wagwaan?

Long post alert!

I probably shouldn't rub it in, but it's so nice to get to Sunday night and not have to worry about getting up in the morning!  Yes, the doctor signed me off for another week. Oh, silly me!  I didn't blog earlier this week, did I?  REWIND! 
I was feeling a lot better on Tuesday, and went to bed nice and early, around 10pm.  Next thing I knew, it was 2.30am and I was suddenly wide awake with a pain in my chest and in my neck/throat area.  I got out of bed and tried to walk around and relax, and I thought it was subsiding. When I got back into bed it came back and I decided to wake the other half and get him to take me to hospital. Of course, we only live about a 3 minute walk to the hospital entrance, but A&E is right the opposite end, and also I was worried about going there on my own in case I collapsed in the street or something (I know, I know, drama queen...).  Anyway, he got out of bed without much grumbling; I went into Claire's room to tell her where I was going and did she want to come? Needless to say, the answer was negative lol.  So he dropped me at A&E and I told him to go home and sleep because if he didn't get up at 5.30am and go to work then he wouldn't get paid and we don't need THAT worry! 
I was taken practically straight through to get hooked up to the ECG machine, and of course the reading was abnormal, as I have something called flat (or inverted) T-waves. This could be perfectly normal for me, BUT it can be an indicator of angina so they don't take any chances (this happened about 4 years ago).  I was given GTN under the tongue and a blood thinner, and of course then I got a thumping headache courtesy of the GTN and when they tried to put in a venflon, they couldn't get anywhere. They got someone else, and he tried to go in to my hand, then my other hand, then a vein.... I asked them to call someone else and SHE managed to get the thing into my arm - while I was puking into a bowl looking the other way.  That has NEVER happened before, and I have regular blood tests due to my medication. They said the GTN makes your blood pressure go down and your veins kind of collapse or something.  Thinking about it, IF there's a next time, I will get them to tap the vein BEFORE giving GTN. Just a thought! 
So, by now I had been told I was going to be admitted, and as I had my phone with  me I was able to text the other half to go to sleep.  Meanwhile, I had a chest x-ray and was taken to the brand spanking new Acute Admissions Unit where I tried to get some sleep.  Unfortunately, there was a poor confused old lady in the next bed, and her monitors were beeping a lot; also, I had a blood pressure cuff on one arm, ECG leads all over my chest, and a painful arm with a venflon in it, so sleep eluded me...
At 6am I got a call from Claire, who was crying that she wanted to see me. Apparently, although she heard me say I was going to hospital, she didn't hear me ask her if she wanted to come, and of course she was slightly panicked that I'd been kept in. She had a 9am appointment to see someone about volunteer work, so we decided that she'd come along and visit after that. The advantage of AAU is that, as you are supposed to be "an acute case", visiting time is not limited!
To cut a long story short, the nurses and doctors were phenomenal; the unit was clean and large and airy and gorgeous; and I got fantastic treatment. The downside was the 3 other elderly confused ladies who got brought in that morning, because that made it harder to rest!  I had to wait until I had 2 negative blood tests called Troponin-T, which show there has been no heart damage. Unfortunately, the lab lost the second sample, which had been so hard to obtain, so I had to wait till 10pm to get the all clear.  Basically, they are sure it was a repeat of my stomach problems, and that maybe I had had a sort of oesophageal spasm due possibly to stress. Hmm, where have I heard that before?  I saw the GP the next day to discuss further treatment, and he has put me back on the medication I was originally given and that I had (stupidly) stopped taking last summer "because I felt fine". And to think when I worked at the hospital I used to give patients such a hard time when they did that. Oops!  I feel suitably chastened. 
For the GP, this is all due to stress, and I have to relax and maybe do some CBT and put into practice my own coaching methods. Personally, I wonder if the arthritis flare-up caused the depression, rather than his view that the depression caused the arthritis to flare up. I suspect we'll never know.
I suppose by now (if you are still reading!), I should tell you what has been going on in the background all this time: I have been finding the commute very difficult recently, and heard about two very different jobs. One was local, paying the same money I'm on now, in an industry I'd have loved; the other involved a total upheaval as it was based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and paid double what I'm on now.  I was top candidate for both jobs, and even had my all-expenses paid ticket to Switzerland, but in both cases, someone else who had "an in" pipped me to the post. I'm not bitter because I think things happen for a reason, but it was very long-winded and really looked like one or the other was going to be finalised, so I really couldn't blog about it.  Looks like my boss is stuck with me for a bit longer, then - if he'll still have me!
I hope I haven't bored you all silly by now.  I'll upload some pictures tomorrow - of the ward and stuff. I'll leave out the gruesome ones of my venflon, and I'll leave you to imagine the beatiful big purple bruises I have on both arms, both hands and my tum (heparin injection)!! Nite nite!

