As some of you may be aware, the benefit DLA is shortly changing to PIP which means that I am shortly expecting not to be able to claim benefits anymore, leaving me without a car and therefore worrying about how I will work and be able to pay the bills.
With the above in mind, imagine the distress, of myself and many other people who are trying to live an honest and "normal" life, caused when the daily mail published a very biased (against people with disabilities) article informing people how much money we cost the tax payer, and how the government will change this "for the better"!
The reason I find the article so damn disgusting is that I work, and therefore I pay tax and national insurance, meaning that in theory, I pay for myself!
The other part of it, is that I am fortunate that I am still able to work, despite needing help to walk, wash, do my hair, open Christmas presents etc. I can work on a computer, and do so 4 days a week. I guess the daily mail think I should work through the pain another day a week, making it full time, but am I not entitled to give myself a break and wear comforting clothes, not hurt my hip by doing too much, and have myself a much needed 3 day rest to get myself ready for the week ahead? I think I am!
And the worst of it? Hasn't come yet.
There are approaching 400 comments on this article... And they are showing that the UK houses some of the most shallow minded, selfish, ungrateful people in the world. And it's Christmas, so I dread to think what they would be like on a normal day of the year.
One person suggests that we need a mark on the cars we receive to specify that it is a motability car. 3 answers to this. 1) where the hell is the dignity in that?!? 2) What, are we back in WW2, where people had to mark themselves with the Star of David to specify that they were unworthy of society, and 3) what is a disabled badge? Is this not a mark on the car to specify that we need support and help? Obviously not.
One thing that is evident is that people have not done the research on DLA in order to know that we are not scroungers. We are allowed to work with the DLA and I do so proudly and to keep myself sane.
Sorry if someone thinks I am going on, or going of far, but I have been rattled. I deserve to live, as do every other disabled person in the world.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and have a prosperous new year.
Love to you all xx
Thursday, 27 December 2012
Sunday, 16 December 2012
Neurologist Old and New
My busy schedule of hospital appointments is finished for the year. I get 3 weeks off, with my next appointment being on the second of January. This means that I get to work normal hours for my last week at work before Christmas, and fully enjoy my Christmas Break. In the meantime, here's the low down of the last few appointments....
Physio
My physio seems happy with the "progress" of my hand.
Although I am happy with the passive range of my hand, try as I might, I cannot put the range into use by actively using my hand. I'm half thinking that this is a miracle that just isn't going to happen. I see my physio again on the 7th January, for her to "review" me. The thought that keeps bugging me, is that I know that my hand will never be "fully usable"... And I think the physio thinks this is the best its going to get, which, as I can't use my hand in most things, is completely useless to me...
Hip Specialist
The quickest, most pointless appointment I have ever had with this man I class as a genius.
This man was the first person to give me an x-ray, and therefore gave me the correct diagnosis of Hip Dysplasia for the first time. He then went out to fix it, which initially, he did.
The reason this was the worst hospital appointment I've had in years, you wonder? I was in and out within 10 minutes (that's from parking up, to waiting, to going in, and getting back out again), nothing was seen that they didn't expect in the MRI scan, there's nothing structurally wrong with my hip, and so there's nothing wrong and I have to accept the pain that I am feeling....
Erm, how about, Mr Specialist, whom I am disappointed with, I stick a knife in your hip for about 18 hours in a day, and see how long you can accept this for?!? Anyway, to add insult to injury, he doesn't want to see me for another year... and no treatment is needed for at least 20 years, where a hip replacement may be necessary...
So to conclude this part of my blog, I must accept my pain for around about 20 years... Impossible.
Neurologist
Now, this appointment gets the title of my blog, and soon will become clear.
I went into the appointment feeling deflated, and due to the previous specialist appointment, as if, once again, I was about to be made to look like a hypochondriac who was looking for things to be wrong with my body in order to get them fixed (the feeling I had from the last appointment).
How wrong I was...
There is a reason I can't use my hand, which is because the signals from my brain do not take the normal route to tell my hand to move, and so it is slow and laboured (his words). Due to this, it means my muscles have stiffened, making it, and cue the analogy, like trying to get through a mile full of thorns to get the signal to my hand. Therefore, cue the solution(!) botox is needed to relax the muscles in my hand, to get rid of the thorns and try and build strength, both in my hand, and in the signals.
Now, I am ever so slightly nervous about botox. I have had this before, and it made my fingers "stick" meaning i could not use them at all, and all use was severed. However, the specialist has assured me that they will try it in a different muscle, and so this hopefully won't happen.
Also, I learnt, cue the "screw you" to my hip specialist, there is a link between pain in another part of the body and stiffness/spasticity in my hand. I spoke to my Neurologist about my hip pain, and he confirmed that this won't be helping matters. He suggested it may be to do with spasms in my hip muscles (I didn't even know that was possible) and so the solution (yay!!) could be a drug called Baclofen, which is a tablet muscle relaxant. There are a few side effects that could occur, but as the saying goes "you never know unless you try".
So all being well, there are a few solutions to try, and I am so very willing to give them a chance to work.
The reason for the cryptic title?
I saw the very same neurologist 6 years ago, and at the time, he stated there was nothing wrong with me!
So there you have it, my rollercoaster that has been the last 2 weeks is over... I hope you enjoyed the ride.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all, I hope it brings you joy and presents.
Much love xx
Physio
My physio seems happy with the "progress" of my hand.
Although I am happy with the passive range of my hand, try as I might, I cannot put the range into use by actively using my hand. I'm half thinking that this is a miracle that just isn't going to happen. I see my physio again on the 7th January, for her to "review" me. The thought that keeps bugging me, is that I know that my hand will never be "fully usable"... And I think the physio thinks this is the best its going to get, which, as I can't use my hand in most things, is completely useless to me...
Hip Specialist
The quickest, most pointless appointment I have ever had with this man I class as a genius.
This man was the first person to give me an x-ray, and therefore gave me the correct diagnosis of Hip Dysplasia for the first time. He then went out to fix it, which initially, he did.
The reason this was the worst hospital appointment I've had in years, you wonder? I was in and out within 10 minutes (that's from parking up, to waiting, to going in, and getting back out again), nothing was seen that they didn't expect in the MRI scan, there's nothing structurally wrong with my hip, and so there's nothing wrong and I have to accept the pain that I am feeling....
Erm, how about, Mr Specialist, whom I am disappointed with, I stick a knife in your hip for about 18 hours in a day, and see how long you can accept this for?!? Anyway, to add insult to injury, he doesn't want to see me for another year... and no treatment is needed for at least 20 years, where a hip replacement may be necessary...
So to conclude this part of my blog, I must accept my pain for around about 20 years... Impossible.
Neurologist
Now, this appointment gets the title of my blog, and soon will become clear.
I went into the appointment feeling deflated, and due to the previous specialist appointment, as if, once again, I was about to be made to look like a hypochondriac who was looking for things to be wrong with my body in order to get them fixed (the feeling I had from the last appointment).
How wrong I was...
There is a reason I can't use my hand, which is because the signals from my brain do not take the normal route to tell my hand to move, and so it is slow and laboured (his words). Due to this, it means my muscles have stiffened, making it, and cue the analogy, like trying to get through a mile full of thorns to get the signal to my hand. Therefore, cue the solution(!) botox is needed to relax the muscles in my hand, to get rid of the thorns and try and build strength, both in my hand, and in the signals.
Now, I am ever so slightly nervous about botox. I have had this before, and it made my fingers "stick" meaning i could not use them at all, and all use was severed. However, the specialist has assured me that they will try it in a different muscle, and so this hopefully won't happen.
Also, I learnt, cue the "screw you" to my hip specialist, there is a link between pain in another part of the body and stiffness/spasticity in my hand. I spoke to my Neurologist about my hip pain, and he confirmed that this won't be helping matters. He suggested it may be to do with spasms in my hip muscles (I didn't even know that was possible) and so the solution (yay!!) could be a drug called Baclofen, which is a tablet muscle relaxant. There are a few side effects that could occur, but as the saying goes "you never know unless you try".
So all being well, there are a few solutions to try, and I am so very willing to give them a chance to work.
The reason for the cryptic title?
I saw the very same neurologist 6 years ago, and at the time, he stated there was nothing wrong with me!
So there you have it, my rollercoaster that has been the last 2 weeks is over... I hope you enjoyed the ride.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all, I hope it brings you joy and presents.
Much love xx
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Here Comes the Snow
When I first started writing this blog, I named it "Here Comes the Sun", mostly because at the time I was in a sunny mood and it was also Summer, which mostly meant nice, warm, sun.
Today, I'm twisting it round a bit, as, even though I'm not miserable, and my radiators have been replaced to make my house really cosy, I'm looking out the window and the sleety, snowy, rainy stuff is falling. (There is a point to this blog I promise!)
The reason I thought to write this blog, is because recently I am moaning more about pain in hips, stiffness in hands, annoyances of drop foots, and the fact that its cold hasn't helped all this. I had a lengthy conversation with a few friends over twitter last night, who have disabilities either the same or similar to me (great friends who have been great support to me recently). My favourite way to describe it was said to me this afternoon, by a very inspirational and lovely lady, and goes something like this:
My right side is pretty tin man effect today-if only an oil can'd help?
Now we have all seen The Wizard of Oz, right? We all know that there's an oil can right round the corner to the tin man before he is able to move. Might sound like an inside joke, but don't you think it would be great if there was a tin can with oil in 10 yrds away from me which could make my arm/leg/hip/back/body work :) Wishful thinking I know.
So, carrying on from all of the above, I have a pretty busy 7 days coming up hospital wise.
On Thursday (6th Dec) I am getting the results of my MRI scan. This was after a tad bit of complaining, due to the fact that the original appointment was on the 16th January, which was coming up to 3 months after the MRI scan itself. MRI's aren't the most pleasant experience ever, and so to prolong the agony was a bit harsh, and so the appointment was swiftly brought forward :)
Next, is my Physio appointment, 1 week today, on the 11th December. In the short time I have been having physio, I have grown to fully respect the woman trying to help, and the range of my hand is amazing once she's worked her magic. The only problem... It only lasts at most a day and a half before it tightens back up and has nothing more to do with me other than to complain bitterly at me that I've pushed it too hard. The other thing the physio has done is to provide me a splint for my drop foot. Whilst it fixes the drop foot, I have been getting more pain in my hip, and so need to talk to her, in case my muscles there need strengthening too.
