Category: Computers

Danni

Hoist! New Shiny Toy! Yay!

Autism, Computers, Danni, Gaming, M.E., Physical Disability, Real Life, World of Warcraft

Update post in list format cos easier with broken brain 🙂

  • The big one: I’m getting my hoist! Got a phone call 10th April saying the OT was coming with a couple of contractors to measure up for the hoist. Friday 17th they did the measuring, and have worked out how best to fit a ceiling track in my bedroom and the living room (so I can lie in there during the day for a change of scenery). They need to sort who’s installing it (two different companies did the measuring, as they got to get quotes from more than one), sort the funding (which I was told won’t be a problem with how much support I have for getting this hoist) and then work out when they’re available to do the install, but I should be looking at 6 weeks or so. I’m hoping it’ll be before my birthday, which gives them about 9 weeks.
  • Apparently the best way to fit it in my bedroom is going to be diagonally from the corner next to my bed/the window to the corner next to the door. This is going to be interesting to look at 😛 (I’m not sure what they decided in the living room as I couldn’t see.) Johan helped a bit with the measuring 🙂
  • I got my sleeping pattern back to normal, then broke it again a couple of days later. This has happened several times. I’m getting a bit annoyed that I keep missing stuff because of it (not that it’s anyone’s fault, just that it’s happening).
  • I think I might be getting over the cold. Though I still have a blocked nose and I’m still sneezing, so maybe I haven’t. Or that could be hayfever. Since I have all the other cold symptoms permanently (sore throat, headache, temperature dysregulation, coughing) it’s hard to tell.
  • Had my annual review with the nurse from the GP surgery. I didn’t realise I get annual reviews but apparently I do. I guess it’s a good thing 😛 My blood pressure was slightly low when she took it, and she initially measured my pulse as 55 bpm but unfortunately that was hers, not mine (mine was 87 bpm, which is about normal for me).
  • My GP can now be contacted by email. This will be useful if I ever manage to write emails (or can convince Johan to write them). As I’m struggling a bit with my mental health and a couple of other niggly bits I’ve asked for her to come see me (nothing too major, just anxiety is more of an issue and flashbacks/nightmares are getting worse, and I not know how to cope with them, and not being sure if I have a urinary tract infection again or not).
  • GP has prescribed the supplements I need cos I’m deficient in a couple of vitamins and minerals. One is folic acid, and the pack says it’s for preconception. Is there something they know we don’t? 😛
  • We have a cleaner! She comes weekly and has already done a massive amount. OT didn’t complain about the amount of stuff we had when he came for the hoist, which was good. She’s from the council’s home help team and is starting to understand that we need help with decluttering and tidying as well as cleaning.
  • I have a care review on Wednesday 22nd. Apparently it’s going to my social worker (I have one now it seems), the care agency, the home help service, and I think there’s someone else but I’ve forgotten. Too many people. Hopefully we’ll be able to sort out the things that aren’t being done (the biggest thing is I need prompting adding to my care plan so care workers know I’m not going to be able to tell them what I need doing).
  • As my Nexus 10 is in the process of dying (and is occasionally flashing a white screen at full brightness, which is not good for me) I bought a new tablet (well, asked Johan to buy it for me) on Saturday. I was hoping to hold out a couple more months until the new ones were released, but it was getting urgent. After looking online and going backwards and forwards loads (I’ve been talking about getting a new tablet since last year) I decided on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5. The screen is a bit bigger than my old one (10.5″ compared to 10.1″) but the actual device is slightly smaller and much thinner and lighter. The only problem is it’s so light and thin it slides on the pillow when I’m trying to use it, so I’ve had to get a case to stop it 😛 I’ve upgraded it to Lollipop (it came with Kit Kat and for some reason the Lollipop update hadn’t been released in the UK yet so I did it manually) and rooted it so I could transfer all my games and stuff over. I’ve also enabled the software navigation bar as the home button (being a physical button unlike the recent apps and back buttons) is too hard for me to press frequently. Depending on how well I get on with TouchWiz I might stay with the stock rom or I might swap to something else that doesn’t have it.
  • I’m getting on my computer a few times a week now, but not always at the times I want. It’s a great distraction but that does make it easy to overdo it. It’s really good for my mental health though (which is a bit wobbly at the moment though more anxiety than anything else) and when I catch her I love talking to Sammie.
  • I’m really struggling with things like food shops, buying stuff I need (like clothes/pyjamas), and communicating with people. I not sure what to do about it. It’s taking me months to decide things which isn’t great. Autism plus ME makes things hard.
  • Our washing machine is making a lot of noise. Something (we think a bit of plastic from the drum) has fallen inside the sealed bit. We’re not sure whether to try and get it repaired or buy a new one. I’m no way well enough to choose a new washing machine, or sort out a repair, and Johan isn’t either (Esther can help with phone calls but needs to be told who she’s phoning and why).