Taking a breather

Time to slow down... I've been poorly since Saturday night, and haven't been to work this week. My doctor wants to see me tomorrow. He thinks I'm suffering from stress; I think I had a virus - but I won't deny life has been pretty stressful here, what with one thing and another. The commute is a BIG chunk of my life and is getting me down, but apart from that, work is ok. I feel bad for letting them down at work, and I can't just sit around at home for too long, so we'll see what the doc says tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm taking it easy, although I haven't been able to sit out in the sun yet as I've been too exhausted and have spent nearly 2 whole days in bed!
I'm pottering about today - the tumble dryer is on right now, which is a crime, but I haven't got anything to hang the clothes outside on LOL. I feel my creative mojo might be coming back. I have started a couple of little projects recently that I hadn't been able to finish, so maybe I can do that while I wait for the doc's verdict? Could be an idea, eh? 
Meanwhile, hope you are all enjoying some sun and that life is treating you well!

Oh, before I close - if you thought Susan Boyle was good - check out Shaheen... WOW can that boy sing!!?!

The amazing Susan Boyle

Did you manage to catch Britain's Got Talent?  Susan Boyle is now headline news all over the world, and rightly so. Her TV appearance ban be seen here, but today I discovered that she recorded a track on a charity CD back in 1999, and it's brilliant.  Listen to her sing Cry Me A River here. Enjoy!  Wishing Susan all the best in the world :)

Goodnight!

Gosh, time flies when you're having fun... This morning, as the boyf walked out the front door looking glum I said "Smile! It's Friday!".  Hmmm, no wonder he looked at me as if I was mad. And that really depressed me, to find out I had another day to go before the weekend lol!
Anyway, this is just a quickie to say yes, I'm fine. Had a busy-ish day at the office, including a site visit of the Barbican and lunch at a nice restaurant.  Not very Slimming World-friendly, but I tried not to go mad. And we walked EVERYWHERE so I hope we burned some calories. Shame I was limping along, having had a flare-up of the arthritis. Maybe it's the rainy weather making it worse?
I couldn't wait to slump down on the sofa when I got in, and after dinner we watched Grey's Anatomy (*sob!*), and then caught the tail end of this documentary about a 13 year old devout Christian that had us reeling. Poor girl led a very sheltered life and was totally brainwashed. She kept going on about us all being wretched sinners and how we were all going to hell. What a sad way to live your life, worrying about what a bad person you are - oh yes, SHE's had her sins forgiven by Jesus, but she still believes she's an unworthy "wretched" person.  Pretty much the opposite of what I've been taught by the Catholic church. Watching it, I was reminded that extremism in ANY form is just plain wrong.
Well, you didn't come to my blog to read an essay on religion, so I'll close now by saying that there is still plenty going on behind the scenes that I can't blog about, but nothing's moving in any direction at the moment. Boooooring!  LOL!  Hope you all have a good night and sweet dreams.

Happy Easter :)

Everyone and his dog has written a post entitled "Happy Easter" today, so I won't step out of line - here's MY entry...

We had decided not to go mad on chocolate, and although we did have some,  Claire bought me this "chocolate scented" bunny and I got her the chick that squeaks... it made for an interesting Easter :)
Unfortunately, of course, we've got the traditional Bank Holiday weather - grey and wet. Oh well, you can't have it all, eh?

