The One With The Missing Needle

I'm not even sure how to intro this story, so I'm just going to jump right in...

A few weeks ago, I was hand quilting in my bedroom. I'd been working on a queen-size quilt (just the one that I mentioned on my last post). Throughout the project, I'd do a little here and there--even if it was just one length of thread, it was inching me closer to finishing.

Anyway, I have a little pincushion that I made *specifically* because I worry about my cats eating thread. It's just a small mason jar with a cushion on top. Whenever I snip the tails of my thread, I immediately put them in the jar and put the lid on. Not taking any chances.

I also have a small sewing kit I made just for hand quilting or sewing, making it easy to move my stuff around the house with me wherever I feel like working on it. In the kit is a little needle book that holds the different types of needles I use. I try to keep a stash of five of each type in there so that if they bent or whatever, I can easily grab a new one.

I go through quilting needles probably faster than I should. On that day, I had to switch out my bent needle and I grabbed another from the book. I noticed I was down to the last needle, so I just made a mental note to add a few more later. I quilted with one length of thread and then I rethreaded the needle to start another. After I tied the knot in the end, I heard something chaotic in the living room--I don't remember what it was--and it made me jump up to go see what happened.

I stuck the threaded needle into the pin cushion (from what I remembered) and set the jar in my sewing kit so that it wouldn't be a totally visible beckoning to the cats for the moment. I set the sewing kit down off to the side behind a chair, and I went to check out what was going on in the living room. Of course, I got distracted and ended up forgetting about my quilting until the following morning.

When I sat down to quilt in the morning, I went to grab a needle from my book and saw there was only one in there. And there wasn't a needle in the pin cushion.

I tried to remember all the details of what happened. Was I missing a needle? I knew that I made a note that I was down to the last quilting needle. When I looked in the book, there was one needle left. So I was questioning myself whether I used that needle and put it back in the book, or had there been one quilting needle left in the book *after I took a new one out*?

My gut was telling me that there had been two needles in the book, and I'd taken one out, leaving the final needle in the book. Whenever I'm done with a needle, I put it in the jar also, to discard later--it wouldn't be a fun thing to find with my feet later on--but I had a few old needles in the jar so I wasn't sure. Also, I couldn't remember if I had already used that length of thread from the day before... had I used it and then put everything away? There was no sign of the thread anywhere.

At that point, I was pretty sure I had a missing needle and length of thread. But I couldn't be absolutely sure and it was nagging at me! So I grabbed a flashlight and a magnet and started crawling around on my hands and knees looking for a needle. I did not find one. BUT. I found a short length of thread with a knot tied in one end. The other end looked broken, not cut.

Then I knew. I was definitely missing a needle and some length of thread. With the thread having a knot in one end, I knew I hadn't used it yet--the other end had to be threaded into the needle. And I never tie a knot without the needle being threaded already. But there was no sign of more thread and definitely no needle.

A needle isn't exactly something that you want to chance a cat passing naturally, so I called the vet. I asked if I could bring in both Chick and Duck for x-rays. My money was on Chick--remember when he swallowed that entire drawstring and then regurgitated it like two days later? Duck is obviously not innocent, after his emergency surgery in 2021 from swallowing four feet of yarn, but my suspicion was Chick. (Estelle never would have done it, so that didn't even cross my mind. Same with Joey.)

I brought them to the vet right away and asked them to check Chick first. Chick thought he was being sneaky by hiding under the chair, hahaha.

When the vet came back, she showed me the x-ray and said that it was definitely Chick that ate the needle. You could see the needle clearly on the x-ray and it was still in his stomach (which is a good thing because as it travels through the intestines, the surgery can get a lot more complicated).

They said they could operate on him that afternoon, just a couple of hours later. And then we got to pick him up that evening because he didn't have any complications (like Duck did, with his fever). He came home in a body suit to keep from licking his incision. He was SO out of it from the anesthesia that it was kind of scary to watch him. He was very restless but would only walk backwards--no joke. He would walk backwards until he bumped into something, then turn and continue on. Thankfully, it only lasted a few hours. He was stoned AF though from his meds.

