Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Jeanine's trip to the Mayo clinic

Jeanine and I have spent the last 3 days in Rochester Minnesota at the Mayo clinic. We went there with the specific hope and purpose that she would have the cancerous part of her liver removed.

She spent Tuesday having many tests. They included CAT scans and MRIs and today she even had a test to check her vocal chords.

Today she spent the day going from doctor to doctor to doctor and there was little to brighten her day. The removal of the diseased liver is not an option at this time. She has learned that she has what looks to be renal cell carcinoma in her liver (which she knew), in the lymph nodes outside her liver, and small growths of it in her lungs, and in her pancreas. To our surprise, it is also suspected that she has thyroid cancer in her thyroid, if not it is also renal cell carcinoma. If it is thyroid cancer, there is no special worries about it. It is well-contained and easily treatable, if it becomes an issue.

The doctors have urged her to go home and get back on chemo treatment as soon as possible and if at some time the cancer reduces enough, they will consider surgery again.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Grandchild sewing

The last of my nearby grandchildren finally got to come spend the night and do a little sewing. Each grandchild had been given the choice of what they wanted to sew. My grandson wanted an Iphone. WHAT?? A sewn Iphone, ridiculous and impossible. He is my grandson, though, so I had to try. Here is the original...


Here is my grandson working on the first Iphone (yes, I said first.)


We spent an hour or so coming up with this Iphone face on paper. This was the background picture for the Iphone.


These were the apps that we printed over that picture.


We printed this picture and apps on paper and encased them in clear plastic for the sewn Iphone. We made one and realized that when we turned it, that the picture and the plastic became totally crunched. It also wouldn't turn with the foam board that we had inserted to make it feel like an Iphone. Here is the disaster, though you can't see it all that well.


We had to start all over again. We sewed the basic shape and then we turned it inside out. At that point we inserted foam board in the bottom and sewed the plastic and picture on. My grandson then decreed that we needed to stuff the rest of the Iphone with batting so kids playing with it wouldn't break the foam board. We finished the last edge and then did the necessary apple on the back of the "Iphone."



Here is the proud creator. Yes, he kept both Iphones. Though he insisted that we make another, he still liked his first creation.


I was so proud of him. He was a natural at sewing. He sewed a straight line from the very first time he sat down to sew.