When I first received an email from Chastity, I jumped right on Instagram and did a story about how awesome this month’s column was going to be! She really blew me away with her knitting story – it’s a great testament to standing up for yourself when you know something isn’t right in your body, and the power of craft to empower us when facing great adversity. This is a subject close to my heart as knitting helped me through medical crises in my family as well. Please read her amazing story, and find out how knitting has helped Chastity Johnson through challenges over the years.
Chastity with Diane of Lady Dye Yarns. Click image for link to sweater pattern.
Hi! My name is Chastity and I’m a 36 year old mom of 2. I learned to knit in December of 2015, but my background story is what directly led me to knitting, so maybe I should start there.
In June of 2013, I noticed my neck looked a bit swollen, and I was having issues with my voice and with swallowing. I went to my doctor, and I had a mass on my thyroid that was interfering with my vocal cords. I had a partial thyroidectomy on July 23rd, 2013. When I woke up after the surgery, I could tell something was wrong. I was having problems breathing. The surgeon dismissed it as asthma, and sent me home. 2 weeks after my surgery, I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. I was still having a hard time breathing, but my doctor again dismissed my concerns, telling me I had asthma, and pregnant women always had a hard time catching their breath.
To say my pregnancy was rough would be the understatement of my lifetime. I had Hyperemesis gravidarum, and spent so much time hospitalized due to dehydration. When I was home, I could barely walk across a small room without having to rest and try to breathe. I called my OBGYN in the middle of the night and told him I thought I was going to die. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t breathe.
He listened.
He checked me into the hospital and told me he wasn’t sending me home until we found out what was going on with my body. That saved my life. That first night in the hospital, I stopped breathing twice. The emergency ENT was called in, and he found my vocal cords were paralyzed and my airway was about the size of a coffee stirrer. The force of just trying to breathe had caused my left lung to collapse. I had to have an emergency tracheostomy in February of 2014. I was 30 weeks pregnant.
10 days later I was released from the hospital, but my life was forever changed. I had my daughter April 7, 2014. She was small because of all that we both endured during the pregnancy, but she was strong. And healthy. And feisty!
Click image for snood pattern.
I needed a new hobby. My days of running half marathons were over. I wanted something that I could do with my hands and help with anxiety. My best friend asked if I wanted to take a knitting class, and it basically was the best thing I could have done. I knit when I’m happy, stressed, sad, anytime, anywhere.
Knitting helped me the most when my father-in-law was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Sitting and talking with him while putting love and tears into a sweater is something that I will hold onto forever. When he died, I knit during the funeral. My tears were falling onto my WIP, but my hands were steady.
When I go places, people stare. They aren’t used to seeing a gal breathe through her neck I suppose. But if I have my knitting with me, it seems to take attention away from the trach, and people tell me stories of their grandmother knitting, or ask what I’m making. It’s a welcome reprieve.
Follow Chastity on Instagram here.
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