I am Healing and Crafting...

Hi there family, friends and followers.  This is going to be a back update first and then I will share a peek at the ongoing Cricut Club perpetual calendar project I have been doing with the ladies who attend club meeting. I will be sharing the entire project when they are done in June.

So for the back update; as you know I had back surgery almost 4 weeks ago.  The recovery so far as been up and down. But as of today I feel that my healing is about right where it should be for almost 4 weeks post op.  I have a follow up appointment with my surgeon this coming week and will be having x-rays to see how things are healing. I am still having a small amount of pain and some muscle spasms too.  I am taking a muscle relaxant & a small amount of pain medication.  At first I was upset that I was still needing pain and other medications at this point, after all I had the surgery to get rid of the pain & other issues, but after speaking with my surgeon's nurse and following her instructions I was able to relax and I have been doing much better.  I am walking for at least 30 minutes every day and I am no longer using any of those assistive devices that I had to use when I was first home from the hospital, well except for my back brace, which will be my "little friend" for another 2 months, It really does help support my back. I still need to rest several times each day but these "breaks" seem to be for shorter periods of time each day.  I want you all to know how grateful I am for all your prayers, thoughts, visits, cards and gifts.

Now for the crafts; for the last 2 weeks I have been able to craft for a portion of each day and have been busy working on my July/August Cricut Club calendar pages kit and can't wait to share it with the ladies. I have also made several cards. I hate being stuck at home (I won't be able to drive for at least 2 more weeks) but it sure does allow me to get a lot of craft stuff done. My darling sweet husband does take me out to run errands and etc. I get out at least 3 times a week which helps me from being grumpy.  I have also been looking at all the challenges on the web and I have decided to share just one part of the ongoing Cricut Club project so I can enter it into the Fantabulous Cricut current challenge- "something with an umbrella" & into the Exploring Cricut current challenge-"something with a flower".  I also thought I'd share with you my version of a birthday card I've made using inspiration from a friend who is a Stampin Up Super Star demonstrator Connie Stewart. You can find her blog and all her great creations at Simply Simple Stamping.com. She has a wonderful "flash card" video series too.  I just love what she comes up with. Thanks Connie for sharing your creativity.

 I hope you all enjoy these creations. I wish you God's blessing. Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the web.  Leave me a comment so I know you where here.
God Bless,
Vickie

Hello There Blogger Friends...

Hi everyone, so sorry it's been so long since I last updated by blog.  My full time job really was more than full time which left very little time for updating to my blog let alone crafting.  For the last several months I have only had time to keep up with my Cricut Club projects. In addition to the extra time for work I have also been experiencing major back pain again. It's been off and on, well really mostly always on almost for the entire past year.  I finally decided to talk with my primary MD and get that new MRI that he said was needed.  When the MRI results came back it indicated that there had been some changes and that the disc that I had repaired almost 10 years ago has herniated again. There was also some changes that meant my back was not doing well so after a long discussion with the surgeon that did my first surgery,  I decided that I would do as he recommended and undergo a Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion aka a "TLIF" to hopefully stabilize my back and help me avoid any further back surgery.  Of course even with the TLIF there will be changes in my life.  I will not be able to do any twisting, bending or lift anything over 15 to 20 pounds for pretty much the rest of my life. This means that any nursing job that involves direct patient care will no longer be an option for me.  My recent job required direct patient care so my employer ask that I step aside, which I did, however as I do not qualify for FMLA that means I no longer have a job. My employer told me that she would like me to come back and that she would try to place me in a different job at that time. So I had that surgery last Monday, the surgeon did not need to do as much work as he thought so that's a plus for me. While there is still pain it is surgery related and it will hopefully fade in time.  I have a 12 week recovery period due to the graft (interbody) part of the surgery needing to harden and to begin to adhere to the vertebrae space at L5/S1 part of my back.  I want to say Thank You to my darling sweet husband, my son Robert for all they did to care for me this past week and for all of my prayer warriors and other family members for your prayers. I know that all of this is in God's timing and that as far as a job goes the Lord will work all that out too.  Since I haven't had time lately to share with you all any of my craft projects, I thought I'd share a few with you tonight. I hope you all will enjoy them. Once the next two Cricut Club meetings are completed I will share with you the ongoing project the gals are working on.

The first card is for a special couple who just celebrated their 30th Wedding Anniversary. The second card is for my employer for all her help with my job stuff. The third card is the Easter card I made for this year.All the pieces and parts for all three cards came from my stash.
Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the web. I will be linking this to Sarah Hammer's Tuesday Link Up Party tomorrow. I have a blinkie button on the right side of my blog so if you get a minute, click it to stop by and check out all the other crafty folks.  Please leave me a comment so I know you visited.
Happy Easter to all.
God Bless,
Vickie