Gloria's Paper Crafting Vacation

Happy New Year, Readers and Friends! I pray you all had a blessed Christmas!

I have to admit to a little bit of a "bait and switch" with my post title. I know some of you are thinking, "Wow! Cool! Gloria is going on a craft vacation!" Some of you are thinking, "Excellent! Gloria is going to HOST a craft vacation!" Well, you would be WRONG! See, what is happening is that I am having a forced vacation FROM crafting! 

I had pelvic floor reconstruction surgery on December 20th, and I am almost two weeks post surgery now. The recovery is going slowly. I am just today able to sit for a little while - on my special cushion! Crafting is out of the question. I am not sure when I will be back in my studio. I have my 2-week check-up tomorrow (January 3rd), but the full recovery is 6-8 weeks, with full return to normal life at approximately 12 weeks. This could go better or worse, depending on...well, on me. From what I gather, the worst thing I can do is too much too soon! I am trying to allow for healing time! 

The surgery was a 6-plus hour surgery to...let's say... replace all my pelvic organs back in their original and upright position, and then secure them with "live" grafts, using mammalian tissue. Due to having three large babies with three quick labors, weight gain, and aging, all my important parts had fled south! I have been suffering greatly for some time now, so it's a relief to have the surgery. Plus, it was a reconstruction, not a removal, so no hysterectomy! 

At any rate, I am doing fairly well - which I hope the doctor also agrees with when I see him tomorrow! I have had a lot of pain, and since I cannot take traditional opiate or narcotic pain medications, I was really suffering for about a week. Plus, that long of a surgery really caused my back and hip pain to spike and my arthritis to run rampant! I had a catheter for a week, which was NO fun. But that's out and the incision is healing fine. 

The silver lining is that I have had no migraine for 10 days. Not just no migraine, but no HINT of headache! I did have a migraine come on yesterday and still have it today, but I think that it is food-based. I ate some treats on New Year's, and I think perhaps there was one of my NO food additives in there! I am trying to "detox" today with a lot of water and whole foods. 

So, Dear Friends, the bad news is that I was feeling so poorly prior to surgery, and what with the holidays, that I did not work ahead to get projects ready to post. The terrible news is that I am not making anything new just now. (For those of you who are waiting for the January Copic project, I will have it at some point, either later in the month or with the February project. As soon as I can be upright enough to color...I will be coloring!)

The good news is that Authentique sent me gobs of new paper, so I am trying to sketch out ideas for things to make once I recover fully!

The great news is that I have the last two Graphic 45 Calendar projects finished AND photographed. All I have to do is edit the photos and write the tutorials! As soon as I can sit for longer than 10 minutes, I will get to work on those for you! 

I appreciate all your prayers! And if you wish to send me a note or chat with me on Facebook or something, I am up for that! I am getting bored with lazing about! Not so much bored as...I am in pain and cannot do much so I am getting stir crazy! And, now that my oldest son and daughter are back to their own homes after the holidays, I will be lonely. My husband is leaving on the 4th for a 10-day trip to Asia. My youngest son will be here with me, but there is only so much computer game talk or Dungeons and Dragons talk I can take before my head explodes. {smile}

Here is praying that 2019 brings me healing, energy, strength, and lots of new paper pretties and fun ideas to share!

I will try to post my 2018 Top Ten later this week, if I can sit that long! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!!