Hospital

Well i was doing so well and then a virus got me. It took away my ability to sit up, which as some of you know am in a wheelchair so i need all the muscles i can get to be able to transfer.

I spent 4 days in bed and then begged mum to take me to the gym. I go for 2 hours a week and its not just about exercise, its about the social side as well. My gym instructor babysat me for abit and took me to see his dogs. I love animals so it really cheered me up.

Mum made a doctors appointment against my wishes hehe. I just thought i would get better, however the doctor took one look at me and sent me to the hospital.

I don't remember much of my 3 week stay but i will tell you the bits i do remember. I had to be hoisted in and out of bed and i couldn't hold my head up. My bladder stopped working so i had to be catheterised. I stopped eating and drinking as my swallowing was affected. I was the put on a feeding tube. Its a tube that goes up your nose and into your stomach. I also had to have endless drips and replacement vitamins as i lost some. They also messed with my anti depressants and put me on another one. That was hell as i turned into a monster. Luckily I'm back on my ones now and nice Hayley is back hehe.

Slowly i started to recover and came out last Monday. There was a problem though. The hospital said they had referred me to rehab but lied as they hadn't even done the referral. I rang my o.t and she got me into the same one I've been in the last 2 years. I am sooo grateful to my physio and o.t. I know i can count on them if i get ill.

After spending 3 days in bed at home, i finally had a place at rehab and that's where i am now. Due to my ehlers danlos syndrome and probably the virus, my stomach muscles don't work well so i have lost a huge amount of weight and am on endless medication.

I am relearning how to sit up and use my muscles again. After being in bed for about a month, i have got very weak.

There were times that i didn't want to carry on. I didn't want to start all over again. But slowly i got there.

Can't wait to spend Christmas with my family and happily see the new year.

Merry Christmas to you all xx

Sewing

Lately I've been getting into sewing. I also wanted to sew but everything would turn out rubbish. However it seems to have finally "clicked" and I'm not getting so stressed.

So here is my first project. I made it for my brother's girlfriend's birthday. Hope she likes it.

I have been missing from my blog again, ooopsy. As always life has been a mad rush of hospital appointments.

Anyway, i seem to have a new addiction, sewing. I won a book in a competition and i fell in love with it. It's actually for children but i found the instructions much easier to follow than any other sewing book.

Here is my first make. Rover and his baby.

Lately i have been reflecting on what i really want out of life. I've has the past 3 weeks off from going to the gym and it has given me time to think and also do things that i really want to do.

The last few months have all been about trying to walk again in my new leg braces. I have about one good day a month where I'm able to do more than a few steps. The problem being is things have become quite repetitive week in week out. Gym twice, physio, doctors, consultants.

If i have an appointment in the morning, for me that is my whole day as i get so exhausted i will go to bed till all afternoon. I'm not getting any time to do things i actually want to do. I've decided that i don't want my life to be all able trying to walk again. I want to actually have a life.

Being in a wheelchair is not the end of the world. Ive been on my chair for over 2 years now, I'm used to it. Walking is alien to me now. The chair hasn't stopped me doing anything, its my other conditions and exhaustion that have.

I decided in September i am going to do a college course on a Saturday morning for 6 weeks. I've also found a hydrotherapy pool to go to on a Monday., which i think will mean dropping a gym session.

In other news I'm struggling with food. My stomach has slowed down because of my condition. I never thought i would be in a position where i have to eat as many calories as i can. I always wanted to lose weight and now its the opposite. Also my appointment with my gastro consultant was moved from September to April 2015, eeeeek. However is has now been moved to October this year, phew.

Anyway your get a gold star for reading all this, ill leave you with picture of  a scissor case that i made.

Recent Creations

My first ever pin cushion that i made. I may have become addicted to sewing now .

                                                      Cards i made for charity

 And finally a pic of me on my 30th birthday. I had a lovely time at my brother's in somerset and the world hasn't ended now that I'm older haha.

Sometimes there are simple things in life that really make me smile. Here is one of them.

Sunflowers that my mum brought me

Life has been consumed by hospital appointments. I went to see a consultant about my ongoing stomach issues and it appears that due to my conditon, my stomach has slowed down. I am on lots of medication for it and have an endoscopy on tues.Eeek very nervous.

Anyway i thought i would post some pics of my recent wins. They always cheer me up.

Liz Earle cleanse and polish

£20 pizza express gift card

            Sarah Jessica Parker perfume that my mum loves, so I'm saving it for her birthday

                                                               Hand and Body wash

digital camera. It is a pink one.

Rainbow rocks doll

I love all the prizes i win and give them away as presents to family x

I've been feeling creative lately so made this.

It was a kit i brought at the nec. As always i am critical of everything i make and can see lots of mistakes but it was my first try and overall I'm pretty pleased with him.

 I also made this card that was in a magazine. I love the papers x

Single and 30

This post is abit random and reflective.

Today I'm going to my brother's wedding, and i have to say as a singleton i don't like it. It makes you think 'oh no I'm 30 in July and still single'

There are advantages to being single:

1. I get to do what i want

2. i get the whole bed to myself

3. I get to eat as much chocolate that i want

4. I get to watch what i want on tv

5. I can stay in my pjs all day without anyone knowing

6. I love my cats and can shut them away when they annoy me. Not sure i could do that with a man.

7. I only have myself to tidy up after

However when people get married, i get abit jealous. I think of it like in the films, romantic and they live happily ever after.

