What an amazing day! :)

Well, I was planning on a detailed blog entry about my adventures of meeting up with a couple of other AUK people, and the various happenings that have been going on. However, things have been a bit crappy for me lung wise and I don't quite have the energy for it, for now - so I must just make a briefer post first!

On Saturday, I met up with some family friends who have been over from the US and went for a daytrip to London. We'd booked tickets for Waiting for Godot, utilising the theatre's 'Accessibility' rate to get accesible seats without needing to go up all the steep steps (and most of the West End theatres don't have much going in the way of lifts!).

Was quite cool, as this meant we got two tickets in the stalls (one for me, and one for my 'assistance provider'(!?!!) for only £17 each, instead of the usual £50 something. This certainly compensated for the fact that all 4 of us had to buy stalls seat tickets in order for us to be able to sit together, whereas if I'd not had my mobility issues - we'd have bought cheaper tickets higher up in the theatre. We found a member of staff on arrival, and they took me in via the stalls exit door, directing me via an (almost) step free route to some rather good seats, with close access to a disabled loo had we needed it!

The play was fantastic, as was to be expected I suppose. I'm a bit of a fan of Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, so anything with these two playing the main characters was likely to be a hit! Afterwards, the 4 of us slowly wandered round to the stage door, on the off-chance we could get the autographs of any of the members of cast. We did a bit better than we could have hoped for; getting photos and autographs from the four main cast members! :)

Patrick Stewart

Ronald Pickup

Sir Ian McKellen

Simon Callow

What an amazing day.

Where to begin???

Can't believe it has been so long already since my last post.

Hmmm, I guess time flies when you're having fun.....

You could say I've had a busy few weeks.

I've been up to Leeds to spend a weekend with Amy, been catching up with some old Derby friends, had my usual circus of hospital appointments each week, and have been attempting to sort out my spare room. This weekend I'm heading down south to catch up with some old family friends who are over from the US - including a trip to London's West End to see Waiting for Godot. I'm really excited, and trying to store up some energy so that I last the weekend!

Today, though - I'm pretty shattered - I had to be up early for a "Pathways to Work" interview at 9 at the Jobcentre; a requirement of the health related benefits I've been getting. They are meant to 'offer' me 6 compulsory work focused discussions to "assist on return to work" in order for my benefits to continue being paid. Thankfully (in some ways) the person interviewing me realised that I was "obviously a long way from being fit for work" and therefore was not really at a point where their meetings will be of any use at all, and in fact may be detrimental to my health to drag me in for meetings, so she has postponed the next one till February. Secretly though, I was a bit gutted that a non-medically trained person was able to come to her conclusion about my lack of fitness for work so readily though - as I'm not really all that ready to accept that a return to work is such a distant goal just now. Patience is not one of my strongest character traits!

I've subsequently been up the hospital for physio, acupuncture and to see my local respiratory consultant. Since getting home, I've done little than fall asleep for hours at a time, and watch a bit of Wimbledon on the TV.

More updates soon. There's lots going on just now!

I've been tagged!

Well, this is one way of possibly getting more than one post from me today! lol

I've been tagged, not once - but twice!






So, here goes my answers to the tagging from Louise and Joey.

6 Unimportant things that make me happy. Oooh. That's a difficult one. I keep thinking of things that ARE important!

• Watching the sunrise
• The first night in my own bed after escaping from hospital captivity, and waking up to my own timetable.
• Driving my car.
• Tea (am currently drinking my second BIG (pint sized) mug of the morning and it's not even 8am!
• Bubble baths.
• Swimming in a warm outdoor pool on a crisp cool morning, before most people are even awake. Not been able to do this in a LONG time, so will be a very special day when I get to do it again!

And now to tag 6 people (hmmm - to find 6 folks who haven't been tagged already, that tough...maybe this will put new life in a couple of not too recently updated blogs amongst the list ;) !)...Trouble, Wherrers, Simi, Nikki and Nat&Bren and Paul.

A day of mixed feelings

Ho hum. Not really sure what my overall feeling is about yesterday. I guess i'd summarise as some good news, and not such good news.

Yesterday was busy. Woke up before my alarm courtesy of a cat laying on my chest, who then had decided to give me my morning wash! I woke up rather suddenly when the raspy cat tongue started licking me! Eww!!! Cat biscuit breath. Yuck.

After more pleasantly waking myself up with a proper wash (as opposed to the Billy the cat’s interpretation of a facewash) and a nice coffee, I drove home, and sorted out a few bits including again chasing the DVLA for the official result of my driving licence medical enquiries.

I have apparently met all their requirements, and can drive officially again! :)

I’d had about 18 months where I couldn’t drive due to my double vision as well as because of the neurosurgeons attacking my skull with a drill last summer and then replacing my malfunctioning VP shunt at the end of last year. Once the time ban after the surgery had passed, and my eyesight had improved back to normal – I had spoken to the DVLA enquiring about getting my licence back. They’d turned round and said, “Oh – well if your neurologist and insurance is happy, you can drive whilst we conduct our investigations.” Seemed a tad bizarre to me at the time, as the results could have meant they had turned round and told me that actually I wasn’t safe after all! However, as it took over 4 months for them to do the relevant letters and repeating the eye investigations to their liking – I guess I understand why their policy is like it is, and was glad that they said I could drive in the meantime.

