Stuff!

   My mom saw a listing online for some basil and sent me to go and get it.  I thought I was going to get a bundle, but I got a whole large bag of it.  The pesto I made is really good, I changed the recipe some, like using cashews instead of pine nuts and adding a bit of lemon.  I might have to make this more, though it is alarming how many leaves go into it and how little pesto you get out of it.

  Since I've made a few batches of themed Worry Worms, I was thinking I could possibly make some to sell online.  I don't know if that is against any "rules" out there about them, but I've changed the pattern a few times, so I've made it my own.  I've also seen many other people selling them online.  Since my favorite one is the one with three "ears" on each side of it's head, I'm thinking of focusing on those to sell.  I'm going to call them either Axolotl Worms or Axolotl Worry Worms.  I was thinking of making about nine in each color, with different eye options.  If they get really popular I could start making more in each color.  If they never catch on, then I can throw them into the donation bag.

  Shane had been having some eye problems after a dog he was watching licked his eye.  The first doctor thought it was a lower retina detachment, so we hurried to Tysons to see a retina specialist.  Turns out it was scar tissue and some stuff floating around in there.  It was apparently interesting enough that they called other people in to take a look.

  We then headed to DC for them to take a sample of eye juice and inject something.  They wanted make sure there is no infection or anything else super bad.  They think it might be uveitis.  There was also a "quick" chest x-ray before they let him go, about a mere five hours after we got there.

  His eye was already doing better once he woke up.  We got to the appointment the next day early, so we went to Sophia's deli for breakfast/brunch, they had good sandwiches.  The usual numbing and dilating happened before some pictures were taken.  During our visit we got to sit in a variety of colors of chair which meant different things.  The final room of the day had various lights on the wall by the door which let the doctor know which one to go to next and which rooms were vacant.  I got to see an eye ultrasound happen.

  We were told to come back the next day.  Vision was about the same as the day before.  So far all the tests have come back negative, but still no PCR from the sample they took.  She thinks everything looks about the same and he doesn't have to come back in to see her until next Wednesday.  It's good to hear "stay the course" when the course is medicine and not surgeries.

The Worms Bring Good News

   My dad got to go home last Wednesday, which also happened to have been his birthday!  We don't know when he will be cleared for driving, but everything else has been pretty good.  It will be a bit before he is hitting the gym as hard as he was before, but that was to be expected.

  Everything around me at my home has been fairly regular, though I think Tank is seeing more ghosts around.  I have been putting off working on the other sizes of hat for no good reason, so I need to get on that.

Time to Sneak in a Beer

   It looks like my dad won't be getting his view of the helicopter pad back for a few reasons.  He'd had some hallucinations in his new room while they were still putting arsenic in him until two weeks or so ago, but he'd been talking fine and eating a bit more than he was before.  Only the chemo nurses can give the drugs but they also have someone there checking everything before they do it.  The buddy system is never a bad idea.

  He had been walking, but did also fall a few times.  At one point a nurse had to sit with him to watch him, until they could get the Big Brother camera in his room.  There aren't many of them in the hospital and it's hard to get one.  Before when he was on an insulin drip some of the doctors from the Woman's Hospital came over to see how that worked.

  He's now in a rehab center.  He's been doing some laps and found out that showering is considered an occupational therapy.  He's complaining that the food here isn't as good as the hospital and that he misses the smoothies from the hospital.

  We went for the Father's Day event.  The guy they brought in to play piano was good at getting the room to join in.  There was a group of ladies who knew some songs and sang along with the guy at the piano for most of them.  They were having a great time.  I've started referring to them as the Gurl Gang.

  There is no real time frame on when he will get to go home, but he's been working on doing stairs which he will need at home.  He had a walker, but is mostly using a cane currently.  They are guessing another ten days, but it isn't set in stone.  He has had someone already bring him a beer, so it's not too bad there.

Pattern: based off Crochet Showtime Hat by The Crochet Crowd - Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Traditions in Bone - Hook: 5mm

  I'm going to have to think of a name for this soon.  I have everything I did typed up, I just need to format it and get a few more made for yarn weights.

Lonely RV, a Small Saga

   I first saw this little RV on the way home from knitting on March 30th.  I tried looking online to see if I could find the person who owned this so I could follow them on social media.  I didn't see any lights on at all on the inside, like a flashlight or phone light.  There weren't any cars parked nearby it and I'm too socially awkward to just knock on the door.

  I drove past it on April 12th when going to Trader Joe's to get some Peanut Butter Puffins.  I saw that it looked vandalized and become worried that it was abandoned or something.  I don't know where the items that appeared on the outside came from, but I did notice that one overhang in the front had been moved a bit.

  After knitting on April 20th I saw that some of the smaller windows and the vents at the top were open, so that means that someone is in there.  The door and windows look fine, so I assume the owner was the one in there.

  I saw on May 23rd that the things around the outside have been cleaned up and a new "note" is on the back.  I'm guessing maybe the owner was possibly adding the spray paint to the sides?  Maybe they know how to get it off easily and do this often.

  Then on May 30th I saw that it was gone.  I'm hoping that whoever owned it has just moved on and that it didn't actually get towed.  I had kept trying to catch a car being parked near it later in the day or seeing someone walk up to it, but I never did.

