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Finding Lorena Haldeman on Social Media

Lorena, February 28, 2021

Where to find Lorena Haldeman on various Social Media platforms and other locations online

Facebook (HaldeCraft)

Facebook Group (HaldeCraft)

Facebook (personal)

Instagram (HaldeCraft)

Instagram (Two Blind Torts)

Ravelry (personal)

Ravelry Group (HaldeCraft)

Tumblr (HaldeCraft)

Twitter (HaldeCraft)

Twitter (personal) (virtually unused)

YouTube (most videos private for Patreon subscribers)

February 28, 2021 Lorena 2021

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A Day in the Life

haldecraft

Maker of thrown, hand-built, and slipcast ceramics; dyer and spinner of yarn; writer of science fiction; watcher of people and nature.

Have I told y'all about the Catio? So, Tulip needs

Have I told y'all about the Catio? So, Tulip needs to be an inside cat, because while she doesn't LOVE the other inside girls, she doesn't attack them. But she'll attack the Studio Cats, who are all indoor/outdoor (they've been indoors for the duration of this hospital stuff and y'all, I may never be able to get the studio clean enough again). Anyway, my compromise with her has been a Catio, attached to the house, where she can go in and out through a window. Two things happened I didn't expect -- she's allowing Newt to share it with her, and she never comes back inside the house. I'll post more about the Catio soon!

Meanwhile, we're still here at the hospital. I think it's day 33 or 34 in Shands...? I had to start making a table of what day of the week it is, what day, what number of days here, and so on, just to help keep everything straight in my head. I post every day on Facebook, on my personal account, but still. It all blends together. In the last few days since I've posted there have been more CT scans, more ultrasounds, a tracheostomy, so many lung boogers suctioned out (soooo many) (sooooo icky), a little dehydration that threw everything off for half a day, and he's starting to occasionally be able to answer to commands to wiggle toes and fingers. It's a slow road but I'm here for all of it.

And thank you, lovelies, for being here on it with me. ❤

The gift basket a sister-friend helped me put toge

The gift basket a sister-friend helped me put together as a thank-you for the nurses on the 4th floor. I think I forgot to show this off last week, when we left 4 to come up to 7, because everything else was happening so fast. I want to put a similar one together for the nurses here, and my sister-in-law has sent me some heckin' cute little gifts to put in it. I'll be sure to take a picture before I gift it. Oh, and another friend of mine has sent Edible Arrangements to both the nursing staff on the 4th floor, AND the 7th floor! I appreciate that so much. I'm just one person, I don't need anyone to send me, like, a ham or anything. So for my friends to help put together thank-you gifts for the nurses? That warms my black and bitter heart. I have friends and family in health care, already loved nurses anyway, but this last month has really shined a light on being able to see how hard they work, daily, and how little thanks they get for it.

Anyway... nothing much more to report, here, there haven't been any large changes, just small steps forwards after last week's big scare. It's hard for me to see a daily difference, in his face, but all of the doctors and nurses are content with the number of things he's being taken off of and given less of, and how his stats look that he's now able to keep on good levels by himself, unaided.

I'm in this weird limbo land of "this is my life no; I wake up, go to the hospital, and come home every day" and "this still really doesn't seem real." Between y'all and me, I'm secretly hoping that around the first week in February I can start getting a couple hours a day in the studio, either early morning before I come to Shands or in the late afternoon after I leave. I'm almost afraid to say that out loud, though. But I just ordered some new sprig molds I totally didn't "need", so.... ;-)

Hug your loved ones, y'all. Every day is a gift.

When was the last time I posted? Tuesday? What is

When was the last time I posted? Tuesday? What is today, even? Every day is Blursday now. I think it's Sunday, but don't hold me to that.

We were doing better every day, and then we had a gut-wrenching slip backwards, but we've been clawing our way out of that for about 24 hours now. I'm happy when every hour isn't worse than the hour before, and even the tiniest steps forward are glorious.

I know I say this all the time, but I couldn't get through this without the people around me, whose love and support are the only thing keeping me together these days. They are all taking care of me, so that I can take care of him. And this hospital staff (Shands, at the University of Florida) are absolutely, completely amazing. When my brain is a little more available, I want to write a blog post about just how caring, calm, and communicative they all are.

I miss making art. I miss all y'all. But right now I am 100% where I need to be. Oh, and my family wants me to start an ICU line of ceramics, hahaha, with zippers (for surgical wounds/stitches) and hearts and radioactive symbols and bandages and things, so, again, as soon as that part of my brain is more available, expect some fun things celebrating the health care field.

xoxo, y'all. xoxo

I, for one, am breathing easier today. Yesterday's

I, for one, am breathing easier today. Yesterday's valve replacement surgery went off without a hitch, and Our Boy had a long, long day and was hooked up to more drips at the end of it than I could count... but since I've gotten here this morning they've been able to take him off the breathing tube, and have gotten his drips down to only about two bags - he looks sore, but peaceful.