To round up next week, I have an appointment with a neurologist.... All I can say to this is... "What do I Expect???" If anyone knows, lemme know!
So, that wraps up my "Here Comes the Snow" post, dedicated to the snow :)
Now hands up whose looking forward to Christmas!?
:)
Today, I'm twisting it round a bit, as, even though I'm not miserable, and my radiators have been replaced to make my house really cosy, I'm looking out the window and the sleety, snowy, rainy stuff is falling. (There is a point to this blog I promise!)
The reason I thought to write this blog, is because recently I am moaning more about pain in hips, stiffness in hands, annoyances of drop foots, and the fact that its cold hasn't helped all this. I had a lengthy conversation with a few friends over twitter last night, who have disabilities either the same or similar to me (great friends who have been great support to me recently). My favourite way to describe it was said to me this afternoon, by a very inspirational and lovely lady, and goes something like this:
My right side is pretty tin man effect today-if only an oil can'd help?
Now we have all seen The Wizard of Oz, right? We all know that there's an oil can right round the corner to the tin man before he is able to move. Might sound like an inside joke, but don't you think it would be great if there was a tin can with oil in 10 yrds away from me which could make my arm/leg/hip/back/body work :) Wishful thinking I know.
So, carrying on from all of the above, I have a pretty busy 7 days coming up hospital wise.
On Thursday (6th Dec) I am getting the results of my MRI scan. This was after a tad bit of complaining, due to the fact that the original appointment was on the 16th January, which was coming up to 3 months after the MRI scan itself. MRI's aren't the most pleasant experience ever, and so to prolong the agony was a bit harsh, and so the appointment was swiftly brought forward :)
Next, is my Physio appointment, 1 week today, on the 11th December. In the short time I have been having physio, I have grown to fully respect the woman trying to help, and the range of my hand is amazing once she's worked her magic. The only problem... It only lasts at most a day and a half before it tightens back up and has nothing more to do with me other than to complain bitterly at me that I've pushed it too hard. The other thing the physio has done is to provide me a splint for my drop foot. Whilst it fixes the drop foot, I have been getting more pain in my hip, and so need to talk to her, in case my muscles there need strengthening too.
To round up next week, I have an appointment with a neurologist.... All I can say to this is... "What do I Expect???" If anyone knows, lemme know!
So, that wraps up my "Here Comes the Snow" post, dedicated to the snow :)
Now hands up whose looking forward to Christmas!?
:)
Monday, 19 November 2012
Busy Busy Bee!
As I'm feeling very frustrated and quite frankly exhausted, I thought I would write a blog of the last few weeks.
I have started to go to physio weekly for my hand, which is a little bit unpredictable at the moment. I have exercises to do, but am feeling as though the physio is doing all the moving, and I'm unable to do the exercises on my own. Any help would be much appreciated.. :-)
Also, the physio had ordered an ankle support, to try to minimise my foot dropping and turning in all the time, but unfortunately, when it came it was too small and so my foot is still dropping.
The weekend before last was a busy one. On the Sunday, we went up to Edinburgh ("we" being my best friend Jill, Chris, and I) to watch the rugby, which was Scotland vs New Zealand. The highlight of this was definitely seeing the haka, the tribal "war cry" which was traditionally used to intimidate the opponants, and, to my surprise, I really enjoyed the rugby.
The weekend just gone was busier again. On thursday afternoon, Chris and I made a trek up to North Shields (by trek, I mean car ride :) ) to catch a ferry over to Amsterdam. What an eye opener that was. The ferry journey was long, tiring, and interrupted by dutch war films blasting out from the cabin next door, but it was worth it, as there are some beautiful and historical parts of Amsterdam. I had my eyes opened by women of all shapes and sizes dancing in glass doorways in their underwear, and then saw the wonder that was Anne Franks hiding place, and the Skinny Bridge. The only downfall was the pedal bikes. Beware to anyone who would like a nice calm stroll around Amsterdam... It isn't going to happen... You have to always be on your guard, and then be ready to pretty much ready to dive or jump out the way.
A funny thing that happened while we were there though, we saw someone who lives around 400 yards away from us!
Yesterday was a day with my best friend. A few months ago, I went with Jill to see the latest batman movie. Yesterday was payback! Cue, The Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn Part Two... My guilty pleasure of Edward Cullen. It was amazing. The only problem was that it was the last film of the series! All in all, it was a great film, and all round a great day, which included coffee and Oreo Chocolate Cake and finished with a win at the bingo!
Following on from all of the above, I am tired and in a lot of pain. But it was all so, so worth it. Tonight has been a chilled out night, which included a lovely warm bowl of tomato soup and my Microwavable Beany Bear :)
Anyway...
I'll speak to you all later, hope you're all having a great night!
xxx
I have started to go to physio weekly for my hand, which is a little bit unpredictable at the moment. I have exercises to do, but am feeling as though the physio is doing all the moving, and I'm unable to do the exercises on my own. Any help would be much appreciated.. :-)
Also, the physio had ordered an ankle support, to try to minimise my foot dropping and turning in all the time, but unfortunately, when it came it was too small and so my foot is still dropping.
The weekend before last was a busy one. On the Sunday, we went up to Edinburgh ("we" being my best friend Jill, Chris, and I) to watch the rugby, which was Scotland vs New Zealand. The highlight of this was definitely seeing the haka, the tribal "war cry" which was traditionally used to intimidate the opponants, and, to my surprise, I really enjoyed the rugby.
The weekend just gone was busier again. On thursday afternoon, Chris and I made a trek up to North Shields (by trek, I mean car ride :) ) to catch a ferry over to Amsterdam. What an eye opener that was. The ferry journey was long, tiring, and interrupted by dutch war films blasting out from the cabin next door, but it was worth it, as there are some beautiful and historical parts of Amsterdam. I had my eyes opened by women of all shapes and sizes dancing in glass doorways in their underwear, and then saw the wonder that was Anne Franks hiding place, and the Skinny Bridge. The only downfall was the pedal bikes. Beware to anyone who would like a nice calm stroll around Amsterdam... It isn't going to happen... You have to always be on your guard, and then be ready to pretty much ready to dive or jump out the way.
A funny thing that happened while we were there though, we saw someone who lives around 400 yards away from us!
Yesterday was a day with my best friend. A few months ago, I went with Jill to see the latest batman movie. Yesterday was payback! Cue, The Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn Part Two... My guilty pleasure of Edward Cullen. It was amazing. The only problem was that it was the last film of the series! All in all, it was a great film, and all round a great day, which included coffee and Oreo Chocolate Cake and finished with a win at the bingo!
Following on from all of the above, I am tired and in a lot of pain. But it was all so, so worth it. Tonight has been a chilled out night, which included a lovely warm bowl of tomato soup and my Microwavable Beany Bear :)
Anyway...
I'll speak to you all later, hope you're all having a great night!
xxx
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Update (again!)
So the last few weeks has been very very busy between work and hospital appointments.
A week passed Tuesday was the first physio appointment I had had in about 3 or 4 years. She noticed my drop foot and has ordered an ankle splint (unsure of what this will look like) and gave me a few exercises for my hand to try and give me some more function. It was a pretty good appointment and I came out happy enough, although I am still pretty sceptical about the exercises for my hand.
This tuesday was the time of my Occupational Therapist appointment... now I have never had one of these, but later found out this was to create a splint for my hand. I took the whole day off as I was going to the match later on, and had a really good day. My splint is amazing... it has already made me more comfortable while resting! The only problem I find with it is that the little function I did have, while I wear the splint is completely gone, and I am a bit worried in case it has an adverse effect on what the surgeon hopes to do.
This thursday was the turn of my hip, pelvis and abdomin MRI scan. I still need to get the results for this, but I need to ring up to do this... which is not good, as I am scared of the results so keep putting off making an appointment. Before the MRI scan, my mind was taken elsewhere though, as my new splint decided to break and so I ended up back at the Occ Therapist to refit the splint.
All fun and games.
Other News
In other news, I have been reading random books, as nothing tickled my fancy. I came across a Danielle Steele book from years ago called Zoya. Normally, I wouldnt be bothered about the topic of the book, but it was so gripping and well written that I ended up carrying on reading. The topic of the book was the Russian Revolution and then the First World War, and being near Rememberance Day really touched me. It included Love, Hate, Struggle and "Getting There" which really reminds me of life in general (obviously not as extreme...)
Anyway, enough of me rambling on.
Enjoy your day.
xx
A week passed Tuesday was the first physio appointment I had had in about 3 or 4 years. She noticed my drop foot and has ordered an ankle splint (unsure of what this will look like) and gave me a few exercises for my hand to try and give me some more function. It was a pretty good appointment and I came out happy enough, although I am still pretty sceptical about the exercises for my hand.
This tuesday was the time of my Occupational Therapist appointment... now I have never had one of these, but later found out this was to create a splint for my hand. I took the whole day off as I was going to the match later on, and had a really good day. My splint is amazing... it has already made me more comfortable while resting! The only problem I find with it is that the little function I did have, while I wear the splint is completely gone, and I am a bit worried in case it has an adverse effect on what the surgeon hopes to do.
This thursday was the turn of my hip, pelvis and abdomin MRI scan. I still need to get the results for this, but I need to ring up to do this... which is not good, as I am scared of the results so keep putting off making an appointment. Before the MRI scan, my mind was taken elsewhere though, as my new splint decided to break and so I ended up back at the Occ Therapist to refit the splint.
All fun and games.
Other News
In other news, I have been reading random books, as nothing tickled my fancy. I came across a Danielle Steele book from years ago called Zoya. Normally, I wouldnt be bothered about the topic of the book, but it was so gripping and well written that I ended up carrying on reading. The topic of the book was the Russian Revolution and then the First World War, and being near Rememberance Day really touched me. It included Love, Hate, Struggle and "Getting There" which really reminds me of life in general (obviously not as extreme...)
Anyway, enough of me rambling on.
Enjoy your day.
xx
Friday, 19 October 2012
Hemiplegia Awareness Week
With it being Hemiplegia Awareness Week, I was asked to make a video of what living with hemiplegia means to me, but I don't have a video camera, and would probably just mumble or blush through a 20 second video, that I thought it would be better to do a quick short blog about it instead.
I have had hemiplegia since birth, so really when people ask what it feels like, I always answer "normal"... this normally triggers off a whole debate as people always ask "What is normal?" but the greatest answer I have ever come up with is "Me". I am completely normal, and without hemiplegia, I wouldn't be me, so even if I had a choice, I wouldn't get rid of it.
