When Life Gives You Lemons...

Life Happens When You Are Out Making Other Plans

You know the saying..."When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Well, this past year, life has sent me a truckload of lemons. How exactly to make lemonade with that kind of volume has taken me a whole year!

I'm writing about all of this because it does relate to my jewelry making. So, if you will, please hang in there and I will eventually get to that. This story is about running into huge obstacles and how I found a way to work through them. Keep in mind that I had not been seriously ill until these events unfolded. I was a very healthy 58 year-old woman at the time.

And So, The Obstacles Began...

It started the day after Thanksgiving, 2009. I needed surgery for a bowel obstruction. That did not go well and I ended up having 3 stomach surgeries within a 2-week period. During the 3rd surgery, I stopped breathing and had to be put on life support. I was rushed to ICU where I stayed for 16 days before the ventilator could be removed.

As it turned out I had developed ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome). This is often fatal, I am told. However, I survived and went on to rehab for physical and occupational therapy. After a few weeks, I was hospitalized for dehydration. No one really seemed to know what was wrong with me, however. During this hospitalization, we discovered that I had a stomach ulcer. I was re-hydrated and, after a couple of weeks, I went home again.

I did not seem to be getting better at home. After seeing my primary care doctor, I was sent straight from the office visit to the ER where I was admitted for malnutrition. During this hospitalization, they discovered that I had blood clots in my leg and upper arm. I was put on intravenous nutrition and sent by ambulance to another hospital. I was admitted to 4 hospitals before this was over!

The day after I was admitted to the 4th hospital, I had several strokes (30 - 40 strokes as estimated by the doctors). The neurologist told my family that there was no hope of recovery. I suffered paralysis on the left side of my body and did sustain some brain damage.

Needless to say, I did survive, proving the doctors wrong, thankfully. Again, I began physical and occupational therapy at home, had in-home nursing care and continued receiving intravenous nutrition at home for 5 months.

Where Does Jewelry-Making Fit In?

My occupational therapist was also a jewelry designer and wanted me to try making jewelry again. I tried several times over a period of months but just struggled with it, not having the fine motor skills to manage mt hand tools or the hand strength to even hold them. Even when I could complete a simple task, there was no joy in it. It was just too hard!

I decided that I would not force myself to make jewelry. I only wanted to do it if it was fun for me, not an obligation. I tried every couple of months during the first year out of the hospital; then after about 9 months, it started feeling like fun again.

One of the things I learned was that my brain turned things around on me. I found that, if my instinct was to wrap wire to the left, it would turn out wrong. So, I tried a silly experiment. I decided that I would do the opposite of what I thought I should do and, guess what? It worked! This one discovery changed jewelry making for me forever!

What's Happening Now?

I have been making jewelry now for about 3 months.  My goal is to make at least one piece per day.  I often can make several pieces per day, though. I guess the moral of the story is that obstacles can often be overcome as long as you don't give up. Next month, I plan to have a jewelry sale, primarily featuring my new post-stroke jewelry collection!   Of course, I'll be serving lots of lemonade along with the jewelry on that day!