A day of tears and knitting

Tuesday started out normally. I ate my breakfast of oatmeal, and sat down with my computer for the half hour before I had to get going. I had a cold a few days ago, and am still dealing with the "left-overs", so to speak. When I blew my nose, I noticed my lower abdomin hurt. I assumed it was my intestines digesting and left it at that.

I got ready, and walked a mile to work, knitting as I went. Once I arrived at work, I needed to blow my nose again. The pain, very faint, was still present. So, being the obsesser I am, I pushed on my groin, right where my leg attaches to my hip, to see why it hurt. I screamed.

I assumed it was a lymph node. The husband was already coming by work to drop off some Splenda for my tea, so I used the time to look up lymph node pain. Websites said that they swelled when they were fighting an infection nearby. Not anything I would normally worry about, even thought the pain was immense. Except, I had an abnormally large node under my chin over the weekend, and two swollen nodes in two different parts of my body were not a good sign.

The husband concured, especially after I screamed in his ear when he poked it. He called the hospital, who had no appointments that day. Urgent care it was.

Bottom line, I spent the day getting tests taken. Some rather innoculus, like a urine anallysis. Others, scary as hell. At then end of the day I had two Ultrasounds, and a CAT scan, and had been told I would more than likely need surgery that day, or the next. I spent the day bouncing from doctor to doctor, knitting and appologizing to the husband for making him miss a day of school.

When we finally got to the surgery consultation, he said that the previous diagnosis was ridiculus, and it was a swollen lymph node, possibly made worse by the fact I had been stressed about losing my job the past three weeks. He also said that next time I shouldn't go to Urgent Care. Oh yea, that's a great thing to say. I was literally screaming in pain and I should have waited until I could get an appointment the next day.

Now, I am just dreading the medical bill. I wish medicine was like other services. If they make a mistake, they have to fit the bill. I had three major tests done, all for nothing. I have decent insureance, but I know they won't cover everything. The kicker? I got a percription for Vicadin for less than $4. Now I am a VERY law-abiding citizen, but I find it hilarious that I could sell those extra pills and earn more than enough to cover the bill.

At the end of all this, I find three things very amusing. 1: I joked that I wanted to meet Dr. House, and with the incorrect diagnosis, I was the talk of the hospital and just might have. 2: I really was afraid at first they would make me get a Tetnus shot. TWO IV's were instead my fate. 3: There was a pie-shaped candle in the CAT scan room. I liked looking at it as the machine scanned the radioactive liquid running through my allegedly leaking veins.

What was accomplished on my 2nd day off.

I spent most of the weekend at a cabin on the Russian River, where I finished the first Pomatomus sock. (I cheated with the picture in a few posts back.) The rest of the weekend was spent casting on and frogging a Kiri shawl, knitting a swatch or the Apres Hoodie, and knitting most of a Dumpling Bag. As for the Kiri, turns out the yarn I had was cobweb weight and looks awful on size 3. But of course, I'm using my 2's for a million other projects, and I don't own a circular 1. The swatch is complete, and drying on my table. Since I don't turn on my heater, it should be dry by next weekend. I really ought to knit that Hoodie; it will eat up a lot of my stash. Not to mention, I could have it in time for the cool spring in a couple weeks. The Dumpling bag. Ahhh, it is everything they say it is. Quick. (I knit it in a day) Cute. (It is totally perfect for more weekends.) And a beautiful canvas for creativity. (I spent an entire day just embellishing it.)FO: Dumpling Bag
Yarn: 1 entire skein of Berroco Peruvia in black
Needle: size 13
Other: Two glass rings, one clear, one black, from Micheals
Mods: I only made one mod to the main pattern, and that was to skip the last plain knit row and just decrease straight to the last 24 stitches. I had enough yarn or one more row, so that was it. As to the embroidery, I didn't have any colors in the way of flowers and tree branches, well, most no tree branch colors, so I took a look at what I had and went with it. I had half a ball of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Cloud from a tam, and Patons Classic Wool in Grey from the Turn-a-square for my brother. There were other scraps I considered using, but I'm going to try to make another tam out of the rest of my Karaoke. Now, I bought two skeins in black and red, thinking I would need 2 for one bag. I definitely will make another in red, but I'm not sure about making 3 more. I am tossing around the idea of a checkered bag, but I think it would get too complicated trying to math out the size of each square between decreases and a major change with felting.

Pomatomus Progress or Alliteration Attempts

My last pair of socks came out to big for a number of reasons, so I am determined to have one pair of socks I can wear. I knit these on size 0 needles, since all the others gave me too big of a gauge. As this pattern is very stretchy, I figured less stretch the better. I mean, really, I buy 9 packs of generic socks that fit size 6 to 12. My sock should be more snug.

Wow, is it ever snug. The leg and foot are tight, but I think it is a good tight. Now I just have to make sure I only knit the foot small enough to fit when stretch rather than make the mistake I did last time and start the foot when it reaches my toes relaxed.

I finished the toe, but it was too short, so I ripped back and added about an inch. After blocking (though it is not completely dry), it fits pretty well.