Author: spaleksic

Halloween – Garbage picker?

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Check out the milk jug skeleton DIY.

spaleksic's avatarMaking A Life

I stooped to a new low this week in my pursuit to make a milk bottle skeleton.  I went around my neighbour hood on the night before recycling day looking for milk cartons in my neighbours recycling boxes and I dragged Sasha with me.  Let me tell you that I have the best neighbours ever they actually wash out their milk jugs!!   The skeleton that you see hanging in the background of some of the pictures was made from 6 milk jugs and zip ties.  What an awesome almost free decoration, and fun to make too.  Here is a link to the instructions.

So I took the easy route this year and bought the kids costumes and did not for the first time in my life dress up for Halloween.  I put a lot of though into what I could be, but I just couldn’t find the time as I am…

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Work in process

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I haven’t posted any craft related projects in a very long time but I am always working on something. Here are a couple of pictures for my most current project. I am knitting a chunky king size blanket. It’s the perfect season to make blankets. This one is almost done, I just need to knit enough to cover up my toes. When I am finished the pattern and finished pictures will be posted!

Casting on
Almost complete

I ran & I cried

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cartoon00005

I ran and just to clarify no one was chasing me. Running might not seem like a big deal but 8 weeks post brain surgery it is. Running was the last thing on my post craniotomy “to do” list. My brain tumour issues started over Christmas break 2014 when I got sharp pains in my head from an increase in blood pressure. Running was one of the few things that my doctors suggested that I didn’t do when I was diagnosed with a brain tumour. As a result it has been 9 months since I have been running or done any form of vigorous physical activity. Running had been my only form of exercise because it’s free, easy and fast. We were given a treadmill so it’s both free and convenient. I don’t have to arrange childcare to exercise, and I can run at any time.

'Other runners may be faster but I have the most fashionable running shoes.'
‘Other runners may be faster but I have the most fashionable running shoes.’

When I was diagnosed with a brain tumour I stopped exercising. In truth when I got diagnosed I stopped doing everything but as the weeks progressed I started getting back into my old routines. Exercise was a struggle and I started packing on the pounds. So my husband and I changed our eating habits to compensate. Eating clean helped and I walked and things were under control. Then I went in for surgery and for 4 weeks post surgery I didn’t do much in the way of exercise. The first few days in the hospital I couldn’t eat, but then I was starving. My logic was that my body was healing from a pretty invasive surgery and if I was hungry I would eat. I wasn’t eating grass clipping (salad) though, I was eating whatever I wanted. The weight that I had lost before surgery had crept its way back during my recovery. I went to my GP after 4 weeks and was told to hold off on the running until I saw the neurosurgeon. I saw my surgeon 8 weeks post surgery and he said to try running and see how I feel.

In truth I was a little scared to try running again. What if I got dizzy, fell and hurt myself? I am a little worried about bumping my head now. But I ran anyway. I ran for 10 minutes stopped and cried. Not because my head hurt, not because I was dizzy but because I did it. Running marked the END. I completed everything on my post surgery to do list. I have come full circle and I am back at a new beginning.

cartoons-wearpatternP.S when I run now I don’t cry. I just run and watch Netflix :).

Happy Thanksgiving

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18-thanksgiving-cartoonI picked my three year old up from preschool last week and they had just finished a thanksgiving project about what they are thankful for. I couldn’t help but laugh when I read his response. He is thankful for the snacks in the snack box. I supposed that I am thankful for the snacks in the snack box too, especially around 3 in the afternoon. But I wouldn’t say that the snacks in the snack box are at the top of my list.

I can’t help think how different my “Thanksgiving List” is this year. Last year at this time I didn’t even know I had a brain tumour. Now here I am 9 weeks post surgery. Here is my top ten things I am thankful for this year.

I am thankful:

  1. to be alive and healthy without a brain tumour
  2. that it was me with the brain tumour and not my kids or my husband
  3. that my husband took the “in sickness and in health” part of our marriage vows to heart. We pulled each other through this brain tumour fiasco together.
  4. for my kids because even on the bad days they gave me a reason to get my crap together
  5. brain surgeonmy neurosurgeon’s steady hands
  6. that neither Timmy or the neurosurgeon did any permanent damage to my brain
  7. for my parents who took care of the kids and the house so that all I had to do was get better, and all my husband had to do was take care of me
  8. for my family, friends and blog readers for the guidance, free childcare, meal-train meals, cards, gifts, flowers, prayers and support you all rock
  9. that a brain tumour cost me a grand total of $33.00 ($8.00 for the drugs my drug plan didn’t cover and $25.00 in parking at the hospital for the week so my family could come and visit me)
  10. plus all of the things that I am thankful for every year

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, I am thankful for you.

