Hello friends!

I am so sorry to be missing for so long... but I assure you that I do have a good excuse. I lost a month!
On Friday October 14th - I went to bed just like normal, but woke my husband up around 5am with the worlds worst headache! I knew it was severe enough that I asked him to take me to our local small hospital where they immediately did an MRI only to discover that I has a massive brain aneurysm that was bleeding into my brain!

They called a Columbus hospital (the closest big city to us) and asked them to send the life flight helicopter.
As soon as I arrived at Riverside Methodist Hospital - they deposited me into ICU and proceeded to do a 10 hour surgery on my brain.

They shaved my head - I look so silly (spooky), and I have a giant incision along the right side of my head that will hopefully soon be covered by hair. (For those of you that know me.... I have always had long hair, so it is odd to have hair that is only about an 1/8th of an inch long... and it's cold!)
Prior to the surgery - I am told that they had to bring my body temp down to 16 degrees Celsius, stop my heart, ... and drained a large portion of my blood to prevent further rupture and bleeding ....

It took me 2 to 3 weeks before I knew what was going on! I awoke in the hospital in completely unfamiliar surroundings!  Wondering... what the....? What happened? It felt to me like my husband and kids were gone. My house was gone. My dog & cat were gone. My clothes and possessions were gone. Everything was gone and I didn't know WHY. All I wanted was to go home. I was SO homesick! I had no memory of the last 3 weeks... to me it was still Oct. Little did I know that I had missed Halloween, the leaves turning, etc. A whole month had gone by without my knowledge.


Luckily my dad (living nearby) visited often. My nurses were wonderful. My surgeon was amazing. My husband (my hero!) & kids drove 4 hours to visit me as often as possible. I had many friends and family pulling for me! Thanks to you all! : )

So, I finally made it home! I am told that, alone, is a miracle. I still have physical therapy to deal with - but I am looking forward to anything and everything as long as I can be home!

I want to thank my doctor for his skilled hands, my nurses for all of their time and energy & caring natures : ) even in the light of my "ornery" behavior, my daughters and husband for sticking with me and keeping the home fires burning beautifully! Thanks to all of my family and friends for their prayers, well wishes, cards, love, good vibes, warm thoughts, well wishes, etc.

If I really am the miracle they say I am through all of this... I have no doubt that it is a  direct result of all of those good wishes & prayers so please keep 'em coming as I am far from done with all of this!  : )
Thanks again... and MUCH LOVE to you all!

Maria Warmke / The Stitcherhood

PS - I am slowly getting back to stitching (Christmas is coming!) but it is very slow as I only have 1 good eye at the moment. However - it is just so wonderful to be back to stitching, no matter how slow. LOTS to be Thankful for this year!  : )