Another twist and turn…

This is another post that is unrelated to Rich’s health! Instead this post is about another member of my family, my sister Lauren. 

On top of her full time job, Lauren owns and operates a small business called Sewbaloo, selling beautiful funky and unique quilts, bags, table runners, children's clothes and knitwear. She is talented in many, many ways and has made all of us a variety of hand knit clothes and quilted items. She typically sells her colorful products at various local markets such as the Market of the Beast, and Creative Collective Virtual Markets. She has also been able to take part in an in person pop-up at Hive and Forge in Salem. Lauren has taken this pandemic in stride and transferred her shop over to an online business (with a little help from me!) Her products are now all easily accessible on her website, https://sewbaloo.myshopify.com/. 

This post is also about another beast of a disease: endometriosis. Endometrial tissue normally lines the uterus. In the case of this disease, endometrial like tissue grows outside of the uterus and attaches to various other organs. Depending on where this tissue grows, it can be extremely painful and cause a variety of digestive and bladder issues along with infertility in some cases. 

Lauren has been suffering from the pain of endometriosis for years and has already undergone one surgery to deal with it. She recently underwent an additional planned surgical procedure for her endometriosis. Eight days later, complications arose and she had to undergo an emergency third surgery. This emergency surgery was a big shock for our family...and even more so for Lauren and my brother-in-law, Ed. 

This might sound like a lot, but my sister is strong as heck. I mean, we both share genes with our amazingly strong, bad ass Mumma! Who is beating cancer in the best way. I know Lauren and Ed will take these new challenges and rock them. But they don’t need to do it alone. She has always been there for me and I for her. This time is no different in theory, but it feels different to me in some ways. 

Once again, COVID throws a twist into the mix. There were strict visiting hours and limitations at the hospital and high infection risk for Rich and my mom. I was not able to visit Lauren in person, but we did our best to chat throughout the day. Thank goodness for Facetime and Zoom! We finally got to reunite in an outdoor visit this weekend. I was also able to help her out and take her to an appointment this week! 

I wish there was more I could do, more I could say to make things better, but I try to remind myself that I am doing my best. We are all doing our best. This time, instead of linking to our GoFundMe, I want you to go check out my sister’s AMAZING small business! You can shop her ready-to-ship quilts at https://sewbaloo.myshopify.com/ or check her out on social media on Instagram and Facebook at @Sewbaloo.  

She has donated some amazing quilts to raise money toward our fundraising efforts, and will be donating other items as she starts to feel better and is able to sew more. Please consider shopping small this holiday season!

Living one day at a time,

Leah

(Photos above: #1 is at one of Lauren's markets in Salem last year! #2 speaks for itself- matching Christmas jammies tradition! #3- Lauren and Ed in their fabulous RenFaire garb and #4 an EPIC sword fight battle with the kiddos!)