Meeting a man is abit tricky as i only go to the gym, hospital appointments,shopping. Friends come and go as they lead busy lives. So I'm also worried i will end up alone forever and i worry that when my mum dies what will i do.

So I've come to the conclusion that maybe i should hire a man haha. I can't send him back when I've had enough and hire him for family occasions. I won't have to clean up after him and most of all i can choose what he looks like. Sounds like a win win to me. 

Now off i go to be a guest at my brother's wedding. I suppose it doesn't stop me doing some window shopping while I'm there.

bye for now from a lonely singleton x

While reading a few blogs, I came across this video. It really does make you think about how we live our life now. 

Children don't seem to go out to play anymore. When i am at the doctors i see mums with sick children texting on there phone or on facebook.

My nephews seem to be glued to there ipods, playing games.

Do we really need to share with the world what we had for dinner or where we are.

Please watch this, its brilliant x

I've been absent for abit and this is why.

My new craft desk from http://www.storage4crafts.com/shopx/home.php. I wanted to change it as i wasn't managing with my old one. I couldn't  cope with the fact that when i wanted something i had to get everything out. Now if i want a piece of cardboard then i can just open a draw and magic it will be in there. 

The problem now is what project to make first hehe.

Prizes

I haven't told you all about my other hobby yet as i didn't want people to judge me. You see i like to enter competitions. When i get presents through the post it brightens my day and i really enjoy it. 

So here are a few prizes i have won in recent months.

   6 bottles of rapeseed oil

                         Stunning bouquet of flowers from interflora. 

These really cheered me up, as i don't normally buy flowers for myself.

£40 hungry horse voucher. I going to take my parents out for a long overdue meal.

             Pretty things from http://www.etsy.com/shop/ohsquirrelshop. They all came in lovely packaging as well.

 £100 Abel and Cole vouchers

And my best win last month was £1500 amazon vouchers. I couldn't believe it. I gave £500 to my parents and brought my brother a kindle. I also brought myself a new washing machine. Yes boring things but they were needed.

Look what i've got.

 

Me standing for the first time in 2 years in my new leg braces. They come all the way from my feet to around my waist and lock at the knees. I will never be able to walk without them but can do a few steps in them.

This is me taking my first steps. Was incredibly hard work and and put me in bed for a week but i loved it. It was so strange being upright as I'm so used to being in a chair now, i feel like a giant.

Guess where I've been. Yep to the nec for the hobby crafts show. My mum dragged me to have a photo with crafty bob. I cropped her out the pic as i don't think she would be to happy with me showing her picture to the world hehe.

All these goodies accidentally fell in my basket and accidentally got brought oops hehe. I really need to start using the stuff i already have first, but i just can't help seeing lovely things and buying them. Think I'm addicted.

Nope i didn't buy these, i won them in a competition. It's a scrapbook set and i looove it. I've been wanting to put my photos on a scrapbook for ages but didn't know how to. Now i can. x

My health for the last few months has been up and down. I've been having alot of stomach issues and we (my doc and i) think it's due to my stomach slowing down because of my ehlers danlos syndrome. I'm now on new meds that are supposed to speed it up.

I also went to see a new consultant for my pots (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) and he's put me on some medication to try and help. I've been diagnosed for 11 years and quite angry that I've had to struggle all that time and there was a medication that could help. Anyway i went physio today and i managed to stand up- with alot of people as support for about 4 mins. This hasn't been possible before and I'm over the moon.

Another appointment i went to was to see my continence nurse. My bladder doesn't empty properly due to my eds so I'm going to start a new med to try and help. Prob is she tested my urine and found bile in it so that's another doctors appointment i will need.

In the meantime my carer left, i was soooo upset as she often brought her puppy to see me. I have a new one who i tolerate hehe.

Through having a new carer there is one thing i have learnt- while she sits there moaning about how rubbish her life is, i realised that I'm so lucky to be able to appreciate the small things. This

my mum brought me it as a bulb and I've been watching it grow on my bedroom windowsill. Alot of people are to busy to really appreciate the simple things in life.x

I was reading another blog about organising tasks. I have sooo many things i want to do that i often get overwhelmed and i get nothing down. The advice of the blog post was to write it down and tick it off when done. Sounds simple really. So here is my first one.

I would like to make 20 cards to give to a charity shop to sell. However there is one task that i needed to do before this one and that's to tidy my craft room so i can actually get in there.

My new toy

Electric singer sewing machine. It's a work of art in itself

Cake yummy

Happy belated new year.

I just thought i would write a post reflecting on all that's happened in the past year, good and bad.so here goes.

1. Getting over dads funeral end of 2012

2. moving into my new bungalow end of 2012 and settling in

3. ups and downs and my condition and going into rehab to get back   on track.

4. starting at the gym- this has been a turning point for me and has given me abit of confidence

5. sorting out medication for my bladder as its overactive- makes a huge difference to be on them

6. going on holiday to Cornwall with my parents- gave me a break from appointments and loved it

7. winning a competition that consisted of a new ipad, 2 x laptops, one hoover and a food processor, which was given as a gift card. that was my ultimate ending to the year.

8. i forgot number 8- being measured for my new leg braces that will hopefully help me stand. I haven't been able to stand independently for nearly 2 years, so I'm very very excited.

So that sums up my last year, there were alot of up and downs with my health and i know that this won't go away, however the highlights in between keep me going.