The Band aid is off . . .

Feels like I have worn a band aid on my nose forever. It started with a trip to see Dr. Scott Miller, in the MetroPlex, on June 10th, who removed a growth from my nose and did a biopsy. I had the growth come up just a month earlier, thinking it was a pimple or a boil. I unwisely waited to do anything because we were to attend our son's wedding in Bulgaria the end of May. The biopsy revealed it to be a squamous cell carcinoma, so Dr. Miller referred me to see Dr. Patrick Walsh, a MOHS surgeon. Dr. Walsh had done surgery on my HD's nose a few years earlier.

On August 10th, Dr. Walsh did the MOHS surgery, he took a sampling and checked it in the lab, finding that he needed to take another sample. After the second one, he got all of it. The wound was pretty deep and has taken awhile to heal but finally, today, I got to leave the band aid off.

Now it just has to heal completely and hopefully the Mederma cream Dr. Walsh recommended will help minimize the scarring. It looks so much better than it did right after he did the surgery. There is a small indention – more of a flat spot but not nearly as bad as I was afraid it would be. My “trouble maker” friend at the Senior Center told me just to fill it in with a little play dough!!!

Guess I will probably have a small “beauty spot” or a battle scan. When people asked me what happened to my nose, I told them I had a fight with two dermatologists and they won. Actually, I am the winner by catching it early, knowing what to watch for now and heeding warnings to use sunscreen and wear protective clothing when in the sun.

I am very pleased with my doctors to go from this after the surgery:

 to this:

 

Sh h h h h -Santa's helper has been busy.

Check out my handmade outfits for the American Girls' Bitty Twins, (Jackie and Jack).
Jackie's outfit, in red and blue, consists of a dress, panties and a hat.

Jack's outfit, in red and blue, consists of pants, shirt and a hat. Running short on fabric, I made his blue outfit using a print with solid trim.

My model's name is Giggles and is such a happy doll. Also shown are some clothes I made for her and a few extras.
Some outfits were made from an old twin size bed skirt. The dress and skirts were super easy to make since most of it was already done for me.

Baby Dolls

I have not played with dolls since early teen Barbies but in the interest of making some doll clothes to help old Santa out this year, I acquired some models to help. They are cuties!

I really like them. Unlike other babies, they don't pee, poop or spit up on you. You don't have to feed them so they don't get food everywhere. They are very quiet!

So you only have to change their clothes if you want to put a new outfit on them, AND they don't gripe about the clothes you select for them

These are my kind of babies!

HD on a Mission

My HD left Sunday morning early to pick up Ken Starks, in Austin, who rebuilds used donated computers for disadvantaged kids to have a computer at home. They will travel to Indiana to acquire 40 of these donated computers and take them to Austin.

My HD has never met Ken, but has followed his generous activities for some time. He is very happy he can donate his time and truck to haul these computers back for this great program. Check out Ken's website. This is a very worthwhile program if you care to donate to it.

http://heliosinitiative.org/news.php

Sunshine – friend or foe . . .

(Note: photo might be disturbing to some.)


Sunshine is good for us in many ways but not so much for our skin. Years of tanning, burning, and peeling can not only make the skin like shoe leather but also cause unwanted visits to a dermatologists office. Years ago, we did not know how much damage the sun could do to our skin. Now we do. So, please wear a hat and sunscreen and long sleeves if you are going to be out in the sun for any length of time.

I had my first experience with skin cancer and hope to not have any more experience with it. I hope this picture of my nose will help make kids and grandchildren be aware of what can happen with too much sun and too little protection.

Visitors

 We had a great visit with our daughter and grandchildren the last couple of days. HD set up an extra computer for them to use while here. I got a timer down so there would be no disagreements about whose turn it was.

During a walk to the post office, “Little Red” spotted a 'pet' in a yard and wanted her brothers to see it so, after a walk and visit to the senior center, HD (otherwise known as Grandpa or Poppa), took us by the yard with the 'pet' in it. Being from the city, they don't see this type of 'pet' in town there.

They packed up this morning and left for home. I am not sure “Little Red” was ready to leave but got all her stuff packed up. She is a very grown up four year old! Mom does a great job of teaching them to be independent!


  They had a good time at our senior center, “Big Red” and the “Doe Eyed Boy” with the pool table and “Little Red” with the computer games. Our seniors enjoyed them as well.

Jacob's 'Buddy'

Jacob's 'Buddy' Quilt

Jacob, our daughter's middle child, reminds me so much of our middle child - his uncle Jay.
 Always with a gleam in their eyes and are mischievous and teasing but have a big heart and would give the shirt off their back if someone needed it. They are always willing to help.
Jacob has been a good “buddy” to his older brother, “Big Red”, who has Aspergers and needs a little extra help from time to time. It may be actual help or just giving him the alone and quiet time he needs, but Jacob understands this.

 His is also a great big brother and buddy to sis “Little Red”, helping, playing with her and teaching her. In addition, he helps Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa are very proud of him.

 I hope this quilt will be a good buddy to him for a long time.
 Making "Buddy".  I made an error when I used the tan fabric. It is a lightweight velour and I did not realize it would stretch when I tried to quilt it. So I quilting every thing else and tied that fabric using the layout below for spacing but not quite that many ties. He does look a bit furry, though!