I have a life, a job, a partner, a house, a fully modified car (and a license!), so all the things people my age think is "normal", I have. That doesn't mean to say that I haven't had to overcome certain obstacles to get there, or that I get frustrated or angry at myself or at my hemiplegia for not being able to so something, of course I do, but doesn't everyone?!?
Anyway, I hope this tells you how I feel. Much love for Hemiplegia Awareness Week and Hemihelp!
See you soon!
xx
I have had hemiplegia since birth, so really when people ask what it feels like, I always answer "normal"... this normally triggers off a whole debate as people always ask "What is normal?" but the greatest answer I have ever come up with is "Me". I am completely normal, and without hemiplegia, I wouldn't be me, so even if I had a choice, I wouldn't get rid of it.
I have a life, a job, a partner, a house, a fully modified car (and a license!), so all the things people my age think is "normal", I have. That doesn't mean to say that I haven't had to overcome certain obstacles to get there, or that I get frustrated or angry at myself or at my hemiplegia for not being able to so something, of course I do, but doesn't everyone?!?
Anyway, I hope this tells you how I feel. Much love for Hemiplegia Awareness Week and Hemihelp!
See you soon!
xx
Friday, 28 September 2012
Hospitals, Work and Misc
In the last week I have had 2 hospital appointments, work, a pamper day and a load of family stress.
I'll start with the pamper day...
Me, a friend from work, and 4 of her friends went to a spa and for a meal last thursday night. I had my nails done, which are lovely, and the food at the place Zena works on a night was absolutely delicious!! It was a pasta dish with a tomato sauce with pepperoni, salami and bacon, luuuuush!
Work has been stressful. Between MIS systems not working, people needing help and managers being away, its been really busy!
Hospital visit number 1 was to see my surgeon for my hip. I've had a load of pain in it recently and I have nerve damage in my thigh thanks to op number 2, so I was really worried. Thankfully, nothing seems out of place skeletal wise, but he is worried about the pain so has arranged for a scan of my hip and back to make sure everything is ok. I'm hoping everything is ok, but am slightly nervous.
Hospital visit number 2 was to see a new surgeon, this time for my hand. Recently I have been using my hand less, and my fingers are becoming bent and a little useless. The surgeon was completely the opposite to what I imagined, and has organised for me to have physio and a plastic splint to hopefully stretch my fingers and get me back to being able to use them again. If the splints don't work, then there is more surgery on the cards. Lets hope the splints work eh...
In the week, my boiler has bust, which is awful, but we are looking to get a new one or get this one fixed as soon as possible.
Also, on top of that, my mum has been really poorly, which is really stressful, as I was no where near her, but she is now on the mend so I am on the road to calmness.
Off to the match tomorrow, Sunderland vs Wigan. Looking forward to the day, not looking forward to the match result, will probably get a draw.
Anyway, off to watch all the soaps, speak soon!
xx
I'll start with the pamper day...
Me, a friend from work, and 4 of her friends went to a spa and for a meal last thursday night. I had my nails done, which are lovely, and the food at the place Zena works on a night was absolutely delicious!! It was a pasta dish with a tomato sauce with pepperoni, salami and bacon, luuuuush!
Work has been stressful. Between MIS systems not working, people needing help and managers being away, its been really busy!
Hospital visit number 1 was to see my surgeon for my hip. I've had a load of pain in it recently and I have nerve damage in my thigh thanks to op number 2, so I was really worried. Thankfully, nothing seems out of place skeletal wise, but he is worried about the pain so has arranged for a scan of my hip and back to make sure everything is ok. I'm hoping everything is ok, but am slightly nervous.
Hospital visit number 2 was to see a new surgeon, this time for my hand. Recently I have been using my hand less, and my fingers are becoming bent and a little useless. The surgeon was completely the opposite to what I imagined, and has organised for me to have physio and a plastic splint to hopefully stretch my fingers and get me back to being able to use them again. If the splints don't work, then there is more surgery on the cards. Lets hope the splints work eh...
In the week, my boiler has bust, which is awful, but we are looking to get a new one or get this one fixed as soon as possible.
Also, on top of that, my mum has been really poorly, which is really stressful, as I was no where near her, but she is now on the mend so I am on the road to calmness.
Off to the match tomorrow, Sunderland vs Wigan. Looking forward to the day, not looking forward to the match result, will probably get a draw.
Anyway, off to watch all the soaps, speak soon!
xx
Friday, 14 September 2012
Life Gone Mad
So I haven't posted for a while, so thought, saying as its my first day of doing not much for a while, that I would pop in, say hello, and drone on about all the changes in my life.
The first change in my hectic life was about a week and a half ago, I had my appraisal at work, and am getting a change in Job Role, which I was super excited about (1 week in, the novelty has worn off and I'm a little stressed, but it's all worth it). Now, instead of my job role speaking to learners, and doing general miscellanious work, I now have a very structured job role around the backgrounds of the systems, and stats, which I love and think is amazing (yes, I'm a little odd).
On the down side, in the last few weeks (and after I stupidly tried zumba - even if it was meant for 70 yr olds) my hip has taken a horrendous turn for the worse and has been making me feel pretty rubbish. Our prediction is that the bone has grown back, but because we are not medical professionals, we have settled for making an emergency appointment with the surgeon which is next week, where I'll get x-rays and hopefully it'll just be muscle problems, heres for hoping!
HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK!!! Yesterday we went to the last County Championship cricket game of the season. The good news was that Durham won by 5 wickets (for all those who are not sports fans, thats all i'll say with the actual scores), the great news was that I received a top from Mark Wood (which I am proudly wearing over my leggings, its a bit big and looks a little like a dress :P) and the super great news is that afterwards we went into the bar, had a good night with the players, and was bought a vodka and lemonade by one of the players, Ben Stokes, who is a lovely lad... Gutted that it's the end of the cricket season, but already looking forward to next summer.
Tomorrow we have the first league Sunderland home game of the season, we are hoping it doesn't rain, as the last time it did, our match got called off, and a lot of people got very annoyed lol.
After the Olympic and Paralympic games, I have been somewhat inspired to take up sport and am looking into going swimming. I have been in touch with a guy, who hasn't got back to me, but i'm hoping he will reply with dates and places where I can actively go swimming and hopefully get fitter, help my hip and raise awareness of Hemiplegia and Hip Dysplasia. Wish me luck!
Thats all that has happened so far, so i'll let you know next week how the surgeon appointment goes and if my life EVER calms down :)
Bye for now :)
xx
The first change in my hectic life was about a week and a half ago, I had my appraisal at work, and am getting a change in Job Role, which I was super excited about (1 week in, the novelty has worn off and I'm a little stressed, but it's all worth it). Now, instead of my job role speaking to learners, and doing general miscellanious work, I now have a very structured job role around the backgrounds of the systems, and stats, which I love and think is amazing (yes, I'm a little odd).
On the down side, in the last few weeks (and after I stupidly tried zumba - even if it was meant for 70 yr olds) my hip has taken a horrendous turn for the worse and has been making me feel pretty rubbish. Our prediction is that the bone has grown back, but because we are not medical professionals, we have settled for making an emergency appointment with the surgeon which is next week, where I'll get x-rays and hopefully it'll just be muscle problems, heres for hoping!
HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK!!! Yesterday we went to the last County Championship cricket game of the season. The good news was that Durham won by 5 wickets (for all those who are not sports fans, thats all i'll say with the actual scores), the great news was that I received a top from Mark Wood (which I am proudly wearing over my leggings, its a bit big and looks a little like a dress :P) and the super great news is that afterwards we went into the bar, had a good night with the players, and was bought a vodka and lemonade by one of the players, Ben Stokes, who is a lovely lad... Gutted that it's the end of the cricket season, but already looking forward to next summer.
Tomorrow we have the first league Sunderland home game of the season, we are hoping it doesn't rain, as the last time it did, our match got called off, and a lot of people got very annoyed lol.
After the Olympic and Paralympic games, I have been somewhat inspired to take up sport and am looking into going swimming. I have been in touch with a guy, who hasn't got back to me, but i'm hoping he will reply with dates and places where I can actively go swimming and hopefully get fitter, help my hip and raise awareness of Hemiplegia and Hip Dysplasia. Wish me luck!
Thats all that has happened so far, so i'll let you know next week how the surgeon appointment goes and if my life EVER calms down :)
Bye for now :)
xx
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Left Neglected by Lisa Genova - A truly inspirational Fictonal novel
I've just finished this book, which was recommended to me by a very switched on girl who had told me it was about a woman who had been paralysed on the left hand side. Obviously I was immediately interested in it, downloaded it onto my kindle, and within 4 days have read it cover to cover, laughing, crying and even shouting in frustration along the way.
The story starts with a 37 year old woman (Sarah) with a high class job, a husband who works just as hard but in a less stable job and 3 kids. The first few chapters begin with dreams, which obviously Sarah is having, which gives you a background of her life including her past, how her brother died, and how her mother had become so clinically depressed that Sarah can't actually remember what her mother was like when she was a child. It was a "normal" hectic life she lead. Along the way, her sons (Charlie) school teacher had called for a meeting to discuss his behaviour as it showed signs of ADHD.
On the day that would change her life, Sarah had been driving to work and had been using her mobile phone (please note this novel is based in America, so this is allowed) and hadn't realise stationary traffic, crashed her car and ended up passing out.
When Sarah woke up, she had a tube helping her to breathe and such a bad brain injury that the right side of her brain had hemorrhaged and no longer thought that there was a left side of anything. This meant that she could no longer see things on her left side, whether it was of a room, a book, a drawing or even her body. This is called Left Neglect and made it difficult for her to get dressed, walk and even brush the left side of her head. While she was in hospital, she had intense physio, but with her living in the USA and so not having the luxury of the NHS, she had to be discharged after a while due to the insurance company not paying out after a certain time.
Also, in the time she had been in hospital, her son had been diagnosed with ADHD and so was having to deal with life with it. This is important, as it is her son who comes up with many ideas to help Sarah on her road to recovery.
The next major stage of the book, and the one I find most inspirational, was her road to recovery (I use the word recovery lightly), using something that she had done pre-accident to help her along the way. Sarah used to go Skiing when she didn't have Neglect, and she had badgered her husband to take her to the ski resort, and then had freaked out and just ended up watching. Her mother, whom she had become close to since the accident and had forgiven, had seen a handicapped skier on a board that was controlled by a tandem skier. She had enquired on how Sarah could get involved, but Sarah didn't want to swallow her pride so she didn't end up looking into it.
