Hi There! Have You Missed Me?

Hi there! I just wanted to pop in and clean out the cobwebs on this blog of mine! I'm still around, but haven't really had much time to create these days. I don't like to burden people with my personal issues, but just in case you're wondering where I've been and why I haven't been posting very often, here's a little info about a condition I have that affects every aspect of my life...especially being crafty!

In September 2009, my left eye became blurry in the center of my vision and I went to see a retina specialist. After many tests that day, they diagnosed me with Choroidal Neovascularization. I had a group of blood vessels growing irregularly on my retina and one had burst and was leaking blood into my eye. The small central blob of blurry vision was the blood in my eye. If nothing was done about it, I could have completely lost the vision in my left eye. As it was, the vision I had lost already was going to be permanently gone. They immediately started me on a monthly series of injections of Avastin, a colorectal chemotherapy medicine. These injections are directly into my eye, which is pretty scary. I had three treatments the first time and the problem stopped.

In April of this year, it recurred and I had two monthly treatments which resolved the issue. That time, there was no hemorrhage, which is a very good thing.

A few weeks ago, my left eye became blurry in the center again and I have a hard time seeing the computer unless I close my left eye. As you can imagine, cutting out images and coloring in the lines have been difficult to say the least. I have always been aware that it could possibly happen again, but I wasn't prepared for it to happen so soon this time.

I addition to all of this, I have been fighting an endless battle with my dental needs. I have had numerous root canals this year and as of today, I need at least five crowns. As you know, they are expensive when you combine the prep needed for the crowns as well as the cost of the crown itself.

So, I'll be around, but until the eye injections work their magic and I can see properly, it will be limited. I'm hoping to be posting more after the holidays and getting back into this hobby that I love so much. It saddens me to walk past my craft room and not be able to go in an play with all my toys!

The picture in this post is the small tree in my foyer...just something fun for the holiday! It's my lime green and red tree that matches the outside decorations on my house including the wreath on my front door...maybe I'll share a picture of that later this week!