Climbing A Mountain

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In July I saw a call for artists for a Brain Cancer/Tumour art show. The deadline to register for the show was the day that I was supposed to have brain surgery (July 31) I of course saw it as a sign. I can convince myself that almost anything is a sign such as a Monk on a cell phone in McDonald’s parking lot. One morning I woke up with an idea, I reached over grabbed my sketchbook from beside the bed (blew off the dust) and got drawing. I could visualize my emotional brain tumour journey in paper and colour. This is my sketch.

sketch

I have written about my brain tumour experience and shared some details that I know some people think are intimate. I never felt as though I was divulging too much of myself, I was totally comfortable with the words and pictures I used. But showing this piece is much more difficult because it’s like showing my soul. I feel naked, exposed and raw. At the same time it was really what I needed. I needed to get those emotions out and have a good look at what I went though. I am a visual person I needed to see the journey.

I am sharing because creating is how I deal with everything. I was planning on making this piece for my recovery time, I needed a focus and a creative outlet. Often I am making to distract myself from reality, or to feel a sense of accomplishment. In this case I am blatantly dumping out my emotions onto paper.

After surgery on August 7th I began working on this piece as part of my recovery process. I finished it just before the September 10th deadline. The timing of this exhibition was perfect for me. I am so thankful that this show was happening at this time it gave me the inspiration to create.

Climbing a Mountain was inspired by my recent brain tumour experience. On March 18, 2015 I was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Through the use of paper I depict the emotional journey of being diagnosed, living with and having surgery to remove a meningioma brain tumour. The journey starts in the bottom right of the piece and travels along the white path of hope past depression (grey/blue), fear (black), anger (red) and anxiety (yellow). The seven black 2.9 cm paper circles represent the hours spent in surgery and the size of the tumour removed.

This piece will be on display at the “Brain Cancer Got Me Thinking” exhibit which runs from October 7-13 at the Visual Space Gallery in Vancouver. A preview of the show is available here.

October is Brain Tumour Awareness Month

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BTawarenessToday, October 1 kicks off the first day of Brain Tumour month in Canada. Last year at this time I was oblivious to brain tumours. This year is a totally different story. I have been living 8 weeks without Timmy the brain tumour!! Yesterday I had what I hope was my last appointment with my neurosurgeon. He confirmed once again that he got all of the tumour and it wasn’t cancer. Even though I have heard it before it’s still pretty exciting news. The chances of regrowth are very slim.

"Don't use any big words for a few weeks."
“Don’t use any big words for a few weeks.”

I have noticed a rather odd side effect to the surgery. Occasionally I struggle with spelling. This is probably not even something that I would have noticed if I wasn’t writing assignments for graduate school. Every once in a while I struggle to get the letters in the right order. It’s been so bad that I couldn’t figure out the second letter in a word that I should know how to spell, so spell check and google are no help to me. Words with c’s and x’s are particularly troublesome. If I am still having an issue spelling after Christmas I will have to go back and see the doctor.  Aside from the fact that I won’t be winning a spelling bee anytime soon I don’t think that it will have much of an effect on my studies.

The only thing left on my to try after surgery list is running. It is what got me into this mess to begin with.  Because my brain is still healing inside running can cause dizziness or nausea. My surgeon said to give it a try and see how I feel, so I am going to give it a shot. I am still slowly regaining feeling in my ear and the area around the scar. My scar is healing well and my hair is growing back. I think at this point its pretty safe to say that I have recovered, hooray!! Don’t tell my husband though because then he might stop cleaning the bathrooms.

Happy 3rd Birthday

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At the end of August my youngest turned three just a couple of weeks after I had surgery. We still managed to celebrate multiple times. When my parents were here we had a little family celebration complete with store-bought cupcakes. On his actual birthday we had a store-bought cake. There isn’t anything wrong with buying cakes from the store but I use every occasion as a reason to bake.

The baker in me was having a really hard time but I was not in any state to be baking. I was still recovering from brain surgery. But that didn’t go on forever and when I was feeling better we threw a birthday party/Timmy the tumour eviction party. We asked friends for donations to the Brain Tumour Foundation instead of birthday gifts. That might seem mean but we have so many toys he really doesn’t need anything else. Can you find him in toy mountain?

The theme for the party was robots because now that I have a titanium plate in my head I am part robot. But really it’s what my little boy asked for. In keeping with the theme we made a robot pinata. Unfortunately when I took the robot outside for a photo-shoot one of my assistants closed the front door which locked behind us. Even more unfortunate I had to call my husband at work 45 minutes away to come and let us in the house. It was just before lunch and the kiddies were hungry thankfully my husband rescued us before we needed to smash the robot for lunch.

By the time the party happened I was four weeks post surgery and I figured that I was fine to start baking. Which I would have been if I chose to make a less detailed cake. After completing the robot cake I needed a nap.

The birthday boy said that it was the best day of his life and of course that makes all of the effort worthwhile.