One day, Sarah got bored, and ended up walking into the centre which helped disabled people to ski, and had found out that her mother had gone in and filled most the paperwork out and that they were more than willing to help her get back out on the slopes, but to make it easier for her, they suggested she snowboarded rather than skied, because of the way you balanced. She took up the offer, and gradually got better at snowboarding, quit her job back home and got a job at this centre for less money but from which she could spend more time with her kids. By no means is she fully recovered, but she's living life to the full.
Reading this book made me realise all the times and tasks I have struggled with, and how I have overcome them, as well as to make me feel proud of who I am and the disability I have. The main message in the book is that you have to live life to the full, but that doesn't mean you have to have a full working body to do so. For this book to have so much belief, even though the characters are completely fictional, makes you feel like you can do anything.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It might even help people with disabilities (not just neglect, and certainly not just hemiplegia) to achieve their goals and work hard to get the life they crave and most importantly deserve. A real feel good book.
The story starts with a 37 year old woman (Sarah) with a high class job, a husband who works just as hard but in a less stable job and 3 kids. The first few chapters begin with dreams, which obviously Sarah is having, which gives you a background of her life including her past, how her brother died, and how her mother had become so clinically depressed that Sarah can't actually remember what her mother was like when she was a child. It was a "normal" hectic life she lead. Along the way, her sons (Charlie) school teacher had called for a meeting to discuss his behaviour as it showed signs of ADHD.
On the day that would change her life, Sarah had been driving to work and had been using her mobile phone (please note this novel is based in America, so this is allowed) and hadn't realise stationary traffic, crashed her car and ended up passing out.
When Sarah woke up, she had a tube helping her to breathe and such a bad brain injury that the right side of her brain had hemorrhaged and no longer thought that there was a left side of anything. This meant that she could no longer see things on her left side, whether it was of a room, a book, a drawing or even her body. This is called Left Neglect and made it difficult for her to get dressed, walk and even brush the left side of her head. While she was in hospital, she had intense physio, but with her living in the USA and so not having the luxury of the NHS, she had to be discharged after a while due to the insurance company not paying out after a certain time.
Also, in the time she had been in hospital, her son had been diagnosed with ADHD and so was having to deal with life with it. This is important, as it is her son who comes up with many ideas to help Sarah on her road to recovery.
The next major stage of the book, and the one I find most inspirational, was her road to recovery (I use the word recovery lightly), using something that she had done pre-accident to help her along the way. Sarah used to go Skiing when she didn't have Neglect, and she had badgered her husband to take her to the ski resort, and then had freaked out and just ended up watching. Her mother, whom she had become close to since the accident and had forgiven, had seen a handicapped skier on a board that was controlled by a tandem skier. She had enquired on how Sarah could get involved, but Sarah didn't want to swallow her pride so she didn't end up looking into it.
One day, Sarah got bored, and ended up walking into the centre which helped disabled people to ski, and had found out that her mother had gone in and filled most the paperwork out and that they were more than willing to help her get back out on the slopes, but to make it easier for her, they suggested she snowboarded rather than skied, because of the way you balanced. She took up the offer, and gradually got better at snowboarding, quit her job back home and got a job at this centre for less money but from which she could spend more time with her kids. By no means is she fully recovered, but she's living life to the full.
Reading this book made me realise all the times and tasks I have struggled with, and how I have overcome them, as well as to make me feel proud of who I am and the disability I have. The main message in the book is that you have to live life to the full, but that doesn't mean you have to have a full working body to do so. For this book to have so much belief, even though the characters are completely fictional, makes you feel like you can do anything.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It might even help people with disabilities (not just neglect, and certainly not just hemiplegia) to achieve their goals and work hard to get the life they crave and most importantly deserve. A real feel good book.
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Update
Its been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd tell you about the holiday I have just been on with my best friend Jill to Loch Tay in Scotland.
My favourite part of the holiday was all the scenery, from Cairngorm, Aviemore and Glenfinnan.
We also visited a few towns, and there was an amazing sweet shop in one of them (forgive me for not remembering where!) where we could be real kids and eat old time sweets by Willy Wonka and giant lollies!!
My favourite part of the holiday was all the scenery, from Cairngorm, Aviemore and Glenfinnan.
 |
| View from Glenfinnan. |
Monday, 6 August 2012
Edinburgh - 5th-6th August 2012
We were supposed to be going to Edinburgh yesterday to watch a game of cricket, but that got moved to Uddingston near Glasgow last week, and ended up being cancelled due to the rain yesterday afternoon anyway. Instead, me and Chris spent a couple of days in Edinburgh, which I thought warranted a blog.
We arrived by train at 11am and headed straight to Edinburgh Castle, which was beautiful even in the rain, and even though I forgot to take a waterproof coat (Yes, I know, Scotland... rain, need a coat..). We looked around war memorials, chapels and castle grounds, and the tour ended up lasting about 2 hrs.
Once we finished the tour of Edinburgh Castle, we went up to the travelodge which was in an Edinburgh Townhouse about a 15 minute walk outside Princes Street. There I had a nice hot bath, a cup of tea and then watched Murray absolutely hammer Federer.
After chilling out for an hour, we were ready to go and experience some of the comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe, in the form of a lad from South Shields, an up and coming comedian Chris Ramsey. He was absolutely hilarious and will become one of the best comedians in the country when he is a little bit older. His show was called Feeling Lucky, and started with him throwing a giant dice around the room to get to know what sort of audience he was telling his jokes to, which was very successful, then got really philosophical about how lucky we all were to be alive, his near death experiences, and then how much he loves his mum and dad. Doesn't sound so funny, but you had to be there, definitely recommend him.He finished the show by telling us about his sky dive, which was just amazing and inspirational and hilarious all at once.
We eventually retired to bed at about 10.30 last night. I was shattered!
When we woke up this morning, the first thing we did was a tour of the Murrayfield ground which is the International Rugby Ground in Edinburgh. Now, I'm not a great fan of rugby, and I don't know the rules, but the stadium was amazing, and huge, and gave me a bit of insight to the type of thing I can expect from when we go to a rugby match in November. Baring in mind the only thing I know about rugby is the Haka, its a good job we are going to see New Zealand. Chris also thoroughly enjoyed the tour of Murrayfield.
After the tour of Murrayfield, we had a walk round the Edinburgh Fringe and just waited around for our train. We managed to spot a Gold Post Box which was painted gold in recognision of Sir Chris Hoy, so of course, I got a photo.. :)
So now, I'm home with a hot water bottle on my hip, and thinking about how I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow. Got lots to sort out for that, so best be off.
Thanks for reading.
xx
We arrived by train at 11am and headed straight to Edinburgh Castle, which was beautiful even in the rain, and even though I forgot to take a waterproof coat (Yes, I know, Scotland... rain, need a coat..). We looked around war memorials, chapels and castle grounds, and the tour ended up lasting about 2 hrs.
 |
| Me Standing in the Rain next to the Royal Gun at Edinburgh Castle |
After chilling out for an hour, we were ready to go and experience some of the comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe, in the form of a lad from South Shields, an up and coming comedian Chris Ramsey. He was absolutely hilarious and will become one of the best comedians in the country when he is a little bit older. His show was called Feeling Lucky, and started with him throwing a giant dice around the room to get to know what sort of audience he was telling his jokes to, which was very successful, then got really philosophical about how lucky we all were to be alive, his near death experiences, and then how much he loves his mum and dad. Doesn't sound so funny, but you had to be there, definitely recommend him.He finished the show by telling us about his sky dive, which was just amazing and inspirational and hilarious all at once.
We eventually retired to bed at about 10.30 last night. I was shattered!
When we woke up this morning, the first thing we did was a tour of the Murrayfield ground which is the International Rugby Ground in Edinburgh. Now, I'm not a great fan of rugby, and I don't know the rules, but the stadium was amazing, and huge, and gave me a bit of insight to the type of thing I can expect from when we go to a rugby match in November. Baring in mind the only thing I know about rugby is the Haka, its a good job we are going to see New Zealand. Chris also thoroughly enjoyed the tour of Murrayfield.
 |
| Me at Murrayfield |
 |
| Me with the Gold Post Box |
So now, I'm home with a hot water bottle on my hip, and thinking about how I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow. Got lots to sort out for that, so best be off.
Thanks for reading.
xx
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Reminiscing
Reading the Hemihelp page on Facebook tonight, where parents are having to learn to deal with their childs' physio and inner embarrassments and frustrations has lead me to reminisce about my journey through my childhood and beyond with Hemiplegia.
I got my first splint at the age of 6, and I will always remember that I was taken out of school one day and I had the plaster of paris (the lushest feeling ever) done, to measure for my splint. I came into school the next day to gossip from the other kids that Steph was going to have a plastic leg and that I was going to be different to everyone else. That night I went home crying that I didn't want my splint because I was going to be different and everyone else was going to notice. The self consciousness was unbelievable, even at such an early age, and that was before I had the splint!
When I did get the splint, I found it uncomfortable to begin with and, although it had a very cool butterfly pattern on it, I didn't want to wear skirts when my splint would be shown or take my shoes off etc. My mum noticed, and bought me the "Hands up for Andi" book, which told the story of a girl who got a splint and who wanted to sell it because she was that embarrassed of it. Eventually she met her hero, who signed the splint and she kept it and loved it. The story told me to love my splint and love who I was so, eventually, the splint issue was overcome.
The next issue was that of the physio, surgeons and general health, which, in reality, is yet to be resolved. When I was younger, I had a great physio named Jane, who knew exactly how to get me to do my exercises, got me a hand splint which I needed, and made me feel accepted. Unfortunately, after around 6 months of her intervention, she left to become a police officer. After that, the physio's discharged me and didn't really get in touch with me.
Then, when I moved from the area of Newcastle into Sunderland when I was 16 years old, my doctor decided I needed a paediatric physio, which would help me get some new splints and exercise which was desperately needed. The physio in sunderland was called Mandy, and she was excellent. She referred me to my first surgeon who gave me a few bouts of botox, which helped to loosen my leg but had adverse effects on my fingers, and helped me overcome this.
As time wore on, I grew older, and eventually, I was too old for the physio to keep on their books, so when I was 20 years old, I was sadly discharged from the physio, but continued on with my first surgeon.