Anyway... they’ve now given me the official go-ahead, so I can now think about a new car. I want one that’ll be easier on my joints than my current one. Any suggestions? Imagine I'll end up going for an automatic :( with cruise control. Might investigate the possibility of adaptations for steering wheel accelerator and brake controls, as even with going for the automatic option, it's still putting all the pressure through my bad hip, and my more troublesome knee. I need to find the best way of maintaining the ability to drive, whatever happens to my hip - yet driving is causing me quite a lot of problems just now...but the car is absolutely essential in getting me around.

I had a whole range of appointments today. Physio was ok, had a combination of acupuncture and more traditional physio treatments. The physio was a little shocked by the size of my swollen right knee though. Lucky she's not here now...as they are now both looking very red and swollen :(

One of the respiratory nurses gave me my 4 weekly xolair (anti IgE) jab whilst I was waiting for clinic. The clinic appt was ok, my asthma is pottering along in a steady state of instability...if you get what I mean! I didn’t really get the answers I was looking for with regard to my questions about my summer holiday. Well, I guess you could say that I just didn’t get answers at all, rather than just the ones I wanted. The response was – “we’ll discuss it in a fortnight!” Hmmm. Not sure if it was just because I was meeting the Registrar, as the consultant was away – or if that’s what the consultant would have said anyway. I suspect the latter. Understandable, but frustrating at the same time as prevents me planning anything.

The rheum nurse appointment was good. I’d not really known much about the role of a Rheumatology specialist nurse before – but it certainly seems quite extensive and useful for the patients. Rheum will be taking over the responsibility of my methotrexate prescribing and blood monitoring. Just as well, as I got the distinct impression that the resp team were not too happy with the dose changes and the suggestion of swapping to subcut injections to try and prevent the awful nausea and vomiting I’ve been getting with the tablets. Am glad i've got the chance to swap - as it's really been miserable. The nurse went through the technique for giving the injections to myself... thankfully I was reassured that I did have it already mastered! I am pleased that they are actually going through the process, treating me like a normal patient, rather than assuming a certain level of medical knowledge or skill. On the whole, whilst I like to get involved in fairly detailed discussions about my medical management - I prefer the doctors and nurses treating me to not assume anything and to just treat me like any other reasonably informed, educated, interested patient unless I ask otherwise..as when you find yourself in the patient's role-sometimes the last thing you think about is applying the knowledge you learnt at medical school or in work, or if you do - it's often not with the most common sense approach! Whilst I was there, she calculated my disease score – I was quite shocked when she told me how high it was, especially given my pred dose at the moment. She then explained the DAS-score’s role in inflammatory arthritis management. Much higher and I’d have have met the threashold for anti-TNF treatment for my joints. :(

I came away a tad unhappy with that, as unless the methotrexate works wonders...when my pred dose comes down, my joints are likely to flare like they have done previously – I may have to make difficult decisions as it's not a drug to take on lightly.

I then drove home via the scenic route, with some rather loud music and the windows open to try and clear my head a bit. Sorted some things out at home, and headed back over to Nottingham – I’ll soon be able to navigate the A52 with my eyes closed [not that I’m planning on trying that! ;)] I’m staying with the cats again prior to my MRI on Friday. Had a pretty rough night (as very sicky with the methotrexate again. Can’t wait till those injections arrive! ) which is why I’m updating my blog at this time! Am glad I’ve had the cats for company. Somehow the fact that there’s another creature awake makes it easier to deal with.

Hoping that I’ll be able to catch up with a couple of friends today who are working at the same hospital I’m going to for my scan, which will be great...I just need to make sure I can stay awake! Time to try sleep again, methinks....

.....sleep still proving elusive, so two little titbits of info for you:

• Next week, it looks like i've got all of my 5 appointments into two days, so whilst they'll be busy days... I can actually have days where I'm not visiting a hospital! Yay! :) I guess that sounds like a silly thing to celebrate.. however, in the past 2 weeks, I've spent 9 weekdays going back and forth to hospital appointments and the only reason it was 9 and not 10 weekdays was due to the bank holiday! I think 3 weekdays off next week is therefore due cause to raise a smile! :D
• I got my OU computer marked assignment back for my digital photography course.... 95% Woohoh! :) Am absolutely stunned. I ended up doing some cramming of a lot of weeks theory, because I'm a long way behind in the course schedule. Guess I got the whole studying technique thing polished properly during those med-school years after all, and that it is a transferable skill! Shame that won't apply to the practical aspects of the course - I've got a serious amount of catching up to do before the end of course assignment...I hope my body lets me!

Sorry for the rambling nature of this post.... I think it reflects a bit how I feel after yesterday!

Of mice and makeovers...

Of Mice. Of a mouse, to be precise.

I was half expecting Jeremy Beadle from 'You've been framed' to jump out at me.