His aftercare was not at all fun. He came home with five medications--FIVE--and if you have ever given a cat medication, you know that it's an experience. Phoebe left me a sobbing mess sometimes, hahaha. There was a liquid, three regular pills, and then a big pill that had to be crushed, mixed with water, and given orally with a syringe. (Can you think of anything more bitter tasting?)

The meds had to be given twice a day. Chick also could not be jumping or playing or anything like that. That's very hard to do when you have other cats at home and the "cat shelves" in my bedroom (Chick's favorite place to sleep). Also, Chick could only have soft food. Wet food is a big treat to the pets and they got hooked when Duck was recovering. We got into the routine of giving all the pets wet food first thing in the morning, and dry food throughout the day, which is what we have been doing ever since.

Because Chick needed only wet food, I had to feed him several times a day (especially at first, because he didn't want to eat--so I'd open a can only for him to shun it). Of course, I can't give one cat special food because the other cats (and Joey) want it, too. So, I was feeding all the pets smaller portions of food several times a day to keep everybody happy and to help Chick recover.

I'm very lucky that I was able to be home to take care of all of it. I have no idea how we would have managed Chick's recovery otherwise. He's now back to normal and I've learned another lesson the hard way. This was another very expensive and stressful lesson to learn! The part that kills me is that I KNEW BETTER. At the very least, I should have thrown something on top of my sewing stuff to cover it.

Thankfully, everything turned out okay. I am so glad that I (I guess unknowingly) pay attention to the number of needles I have. I don't deliberately count them each time I use them; I only noticed it because I'd made a mental note to add more to the book. But it was the piece of thread with a knot that thoroughly convinced me the needle was missing, whether it was ingested or just lost. Trust your intuition!

These cats keep me on my toes, that's for sure ;)

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Thyroid Photo Timeline (and brief catch-up)

This is an odd post, but I figured I'd share it anyway in case someone is going through a thyroid issue and wants to see photos of what to expect. Honestly, it looks worse than it is. I was expecting a scar, of course, but there were some other changes, too.

Anyway, here goes. Starting with a couple of "before" photos, so you can see the large lump in my neck. At that point, I had no idea it was a mass. I thought it was an enlarged thyroid--something that I'd known for 20 years. It got much bigger pretty quickly, though, which is why it needed to be removed.

This is when I really noticed the size increase. I had been taking a photo to do a Wednesday Weigh-In (which I never ended up doing) and was a little stunned to see my neck. (My neck was not the reason I didn't do the weigh in; I just didn't get around to writing it.)

I was taking a pic of my earrings (just to ask someone about a smaller stud length) so you can't see my whole neck, but this really shows the size from what you can see.

After this is when I had the biopsy, which was awful. You can read about that on this post.

This is a hematoma that formed during the biopsy. I felt like maybe I made a huge mistake in doing the biopsy (even though it was necessary)--my symptoms worsened and it looked horrible. It was very painful, too.

A hematoma is basically a pocket filled with blood. Since there is no incision for the blood to get out, it pools underneath.

I didn't realize how serious a hematoma in your neck is until after I got home from the biopsy and it was getting even harder to swallow. If it continues to bleed, it can close off your airway--so it's important to go get checked out. They didn't really do much at the ER (or even my overnight stay) but they said it was good that I went in. If my airway closed, at least I'd be at the hospital.

The physician assistant who did the biopsy told me that I "may have a small bruise that will go away in a couple of days". Well, here is the timeline for my biopsy bruise... the bruise was there for two and a half weeks. The pictures make it look not that bad, but it was very noticeable. I kept forgetting about it until I noticed people looking at it while I was out in public.

In the hospital after removing the bandage. The swelling had already gone down a noticeable amount.

Three days post-biopsy

Five days post-biopsy. The little dot is where the needles were inserted; I think there is one hollow needle and then six smaller needles were passed through that to collect samples. Or maybe I'm just making that up? I think that's what I was told.

Nine days post-biopsy

Eleven days post-biopsy

Meanwhile, I also had a CT scan and saw just how huge the mass was. It was about 5-6 centimeters, which is considered very large (even the surgeons were kind of impressed at the size). It was pressing up against my esophagus (food tube) and trachea (airway) and even my jugular vein and spine. This is why it was so hard to swallow.

