Heidi Ho!

I'm still here, and surprised at how long it's been since I posted! Life has been more intense than usual ... but The Book Review is basically done - I'm still on call for checking the revised / corrected puzzles, but the insane amount of work is finished. Look how much paper this thing generated, and over 200 hours of work...


Dotter is going OK, but there were a LOT of medical appointments last week too, and more blood tests. She's started on the anti-TB antibiotic Isoniazid, with extra fatigue being the main side effect so far. 1 week down, 35 to go...

There has also been this ...
Puppy sitting for my MIL for 3 days... Heidi is a miniature dachshund, and it was a real treat having a dog in the house again. I made her a doggy coat (Garter Stitch Pup from IK Summer 07, Ravelry link). It's not quite finished in the photo. Had to adjust the pattern for such a looong narrow puppy!

There has also been this ...


A unicorn headdress for my niece's 8th birthday. All the bits have been made, I just need to felt them and sew the thing together. Only a week late so far!

And this ...


Hubby left the lights on in his car, so I had to rescue him at Mt Stromlo, in the dark, after a long frustrating afternoon at hospital... he tripped in the dark during the proceedings and his glasses flew off, and completely disappeared! They weren't in the bushes, they weren't in the car engines, they weren't anywhere! Current theory is the Stromlo kangaroos stole them...

Anyway. His backup glasses had no arms. So this was his solution! Patons Shadow Tweed, no less! He says they're remarkably comfortable.

The new glasses arrive this week... catching up on sleep, catching up on delayed work for other clients and my syndicator, and yet more medical carryings on with Dotter are on the list for this week. I may even *gasp* have time to read blogs! :)

Consumption, anyone?

Well, in a very surprising turn of events, we found out this week that Dotter has latent tuberculosis! You probably didn't think people GOT tuberculosis in Australia, did you (I know I didn't!) - but Australia has ~5 cases per 100,000 people - a very low rate, but definitely there. There's a good information sheet available here.

There was a student with active TB at Dotter's school, in one of her computing classes, coughing, untreated, and very infectious (they've now been treated, of course, and are hopefully much better!).

The ACT Health Department / Canberra Hospital screened around 170 students and staff who were in contact with this person, and Dotter (along with others) has had a positive test result. Her chest x-ray was clear, so she doesn't have active TB, and isn't infectious (so none of her family or friends needs to be tested).

When exposed to TB, the body basically 'encapsulates' the bacteria, and it stays in the system. In about 10% of cases, the TB later becomes active, and that's when the person gets very sick (coughing, fevers etc leading to death if untreated) and is infectious.

Because of her autoimmune problems (the type 1 diabetes, and what is starting to looking more like lupus, unfortunately), she is at very high risk of the latent TB becoming active within the next few years - it's almost a certainty. The TB Nurse said in her 9 years of working in this area Dotter was the most at risk person she'd ever come across (!), and the doctor was similarly emphatic about her being treated.

So.

She'll be on a special TB-specific antibiotic (provided free by the Hospital) for 6 months, and needs to have regular blood tests to check that her liver is coping with the drug OK, and will also be on a Vitamin B6 supplement. Side effects can include things like pins and needles in her hands and feet, and increased fatigue (!!). She'll be closely monitored over the time.

Bugger bugger bugger.

Cooking that Lasts

I've been rediscovering jam making in recent weeks... something I used to do when the kids were younger (and I wasn't running a business). I'm just making small batches on weekends, even half-quantities of recipes, enough to make 3 or 4 jars of Tomato Chutney, Apple Cider Butter, Marmalade, or Mandarin & Apricot Jam (illustrated below) :



I think I've put my finger on why it's so satisfying (for me at least) - I put a lot of effort into cooking healthy meals, mostly from scratch, most days in the week. It's a lot of preparation, planning, shopping, and then effort in cooking and serving. In 15 minutes, 30 if I'm lucky, it's all gone! Which is the way it should be, of course.


But it's really really nice to put a bit of time into planning, preparing, and cooking, and produce something that will last for more than 15 minutes! Weeks, even! And, damn, it's delicious!!


Work on The Book is nearly there, but the deadline is being pushed back while we wait for the author to make the requested changes, which I'll then need to re-check. I'll happily never look at a Sudoku ever again (although I am pretty sh*t hot at solving them now, I must say, after all this enforced solving!)

Dotter is still pretty unwell, was back at hospital today for more tests. She's missing a lot of school, and it's very hard to see her struggling so much.... Her hands even hurt too much to knit. So we're enjoying the small joys in life, like warm jam on fresh bread and hugs.

ETA : She's had a positive TB test (a student at her school passed it around), and her autoimmune symptoms seem to be looking more like Lupus. Crap.