Picture me, on crutches...trying to chase a cat, who's chasing a live mouse around my friend's living room! The cat, Billy - had proudly presented it to me a moment earlier, and seemed quite annoyed I wasn't pleased with his gift- so decided to chase it himself...and I ended up chasing the both of them.

I guess I should explain....

I'm currently cat-sitting for some friends who are on their honeymoon. They've had a neighbour feeding their animals, but I think you could say their love of cats is minimal, so the animals have been getting food without the required dose of fuss!

I couldn't make it over here last week due to having somewhat overdone it at L&J's wedding (which was AMAZING!) - so had spent most of the week in bed, exhausted and with a very sore hip :(

Anyway, now I'm a bit better, and have been able to get back behind the wheel. It's just as well - I've got appointments of some medical sort or another every day this week, at 3 different hospitals across the Midlands- including blood tests, clinic appointments, hydrotherapy, and a MRI.

Tomorrow is my busiest day. Physio & acupuncture, Xolair jab, resp clinic and rheumatology clinical nurse specialist appt.

It’s the respiratory consultant appointment that I’m almost nervous about. I want to ask him about me going on holiday. I’ve not had a holiday in over 2 years, and I really, really, really want to leave the country for 3 weeks in July/Aug to recharge my batteries with some sunshine, good food and red wine with some friends who are going to the French Alps. It’s going to be logistically tricky given my rather heavy hospital appointment schedule – even ignoring all the physio bits, I’ve been being seen weekly or fortnightly ever since the hospital admission when I got tubed. I need to somehow convince him that this frequency can be decreased and that I don’t need blood tests whilst I’m away, ask about the possibility of flying (he’ll probably just laugh at this, given my previous consultant’s responses to the same question) and then hope that I can find travel insurance to cover me without totally breaking the bank. In a way, I feel like I’m a bit loopy even trying to plan a holiday when there’s so much going on with my asthma and hip, but I can’t simply work by the ‘wait till I’m better’ theory... as who knows when that’ll be!

What's that? A stone? Would be easier to get blood from it than from me, anyway, it seems.

I caused a little distress to the Phlebos at the hospital earlier. I guess I should have known it was going to be tough when I collected my ticket (like at the supermarket fresh meat counter!) and it was number 13! I went through when my number was called, to be met with the response - 'Oh no...not you again!' Between them, the phlebos eventually got the blood- some into teeny paediatric bottles. I came out with a lot of bits of cotton wool and plasters! They've even started joking about how they're going to make sure they are on holiday next time I need blood tests. Eeek!

I stayed with a friend in Derby last night after my Birmingham appt, went home for the pin-cushion treatment (sorry, I meant blood tests!) ;)... and now I'm staying with the aforementioned in Nottingham cats for a few days whilst I've got hospital appointments in Grantham and Nottingham.

I've dosed myself up with extra antihistamines, and a little extra pred - as a preventative measure against any allergic reactions and asthma lung grumpiness due to the furry mogsters! I'm sadly a little allergic to cats, although until last summer I have had cats at home all my life. I was gutted when Magic (my old cat) had to be put down last summer after becoming ill very quickly... having had a very good 23 years of good health up to that point, which is an amazing lifespan for a cat. My current state of health and consequent repeated hospital admissions mean that at the moment, whilst I'd love a cat or two of my own again - I can't really commit to the responsibility just now... so for the time being, I get my cat 'fix' when visiting friends. I'm getting a good 'dose' right now... as there's seven cats keeping me company!

Some of the cats took some time to realise that there was actually a human around who wanted to fuss them... it took the smell of a Nando's takeaway to drag them out of their hiding places!

Tango, Pebbles, and Buttons were around when I arrived and immediately wanted fuss. Simba was a little aloof, and went out in disgust! Nala, Billy, and Astro took a while to realise there was anyone around. I think they'd only been coming home when they were hungry. Billy was the culprit involved in the mouse incident. The mouse is now safe, recovering in a box in the kitchen overnight with some shredded paper and rabbit food. Billy is still looking very proud of himself, and is curled up on my knee. Clover, the rabbit - is happily kicking around in a fresh pile of shredded paper, and all the other cats are now happily asleep in various locations. Tango, who's asleep across the back of the sofa across my shoulders is even snoring!

And on to the second part of my title...Makeovers.

Any previous readers will notice that there has been a rather large change in the appearance of my blog. This is all due to hard work from Louise from Write From The Heart, who with the rather limited help from myself has come up with some awesome blog graphics. I essentially said I'd like the graphics to include a stethoscope and an inhaler....to reflect the 'doctor as patient' role I currently find myself stuck in..and, well - this is the result! :)

I just love the header graphics, and think my custom signature is fab. What do you think?

I'm hoping the new look will encourage more blogging on my part, and hopefully - some more interaction / feedback from anyone who's following it! Hint, Hint, wink wink, nudge, nudge!!! ;)

There will be a few small changes coming up later on. The twitter link needs changing to the correct one -this numpty here forgot that she'd changed it, and gave Louise the old one! Doh!

Anyway, is getting late, I should probably even say early..as its the early hours....I suppose I better sign off and go to bed. I just need to persuade the cats that it's time to move! I'll try to update you again soon.