I even started to eat softer foods because I'd almost choked a few times. My voice had changed (the voice box is *right* there and I was told there was a chance my voice would change permanently after the surgery (caused from a complication). I honestly wouldn't have minded! I don't like my voice and I kind of liked the bit of raspiness I'd developed.

I think the biopsy bruise was finally gone after about two and a half weeks. Just in time to be replaced by a scar! Hahaha. Thankfully, the biopsy came back negative for cancer!

I had surgery to remove half of my thyroid (including the entire mass). I wrote about the surgery on this post, so I won't write about it again. But here are some post-op photos...

Twenty-four hours post-op. I was horrified when I saw this. After removing the ACE bandage the following day, this is what it looked like. The tape on there is a Steri-strip and it meant to dissolve on its own.

Just another angle at 24 hours post-op.

The next day, I felt like it just got worse. I was relived to be able to shower, though! The adhesive on my neck collected lint and grime and it looks gross, I know. Showering was scary; I was worried I was going to open my incision or something.

Twelve days post-op. There is still some residual adhesive, but touching it gave me the heebie jeebies, so I didn't scrub it.

Thirteen days post-op. I used tweezers to gently pick away the residue from the Steri-strip, and I felt like it looked so much better after that!

Exactly one month later, which is about six weeks post-op.

Another angle. Without tilting my head back, you can see all the loose and puckered skin. I don't know if this will go away or not. It almost feels like the muscles holding my neck skin more taut loosened up or something.

The puckered skin on my neck, along with the puckered skin on my chin (which was from my jaw repair surgeries in 2010), my face isn't looking too good these days, hahaha. They aren't hidden with clothes--even a turtle neck can't cover it up, so I just have to be okay with it. The scar isn't an issue for me, but I really hate the loose skin.

And as of this moment, this is what my scar looks like... not bad at all!

The problem is that it only looks okay when I have my head tipped back. When I put my head down, it looks like this...

I don't want it to discourage anyone from getting the surgery if they need it, but I also want to be honest about what to expect. Nobody ever mentioned anything about my skin (other than a scar) so I was not expecting this at all. I don't know if it will get better over time, but I don't imagine it will.

Other than all of the thyroid stuff, not much has been going on. I'm still not feeling better mentally, but I follow up with my psychiatrist this month about the new medication, so I may just need a higher dose.

I haven't lost any weight, although I do start every day with the mindset of getting back on track with not only my diet, but my life in general. I feel overwhelmed; so far behind on everything. Including email! If you are waiting for a response, I am so sorry. I've been spending as little time on the computer as possible. I've been feeling really nostalgic for the 90's lately; I miss doing things without technology everywhere. So I've been working on that recently.

And still sewing! I've been doing a lot of hand-sewing and hand-quilting lately. My post about recent projects is about a year overdue now, hahaha. I just don't have pictures of things, so I need to take the time to take some pictures.

Noah is living at home again, and I love having a buddy here! Eli doesn't hang out with me like he used to, but Noah has been playing Dr. Mario with me (the old school Nintendo one--I am *awesome* at it, haha), chatting with me about his day, asking me to watch movies with him, show him how to cook things, etc.

I've been working on redoing my bedroom decor as well. The childish theme Jerry and I tried out was fun for a couple of years, but we were ready to move on from the black walls and ceiling! I've painted the ceiling white (and no, it wasn't hard to cover the black--one coat of Kilz and two coats of Sherwin Williams paint) and the walls a sort of medium-navy. They aren't too dark or too light.

My color inspiration actually came from a quilt I am working on right now (I swore I would *never * get into quilting, yet here I am). I bought a bunch of fat quarters (a quarter of a yard of fabric) on Ebay--they are civil war reproduction prints and I absolutely love how the colors go together. (I had to put a safety pin in each of the 806 squares to hold it together while quilting, which is why I have this spread out on the floor!). 

I have a few more things to do to my room (including finishing this queen-size quilt!) and then I'll post pictures. Rose (Noah's "girlfriend"; they broke up but it was very amicable and they are still close friends) loves to decorate and she's been helping me with ideas. I'm still leaving all the cat shelves up; the cats use them so much that I'll never be able to take them down. Most of them are at the ceiling, though, so they don't hinder furniture or anything.

So that's the gist of what's going on with me. As soon as I'm feeling better, I will write a "real" post, I promise!

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