Granddaughter, Angie, was born with a tethered spinal cord. However it was not discovered until 3 years ago. And not until after 16 years of athletic activity. Suddenly early January of that year she became virtually bedridden. Not until late spring did a doctor realize what was incapacitating her.
The remedy is a "simple" snip of a fiber attaching the spinal cord to the tail bone. At birth the spinal cord should be "free floating". However this involves removing a vertebra in order to access the site. Post op healing left Angie with excruciating lower back nerve pain. For the past 3 years it has been continuous doctor visits to try to alleviate the pain. She is now hoping to have a permanent nerve stimulator placed in a few weeks. So......
I'd like to say this post is about her, but it is not......
Angie is crazy about pigs. When she had her surgery I went on line to find a piggy puzzle for her to do while she was recuperating.
However.....little did realize the complexity of it. It is something called a photomosaic. That means there are thousands of tiny pictures within the the puzzle itself. So after Angie heroically set it all up, she gave up on it after a long while. It sat at her house until I moved out here a year ago. Then in February we decided to set it up at my house and DO IT. We worked on it dutifully bit by bit until spring and Angie got tired and back achy from bending over it. Then one day her little dog Bentley decided to snack on a piece. That probably ended the project for Angie.
I left it set up so I could occasionally work on it on rainy days. Rainy days out here are no different than most other days out here. Life goes on as usual. The puzzle set on the 2 tables as usual.
Now the dilemma for me. Get busy, finish it and put the tables away or chuck the whole thing? Now I suppose the answer for anyone will depend on what makes one's engine run, on what motivates one---is one stubbornly "give it up" resistant or is one "you gotta be kidding, just junk the whole thing" inclined? I am stubbornly "give it up" resistant.
left--Feb, 2013
right--Nov, 2013
I know for sure there is one piece that will not fit--it is rather chewed up with a tinge of green in one corner. That can be the Bentley water mark when the puzzle is finished. However---there may be other pieces missing. MISSING...But since I believe in finishing what I start, this puzzle WILL be finished. Hopefully within 2013.
What would YOU do?
______________________________________
These past 2 days have been unusually COLD for the Pacific Northwest.....down into the 20's overnight. The weather predicting folks say there is an east wind bringing in the cold and dry, blue skies. Guess it is suppose to last for another few days.
woke up to frost on my pumpkin this morning....and on the picnic table and house roofs.
Bonus....bright blue sky....
This is day 3 post tooth extraction. I am still a little numb and swollen, but not using any Tylenol. Guess I need to be careful what and how I eat for a few weeks and then on to other things.
This has been a good 2 "unusually cold winter" days in the life of Grandma G.
"Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." (Proverbs 16:32)
No comments:
Post a Comment