We are all feeling so, so much better, so much more positive and safe since the heart surgery is done with, and Tim can now officially be called on the road to recovery. Sure, yes, nothing in life is guaranteed, but it was the faulty mitral valve that was the open gateway for the bits and pieces of the vegetation to get into his brain, and with that door closed and working now, there shouldn't be any new strokes. Knock on wood, light a candle, say a prayer, sacrifice a goat, whatever. I'm down for all of the good juju.

I will keep posting as things progress - we're looking at at LEAST two more weeks in the hospital, and a rehab center after that, so there's still a long road ahead. But I'll keep taking the small wins, the baby steps forward, and I'll let you know how he's doing, how I'm doing, and when I get back into the studio.

Love you all, so much. So very much. xoxo

Good morning, loves. Let's see here... I know I ha

Good morning, loves. Let's see here... I know I haven't posted in a couple of days. Everything was happening, and nothing was happening, all at the same time. Tim has had another couple of strokes, small ones, like the first ones he had... I think he's up to seven, now? They absolutley have to do a heart valve replacement surgery, or the strokes will keep happening. But they can't do a heart valve replacement surgery this close to the kind of strokes he's having, because of the risk of bleeding because of the Heparin dose they have to give him during the surgery. So now the plan is that he's hooked up to an EEG machine, they're watching his brain, they'll do another MRI on Sunday night, and (hopefully) the surgery on Monday morning. It's a rough, tough road, y'all, I'm not going to lie. This is really wrecking my head. The only reason I'm able to hold it together is because of family and friends.

Friends like Denise and Tarrant. Yesterday I was texting with them, and telling them how I just felt like barfing into my mask, because Serenity, AKA "That Poor Man's Cat," AKA "The Hallway Pooper, was looking rough. Really rough. If you've had enough cats, and been through this enough... you know what that last 24-48 hours looks like for a cat. But what could I do? I'm going to feel bad if I don't get help for the cat, but I'm also not going to choose waiting to see if the vet can see me at some nebulous point in the day over going and sitting by my husband's side on the day he's getting a heart catheterization. So I went to bed, and in the morning I snuggled Serenity and I told her she'd been the best kitty (other than the Hallway Pooping, which I kindly didn't mention) and if she had to go, I understood, and she was loved. Then Linda and I went to the hospital.

Hold on, Instagram tells me this is too long, and I'll have to finish up in the comments.

Everything is happening, and nothing is happening.

Everything is happening, and nothing is happening. We know now that the strokes (I think he's up to five but honestly I've lost count) are because of the Endocarditis, which we are guessing he contracted some time in November, but we're still not sure how. The doctors say we might never know the "how" but at this point the focus is the "what's wrong" so we can fix it. And the "what's wrong" is a faulty heart valve that needs to be replaced, coupled with a blood infection. The faulty heart valve is sending bits and spurts of the infectious mass (which is right on the faulty valve) up into the brain, so, bam, that's just a whole messed-up cocktail right there. Talk about your Perfect Storms. We're looking at surgery late this week, followed by six weeks of daily antibiotics. Meanwhile, his mother and I will be taking turns in the hospital room, watching our boy sleep. Occasionally he wakes up and scrolls through his phone, or works on his puzzle -- but he's got to be at no more than a 30-deg angle, so it's hard to work on. Or it was, until his sister, the Occupational Therapist, rigged the tray the puzzle was on so it could better be seen at his angle. Brilliant!!!

Oh, and, today is his birthday, and he can't even have a piece of cake, boo. But the party we are going to throw for him when he gets home?!?!

I know I say this all the time, but thank you for your continued love and support. I've had a handful of sales over the last few days; I'm hoping to get everything in the mail by Wednesday. xoxo, y'all

If what you hold in your heart and set your mind t

If what you hold in your heart and set your mind to at midnight on the 31st is what you carry with you into the new year, then what I hope for all of you is that you are with someone you love, someone who loves you, and that joy, peace, and grace are in your heart.

We are still here at the hospital; things are both better and worse. He had another stroke about 48 hours ago, but we think we've discovered the root of it -- endocarditis, so that's good. I mean, endocarditis isn't good, it's actually kind of the opposite of good... but it's good that we know what it is and what damage it's doing. And we have a plan of attack, it's just a question of which comes first... six weeks of daily IV antibiotics, or surgery. Place your bets!

And, really... thank you all for your love and support. Carry that love and support out there into the big wide world at midnight tonight, no matter what time zone you're in, and maybe we can heal the whole world a little.

We love all y'all.

xoxo

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