Un--freaking--believable!

I like to think of myself as a calm person....oh, heck, no I am NOT.

I was told at my Tuesday surgery consult that the scheduler would call me the next day (Wed.), but I was free to call her as well. So, at noon on Wed., when I hadn't heard from her yet, I called.

"Oh, I haven't even looked at your orders yet. I'm sure I'll be calling by the end of the week."

Ugh.

Today, at 3:00 p.m., I couldn't take it anymore and called her again. Someone else in the office answered and said I should call her back in 5 min. I called 15 min later (amazed at my fortitude? me too). Same someone else answered. Bless her heart, she put me on hold to find scheduler. Scheduler, bless her heart, said she had all the orders in front of her and would call me back by the end of the day.

4:45! Ring goes the phone. I'm pleasant. It's not her fault. I'm told Monday, May 18. Surgery at 11:30 a.m., injection at 9:30 a.m., be at hospital at 8:30 a.m.

Great! Thanks! Call husband. He cautiously informs me that there is no Monday, May 18.

OH.
MY.
HECK.

I am going to strangle someone! I immediately call back (4:50 p.m.). No answer.

So, I am either having a mastectomy on Monday, June 18 or Friday, May 18. I'm pretty sure my surgeon only does surgeries on Mondays and Wednesdays, so it looks like I have to wait until mid-June. I'm hoping against hope that she meant Monday, May 14. I doubt it.

Again. oh. my. heck.

Upsides to a June surgery (I'm working hard on that gratitude thing):
1. Quarter is over, so no need to freak out over getting coverage for class and how to get grading done.
2. Darling sis-in-law, who will be out of a job come June 1, will be able to come and take care of me and help with Carmen.
3. I have plenty of time to complete projects at work.
4. Might not have to take leave.
5. I could go to my niece's wedding in Houston.

Downsides:
1. I'm teaching a summer distance ed. course; I don't know how this works with leave.
2. I have to wait. If there is undetected invasive cancer, that kind of freaks me out that it's going to be 5.5 weeks before we know that!

#2 counts for, like, 100 downsides.

Okay, I'm going to take a deep breath and maybe go to the temple sometime this weekend. That should help.

And I might start a new sewing project.

During the time between my biopsy order and my biopsy, I was a crazed woman so I made this for my new iPad:

 My friend, Mama Pea, made one and reviewed the pattern and showcased the finished purse on her blog. I searched for patterns for an iPad carrier/purse but the one she found was the least complicated (and I still messed up). The pattern was designed by Julie at Intrepid Thread and shared for free at Cutting Corners College by Riley Blake Designs.

I had a really tough time because the pattern was specific to the Sweet Nothings fabric (Riley Blake designs), and I had a hard time mentally translating. I had to work off the computer screen because the pdf of the pattern was 60 pages long (or 90, I can't remember now) so I wasn't going to print it out, and it didn't occur to me to cut and paste right from the blog site into a Word document. Duh.

Anyway, the screw-ups weren't too bad, and it only cost me about $3 for the hardware, $2 for thread, and $5 for the fusible fleece. I already had the fabric. It did take me about 16 hours to make it, though, because I have such a hard time reading patterns. At my consultant rate of $100/hour, that's a $16,010 iPad purse.

Someone did ask if it was a Wang. Before she got up close.

The problem now is that I bought an Otterbox case for the iPad, so it will no longer fit in the bag.



I knew I was getting the Otterbox, but I didn't think it would be a problem to just take it out of the Otterbox occassionally. I should have read the reviews first. It is nearly impossible to remove the iPad once it's in the Otterbox. And, since my 5-year-old often uses the iPad, I think the durability of the Otterbox wins out over the cuteness of the bag.

What I discovered making the bag was how relaxed I was while sewing even though I had a hard time with the pattern. Given how stressed I was anticipating a painful biopsy (which turned out to be not painful at all), that is saying something.

Hence, I think I'm going to make another bag that the iPad-in-Otterbox will fit into. That might get me through this stressful weekend of waiting to verify when my surgery will actually be. Does anyone want the one pictured?

Thanks again for all your prayers and well-wishes!