Then came the issues with my hip, and although my surgeon tried cortisone, steroid and local anaesthetic injections in my hip (very painful) nothing seemed to work and so he referred me on to my now Lower Limb Specialist, who, after one x-ray, found that I have Hip Dysplasia, which basically comes from my hip not forming properly as a child and then becoming deformed as my leg length was corrected at the age of 14. To fix this new problem, I needed a major operation to break my pelvis, and re-align my hip. Although, in hindsight, I probably wasn't ready to have this operation emotionally, I pushed ahead with it, and after it being cancelled and postponed for over 3 months after my original operation date, I had the operation to re-align my hip, learnt to walk again (with crutches) and started getting on with my life.
Is that everything? You may ask. No... the story continues...
The day I thought I was on my feet was the day 6 months after my operation, when I had an appointment with my surgeon. I had been experiencing some pain in my hip, and the limb reconstruction physio wanted to get it looked at, and I thought that is was just a bit of bursitis, and after a few cortisone injections I would be as right as rain. Wrong. It turns out my hip had healed TOO well (how?!) and extra bone had formed on my hip, causing the screws to be in the wrong place and so causing all the pain. Another operation was needed.
This brings me to today. 3 months on Thursday since the second operation, I have had my 6 week check, and am back to work, living my life as best as I can, whilst trying to recover on the go. Although I don't think my hip will ever fully recover, I am hoping for the wasted muscle to be eventually built up, and for my legs to actually do what I tell them to in the future. I don't have a physio, so am just going on as I see fit, and hopefully this works.
In the meantime, I have been referred to an upper limb surgeon for my hand, as this has been well and truly neglected over the last 2 years due to the focus on my hip, and I will hopefully get this sorted eventually too.
My advise to all parents, or people with hemiplegia/any other disability, and they are struggling is that with age, you learn to accept your life the way it is dealt to you. No one is perfect, everyone has imperfections, ours is just a little more severe. We all struggle at times, some worse than others, and at different points in our lives, but believe me when I say life with Hemiplegia is OK, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Yes, at times I cry, get frustrated, hurt, but I always have the belief that things can only get better and the sun will shine.
I realise that this blog is one of the longest I have ever seen in my life, but if you have read this, I hope it gives you some insight into my life, and gives you hope that things will be OK as they are in the end, whatever the hurdles.
Thanks very much for reading, I'll write again soon.
xx
I got my first splint at the age of 6, and I will always remember that I was taken out of school one day and I had the plaster of paris (the lushest feeling ever) done, to measure for my splint. I came into school the next day to gossip from the other kids that Steph was going to have a plastic leg and that I was going to be different to everyone else. That night I went home crying that I didn't want my splint because I was going to be different and everyone else was going to notice. The self consciousness was unbelievable, even at such an early age, and that was before I had the splint!
When I did get the splint, I found it uncomfortable to begin with and, although it had a very cool butterfly pattern on it, I didn't want to wear skirts when my splint would be shown or take my shoes off etc. My mum noticed, and bought me the "Hands up for Andi" book, which told the story of a girl who got a splint and who wanted to sell it because she was that embarrassed of it. Eventually she met her hero, who signed the splint and she kept it and loved it. The story told me to love my splint and love who I was so, eventually, the splint issue was overcome.
The next issue was that of the physio, surgeons and general health, which, in reality, is yet to be resolved. When I was younger, I had a great physio named Jane, who knew exactly how to get me to do my exercises, got me a hand splint which I needed, and made me feel accepted. Unfortunately, after around 6 months of her intervention, she left to become a police officer. After that, the physio's discharged me and didn't really get in touch with me.
Then, when I moved from the area of Newcastle into Sunderland when I was 16 years old, my doctor decided I needed a paediatric physio, which would help me get some new splints and exercise which was desperately needed. The physio in sunderland was called Mandy, and she was excellent. She referred me to my first surgeon who gave me a few bouts of botox, which helped to loosen my leg but had adverse effects on my fingers, and helped me overcome this.
As time wore on, I grew older, and eventually, I was too old for the physio to keep on their books, so when I was 20 years old, I was sadly discharged from the physio, but continued on with my first surgeon.
Then came the issues with my hip, and although my surgeon tried cortisone, steroid and local anaesthetic injections in my hip (very painful) nothing seemed to work and so he referred me on to my now Lower Limb Specialist, who, after one x-ray, found that I have Hip Dysplasia, which basically comes from my hip not forming properly as a child and then becoming deformed as my leg length was corrected at the age of 14. To fix this new problem, I needed a major operation to break my pelvis, and re-align my hip. Although, in hindsight, I probably wasn't ready to have this operation emotionally, I pushed ahead with it, and after it being cancelled and postponed for over 3 months after my original operation date, I had the operation to re-align my hip, learnt to walk again (with crutches) and started getting on with my life.
Is that everything? You may ask. No... the story continues...
The day I thought I was on my feet was the day 6 months after my operation, when I had an appointment with my surgeon. I had been experiencing some pain in my hip, and the limb reconstruction physio wanted to get it looked at, and I thought that is was just a bit of bursitis, and after a few cortisone injections I would be as right as rain. Wrong. It turns out my hip had healed TOO well (how?!) and extra bone had formed on my hip, causing the screws to be in the wrong place and so causing all the pain. Another operation was needed.
This brings me to today. 3 months on Thursday since the second operation, I have had my 6 week check, and am back to work, living my life as best as I can, whilst trying to recover on the go. Although I don't think my hip will ever fully recover, I am hoping for the wasted muscle to be eventually built up, and for my legs to actually do what I tell them to in the future. I don't have a physio, so am just going on as I see fit, and hopefully this works.
In the meantime, I have been referred to an upper limb surgeon for my hand, as this has been well and truly neglected over the last 2 years due to the focus on my hip, and I will hopefully get this sorted eventually too.
My advise to all parents, or people with hemiplegia/any other disability, and they are struggling is that with age, you learn to accept your life the way it is dealt to you. No one is perfect, everyone has imperfections, ours is just a little more severe. We all struggle at times, some worse than others, and at different points in our lives, but believe me when I say life with Hemiplegia is OK, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Yes, at times I cry, get frustrated, hurt, but I always have the belief that things can only get better and the sun will shine.
I realise that this blog is one of the longest I have ever seen in my life, but if you have read this, I hope it gives you some insight into my life, and gives you hope that things will be OK as they are in the end, whatever the hurdles.
Thanks very much for reading, I'll write again soon.
xx
Cricket & Books
I'm going to do this blog a little differently today. Normally, when I blog, I tell you what I've done from Oldest to most Recent events, whereas this time, I'm pretty much going backwards. Here goes...
Cricket
This deserves a mention due to the first win of the County Championship season for Durham, which finished in 2 days and an innings.
We were pretty much down and out as soon as we started on Friday, when we were bowled out for 102 in the first innings. Middlesex managed to get about 70 ahead and then on the Saturday we were effectively 35/7 by the time it started to rain on Saturday afternoon. We were all hoping the rain would stop so as not to prolong the agony of being relegated so soon in the season after a disappointing season so far. Durham though held on and kept fighting. 2 tailenders managed to get 60 runs, we bowled them out and ended up winning with 15 runs spare.
Also in cricketing news, Michael Di Venuto has retired from County Cricket due to the fact that his body couldnt take anymore, and has returned to Tazmania. Such a sad loss of an incredible talent, however, to my delight, he left me a cricket top with my friend to give me before he left. I was completely gobsmacked and over the moon.
Books
Daddy by Danielle Steele
This is the latest book which I have read, which warrants a mention in my blog. This told a story of a man whose wife went back to school and pretty much left him high and dry with 3 young kids and all of life's ups and downs to contend with. It is simply a feel good book, which makes you appreciate all aspects of a family, whether it is Mums, Dads, siblings, spouses etc. The whole moral of the story is to stick together, which is a moral that me and Chris have always held close to us. Especially now, with us buying a house, Chris earning money, me fighting against all the health issues, sticking together is such an important message, and so would be my advise to anyone!
Cricket
This deserves a mention due to the first win of the County Championship season for Durham, which finished in 2 days and an innings.
We were pretty much down and out as soon as we started on Friday, when we were bowled out for 102 in the first innings. Middlesex managed to get about 70 ahead and then on the Saturday we were effectively 35/7 by the time it started to rain on Saturday afternoon. We were all hoping the rain would stop so as not to prolong the agony of being relegated so soon in the season after a disappointing season so far. Durham though held on and kept fighting. 2 tailenders managed to get 60 runs, we bowled them out and ended up winning with 15 runs spare.
Also in cricketing news, Michael Di Venuto has retired from County Cricket due to the fact that his body couldnt take anymore, and has returned to Tazmania. Such a sad loss of an incredible talent, however, to my delight, he left me a cricket top with my friend to give me before he left. I was completely gobsmacked and over the moon.
Books
Daddy by Danielle Steele
This is the latest book which I have read, which warrants a mention in my blog. This told a story of a man whose wife went back to school and pretty much left him high and dry with 3 young kids and all of life's ups and downs to contend with. It is simply a feel good book, which makes you appreciate all aspects of a family, whether it is Mums, Dads, siblings, spouses etc. The whole moral of the story is to stick together, which is a moral that me and Chris have always held close to us. Especially now, with us buying a house, Chris earning money, me fighting against all the health issues, sticking together is such an important message, and so would be my advise to anyone!
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Short and Sweet
Just keeping this blog short and sweet.
I have been to the Drs today about my hand being tight, and, as I suspected, the surgeon I am already under is only a lower limb specialist, and so I have an appointment with the hand specialist at the end of september. Hopefully they can do something (I would even retry botox) to untighten my hand!
In other news, I also am still on a phased return to work.
Oh, and British Gas are terrible and we have now cancelled their boiler service for terrible service!!
Thats all.
In a bit
xx
I have been to the Drs today about my hand being tight, and, as I suspected, the surgeon I am already under is only a lower limb specialist, and so I have an appointment with the hand specialist at the end of september. Hopefully they can do something (I would even retry botox) to untighten my hand!
In other news, I also am still on a phased return to work.
Oh, and British Gas are terrible and we have now cancelled their boiler service for terrible service!!
Thats all.