Below is all my gaming stuff so feel free to ignore it 😛

  • I managed to get Dannila (my Monk) to level 100 in World of Warcraft. I was still in Talador (though wearing heirlooms). Now I’m questing through Spires of Arak while daisy picking, mining, surveying, logging and trying not to die.
  • Danni (my Priest) got Harrison Jones as a follower today. Yay! I’m mostly only doing garrison stuff on her right now, though I’ll do the Apexis daily if it’s one I’ve not done and I’m feeling up to it. I’m hoping to be well enough to do heroics on her soon as I’ve got all the inn quests.
  • Tiarna still doesn’t have her glyph of the penguin back so she’s levelling the slow way- through garrison missions. She’s about halfway through level 92 😛
  • I’m still playing all my mobile games. I’m not spending quite a much time on them as I was because I’m trying to spend more time on puter.
  • I unlocked everything on AdVenture Capitalist so I’m now very slowly getting more angel investors (have 2.631 duotrigintillion right now and hope to roughly double that next reset, which will probably be in a week).
  • Krystall (my character in Kim Kardashian) has climbed into the top 100 of the A list for the second time and is looking to reach the top 50 soon. I’m pretty sure I’m the only person I know still playing this 😛 I mostly like holding parties in my house in Calabasas as it gives me over a million new fans for each 3 hour party (that takes me less than 10 minutes if I’ve got all the energy I need).
  • In High School Story my school is level 19 and I’m currently partying for a Mascot guy during the day and a Movie Star guy during the night (Mascots are the only class type that’s still time based). I’m really running out of room in my hangouts even though I’ve got all three upgraded platinum as well as the type ones 😛
  • In Hollywood U I’ve completed all the quests (luckily there’s new ones each week) and I’m currently levelling all my entourage to level 15 (Danni is level 45 and most of the main characters are level 20). I’m partying for a Celeb Blogger guy then it’ll be back to partying for the elusive Fairy Tale girl. My space issues aren’t quite as bad as in High School Story but I still need to be careful not to admit too many of those I already have.
  • In Dragonvale I’m currently trying to breed a Spring dragon and a Miasma dragon. While trying for the Spring dragon I’ve bred a Double Rainbow dragon and it looks like I’m getting a second one. They’re cool but they also take 60 hours to breed so I’d rather not get too many. There’s a lot of dragons I don’t have that I can get with the combination I’m breeding with (Leap Year and Snowy Gold) so I’m hoping to get some of them. I’m a bit annoyed they released the current star fall event so soon after the Easter egg event as it means I don’t think I can get enough star dust to get even one dragon (though I’m hoping I’m wrong). I should get the Walk of Stars (which is a pretty path) today, hopefully.
  • I’ve got spreadsheets for High School Story, Hollywood U and Dragonvale to keep track of what students and dragons I have and what ones I’m partying/breeding for. I spent far too long one night setting them up with all sorts of formulae to get it working how I wanted 😛
Danni

I Have a Heart

Autism, Computers, Danni, Gaming, M.E., Penguins!, Physical Disability, Real Life, World of Warcraft

That’s a pretty good thing, since it’s a tad hard to live without one. Update post for future reference!

