Monday, December 31, 2018

The Year That Was, Excited for Happy New Year!

Progress has felt slow but in all reality  the health professionals are saying it has been really good. I have 6 days of radiotherapy left to face and so far very few side effects but they say, towards the end it is wearying. I have been keeping very quiet  due to the neuropraxia of my right leg and my broken left wrist so it has meant enforced rest as I could do very little, which of course has had economic repercussions as well. I have had to stay with my daughters since 16 October, as I cannot drive and treatment is in Melbourne in any case. I am now able to walk without a crutch and have been ramping up the walking to build strength again, the goal is to walk a couple of 10,000 step days a week if not most days. I am also able to use my left wrist a lot more, but there is still a way to go, to get full usage back. I think I might be game to drive again in the next week ( i have an old manual car and as my left wrist was broken, gear changing will be an issue)

                            Walking at Brighton Beach yesterday- heading toward the new year!


I have continued to work on my little  thoughts for each day since i first went to the doctor on August the 31st and received the cancer diagnosis a few days later. It has been 123 days since then, and it has had it's dark moments to be sure, but I also discovered that I am looking for and experiencing joy quite a lot, and that I am looking forward to the next year with a quite different mindset and one which is a lot lighter than I might have expected. I really feel working on the little thoughts has helped me focus and has helped me to search for whatever is good in this and has been determined to give everything my very best.


I haven't quite worked out yet, how I will mount them- I had thought of a continuous scroll though the thoughts aren't in any particular order, however that makes it difficult to display. And there will be a few more to add as well. I also though of making an accompanying handmade book that  might also incorporate favourite motifs.

There are quite a few exciting things to look forward to in 2019. I will once again  part of the ChARTres in March of 2018. I will come back to Australia for AQC  in Melbourne to help the Boneca de Atauro ladies showcase their work at a special Invitational stand ( and hopefully sell lots of their work). Depending on how i recover from radiotherapy I will be going to East Timor to help with planning for AQC  in early February and I am  looking very much forward to working with these talented women again. Then it is back to France to show my Traveller's Blankets as invitational artist ( Plaids Nomades ) at  Pour L'Amour du Fil in Nantes and any new work I manage to create by then. So i will be available for workshops in Europe from late April until the end of May.  When I come back from all that I will look for a new place to live- it is too difficult to do it at present and I will put most of my things into storage yet again.

So I hope that 2019 brings the best of everything for the readers of my blog and that you remain in good health and spirit! And again I thank you for all your good wishes- they have buoyed my heart!



5 comments:

Yvonne Wright said...

Here's hoping next year will be happy & healthy for you. Wishing you all the very best in your hunt for a home & all your endeavours. Happy to hear you are making a good recovery.

dorothypandorasbox said...

Best Wishes for a speedy recovery in 2019 You certainly have a lot to look forward to.

Jenny said...

A happy new year to you and that your health improves and you will be back to all the things you wish to do.

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year to you. Hang in there with your cancer, my husband had been fighting to 16 years and is still going strong.

Dentellebleue said...

Chère Dijanne, je suis heureuse de te lire aussi positive, comme toujours. Je te souhaite le meilleur pour 2019 ( laissons derrière cette année 2018 si fâcheuse), la santé recouvrée, la créativité intacte voire boostée par ces longues heures où tu as dû ronger ton frein ; je suis impatiente d'avoir le plaisir de te voir revenir en France sur l'un ou l'autre salon prévu, que ce soit à Chartres ou à Nantes en mars et avril prochain. Je te souhaite une bonne convalescence, après des progrès jour après jour, de continuer le chemin tout droit vers la guérison. Et des joies et petits bonheurs à cueillir sur ce chemin. Je t'embrasse et te fais un gros calin. Amitiés de Ginette