In a bit
xx
Monday, 23 July 2012
Sarah Millican
Venue - Inside Out - Darlington - Last Night - 22nd July 2012
This was one of the best comedy show's I have ever been to. It was only £7 and was a gig for 4 comedian/comediennes to try out some new material on a small crowd which helps them to edit in time for the big arena tours.
The biggest name there was definitely Sarah Millican who appeared twice in the show, and she was accompanied by Gary Delaney, Sally Ann Hayward, and Jonathan Mayor.
The show started with Jonathan Mayor (who was like a mash up between Gok Wan and Alan Carr - his words) coming out, exaggerating his gayness and purposefully making you think "what the hell is he doing up there". He pointed out a straight man in the crowd he fancied and insulting a large man to the hilt. He, we learned, would be presenting the whole thing. Not a great start, but I'm glad we stayed with him...
Next came the first part of Sarah Millican's show. She is so sincere, and makes jokes about her geniune life, which makes it funnier because you can relate to it, and 9 times out of 10, the embarrassment she is describing, you have actually experienced more than once in your life.
Then it was time for the interval. Half an hour of sitting in a steaming hot room wasnt great, but after the great first performance of Sarah Millican, I certainly wasn't about to go anywhere.
Straight after the interval, Jonathan Mayor came back out with a copy of "Fifty Shades of Grey" and stated, in his very camp voice that it was "time for some literature". He then asked the audience what they thought of this book, and although I think it is terrible, I didn't have to guts to shout out. However... there were a few girls in there that had the guts to shout out that it was "like... amazing!!!" Commence, John Mayer ripping it to shreds! It was GENIUS! He started talking about how the 20yr old girl in there was asking "how" his "considerable length" would fit in her... and then started to imitate her giving him a blow job, which had everyone in creases. I think this was actually my favourite moment of the night.
After this genius "moment of the night" it was the turn of Gary Delaney. As I said earlier, this show was a bit of a practice run, so he actually turned up with a clip board, and ended up just reading out the jokes, but it suited him very well and added to his awkwardness, which he admitted to straight away. He started by taking the mick out of the fairy godmother in Cinderella, then started on the one liners, of which some of them toed the line but most of them were hilarious!
After he came on, Jonathan Mayor introduced Sally Ann Haywood. In my opinion, it was a bit flat, and seemed like she was "trying to get back on the horse" after losing her father last year. She started by giving us the story of when she had been to edinburgh and had a family emergency, and she managed to make us all laugh by telling us it looked like she was dissing the other comedian acts. Then it was as though she was reminiscing about her father instead of doing a bit of stand up. I'm sure she'll get there.
So the final part of Sarah Millican was upon us. Cracking stories about things from her dad to her cat to vibrators were thrown about, as well as house hunting and her boyfriend. As I said earlier lots of relatable, funny and real stories, which gave us all a laugh till 11.30pm.
We got home at midnight, well worth 7 quid. Recommend it to anyone who can get their hands on tickets.
Anyway, off to watch the soaps with a cup of tea (yes, i am a little addicted).
In a bit
xx
This was one of the best comedy show's I have ever been to. It was only £7 and was a gig for 4 comedian/comediennes to try out some new material on a small crowd which helps them to edit in time for the big arena tours.
The biggest name there was definitely Sarah Millican who appeared twice in the show, and she was accompanied by Gary Delaney, Sally Ann Hayward, and Jonathan Mayor.
The show started with Jonathan Mayor (who was like a mash up between Gok Wan and Alan Carr - his words) coming out, exaggerating his gayness and purposefully making you think "what the hell is he doing up there". He pointed out a straight man in the crowd he fancied and insulting a large man to the hilt. He, we learned, would be presenting the whole thing. Not a great start, but I'm glad we stayed with him...
Next came the first part of Sarah Millican's show. She is so sincere, and makes jokes about her geniune life, which makes it funnier because you can relate to it, and 9 times out of 10, the embarrassment she is describing, you have actually experienced more than once in your life.
Then it was time for the interval. Half an hour of sitting in a steaming hot room wasnt great, but after the great first performance of Sarah Millican, I certainly wasn't about to go anywhere.
Straight after the interval, Jonathan Mayor came back out with a copy of "Fifty Shades of Grey" and stated, in his very camp voice that it was "time for some literature". He then asked the audience what they thought of this book, and although I think it is terrible, I didn't have to guts to shout out. However... there were a few girls in there that had the guts to shout out that it was "like... amazing!!!" Commence, John Mayer ripping it to shreds! It was GENIUS! He started talking about how the 20yr old girl in there was asking "how" his "considerable length" would fit in her... and then started to imitate her giving him a blow job, which had everyone in creases. I think this was actually my favourite moment of the night.
After this genius "moment of the night" it was the turn of Gary Delaney. As I said earlier, this show was a bit of a practice run, so he actually turned up with a clip board, and ended up just reading out the jokes, but it suited him very well and added to his awkwardness, which he admitted to straight away. He started by taking the mick out of the fairy godmother in Cinderella, then started on the one liners, of which some of them toed the line but most of them were hilarious!
After he came on, Jonathan Mayor introduced Sally Ann Haywood. In my opinion, it was a bit flat, and seemed like she was "trying to get back on the horse" after losing her father last year. She started by giving us the story of when she had been to edinburgh and had a family emergency, and she managed to make us all laugh by telling us it looked like she was dissing the other comedian acts. Then it was as though she was reminiscing about her father instead of doing a bit of stand up. I'm sure she'll get there.
So the final part of Sarah Millican was upon us. Cracking stories about things from her dad to her cat to vibrators were thrown about, as well as house hunting and her boyfriend. As I said earlier lots of relatable, funny and real stories, which gave us all a laugh till 11.30pm.
We got home at midnight, well worth 7 quid. Recommend it to anyone who can get their hands on tickets.
Anyway, off to watch the soaps with a cup of tea (yes, i am a little addicted).
In a bit
xx
Sunday, 22 July 2012
Team GB vs Brazil - Olympic Football..
 |
| Me and Chris at the Team GB vs Brazil Game |
Full time score Team GB 0 - 2 Brazil
What can I say?
Team GB actually played well considering, Brazil were just too good! The likes of Hulk, Neymar and Marcelo were a complete joy to watch and made our class players such as Bellamy and Richards look like school boys who couldn't keep up!
The first goal was a mixture of outstanding passing by the Brazilians from a free kick when Oscar was fouled by Cleverley, and poor defence by the goalkeeper.
The second goal was a penalty, a clear foul by the expert Micah Richards, and Neymar drills it past Jason Steele. Joy to watch and a great Penalty.
One good thing that came out was the Team GB was the subsitution of James Steele and bringing on Ryan Bertrand. Where James Steele was flappy and was around the skill level of a schoolboy, the substitute made at least 4 world-class saves and prevented the Brazilians from scoring any further in the second half.
Overall, it was an amazing experience and I can now say I was part of the Olympics in London 2012.
 |
| Penalty that Neymar scored to put the Brazilian 0-2 up |
Friday, 20 July 2012
The last few days...
Work finished on Wednesday for the week and I was so glad to be coming up to having a break. Busy isn't the word and I'm being relied on a hell of a lot considering I've only been back for 3 weeks after being off for 2 months, in which time anything could have changed. At least I could look forward to 4 days rest, or rather 4 days fun!
Yesterday, my sister came down to my house for the first time since I moved in. She brought the kids (4 years old and 9 months old) down who were generally as good as gold. They were sat watching Lion King, but the littlest one was very clingy due to either a cold or his teeth coming through. I loved having them down, and she said they'd come down again in a couple of weeks, so something to look forward to. I don' actually want my own kids at the moment (thankfully, chris agrees) as I don't think I could cope with Pregnancy and Children 24/7, so to have my 2 nephews, I feel like I'm not missing out on all the good bits.
Today, I had an early start. I had to drop Chris off at a slip road so that he could get to work (saves petrol) as I am going down there later on. This meant that I have about 6 hrs to kill, and so I'm sat on the sofa watching Jeremy Kyle (i'm so glad my life aint that bad) before I get ready and sort myself out.
Later, I have an eyetest as my glasses are scratched to death, and its probably not doing my eye anynd then I'm going to watch the Olympic football at the Riverside stadium in Middlesbrough, Team GB vs Brazil! I'm really excited about this, as we are going to see some world class players from both teams. I'll let you all know tomorrow how the match goes, so watch this post.
In a bit
xx
Yesterday, my sister came down to my house for the first time since I moved in. She brought the kids (4 years old and 9 months old) down who were generally as good as gold. They were sat watching Lion King, but the littlest one was very clingy due to either a cold or his teeth coming through. I loved having them down, and she said they'd come down again in a couple of weeks, so something to look forward to. I don' actually want my own kids at the moment (thankfully, chris agrees) as I don't think I could cope with Pregnancy and Children 24/7, so to have my 2 nephews, I feel like I'm not missing out on all the good bits.
Today, I had an early start. I had to drop Chris off at a slip road so that he could get to work (saves petrol) as I am going down there later on. This meant that I have about 6 hrs to kill, and so I'm sat on the sofa watching Jeremy Kyle (i'm so glad my life aint that bad) before I get ready and sort myself out.
Later, I have an eyetest as my glasses are scratched to death, and its probably not doing my eye anynd then I'm going to watch the Olympic football at the Riverside stadium in Middlesbrough, Team GB vs Brazil! I'm really excited about this, as we are going to see some world class players from both teams. I'll let you all know tomorrow how the match goes, so watch this post.
In a bit
xx
Sunday, 15 July 2012
The Island - Victoria Hislop - Great Book
PJ days always make me feel very reflective, so here it is.
The Island by Victoria Hislop
I have just finished reading this book, which was recommended by Chris's Mum after I let her know about the car crash that is Fifty Shades... What a difference this book is to that...
The basic plot is that there is a girl (Alexis) who has just finished university and has a bit of a strained relationship with her mother and is desperate to find out why her mother doesn't want to talk about her past. While she is on holiday with a man that she is expected to marry but of whom she doesn't know her feelings for, she visits the home town of her mother in Crete (with her mothers consent) and meets with a family friend who has agreed to tell her of her mother's ancestry and what this meant to her.
To cut the long story short, Alexis finds out that her ancestors have had a pretty hard life, which include 2 family members being banished to an Island for having leprosy, and the story of the Dr who found a cure. It also tells of Alexis's Grandmother being unfaithful to her husband and being murdered, causing her mother to be brought up by her aunt.
It was such a well researched book, and all of the characters were completely believable, which was so refreshing from the farce that is famous at the moment - Fifty Shades..