  • Been rather wobbly the last few weeks. Catching a cold hasn’t helped. Could be worse, but frustrated not been able to go on puter and stuff as much as I’d like.
  • Asked several different people (including different departments of council and housing company) to try and get help with tidying and asking why I not got a hoist yet. Everyone is shocked I don’t have one yet. Hopefully will get somewhere with something?
  • One of our neighbours keeps spending money on things they’re putting in the communal areas that they’ve not got permission for. At least one of them they’ve been told not to do before. Housing officer going to investigate, and also make note on case about noise (as it’s still a problem).
  • Saw new consultant about probable POTS on Monday (the 9th). Current conclusion is I probably have POTS 😛 Luckily she saw straight away that I’m too ill for the normal tests (they require standing, and I’m unable to sit for any real length of time) so she wants me to measure my heart rate daily for a bit, is asking the CFS team to see if they can help with that, and I might need to have a 24 hour monitor at some point. Then we’re going to try medication to see if it helps. Luckily she gets ME really well (which is good, since she researches it as well as POTS) so we skipped straight to the stuff I was able to do. She even checked I was okay to have my blood pressure taken (it was, and it was normal, as it usually is when I’m anxious- when I’m not it’s usually a bit low).
  • Didn’t have any major problems with getting the stretcher ambulance organised, which is a first. They did say at first they wouldn’t be able to get a stretcher in here but they managed it in the end. This stretcher was comfier than the last one.
  • Since I’m meant to be measuring my heart rate regularly, I treated myself to a new fancy oximeter (easiest way for me to check, plus helpful for when I’m breathless to see what’s going on). Need to read the destructions to check how to use the recording and uploading to puter features, but I’ve had a bit of a play since it arrived yesterday evening.
  • When I feel my heart doing funky dances it shows as an irregular heart beat on the monitor. I’m pretty sure it’s nothing serious, but it’s reassuring to know I’m not just imagining it.
  • My heart rate goes all over the place. At my normal kinda rest, it goes between 80 and 105 bpm. My normal oxygen level is between 90-98% (I’ve turned the alarms off on this one, as the old one used to go off whenever it got to 93% or lower). I’m guessing at least some of the lower ones are due to bad circulation. I’ve not been breathless with it on yet.
  • Things that increase my heart rate are moving, holding Johan’s hand, increased pain, talking and farting. Also trying to take deep breaths increases my heart rate to over 100bpm and reduces my oxygen level down to about 90% consistently, which I think is the opposite of what’s supposed to happen.
  • Things that reduce my heart rate are thinking of penguins, lying quietly, and holding my breath (which doesn’t reduce my oxygen level until after a minute). Explains why I hold my breath during a panic attack (and with the above, why being told to breathe makes things worse).
  • Random fact: before I got ill I used to practice holding my breath for fun. At my best I could manage nearly 5 minutes, and just before I got ME I could manage 3 1/2. I’m still able to hold it for 45-70 seconds before I start feeling like I need to breathe. I used to scare people with it 😛 I thank my larger than average lung capacity and singing lessons.
  • I managed my puter for a little bit last night. Managed to sort my budget for the month and then went into World of Warcraft, where I died a ridiculous amount of times trying to do a Harrison Jones daily. I didn’t even manage to complete it before the daily reset 🙁 I’m hoping when it shows up again it’ll skip to where I was, but I’ve got a feeling I’ll need to start again. It’ll be easier if my brain is working better though.
  • Sleep has been excessive and random. I don’t have any kind of pattern to it. With having a cold though I’m just going with it, though would like to be awake when the care workers are here more often. Trying to force it though makes me more ill, as does waking me up when I’m not ready.
  • I have had my bedding changed and hair washed, though I really regretted the latter as it made me feel horrendous. I wanted it clean for going out though. I had my own pillow and duvet on the stretcher which was good as it was freezing outside (and I got to see some frost).
  • Communication is still an issue. I need to be well enough to figure out how to teach the care workers to communicate with me when it’s difficult. Asking them to offer me suggestions of what they can do and not ask me what I want doing hasn’t worked.
  • I’ve had some grumpy days recently, but I think most of that is due to having a cold (plus running out of chocolate when I was craving some). I’m still happy most of the time though 🙂

