A couple of years ago I had to have major surgery for a herniated disc in my back. I had to be hospitalized for six days and couldn’t go back to work for ten weeks. When the surgery was first scheduled I was told it would be a two month waiting period. I was not relishing the idea of having two months to think about the surgery.
A short time after I had scheduled the surgery the doctor’s office called to tell me that there had been a cancellation and that I could have my surgery in just two days. I cleared my schedule and gave the go-ahead.
It was great to not experience the anxiety of waiting and the busy time spent preparing helped me to not become overly nervous. The only unfortunate thing about the new schedule was that the ten weeks I would be recuperating were the ten weeks before Christmas. I hadn’t done any Christmas shopping yet. I told my mother this the night before I had the surgery. In order to help ease my mind about holiday shopping, she brought me some Christmas cross stitch projects to work on. One was a set of six cloth napkins she stamped with a pattern that would go well with my sister’s Christmas china.
Another of the Christmas cross stitch projects was a wall hanging that would be stretched and framed. The wall hanging was a winter holiday scene. But my favorite Christmas cross stitch that she had brought me, was a set of dish towels that featured the twelve days of Christmas. As my mother knew that I didn’t like being confined to bed, she thought the Christmas cross stitch projects would help to occupy my time, and provide gifts for family and friends, as well.
A soon as I got home from the hospital I started on the cloth napkins. I discovered that I really enjoyed doing the needle work. Shortly, I was able to complete the needle work while watching television. The projects had enough detail to keep me interested, yet small enough to be able to complete in a short period of time. After recuperating for about four weeks my doctor said that I could take short drives. My first trip was to a fabric store to get some more Christmas craft ideas. I found several other Christmas cross stitch projects to choose from.
I decided to get three more projects to give to friends. So, the moral of the story is, that I was able to keep my mind and hands occupied with the Christmas cross stitch projects while my back was healing. Eventually, my back healed and I went back to work after New Year’s day.