SewMona – Page 25 – A slice of my Florida life

Colon Cancer – My Story

March is colorectal cancer awareness month so I thought it was a good time to share my story.

Being a cancer survivor was never something I thought I’d be. Never. Not even in my nightmares. Yet, here I am. It’s been just over five years since I found out I had colon cancer. An old man’s disease, right? Wrong! I’m female and I was 35 at the time. My kids were 5, 3, and 16 months.

I will apologize ahead of time if this post contains TMI, but it goes with the story.

I’d been having diarrhea several times a day for quite a while. It had become normal. I’m not sure how that happened, but I’m guessing that with three kids, I just didn’t think about it. I’d eat breakfast and then head for the bathroom. A couple hours later, I would be there again. Usually by lunch I was OK. Then, one day, it was normal. That got my attention and I started wondering how long this had been going on. I think I figured maybe six weeks. I called my doctor before I could put it off. At my appointment, she wasn’t too concerned – she was thinking maybe celiac disease. She ordered some blood tests and told me to come back the next week. I got the blood work done right away. At my follow-up appointment, I specifically remember her saying “no dread diseases.” What a relief! She recommended a probiotic and then said that maybe I could try eliminating different foods to see if that helped (my husband thought it was my beloved french vanilla creamer….nope…whew!). Nothing did. It didn’t get any better and it didn’t get any worse….

Until the night there was blood. Enough to color the toilet water! That freaked me out! Of course, it was late at night and by morning I realized it could’ve been a hemorrhoid. That made sense to me. A couple days later it happened again. I called my doctor right away and told her I wanted that referral to a gastroenterologist (she had offered it at my last appointment if I wanted it). They said sure; they would call the referral in and I should hear something within a week. I didn’t. I gave them a couple extra days and then called my doc again. They called the gastroenterologist and I got a call that afternoon. Their next new patient appointment wasn’t until January!! This was towards the end of November. Obviously it couldn’t be that bad if I could wait another six weeks!

I remember the holidays – wanting to enjoy them, but at the same time wanting to know if there was something wrong with me. I went back and forth between not being worried (after all the doctor didn’t seem to be) and knowing what I’d found when I googled “bloody diarrhea.” Dr. Google is never your friend!

My appointment was totally uneventful – something of a letdown! The doctor mentioned a couple different possibilities – hemorrhoids, Chron’s. Cancer was never mentioned. She told me to schedule a colonoscopy with the girls at the front desk. I think I had to wait ten days. After waiting weeks for the first appointment, ten more days seemed like forever! In the meantime, I googled Chron’s – let me just say, Dr. Google is still not my friend!

Finally, the day before came and there was the awful prep!! I had no idea that something could be that awful. I’m not good at drinking large quantities of liquids anyway (except maybe coffee), and having to down a gallon of stuff was tough (not the taste, just the amount in a relatively short amount of time). The constant running to the toilet was rough too! The test itself was easy! They put me in a twilight sleep and I don’t remember a thing. When I woke up, the doctor told me there was an irregular spot and she biopsied the heck out of it. I was to call her office and schedule an appointment for the following day to get the results.

More tomorrow.

Resizing Adult T-Shirts

Do you have a t-shirt you love, but it just doesn’t fit quite right? Maybe you found it at a thrift store and thought it would fit. Maybe you lost some weight and it looks frumpy now. Maybe it’s just stretched out a bit, but still has lots of life left. No matter what, resizing adult t-shirts is pretty easy.

First you need a t-shirt that fits nicely. This will be your pattern. You can see here how the shoulders are too long and the sides are just a little too wide.

The next step is scary. You have to cut the sleeves off. Cut as close to the seam as possible and don’t cut into the sleeve. You’re going to reuse them after slimming down the body.Next, line up the neckline and mark where the sleeve seam is. I put a pin at the shoulder and side seams.

Draw a line (either real or just eyeball it) and cut the new line leaving room for a seam.

The sleeve hole is going to look really big because first we need to take the sides in a bit. Pin your new side seam based on your nice fitting t-shirt. Sew down each side and serge it if you want.

Now you can pin your sleeves back in and sew them back on. Make sure that you put right sides together. I normally do this by having the shirt wrong side out and the sleeve right side out. Then I tuck the sleeve into the shirt. Line up the underarm seams. Sew and serge if desired.

Now, try on your “new” shirt.

Recycling A Tank Top

My husband has several shirts that he doesn’t wear anymore. They were in really good shape and I hated to just send them off to the thrift store. I decided to try and remake one of them into a tank top for my boys. It turned out to be very easy! All you need is a shirt to use as a pattern.

Lay the small tank top over the larger one. Line up theÂ necklines of the two shirts. Trim the bottom off remembering to leave enough extra for the hem.

Trim the sides the same way. I used the piece from the first side as a pattern to cut the second so that I cut the same amount off both sides.

Trim the shoulders the same way.

Sew up the side seams and shoulders. If the back shoulders are wider, just stretch the front a little to make them line up. The hem can be sewed or serged depending on your preference.