I hope everyone is doing as well as they can be. I think seeing outside my bedroom will keep me going for a bit 🙂

Danni

Silly Illness Stuff

Computers, Danni, M.E., Physical Disability, Real Life

There are parts of this illness that are really frustrating. Some are really obvious, like not being able to get out of bed, my hands not working properly and fainting when sitting up too much. Others are less so.

Yesterday I wanted to watch television. Overall I’ve been relatively stable the last few months, and I was getting a bit bored of my normal mobile games/reading stuff on my tablet/resting routine. So I watched two television shows. The first was Penguins on a Plane (which I recorded a few months ago) and the second was Supernanny US. Neither show had fast movement, loud explosions, or a complicated plot to keep track of.

Soon after finishing Supernanny, I felt horrendeous. I’d been sweating while watching telly (I also sweat when going on my computer or reading a book) and now I was alternating between too hot and too cold. My pain levels went through the roof and I was really close to throwing up. All because I watched a bit of television. Now we’re pretty good at getting my symptoms back under control so they’re bearable again, yet trying to do something as normal as watching television makes me more ill. It’s not fair.

I’m not sure what it is about watching television that my body doesn’t like. I can spend much more time on the computer than I can watching telly (though recently I’ve been going from fine to really ill in seconds when on my computer as well). If I knew what it was it would be easier to deal with. It’s frustrating.

Things have happened since my last post. Somehow I got my DLA renewed before it ran out (and we only got the form in two days before the end date). That was a massive relief. We finally got everything together to tell the housing benefit side of the council that Esther is here, so we’re no longer paying the bedroom tax (they probably didn’t complain about us taking so long because it increased our amount of benefit rather than reducing it).

I had an eye test (in bed) and it turns out I’m a lot more short sighted than I was. This brings my left eye closer to normal as it’s my long sighted eye, and makes my right eye worse. Overall my right eye is my better eye (closest to normal) but it’s also my weakest. That surprised the optician. He also said he doesn’t get many people who can read the bottom row as most people he sees are older. I’m getting my new glasses (and sunglasses) tomorrow so I’m hoping they’ll help with the double vision and stuff. Maybe it’ll make watching telly easier as well?

I saw the CFS team but there’s not much they can do until I have my hoist. They’ve written a letter to the OT in charge of it asking why he’s not sorted it yet (they phoned him last year and he said he’d speak to us before Christmas). I wanna get out of bed and all that’s stopping me now is not being able to transfer safely. I also want a shower. Some stuff is the fault of the illness, but others is people not doing what they said they’d do.

Danni

Random Sleepy Thoughts

Computers, Danni, Gaming, M.E., Physical Disability, Real Life, World of Warcraft

I got woken up around 1am by the neighbours playing music. They finally stopped about 3am but I’ve had to take cyclizine for the nausea it caused and I’m now sleepy but not quite enough to actually sleep.

DLA form was sent last week. It’s been received but as my end date was the 11th January I’m expecting to go without for a bit.

Johan’s Carer’s Allowance was also meant to stop (as it’s tied to the DLA claim but unlike DLA is paid in advance) yet he got the full amount this morning. Cue confusion. I guess we’ll see how much DLA I get on Tuesday (it should be slightly lower).

I’ve been spending far too many hours making spreadsheets to help me organise what I’m doing in various tablet games. They’re mostly done, though I need to remember one formula I’ve forgotten and Google isn’t telling me. I’m sure it’ll come back to me.