After a late breakfast (eggs, of course), I did a bit of reading and then prepared a half leg of lamb with all the trimmings for lunch.  Then I started to watch "My House in Umbria" with Maggie Smith and Ronnie Barker, while Claire was on the PC and the Other Half was in his basement "study". Unfortunately, I fell asleep, so I'll have to watch it again later LOL.  And I've been waiting for the right moment to watch it, too; a grey afternoon such as this...
I do like to remember what the real meaning of Easter is, so I watched a programme about Pope John Paul II, and later I watched Songs of Praise which was the first half of Handel's Messiah. Apparently, although we usually listen to it at Christmas, Handel wrote it for Easter. So there you are - I learnt something new today!  I didn't make it to Mass this morning though; I find mornings so hard at the moment, and now I feel quite guilty. Does that give me away as a good Catholic girl?!
I had planned to go to the Care of the Elderly ward today, to hand out some Easter cards that I printed out. I think there might be some people who are stuck in hospital who have no visitors - and I'd love to go in and chat, if they'll  let me. Today, though, I felt a bit afraid of doing it, which I suppose is silly. So tomorrow I plan to go along and ask Sister, and see if they let me just say a quick hello to some of the elderly folk. I'll let you know how it goes.
  

Premonition?

This is happening more and more often. I'm turning into Allison DuBois! I had the weirdest experience last weekend, which I haven't blogged about yet.  To set the scene, last Saturday was the Grand National, a famous race that takes place in Liverpool every year. I hate watching it because the course is so dangerous, there have been many injuries over the years. Horses have been put down because they were so badly injured. I can't watch it. However, it is one of the great sporting events of the UK's calendar, and most people have "a little flutter" even if they aren't race fans.  That's just to say the race was on my radar, but only just.
Anyway, in the middle of the night, very early Saturday morning, I woke up because I had such a vivid dream. I was half asleep but I grabbed my iPhone and jabbed at the screen so I could enter the words "Jadore to win" on the notepad.  I deliberately omitted the apostrophe because I was so out of it.  In the morning I remembered the dream, and I asked Claire to Google the names of the runners, which she did kind of half-heartedly, and read a few out. Nothing stood out, and I didn't bother to look into it more because things were a bit fraught that day. 
The next day, I heard on the news that a horse called "Mon môme" had won and my heart nearly stopped!  I looked at Claire and said "It's French! My dream made sense!". We quickly looked up the runners, and there were only two French names, that one and "Réveillez".  I had planned to put a tenner on any horse that my dream could mean: J'adore means I adore, and mon môme means my kid. As my friend Ann put it, "and you DO adore your kid". Just imagine if I'd followed my instinct - a tenner on that horse at 100/1 would have netted me a cool grand. I'm slightly spooked and going to try the Euromillions lottery shortly. I mean, how many chances can a girl miss??

Monday night

Just come from weigh-in and Claire got slimmer of the week this time! Yay Claire! Everyone has been saying how well she looks and today I got that a lot, too. The weight must be redistributing itself LOL. Anyway, time for dinner. Nite nite

And the winner is...........

JOAN!!  (no. 1).  By the very scientific means of asking Claire to pick a number without knowing what she was picking it for... she said 1 so Joan it is.

Now I have to reflect on why I got so few comments. Either the pen prize is crap (it's ok, you can say it) or I didn't leave you long enough to comment because I've never done this before, or, hmmm, maybe not enough people are interested!  Either way, it's been a fun exercise and I promise to make it more enticing next time ;) 

Thank you for your comments, by the way. I gave Lyle a scratch from you Joan; I was happy to read that I can be entertaining, Jo; Maria - thank you, I like my dresser too!; and Steph, yes, you definitely know my style; those gifts fit perfectly on my dresser!

It's a dreary Sunday here today. And the weekend began so promisingly, too. Claire took some nice pictures of the flowering bush in the garden this morning before the sun went in. I sampled a bit of one here:

 

Isn't it gorgeous?  This is taken with the "new" lens she got with her birthday money from the family for her 18th. I hope she thanked you all - she meant to, and she really DOES love it, so thank you on her behalf anyway.

As I was saying, the weekend started so beautifully. I had to go down to Rickmansworth, where we used to live, for an eye appointment yesterday. On the way I took some pics with the phone.