Voila! A new tank top. Doesn’t my model look thrilled?

Pop Up Camping – More of What to Pack

I talked before about what we pack for camping.

There are a few other things you might need to consider packing. Plates and silverware? Cooking utensils? Pots? Pans? Garbage can? What about bedding? I don’t know about anyone else, but sleeping on the three-inch-thick mattress that comes with the camper isn’t exactly comfy! Where do you store all this stuff?

Eating

We bought some cheap silverware at our local big box store. I have enough for 8 place settings and a couple serving spoons. I also bought some plastic plates & bowls. We bought some cups and used some extra mugs from the house. The dishes are bright and colorful and it doesn’t take long to wash up a few dishes after each meal. Paper plates and plastic ware are also good options.

I actually had extra pots that I could use for camping – we take two small pots, a frying pan, and a pancake griddle. We had a tea kettle from tent camping that we use to make hot water for coffee. One thing we forgot on one of our trips was a hot pad to get the kettle off the fire…we used a sock. 🙂 I plan meals that only need two pots max (since the stove only has two burners). We try to eat at the picnic table as much as possible. There’s more room and if something gets spilled, it’s not a big deal.

Sleeping

What about bedding? Our daughter sleeps on the dining area bed and she uses a sleeping bag. The bed is an odd size and we set up the dining area each morning so it’s easier to just roll up her sleeping bag and then toss it and her pillow on the boys bed. The boys sleep in the smaller of the two pull-out beds. I put a padded mattress pad on it and then a sheet. They each have their own blanket to cover up with so there’s no fighting over covers. John & I have a pillow top and then a mattress pad and then king size sheets on our bed (we don’t fight over covers so much). The pillow top is pretty bulky and takes up some storage space, but for us it’s worth it! I tried leaving it on the bed when we closed up the camper, but it was too bulky and the top didn’t close right. So, I roll it up and bungee it together and put it on the floor towards the back of the camper. Sheets get stored under the sink & stove for traveling.

Misc & Storage

We bought a small garbage can and we use plastic store bags as garbage bags. Most campgrounds have a dumpster to toss trash in so we just toss it as go by on our way out (either to check out or just going out for the day). A small cleaner like a dust buster or a broom is also a must, especially with kids!

There is actually a lot of storage in a pop-up. The trick is figuring out how to maximize it. Dishes go under one of dining benches (the one w/o the electric cord) along with towels (5 – one for each), wash clothes (just a couple), and hand towels (3 or 4). Food goes in the compartment by the door and extra drinks go under the sink. The fridge usually has enough stuff to get us through 3 days. I cut egg cartons in half so they fit. We take a cooler full of ice & soda/water. Silverware and other utensils go in a lidded plastic container that goes under the sink too. I also fill the aisle with stuff – the gray water tank, cooler, pillow top, pillows, suit case. You get the idea! If we’re only going for a weekend, we put wood in the back of our tow vehicle (Ford Explorer), otherwise, that’s more storage space for another suitcase or two and any other overflow. Our theory is, if we forget it and we can’t live without it, we can buy it when we get there.

What’s your storage trick? What else would you take along? What would you leave behind?

Punta Rassa : Looking for Florida History

This post contains affiliate links.

One of the books we read this year as part of our Florida history is A Land Remembered Volume 1 and Volume 2. I knew that the town of Punta Rassa was real, but didn’t realize that it is relatively close to us. So, since we were going to be heading in that direction today, I decided we would take a side trip to see if we could find it. A little research showed that Punta Rassa is basically a ghost town.

We took a wrong turn (actually my phone gps lead us astray) and ended up at the entrance to a gated community. I explained to the guy at the gate that we were looking for Punta Rassa. He had no idea what I was talking about. He did let me through so that I could turn around. Just down the road I found what we were looking for (makes me think the guy at the gate wasn’t a local).

There is a fishing dock and some high-rise apartments there, but nothing like it must’ve been in the 1800’s! I was hoping to see the remains of the old buildings, but the only parking I could find looked like it would cost $10 to park. I wasn’t willing to pay that. There wasn’t really any parking along the road either. We found what we think is the remaining part of the old telegraph building nestled among the high rise buildings.

We were bummed that there wasn’t more to see. We were really hoping to be able to get out and walk around and make it more of an educational experience for the kids. I think they were looking forward to seeing the place the book was about.

When we got home, I decided to take a trip on google maps. I should’ve done that first!! We were so close to the old ferry boat office! I’m too easily deterred by signs that something is private and only residents and their visitors can enter. If I’d looked on the other side of the road, I would’ve seen what we were looking for. Now I’m contemplating going back at some point in the near future.

Have you read A Land Remembered? Have you ever planned a trip based on a book and not had it go the way you thought it would?

This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure policy here.

*I will apologize ahead of time if this post contains TMI, but it goes with the story.*

Eating

Sleeping

Misc & Storage

I will apologize ahead of time if this post contains TMI, but it goes with the story.