Volvo in Crochet

No, that's not a typo. It's an inside joke. A friend is also considering making these and was overheard by another person.. and the overhearer wanted to know how my friend was going to crochet a Volvo. :D

As new readers of this blog may not know, I had cancer and surgery to cure it (hopefully) last year. Since then, I have become an advocate for women learning more about their bodies and how they function ie, what is normal and what isn't.

Through a board dedicated to women and cancer, I have met a woman in Australia who has been working for over 10 years on getting an International Gynecological Awareness Day started.

What does this have to do with crochet I can hear you thinking. Well, I recently ran across a pattern for crocheted Vulvas...and have made a bunch to send my friend in Australia as a teaching tool.

I have finally finished a whole skein of redheart baby pink making them and have pictures!! (click to see them larger)










The vulva pattern is here. She's a great designer and is offered to help with the pattern if I didn't understand any of it. She's such a great pattern writer that I got it right off. There is a small charge for the pattern, but it's very reasonable and she includes a great anatomy lesson with it.

The Uterus or Womb is here. It's also a very easy pattern. The only thing is that I wish there were ovaries included, but it shouldn't be hard to design some if someone wanted to do so. I think it would just be a couple of ovals (like tiny footballs).

There's another vulva pattern available on the web, for no charge, but it seems more difficult to create. The owner also used a slang term for it that I completely disagree with for educational purposes. We need to own the correct name and be proud of it. I will link to the pattern though, for those who cannot afford the small price of the first one.

I hope this will lead to others learning more about their bodies. I understand it can be a bit uncomfortable for some people and I respect that, but it is so important to know what we should look like so if (heaven forbid) an abnormality should arise, we can recognize it in time for early treatment and cure.

Thanks for visiting. I promise my next post will be more "normal".

Thoughts on a Thursday Morning

I hate it when blogger is so slow to load that I lose my train of thought. Yeah, I know I could use notepad and then cut n paste.. but I didn't want to do that... an extra step.

I was reading my "Eyes on the Prize" digest mail this morning, and one of the last entries was a memorial to a woman who had started the journey through the land of cancer in 2000, and ended in 2002. Two years. Maybe she was diagnosed alot further along than I was, but that still is a very short time.

If I only had a short time left.. what would I want to do? I want to see my kids graduate from college and be secure and on their own or in a stable, loving relationship. I'd love to see my grandchildren .. who would they look like? (if my kids are reading this.. PLEASE don't feel pressure to run out and get pregnant or impregnate someone... this is just my personal thoughts).

I'd love to travel. I want to see Ireland and Scotland. I've wanted to go there since I was little. I'd love to go to Salzburg, Austria and Dieppe, France.. where my ancestors who so believed in religious freedom.. left their ancestral homes to come pioneer in the new world. How hard that must have been! In the 1600's and 1700's.. there was no IM, no jets, no autos.. if they were literate at all.. it still would take months and months for letters to travel from Europe to the Americas (we weren't even the United States when my ancestors came).

What else would I like to accomplish? I'd love to get my yarn and supplies organized. When I was in a panic over having surgery, one of the things that I did to help me adjust was to write "farewell" letters to my husband and children. One of the things I wrote in my hubby's farewell letter was what to do with all my yarn!! LOL How silly that seems now, but I do have some yarn that could be sold to help with finances. Maybe I need to start working on that, with the huge hospital bills I have.

I am not happy with one of the after effects of surgery. I miss my sex drive. Now that we are cleared for everything.. I don't have the desire I used to have. My local gyn doctor isn't very sympathetic.. he just says I need to wait and see what happens. He doesn't want to give me hormones until cleared for them by my gyn/oncologist in Houston. And I understand that and agree.. since this cancer is estrogen driven, I do need to be away from any extra estrogen other than what is stored in my fat cells for awhile.

This is very early in recovery still, and maybe my libido will return. I want the closeness that intimacy brings, but I miss having the urge to do something about it!! And I know my husband does too. He's a quiet man, but when I asked him if he noticed a difference in me, he said yes and that he too missed it.

Maybe if I told the doctor my husband also misses my drive, then I'd get some empathy? Males tend to listen to males. Do I sound cynical? Probably, but I think it's actually realistic. If a man says his sex drive has gone on vacation, I think another male would consider it a serious situation.

I am thankful I haven't had to have internal rad.. cause after internal radiation, one of the things the docs tell you to do is to have lots of sex to avoid atrophy that the rads can cause. How do you have lots of sex when you have no desire?

I swear I will see the female gyn next time.. I think I communicate better with her. Oh, and I bought some Zoestra at the store the other day, and got home and the friggin' box was EMPTY!! Sheesh, I hate that. Now I have to find my receipt and go through the potential embarrassment of trying to convince the people at the service desk that I bought an empty box. Damn shoplifters.