Worms in the Wild

  I made two options for Steven and took the one he didn't pick to dinner with us.  We went and saw Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness before going to Hawk and Griffin for dinner.  I got excited that I got to get a Pimm's Cup.  I got the Cottage Pie, Steven got the Bangers and Mash, and I didn't pay attention to what Bill got.  We had also gotten some appetizers and dessert, but the worm wasn't interested in those.  He must have wanted my mushy peas.

  Shane's worm also went for his food.  Though his also helped to pick out a hat and see some art.  They really are good at getting into everything.

Pattern: Not Quite Ribbed Hat - Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in 300208(blue) - Filatura Di Crosa Zara Plus Chiné in 1764(brown), unknown - Needle: US 8

  They have my dad up and walking to try and get his strength up.  He's been retaining some water, so there is a bit of a set back, but they said that this is a normal reaction.  He has his laptop now, so at least he's less bored than before.

Pattern: Not Quite Ribbed Hat - Yarn: unknown - Needle: US 8

  This past weekend I got thrown into something I have never done.  There had to be a bit of last minute moving around because the person who normally does the mag-lights for the Transvanian Concubines called out on the same day as the show.  That meant that Bill was now going to do that and since the guy who usually does the light-board also wasn't going to be there, I got to do it.  As Ryan was doing his makeup we had The Rocky Horror Picture Show playing at 1.5x speed in the background.  He was telling us light cues and Emmy was taking notes for me.

  The show was a success and I didn't do the worst job.  I had been hoping to take pictures because it was the pride show and some people had different costumes or accessories.  There is always next year.

It Won't Just Be About Worms

   I thought I had put all of my pony beads in one spot, but it seems I was hiding some from myself.  If anyone is worried that I'm only going to make Worry Worms from now on, you don't need to worry, I'm just able to catch up on all my scraps now.  The scrappy hats also aren't going anywhere, so I won't be turning all scraps into worms.  I am pushing to get more done because I wanted to have a lot done for T.A.P.S. but I'm also wondering if any other organizations might want them.

  So far, my dad is off almost all of the machines.  He was put back on the insulin.  The dialysis machine is gone.  He ate sometime on his last day in the ICU.  According to the doctor that is a better normal.  When people come off all the things he was on they usually don't want to eat anything.  So far he's on the same floor, but the other tower, so he hasn't gotten his view of the helicopter pad back yet.

  My dad is acting more alert and coherent.  He's been moved back up to the 9th floor, but doesn't have the view of the helicopter pad back because he's in a different room farther down.  He wants his laptop to work on things but also tires easily.  My mom says they have started him on some physical therapy to try and get this strength back.

Second Round of $1.25 Tree Yarn

Pattern: Worry Worms - Yarn: Crafter's Square in a dark blue color - Hook: 5.5mm

  I really liked the Premier Just Yarn.  This Crafter's Square yarn is interesting.  It's very springy, spongy, and very slippery.  It's almost slimy while being dry, which means it doesn't want to stay knotted.  I'm not worried about them coming apart, but it was annoying that I could pull out the slip knot when tightening the loop around the hook.

  It also stained my white crochet hook some and my fingers.  I did not really enjoy working with it at all, but I kept going because I didn't want to waste the yarn and they feel very interesting when made into a worm.  I will not be buying that yarn again.

  I added a bead kind of trim to one as a test.  I would start the single crochet normally, slide the bead down and complete the single crochet.  I then would pop the bead through the loop closest to it, flip the working yarn to the front, and pull it tighter.  It looks pretty cool but takes so long I don't think I will make many more of them.

  I've recently learned that Claire will be coming out this way for T.A.P.S. so it seems that the worms will have a place to good after all.  I didn't think that they would want individual cards to go with each one for the kids to lose, so I made a sign for Claire to put out near them.

  I didn't mention this before because it hadn't been as big of a deal before, but now it's gotten more dramatic.  My dad went to the doctor because he was feeling tired all the time.  They said he was anemic and sent him home with some iron tablets.  Those didn't do anything, so he and my mom went back.  He was then diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia and was admitted.  This is apparently one that people usually get when they are middle aged and the doctors were surprised he got it so late in life.

  The plan was then to give him some chemo pills and keep an eye on him until everything that didn't belong in him was nuked with chemicals.  The chemo caused his white blood count to sky rocket, so his chest felt tight because his blood was thicker.  They said this is fairly normal.

  However he had started having breathing problems.  So they sedated him while they give him oxygen and kidney dialysis.  The doctors don't know which way he is going to go, so we could use some good vibes and well wishes.

  When we went to visit him it was great how kind the staff were.  A lot of them, like Jenn, talked to him when doing their checks.  They let him know that they were there and what they were doing.  The "air hugger" was an interesting thing.  It reminded me of the air pillows used in shipping, but it has warm air being pumped through it to help warm people without adding too much weight on them.

  Less than 100 people per year get acute promyelocytic leukemia, 16% of those people get differentiation syndrome, and 9% of that get it severely.  So if anyone is wondering why I'm sometimes dramatic, that's where I get it from. 

  On day two he's already off some of the medication he was on before.  They tried to wake him some but he tried to take out the breathing tube, which I don't blame him.  He also squeezed my mom's hand a few times.  His heart is now doing a lot of the pumping, so that's another good thing.

  So far on day three he is breathing on this own and moving his limbs.  The good limb movement means that he hasn't had a stroke the last few days.  The plan now is to change the sedation medicine to see if he can become more alert and they want to get him back up to the 9th floor to finish treatment.  The 9th floor was fun because he had a view of the helicopter pad.