Monday, May 25, 2015

My husband was less well yesterday. He had apparently fainted, or nearly fainted, when being helped back to bed after his shower on Saturday (they didn't tell us) and again yesterday. He has been checked over from head to toe. He told me and Helen himself that he had had another chest xray on Saturday, and we were puzzled. Yesterday he was being given oxygen again, and an intravenous antibiotic. There is some infection, lung and urinary, and some fever, the excellent nurse explained. Oxygen saturation is OK.

I think “incarceration” is the word, Shandy. He certainly regards his time in hospital as imprisonment. And “rehab” will do fine as the word for the next stage. There has been some talk of moving him to a ward dedicated to that purpose, or even to a different establishment. I was told to bring in clothes for him today so that he can demonstrate to the Occupational Therapist his ability to put (at least some of) them on. I am afraid he will regard that undertaking as “social work” and be extremely bad tempered.

I am sure the NHS is as eager to get rid of him as he is of it.

Alas, that epistle about the Medes and the Elamites was badly read in Leith yesterday, as it often is, even in the cathedral we used to attend. Maybe I'll have better luck next year.

Knitting

I got on well with Fantoosh yesterday. The garter tab worked fine with an ordinary, un-crocheted cast-on. I have nearly finished the set-up chart which establishes the first two tesserae. That's not the right word: the first two lozenges or tiles. Kate Davies says that the pattern is easily memorised. At first I thought she had overestimated me, but I am beginning to think she might be right. I'm afraid I'm going to have to go on to the next, four-lozenge rank.

But then I must stop and finish at least one of the other things.

I plucked Nancy Bush's “Knitted Lace of Estonia” from the shelf – it was actually in the right place. And found everything to be as she said in the Craftsy lessons. Modern Estonian knitters now sometimes knit the edging on (since the invention of circular needles) but the traditional way is to sew it on – in two long pieces for the big square or rectangular shawls. And to use a single length of yarn to do it.

The pattern of three-for-one and two-for-one as you sew applies mostly at the corners. I hadn't grasped that on Craftsy, where one progresses fairly rapidly from one corner to the next on the small sample shawl. And Bush admits that a bit of fudging may be necessary to ensure that a scallop is properly centred at each corner.


And meanwhile I'm getting on fine with Eunny Jang and lace. We started out with basic left-leaning and right-leaning meshs and have now progressed into slightly more advanced lace patterns, where the YO's are separate from the decreases. But we are still keeping the building blocks in sight. This is relevant both to the Tokyo shawl and to Fantoosh, and really rather interesting.

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:53 AM

    I'm sorry your husband was less well yesterday Jean. He will hopefully be more reconciled to having to remain in close proximity to medical care right now. With my relatives, I've heard the 'other establishment' referred to as a half-way house, on the road to recovery if you like. All good wishes Jean. I hope today's visit is a relatively calm experience for you.

    Enjoy the next four lozenges.

    Jan, North Yorkshire

    ReplyDelete
  2. All will be well, and all manner of things will be well. ~ Julian of Norwich.

    I keep this little saying as my talisman when things are difficult. Courage.

    ReplyDelete
  3. =Tamar12:51 PM

    Are the doctors checking your husband's blood cell counts? oxygenation levels?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm sorry your husband is less well, but at least it happened when he was still incarcerated, and not at home. I still can't get my head around using the yarn in one long piece still attached to the ball. I hope today's visit goes well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I,too, am sorry you husband was not as well. I am surprised you had not been told about the fainting, the X-ray and what infection they are now treating. Obviously I don't know how the system works there. Regardless, I hope he is back on the mend. As for knitting, it sounds like you are immersed in lace. It would be hard to go back to a project like a pocket square. ��

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jean, I am also sorry that you had worrying news at the hospital yesterday. Here's hoping that the infection that is sapping your husband's strength can be routed. Meanwhile, I hope he can be moved to a rehab ward soon.

    Maybe you need to crank out those pocket squares as quickly as you can, before that Fantoosh completely seduces you. - Anita in NNY

    ReplyDelete
  7. Adding my good wishes to the continued recovery and to your visit today. Looking forward to seeing the shawl as it progresses

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous4:47 PM

    Checking back after a busy weekend and hoping your husband will gradually (or suddenly) become more accepting of arrangements. Again, so glad that you have engrossing knitting as a switch of intense focus. That's the thing about knitting, it offers such a range of different types of solace for us, from the soothingly repetitive to the attention-consuming. So grateful to whoever, among your knit-supporters, gave you the Fantoosh pattern. I love Pentecost too, and the person who happened to come up on our congregational reading roster for yesterday did the Acts passage so well - she told me afterwards that she'd used the Google feature where you can hear pronunciation, and looked up every name. And she knew not to pronounce "prophesy" as if it were "prophecy"! Continuing best wishes for everything you're going through.
    - Beth in Ontario

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous8:58 PM

    Thanks for keeping your readers informed.
    I agree that knitting can definitely provide a lot of solace and distraction.
    These hospital stays are really tough. Yes there are some infections there which already ill patients are more susceptible to - so they become ill by being in hospital.
    I agree with the other readers that you definitely need full care assistance in place before your husband can safely return home.
    Do take care of yourself!
    LisaRR

    ReplyDelete
  10. Prowling in from Downunder to say that I was relieved to actually hear from you this morning. I know how hard it is to keep up everything when someone is in hospital. My sister is "celebrating" nine weeks in hospital today but now looking forward to leaving at last. I hope your husband's stay is much shorter than hers! Thinking of you all.

    ReplyDelete