The reason I am reflective about this book is that it was about the exclusion of people for having a then untreatable disease, and then about the cure coming and how people welcomed them back into the community.
Although Hemiplegia isn't a "disease", I found that I was strangely comforted by the plot of this book. Sometimes, having what people class as an "invisible disability" - although if you look closer, it isn't at all invisible - can make you feel so excluded in the world, for example when people hand you change in a shop to the wrong hand, or when you struggle opening a can or cutting up food, but no one can physically see WHY my hand won't do what I'd like it to... The fact that in this book, people were reintegrated, made me very reflective about how accepted I am for me. I have a job which any other person could get, a boyfriend who has accepted me for who I am and I am getting on with my life... and you know what, I deserve every bit of it!
The only bit that I didn't really relate to, was when the cure was found, they were all overjoyed. Obviously, Leprosy causes so much pain, that of course if I had that, I would be eternally grateful for the cure, but as someone with Hemiplegia, I would never ask for a cure. Yes, the symptoms can be painful, and tiring, and confusing, and downright hard to comprehend sometimes, the whole of it is part of me, and I find it impossible to even imagine what I would be like without it. It defines me in a way, and that's really fine, but it doesn't rule my life, and reading The Island has reinforced that feeling, as for the last few weeks I have been struggling with pain and lack of cooperation from my limbs.
Anyway, to conclude, great book, read it if you can. She has only ever written 3 books in total so far, and I am just about to read the second, but the first book was so well written, rehearsed, researched, and reflective, that I have high hopes for the next one.
I'll let you know anyway.
Bye for now
xx
The Island by Victoria Hislop
I have just finished reading this book, which was recommended by Chris's Mum after I let her know about the car crash that is Fifty Shades... What a difference this book is to that...
The basic plot is that there is a girl (Alexis) who has just finished university and has a bit of a strained relationship with her mother and is desperate to find out why her mother doesn't want to talk about her past. While she is on holiday with a man that she is expected to marry but of whom she doesn't know her feelings for, she visits the home town of her mother in Crete (with her mothers consent) and meets with a family friend who has agreed to tell her of her mother's ancestry and what this meant to her.
To cut the long story short, Alexis finds out that her ancestors have had a pretty hard life, which include 2 family members being banished to an Island for having leprosy, and the story of the Dr who found a cure. It also tells of Alexis's Grandmother being unfaithful to her husband and being murdered, causing her mother to be brought up by her aunt.
It was such a well researched book, and all of the characters were completely believable, which was so refreshing from the farce that is famous at the moment - Fifty Shades..
The reason I am reflective about this book is that it was about the exclusion of people for having a then untreatable disease, and then about the cure coming and how people welcomed them back into the community.
Although Hemiplegia isn't a "disease", I found that I was strangely comforted by the plot of this book. Sometimes, having what people class as an "invisible disability" - although if you look closer, it isn't at all invisible - can make you feel so excluded in the world, for example when people hand you change in a shop to the wrong hand, or when you struggle opening a can or cutting up food, but no one can physically see WHY my hand won't do what I'd like it to... The fact that in this book, people were reintegrated, made me very reflective about how accepted I am for me. I have a job which any other person could get, a boyfriend who has accepted me for who I am and I am getting on with my life... and you know what, I deserve every bit of it!
The only bit that I didn't really relate to, was when the cure was found, they were all overjoyed. Obviously, Leprosy causes so much pain, that of course if I had that, I would be eternally grateful for the cure, but as someone with Hemiplegia, I would never ask for a cure. Yes, the symptoms can be painful, and tiring, and confusing, and downright hard to comprehend sometimes, the whole of it is part of me, and I find it impossible to even imagine what I would be like without it. It defines me in a way, and that's really fine, but it doesn't rule my life, and reading The Island has reinforced that feeling, as for the last few weeks I have been struggling with pain and lack of cooperation from my limbs.
Anyway, to conclude, great book, read it if you can. She has only ever written 3 books in total so far, and I am just about to read the second, but the first book was so well written, rehearsed, researched, and reflective, that I have high hopes for the next one.
I'll let you know anyway.
Bye for now
xx
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Frustration!
This post will be boring as hell to read for anyone who doesn't know what this is like, but...
I'm feeling so frustrated today! My hand has gone from not being TOO bad to being unusable within the space of 2 weeks, and its starting to really hurt! I have whats called a Second Skin splint, but its not supporting my arm enough! To top all that off, I tried to get a dr appointment, but because its summer and they have never heard of a locum dr, there aren't any appointments for a week...
I then tried to contact the hospital, the physio, who is off today, so still no further forward and they couldnt even get an appointment with the consultant for the next 2 months. I don't know what to do!!
Work this week has been tiring and difficult, but I'm glad to be back earning more money and giving my brain something to do. It feels like I've never been away, the amount of times I heard my name yesterday was ridiculous!! I'm sure I should be getting paid more... I also passed my 3rd Unit of my Team Leading course the other day.
This weekend, I have a weekend full of cricket! England v Austrailia is coming to Durham, and I'm really looking forward to it, then Durham Dynamos play in a T20 game on Sunday. Hoping that this helps the tension pass!
Anyway, off to get another cup of tea and watch daytime tele!
In a bit!
xx
I'm feeling so frustrated today! My hand has gone from not being TOO bad to being unusable within the space of 2 weeks, and its starting to really hurt! I have whats called a Second Skin splint, but its not supporting my arm enough! To top all that off, I tried to get a dr appointment, but because its summer and they have never heard of a locum dr, there aren't any appointments for a week...
I then tried to contact the hospital, the physio, who is off today, so still no further forward and they couldnt even get an appointment with the consultant for the next 2 months. I don't know what to do!!
Work this week has been tiring and difficult, but I'm glad to be back earning more money and giving my brain something to do. It feels like I've never been away, the amount of times I heard my name yesterday was ridiculous!! I'm sure I should be getting paid more... I also passed my 3rd Unit of my Team Leading course the other day.
This weekend, I have a weekend full of cricket! England v Austrailia is coming to Durham, and I'm really looking forward to it, then Durham Dynamos play in a T20 game on Sunday. Hoping that this helps the tension pass!
Anyway, off to get another cup of tea and watch daytime tele!
In a bit!
xx
Monday, 2 July 2012
Hi ho, hi ho...
...Its back to work I go!
Day one over, and relieved, stressed and tired all at the same time.
After 2 months off, I got to work at 8.30 (after only waking up an hr before) and got straight on with sorting out the mess that has been created since I've been away. Fixing MIS systems and changing spreadsheets is my future...
Before today, had a very busy weekend.
Friday I went to my best friend Jill's house where we watched Harry Potter (Chris banned me from watching it, so I had to see it one day!) and then started on Lord of the Rings with a dominoes pizza (which was relatively cheap since we found a 40% off voucher) before I came back home.
Saturday, my nephew and Godson turned 4. He had a party, where I went for a few hours. Lots of people there who I dont really know so I came back home.
All over the weekend my hand has been playing up and feeling like its one thing after another at the moment. Going to contact my consultant in a couple of weeks if it doesnt improve because its just getting in the way at the moment.
Anyway, off to eat some pancakes (nom nom) and getting another cup of tea :)
In a bit
xx
Day one over, and relieved, stressed and tired all at the same time.
After 2 months off, I got to work at 8.30 (after only waking up an hr before) and got straight on with sorting out the mess that has been created since I've been away. Fixing MIS systems and changing spreadsheets is my future...
Before today, had a very busy weekend.
Friday I went to my best friend Jill's house where we watched Harry Potter (Chris banned me from watching it, so I had to see it one day!) and then started on Lord of the Rings with a dominoes pizza (which was relatively cheap since we found a 40% off voucher) before I came back home.
Saturday, my nephew and Godson turned 4. He had a party, where I went for a few hours. Lots of people there who I dont really know so I came back home.
All over the weekend my hand has been playing up and feeling like its one thing after another at the moment. Going to contact my consultant in a couple of weeks if it doesnt improve because its just getting in the way at the moment.
Anyway, off to eat some pancakes (nom nom) and getting another cup of tea :)
In a bit
xx
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Here Comes the Work
Great News!
After the tidy up of my hip and two months off work, I am going back for 3 days a week starting Monday :)
No more boredom and over-cleaning of the house!
It will be for light duties of course, so I'll not be able to stand for too long, but thanks to Access to Work I have my own desk and chair anyway.
In other news, I had a lovely night last night. Chris took me to a T20 game of cricket (we have season tickets) and against all odds Durham won by 8 wickets, which is fantastic, and means that confidence is hopefully improved (haven't done so well lately...). After that, I had to pop to my parents house, as one of my work colleagues nicely bought me a bunch of flowers which smell lovely!!
On the way home, we stopped at Chris's parents, had a cup of tea, watched the match, then headed home.
All in all, feeling very positive about things today, and looking forward to future. Really feeling like the sun is coming!
See you real soon!
xx
After the tidy up of my hip and two months off work, I am going back for 3 days a week starting Monday :)
No more boredom and over-cleaning of the house!
It will be for light duties of course, so I'll not be able to stand for too long, but thanks to Access to Work I have my own desk and chair anyway.
In other news, I had a lovely night last night. Chris took me to a T20 game of cricket (we have season tickets) and against all odds Durham won by 8 wickets, which is fantastic, and means that confidence is hopefully improved (haven't done so well lately...). After that, I had to pop to my parents house, as one of my work colleagues nicely bought me a bunch of flowers which smell lovely!!
On the way home, we stopped at Chris's parents, had a cup of tea, watched the match, then headed home.
All in all, feeling very positive about things today, and looking forward to future. Really feeling like the sun is coming!
See you real soon!
xx
Monday, 25 June 2012
Happy Birthday Dad
So yesterday was my dads birthday, and I thought that it warrented the post titled, even though most of what this post is not going to contain it.
Been a busy few days to be honest and I'm exhausted and sat chilling out with a cup of tea and a biscuit.
On Saturday, as we get used to having our own house and our own responsibilities, we went round quite a lot of the North East food shopping, trying to find cheap deals on our crisps, milk and frozen food, not forgetting the tinned peaches (some nutrients for me...). This left me pretty tired for the rest of the night. Its worrying me that I'm so exhausted, given that I'm meant to be going back to work, but I'm hoping a few days with my splints on and rest, i'll be absolutely fine.