First, St Mary's round the corner from our old house

Then, on the way back on the bus, I snapped this out of the window. It's the green at Croxley Green. Love this place:

  

I met up with Claire in town (yes, I call her Claire now, not DD, all attempts at hiding our identities have failed) and we got her a couple of things and then sat and had a Starbucks before my hair appointment. Here's me, post-hair appointment, and here's her. Hmm, we could be twins!

 

So she's making a bit of a silly face - but I think she looks lovely all the same. The blouse is a great fit, as are the jeans. She'll probably kill me when she sees I've posted it! And I hope you appreciate how brave I'm feeling, putting a portrait of me on here!

Before we got home and took the pictures, we did a nice bit of window shopping. These are the pretty things that caught my eye. I'm such a GIRL (and a magpie - if it's shiny, I want it. And oh look! Charms!!). Turquoise is most definitely in, as is the hippie/boho look. And I want the hippie shoulder bag but Claire's threatening to disown me... And anyway, is it HIPPY or HIPPIE?  Who knows.

 

    

Talking of threatening to disown me, I was discussing glasses with the optician, and we were saying how with age you start to need different glasses for different things (if varifocals are not called for), and I told him I'd actually been contemplating getting one of those chains that old ladies have on their glasses so they can take them off frequently without having to put them down. Now, I KNOW that Claire would disown me if I got one of those, so instead I bought a necklace that's made for hooking the arm of the glasses through it, so you can carry them like that - and that's it in the picture of me above. Could you tell it wasn't a necklace? No! That's what I like about it.

Before I go, Steph asked what's with the rating of my blog. Well, I have no idea; I saw that people were visiting me via "blogged" so I clicked on a link and it took me to a page where it showed my blog and a rating. Beats me how it got that rating, but hey, it's better than a kick in the teeth, right?

Anyway, it's getting late here, I really must pop out to the shops briefly, so I'll leave you with this photo-spam, and hope you enjoy shopping vicariously through me! Ciao tutti. 

Springtime is here

On the way back from the bank today I treated myself to some narcissi. They smell divine! Actually, I got "done" because the lady said "there should be 10 in each bunch". I didn't count them (who would?) but when I got home there were only 6. Oh well...

 (photo taken with the phone, because I can't be bothered to get the camera and cable out - this way I just email the photo to myself and voilà!)

Also taken with the phone is this picture of young Lyle, sunning himself on the table that's in the bay window. In front of a very grimy window, actually - the window cleaner is supposed to be calling to give me a quote today, but so far he's nowhere to be seen. Maybe he doesn't need the business?? The things we do for our pets... As Lyle was batting at the blind with his paw, I have pulled it up just enough for him to be able to see out, and the dusty windowsill nearly gave me a heart attack. All through the winter when you leave for work in the dark and return after dark, well, you don't see the bad bits. It's only when the sun comes out you realise that your housekeeping could do with a bit of help.

Last but not least, here is the teeny little gift I have for my first "give-away". I know that people from all over read my blog, but they tend to lurk and not comment. I'm not going to think about what that says about my writing ability, or lack of it, so I'm just going to offer up this pretty PINK pen to one of you who will be brave enough to comment.  Winner will be selected at random at 8pm GMT tomorrow, Saturday 4th April. And did I mention that the pen is PINK?  Well, the ink is, anyway :) 

Photo catch-up

On Saturday, before the back started hurting, we were wandering round the shops, and at TX Maxx I came across some rather nice stuff...
First, I thought the brooms might brighten up the daily chores;

 
Then I decided I must have some of these jugs, to put flowers in... artificial ones, even;
And I want the pink colander. Or the red one. I can't decide!;    There were only two of these white and blue Australian bowls. Shame;  Last but not least, these little girl dresses made me happy because they were pink and yellow and flowery and spring-like!  It's annoying trying to put words and photos in Typepad - I can never seem to get them in the right order. Oh well. You get the idea.  I had fun going round taking pictures of things I need/want for the house; silicone baking trays etc, it's much easier to keep a visual record than to write things down. I do love technology :)