Acanthus Stitch-a-Long part 8

Hi everyone -- and I hope you're safe and well. I'm a little late posting as I'm writing from a hospital bed. I had been having headaches for days, so I went in to see my doctor on the 21st, and she prescribed an MRI. Insurance being what it is, I needed to get approvals for the MRI so wasn't able to get in until Wednesday the 27th. Before I even got up from the scanner table the tech said he'd seen something and wanted one of the neuro people to see it, so could I just wait on the couch in the hallway?

Not what I had been hoping for, but also maybe it was? What I didn't want was there to be no reason for the headaches. But what would it be???

Turns out I have a large clot in my brain -- cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) -- so I went from the MRI room to the emergency room in my local hospital, and once a bed could be secured, to the Neural Critical Care Unit at a nearby hospital. I stayed there for 1 night and then was moved into the standard Neurology unit, where I've been since Thursday.

The prognosis is good -- I'm on anti-coagulants (blood thinners) and pain pills and a blood pressure lowering medicine (boy oh boy does a blood pressure spike make a headache pound!) and it looks as if I'll be released today. I'm still allowed to go for walks and even short runs, but not allowed any contact sports. I guess my rugby days are over. (For the record, I've never played rugby...)

ANYWAY, that's a long way of saying I didn't get as much stitching done though when I look at it, it seems like I did!... Here's where I was last time, having just finished the leaves:

And I did enough that I needed to roll the canvas a bit!

And here's where I am now, courtesy of a photo snapped by my husband:

I think I'm a just under halfway done!

By our next check-in I hope to have most of the background filled in. Given how weird things are right now I still don't know if that's super ambitious or if I'm sandbagging!

The other stitchers in this stitch-a-long all make amazing, and inspiring projects, so check out everyone's blogs to see what they're all up to.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Sherrie, and Helen.

See you on June 21st for our next check-in!