Sunday helped, I went up to my parents house for Sunday dinner which was Roast Pork (Belly Pork... nom nom) and lots of crackling, which was absolutely divine. Sooo worth the wait for a Sunday dinner saying as it was my first "mum and dads Sunday dinner" since I moved out just under 2 months ago. My dad seemed glad to have me there, and was talking to me all about the football, which I enjoy, and then I came home to watch the England match...
The England match... what do I say about that then... we simply were not good enough. we deserved to be beaten in the 90 minutes and as per normal we are kicked out of Euro2012 by penalties, which is absolutely guttening. On a more positive note, most of the players had a genuine interest in wanting to win, and just need to build stamina and skills. Passion was there. In other words, its a work in progress :)
You will learn with me that I am football crazy and I will mention this again and again when the football season kicks off (I am a keen follower of Sunderland AFC, have a season ticket, and go to as many away games as possible).
In other news, I have read "Fifty Shades of Grey" this weekend, and it is pure fifth. There is no wonder that the American libraries have banned it, would I hell want kids to have any access to it. Soft Porn comes to mind, which also makes me question the thoughts and fantasies of the British public saying it is sold out in most bookstores and supermarkets. My sister has lovingly reassured me that the second book isnt as erotic, and that I might not wonder how this one became available for public sale, so I might try and read it.
Putting this book aside, I thoroughly recommend reading any James Patterson books that you get your mitts on.
So, in conclusion, and if you simply couldnt be bothered to read all of the above (I wouldnt blame you, it is mostly drivvel) I am knackered, I am looking forward to going back to work, I had a good weekend, I love Sunderland AFC and I love reading, although not filthy pornstar books.
If all that hasnt bored you to tears, watch this space, i'll let you know later on how the rest of my week goes.
In a bit people
xx
Been a busy few days to be honest and I'm exhausted and sat chilling out with a cup of tea and a biscuit.
On Saturday, as we get used to having our own house and our own responsibilities, we went round quite a lot of the North East food shopping, trying to find cheap deals on our crisps, milk and frozen food, not forgetting the tinned peaches (some nutrients for me...). This left me pretty tired for the rest of the night. Its worrying me that I'm so exhausted, given that I'm meant to be going back to work, but I'm hoping a few days with my splints on and rest, i'll be absolutely fine.
Sunday helped, I went up to my parents house for Sunday dinner which was Roast Pork (Belly Pork... nom nom) and lots of crackling, which was absolutely divine. Sooo worth the wait for a Sunday dinner saying as it was my first "mum and dads Sunday dinner" since I moved out just under 2 months ago. My dad seemed glad to have me there, and was talking to me all about the football, which I enjoy, and then I came home to watch the England match...
The England match... what do I say about that then... we simply were not good enough. we deserved to be beaten in the 90 minutes and as per normal we are kicked out of Euro2012 by penalties, which is absolutely guttening. On a more positive note, most of the players had a genuine interest in wanting to win, and just need to build stamina and skills. Passion was there. In other words, its a work in progress :)
You will learn with me that I am football crazy and I will mention this again and again when the football season kicks off (I am a keen follower of Sunderland AFC, have a season ticket, and go to as many away games as possible).
In other news, I have read "Fifty Shades of Grey" this weekend, and it is pure fifth. There is no wonder that the American libraries have banned it, would I hell want kids to have any access to it. Soft Porn comes to mind, which also makes me question the thoughts and fantasies of the British public saying it is sold out in most bookstores and supermarkets. My sister has lovingly reassured me that the second book isnt as erotic, and that I might not wonder how this one became available for public sale, so I might try and read it.
Putting this book aside, I thoroughly recommend reading any James Patterson books that you get your mitts on.
So, in conclusion, and if you simply couldnt be bothered to read all of the above (I wouldnt blame you, it is mostly drivvel) I am knackered, I am looking forward to going back to work, I had a good weekend, I love Sunderland AFC and I love reading, although not filthy pornstar books.
If all that hasnt bored you to tears, watch this space, i'll let you know later on how the rest of my week goes.
In a bit people
xx
Thursday, 21 June 2012
Hospital Visit - 6 week check
So its almost a week since my hospital appointment following the screws being taken out of my hip from the operation last year. My consultant is happy with the formation of the hip this time, and thankfully no more extra bone (painful!!) has formed on my hip. The only problem is that the registrar who took the screws out actually nicked a nerve, and so I can no longer feel part of my thigh (Needless to say, lots of bruises there from where I've knocked it now). He wants to therefore keep an eye on that. Also, my muscle might be too short now that the hip is formed properly and so he wants to keep an eye on that and possibly lengthen it if it starts causing me any problems.
I'm feeling positive and negative about last week, positive because it means we are finally getting there with my hip formation, but negative because theres still a hell of a lot of pain in my leg, which i'm not sure he'll deal with because he is a hip specialist... and because he's the first surgeon who I have 100% trusted, and I would hate to think he discharged me.
I also have had no physio since my last op, which is concerning as the muscles are week and are starting to tighten up, and I'm starting to trip and fall more. I'm wondering whether I should go to the dr and ask to be transferred to get a new splint, or whether to leave it for a little while and then mention it to my surgeon who is fully aware of my hemi problems.
After this appointment, it means I can (finally!) go back to work, so am due to go back on the 2nd July. I really can't wait as I need my mind to be challenged, and I'm looking forward to having my normal wage back instead of being on statituary sick pay.
Looking forward to the future and will keep you all updated :)
xxx
PS Portugal look to win this match in the Euros.... I think Germany will win it overall, even though I hope England go on to win it
xx
I'm feeling positive and negative about last week, positive because it means we are finally getting there with my hip formation, but negative because theres still a hell of a lot of pain in my leg, which i'm not sure he'll deal with because he is a hip specialist... and because he's the first surgeon who I have 100% trusted, and I would hate to think he discharged me.
I also have had no physio since my last op, which is concerning as the muscles are week and are starting to tighten up, and I'm starting to trip and fall more. I'm wondering whether I should go to the dr and ask to be transferred to get a new splint, or whether to leave it for a little while and then mention it to my surgeon who is fully aware of my hemi problems.
After this appointment, it means I can (finally!) go back to work, so am due to go back on the 2nd July. I really can't wait as I need my mind to be challenged, and I'm looking forward to having my normal wage back instead of being on statituary sick pay.
Looking forward to the future and will keep you all updated :)
xxx
PS Portugal look to win this match in the Euros.... I think Germany will win it overall, even though I hope England go on to win it
xx
First Ever Blogger (Watch out!)
So this is my first time writing a blog, which I guess will be used when I have nothing to do and want to vent some frustration (what else do people use them for!?).
You may all ask why I have named my page "Here Comes The Sun". Its not because I am a Sunny person and have such a big head that I'm warning you that I'm about to brighten up your day. The reason I have chosen to call it this is because, as I look out at an extremely dark and dingy day, I like to be optimistic that both literally, and metaphorically, the sun is going to come out and life can always get better.
My name is Steph and I am 22 years old. My life is pretty normal, apart from a few anomalies, but whose life is completely smooth and picture perfect?
I have a job in admin, which even though can be stressful at times, I do love and throw myself at all the time. My partner Chris sometimes tells me I don't get paid enough, or I work with too much stress, and half the time I tend to agree, but on the whole, its a pretty good, stable job. At the moment though, I'm off on the sick, but i'll explain more of that later.
I have just moved into my lovely new home, and while the carpet in the living room needs changing and the tiles in the bathroom are chipped, i love it, and will never move house ever again (in part due to the stress of getting all of my stuff out of my parents house!)
As I said before, I'm off on the sick from work at the moment. This is due to a disability I have called Hemiplegia, which means that my left limbs are considerably weaker than my right ones, so in effect, and I can say this because its me, I'm a bit wonky. Last year I had to have my pelvis realigned because my left hip wasnt formed properly, which meant I had 6 months off, but this year I've had a bit of a tidy up of the hip, screws taken out etc and that's why I'm sat in my pj's writing this blog instead of just being home from work and starting to make the tea! As well as my leg being slightly wonky, I only have use of my thumb and index finger on my left hand, and so normal tasks people carry out, I have to find an easier one handed way of doing it. When I concentrate my arm also raises up which means anyone sat to the left of me gets a clonk on the head!!
The reason I'm giving you my whole medical history is because this is mainly what I will blog about, whether its daily because I'm bored, weekly updates from work or yearly because I completely forgot that I had a blog running.
Anyway, I'll stop boring you all now, have a great evening and I'll speak to you all in the near future.
See you real soon!
You may all ask why I have named my page "Here Comes The Sun". Its not because I am a Sunny person and have such a big head that I'm warning you that I'm about to brighten up your day. The reason I have chosen to call it this is because, as I look out at an extremely dark and dingy day, I like to be optimistic that both literally, and metaphorically, the sun is going to come out and life can always get better.
My name is Steph and I am 22 years old. My life is pretty normal, apart from a few anomalies, but whose life is completely smooth and picture perfect?
I have a job in admin, which even though can be stressful at times, I do love and throw myself at all the time. My partner Chris sometimes tells me I don't get paid enough, or I work with too much stress, and half the time I tend to agree, but on the whole, its a pretty good, stable job. At the moment though, I'm off on the sick, but i'll explain more of that later.
I have just moved into my lovely new home, and while the carpet in the living room needs changing and the tiles in the bathroom are chipped, i love it, and will never move house ever again (in part due to the stress of getting all of my stuff out of my parents house!)
As I said before, I'm off on the sick from work at the moment. This is due to a disability I have called Hemiplegia, which means that my left limbs are considerably weaker than my right ones, so in effect, and I can say this because its me, I'm a bit wonky. Last year I had to have my pelvis realigned because my left hip wasnt formed properly, which meant I had 6 months off, but this year I've had a bit of a tidy up of the hip, screws taken out etc and that's why I'm sat in my pj's writing this blog instead of just being home from work and starting to make the tea! As well as my leg being slightly wonky, I only have use of my thumb and index finger on my left hand, and so normal tasks people carry out, I have to find an easier one handed way of doing it. When I concentrate my arm also raises up which means anyone sat to the left of me gets a clonk on the head!!
The reason I'm giving you my whole medical history is because this is mainly what I will blog about, whether its daily because I'm bored, weekly updates from work or yearly because I completely forgot that I had a blog running.
Anyway, I'll stop boring you all now, have a great evening and I'll speak to you all in the near future.
See you real soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)