I've had quite a month!

I have some health news to share, but I'll start with some stitching since that's the purpose of my blog. On the 21st the final part of Cecilia Votta's seasonal SAL was released, and I finished it on Thanksgiving night:

I really love Cecilia's style, and it is kind of amazing to see how a fairly small color palette can be used to create such a varied scene. This is the second year I've done her SAL; this was last year's design:

Now I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with in the new year ahead. For now, I've been making good progress on the model, and am hoping to really get a lot done in the next few weeks.

On the personal front I'm having some health issues, which started back in the spring but which I thought were just being caused by going through menopause and being overweight. I started walking this summer, dropped about 10lbs. and felt better for a while, but around early October the symptoms came back. On October 26th I went to my provider, and things moved pretty quickly from there--I had a CT scan on 11/3 that showed a large pelvic mass, I met with a gynecological oncology surgeon on 11/8 who scheduled surgery to remove the mass and my reproductive organs and then had the surgery on 11/16. So far, the only pathology reports that have come in are the initial ones, which indicated low grade ovarian cancer; I had a follow up appointment yesterday and I had psyched myself up to get further results but then found out they didn't have them yet. It sounds like there will be chemo, but I won't be absolutely sure until the results come back, so for now I wait and worry. Thankfully the surgery itself went well and I am happy to say that I am feeling pretty normal now, and between the mass removal and the absence of solid food for several days I have lost over 15lbs in the last couple of weeks--I haven't been this weight for at least 7 or 8 years!

So, for now I will dive back into the model and try to get as much done as I can before any possible chemo starts (the doctor said it would be two more weeks before it starts if it's needed), and probably put the Christmas tree up a bit early this year. Thank goodness for stitching, which has been and continues to be a source of great comfort to me, allowing me to have control over one small corner of my universe in stressful times.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!