Friday, September 25, 2026

HST Four Patch Finish

It's a finish!
HST Four Patch
50 x 70


I can't find a photo of the 2024 flimsy but I do see a post where I was making blocks in 2024.  It is one of many quilts I was working on to empty a box of 3 inch width scraps that is still not empty. 


I quilted it on my sewing machine with horizonal and vertical lines. 

It has a scrappy binding...

...and a wild and crazy backing. 

And sew on...

***
Polymyalgia Rheumatica. I'd never heard of it until Tuesday after a call from the doc office.  I've had neck pain since end of July that started as a burning sensation then developed into pain so severe I could hardly move my head. I did some neck exercises and massager. I put on ice bag. I put on icy hot. I took tylenol. Pain was worse when I got up in morning and I had a difficult time sleeping. I thought it was stress related.  Pain moved to upper legs. I could hardly get out of bed, sleep, brush hair, etc.  Sometimes I felt tingling on my scalp and feet. It was hard to tell if it was joint, muscle or never pain. And finally the pain spread to upper arms. Again, pain was most severe when trying to sleep and when I got up in morning. After a few hours pain lessened.  

Finally I called doc office on Monday and got in an hour later. Xrays showed a little degenerative disease disorder on C6-7 but doc said that shouldn't be causing all that pain. They drew blood for lab tests. On Tuesday nurse called to say my ESR, an inflammation marker, was very high. ESR is a marker of inflammation; however, it is not specific as to what causes inflammation. Doc thought Polymyalgia Rheumatica and prescribed prednisone for a week as well as physical therapy. I'm to call doc back on Monday to let them know how well prednisone worked. If it doesn't nurse said I would be referred to rheumatology.  I'm glad to say that after 4 prednisone pills I'm feeling pretty good. I'll report that to doc on Monday. I started PT on Wednesday, the same day I started the predisone.  I have also looked into foods to eat for an anti-inflammatory diet. Actually, it looks like I pretty much already have a diet like the ones I've seen - Mediterranean and DASH. 

The rain finally stopped and I was able to go out and do a little gardening yesterday. If it hadn't been raining the last week or so I might have been out gardening and attributed  the leg pain when it started to over doing it out in the garden. 

So, sorry if I haven't answered all comments lately. I just haven't felt much like sitting at the computer for very long. 



 

5 comments:

Quiltdivajulie said...

Having a diagnosis makes it so much less stressful - happy the prednisone has helped and we all know PT will be beneficial. Take care and don't worry about all the comments. We get it.

Sara said...

All that pain sounds terrible. I hope the PT and meds keep things improving. We've had day after day of grey, drizzly weather here too and it definitely aggravates the arthritis.

Nann said...

A pain in the neck can be, well, a real pain in the neck! Hope the prednisone does its stuff. I've seen groups of four HSTs called "little cedar tree" but I have never understood why. Great backing!

Tammy said...

So glad your doctor was able to figure out the problem. It’s hard to do much of anything when you have a lot of pain. That quilt is wonderful and once again I’m inspired!

Elle said...

Fabulous quilt! I'm doing the same with smaller HST foursies (finishing 1.25"). Sooooo glad to hear the Pred is working!!!