In Dragonvale I’m trying to breed a Panlong Dragon while it’s available. There’s a chance I’ve got it as the breeding time is long enough but there are other cool dragons it can be. The spreadsheet helps me work out which habitats I need and should put dragons into, which ones I should use for breeding and helps me keep track of what dragons I already have.

In High School Story I’m trying to party for a Country female. I keep getting Country males, Slacker males and Musician males. The spreadsheet helps me track which classmate types I’ve already got, what Hangouts I need and the party times of each type. I’m also completing as meant quests as I can, concentrating on the main storyline first. It would be nice if it didn’t conform to the gender binary but I have a few classmates I head canon as trans, genderless or androgynous.

In Hollywood U I’ve finished all the current quests and dates. I’m currently partying for a Composer male, but keep getting Composer females. The spreadsheet is basically the same as the High School Story one. I’m also trying to level a male and female of each type to level 10, so it’s easier for quests as they come along. Once I’ve done that it’ll be levelling any remaining students to level 10 and the main characters to at least level 20. As I’ve a lot less students than in High School Story I only have one trans woman so far.

I’m still playing Kim Kardashian Hollywood. I nearly quit but they came out with new quests. This one doesn’t require any brain power or spreadsheets, and I just play it to see how the storyline is going.

I’ve been able to get on my computer quite a bit recently, though mostly at night so not when Sammie has been around much (though I did get to speak to her yesterday which was awesome). I’ve mostly been working on the spreadsheets but also played a bit of World of Warcraft. I did the first part of LFR on Danni yesterday, which was easy. I’m still too scared to do Heroic 5 man dungeons though, as I’ll be the only healer.

The last few days I’ve managed to watch a few Doctor Who episodes. The latest one was Time Travel Heist. It was good, and I’m liking Peter Calpaldi as The Doctor though not how he’s mean to Clara.

Now I’m sleepy tired so it’s time for me to come off my tablet and hopefully not have any nightmares. Mine have been including my pain in them and nightmares about being tortured aren’t fun.

Danni

Merry Christmas!

Autism, Computers, Danni, Gaming, M.E., Minecraft, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Penguins!, Physical Disability, Real Life

To all my readers and friends, Merry Christmas! Or if you celebrate something else or nothing at all, I hope you have a wonderful day!

I’ve had an awesome Christmas so far. Yesterday Sammie came over for a bit to pick up her presents, which meant real life hugs and squishes were had 😀 Best present ever!

Today I’ve been completely spoilt with masses of presents, from lots of family and friends. I’ve been unable to get all mine to others sorted in time for Christmas this year, but I’m hoping to get those I’ve missed within the next week or two. My favourite was a gift from Sammie- she made a ornament of us two as penguins, me being purple and her being pink, hugging each other. Me being a purple penguin and her being a pink penguin has been our thing now for many years, so it means a lot to me. She also got me new penguin bedding and a matching cushion which are super cute 😀

Johan had bought me a telly for Christmas a few months ago, but surprised me with a Pingu ball (Hafu Pingu rather than telly Pingu), and Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle soft toys. My sister Meggy had visited a few days ago and she gave me an amazing super soft penguin which I love to stroke. My other sister Becca gave me some awesome penguin pyjamas and penguin stickers. Esther gave me some penguin fuzzy socks (I love fuzzy socks!) and an awesome penguin Christmas jumper. Other presents included penguin stationery, a loom band penguin and money/gift cards. Very very spoilt Danni 😀

I also saw my brother on Christmas Eve, which was a lovely surprise. I’ve spent most of the day on Skype with Sammie, sometimes playing Minecraft (with her and her friend), sometimes just talking. I’m so grateful that I’m well enough to speak to her, be on my computer, listen to a few Christmas carols and songs and hopefully later have Christmas dinner. I even managed to speak to my mum-in-law on the phone for a minute. Now is time to rest and hopefully I’ll continue to have a good day 😀