The children ate my homework

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the baby ate my homeworkYears ago when my oldest was about 1 he actually ate part of an essay. He was sitting in a highchair at the dining table while I was working on an assignment and I looked over and there he was chewing on my homework.

I enrolled in a cake decorating class in June and after the first session the instructor needed to post-pone the balance of the classes because he had to go for surgery. Then I had to go in for surgery and I restarted the course in September. With this class comes a lot of baking. Each week I need to bring cake, cupcakes or cookies to class to decorate depending on what we are learning.

I have zero self control so I can’t have all of these treats in the house week after week. The first week our babysitter accepted payment in cupcakes. The second week I brought a cake to two different events on the same evening. This week my homework is headed to my son’s grade 1 class. Amazingly there are no food allergies in a class of 23.

On the menu this week, sugar cooking with buttercream flowers. The children with eat my homework and hopefully enjoy it.

The first week back

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It’s been 5 weeks since my craniotomy to remove Timmy the tumour. This past week was also the first week back to school. My oldest started grade 1 without any tears, which was a very big deal. I started back to school pursuing a MBA online for my third semester. My youngest starts preschool next week which we are both looking forward to. My husband was at a conference all week and basically came home to change and sleep. On Thursday he flew to Ontario for the weekend to spend much needed time with his family.

For the transition back to school I was pretty much flying solo and by Friday I was so proud of myself. I had S to school everyday on time with a healthy lunch and clean clothes. I managed to complete the course work for the first module in two of my classes. I finished an art piece for a juried Brain Tumour exhibition. The kids had an after school play date three of four school days. I hit my fitness goals twice in the week by walking S home from school. I even managed to bake a cake for my cake decorating class. My house was moderately clean which is about as clean as it ever gets. I felt like I was on top of the world. After four weeks of resting it was a busy week.

I had registered for a cake decorating class in June and after the first class the instructor had to cancel because he had to have surgery. Then I had to have surgery so we coordinated schedules and I am back to class in September. This class requires that I bake something every week so that I have something to decorate. Which also means that I have way too much baking in the house thankfully our babysitter accepts payment in cupcakes!!

Saturday morning my youngest had a runny nose which isn’t such a huge deal, but then my oldest started throwing up. He had a fever and it was probably the sickest he has ever been. He slept with me so I could keep an eye on him and we have an en-suite. I knew that the kids would be fine they bounce back from being sick so quickly. But I have been afraid of getting sick since I had surgery. I am not interested in a head cold because my head is still healing. I am really not interested in throwing up for many reasons but primarily because I am supposed to stay away from jarring activities. Plus does anyone ever want to get sick.

The chances of making it through the weekend without getting sick were not in my favour. Saturday night I got a sore throat and was congested. But on the bright side I can now sleep on the left side of my head! After 5 weeks of only sleeping on my right side it a welcome change to sleep on my left. It was pretty much a necessity to be able to switch sides so that I could breathe. Perhaps this cold is my body’s way of telling me to slow down and rest again, or it’s those germy kids either way I am going to have an afternoon nap. If I have learned anything from this brain tumour it’s that we should listen to our bodies, we only get one and it’s a gift that needs to be taken care of.

One month later

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IMG_20150902_182425_editI can’t believe that it has been a month since I had brain surgery to remove a tumour. I have made an incredible recovery at least in my opinion. Life is pretty much back to normal now. I had a check up at the doctors at the end of last week and I can resume most activities. I am allowed to drive which is great and just in time to bring the kids to school on Tuesday. I can resume moderate exercise as long as it’s not jarring to my head. I am still cautious of activities like picking up Lego, cleaning the tub and yoga where I could get dizzy because of the position of my head. My hearing is back which is a relief. The smell of iodine in my hair is finally gone. My incision is healing nicely and my hair is growing back. I am not on any medication and haven’t been for weeks, so I have reestablished my relationship with wine.

The only issue that I have which is quite minor is that I don’t have feeling in the top of my left ear or in the area around the incision. The doctor said that it might come back but it could take a year. In my opinion it’s not really a big deal either way, if that is my only issue after brain surgery I am pretty happy. If the nerves don’t grow back I am sure that I will get used to the lack of feeling.

brain cupcakesI am happy to be alive and with each day I feel better and stronger. I have been in a celebratory mood and have gone out on a date with my husband to ring in the new year. We also hosted a joint 3rd birthday party for our youngest and a Timmy the tumour eviction party complete with brain cupcakes.

Tomorrow I go back to school in pursuit of an MBA. I know that it’s a big undertaking even if I wasn’t recovering from brain surgery but I am crazy enough to do it anyway. You would think that I might slow down and take it easier for a while but it’s not who I am. I thrive when I am busy, learning and doing. I have rested and now it’s time to move on and see what else life has in store.