After the dust settled from my high school reunion, things were fairly quiet. I was working upstairs in the room I call my ‘nest’…it consisted of 2 desks, one for sewing and one for my work, with computer, monitor, etc. In the middle of the ‘nest’ is what was originally designed as a kitchen island, but it’s my project table. We attached a gridded/numbered cutting surface on the top which I use to cut out the handbags I make. It also serves as a place to put together the custom framing we do. The better half makes the wood frames (oak, walnut, pine, chestnut…old barn wood) and we cut the mats and mount whatever folks want in a frame.
Anyway, things were pretty much routine…until the end of October that Fall, and my husband calls to me from the bottom of the stairs one day after working on winterizing some plumbing under the house. He tells me he needs my help, so I go to the top of the stairs and he explains that he needs me to call the rescue squad. Taking one look at him, I knew he was having a heart attack; having been diagnosed with hereditary heart disease almost 15 years prior, it was something I had anticipated for a good while. I calmly called 911 and explained that my husband was more than likely having a heart attack, hung up and encouraged him to lie on the bed with his c-Pap machine on to give him extra air while waiting for someone to arrive. The local volunteer fire department is only 2 miles away, so three men got here fairly quickly. It was a good 20 minutes before the rescue squad made it to our home. They quickly got him on a stretcher and took him to the local hospital. Long story short, he was transferred to a better hospital the next day for cauterization and then a triple bypass 2 days after that. It was a successful surgery and he healed quickly.
Shortly after my husband had recuperated, I went to a new urologist for kidney stone that have plagued me for about 10 years now. For the first time, I had an ultrasound as part of the testing required by the new doctor and everything regarding the many kidney stones I had came to a screeching halt. The ultrasound revealed what I call a ‘creature’ in my lower abdomen. The results were sent to our family doctor and within a week or so, he called to schedule an appointment with me…it’s NEVER good when the doctor calls you for an appointment. We went in for a consult and he recommended I go to the better hospital to see a surgical oncologist. After another more in-depth/specialized ultrasound and seeing this new doctor, it was decided I needed surgery to remove the creature. My husband jokes that he got out of the recliner from his surgery and I got in it…which was basically the way things happened.
After another successful surgery between the two of us, with no lingering consequences, we made a big decision. Having experienced the surgeries we’d had, made us think that it was definitely time to smell the roses and see if we could purchase a second home close to a beach. While I was still off from work due to surgery, we took off the last week of my sick leave and spent several days in the location we had chosen to search for ‘our paradise’. Fortunately, we found exactly what we had in mind, within our budget, and about 45 days later we closed on our ‘dream’! YIPPEE!
Now we get to buy furniture and decorate the place…fun, fun, fun…and to be continued in the third part to our backstory!
hailey-stout studio 