"I find penguins at present the only comfort in life. One feels everything in the world so sympathetically ridiculous; one can't be angry when one looks at a penguin." – John Ruskin
Today I’ve been well enough to go on my computer! It’s so much easier to do things on here than on my tablet, especially things that require a lot of typing or using websites that aren’t optimised for tablets. I’ve done a shop with Johan’s and Esther’s help and I played Terraria and a bit of Minecraft with Sammie when she got home from school, which was awesome. She had an awesome half term and is still loving her computer so that is good 🙂 There’s still no sign of this payback from going to hospital so it is looking like I’ve got away with it 🙂
I’m currently waiting to hear that Android 5.0 Lollipop has been released for the Nexus 10. I’m currently using Paranoid Android, but there’s a few issues so going back to stock will be a good idea anyway, and Lollipop looks pretty enough that I should get away without my purple themes. There’s not much on there that I desperately need to transfer, other than my games. If it turns out I hate it I can always go back to using Paranoid Android.
Since I’m on my computer and therefore adding photos to my blog is easier (I know how to do it from the mobile app but it uses extra spoons) I’m going to add the photos to go with the other blog posts recently. Terrible editing because used spoons talking to Sammie and stuff.
This one was taken in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Ambulance selfies are the best!Lying in bed in hospital just after my appointment. It was nice being in a different bed, not so nice I’d just had blood taken.I got into my Penguin Onesie for Halloween. Might have only been for half an hour but I looked more like a penguin!
I actually made it to the hospital on Thursday morning. Though the ambulance was a bit late getting here it got me to the hospital and I was able to see my consultant.
It went pretty well. Travelling by stretcher meant I was able to process what was being said and with the help of my notes remembered to mention nearly everything I wanted (I missed a couple of things but they weren’t too important).
He wants me to have a tilt table test cos of my heart being silly and racing when I sit up. I need to speak to the people who do the tilt table tests to make sure it won’t make me loads worse, but I’m hoping it’ll give me an answer to a little bit of what’s going on. It’s Saturday now and I’m not experiencing any payback yet from the journey (I’m not doing great either but I’m about the same as I was before I went- silly cold) so I’m hoping that means I’m tolerating movement better. I’ll know better if I’m getting payback over the next few days.
I’m sad because it was half term this week and because of this stupid cold I’ve not been well enough to go on my computer and talk to Sammie. I managed a short time on there at the beginning of the week but it was during the early hours of the morning so she wasn’t on, and I haven’t been well enough since. I’m hoping if I’m not getting payback to try tomorrow, but if not I’ll figure something out. I also didn’t get the Headless Horseman mount in WoW again this year but since I missed most of the holiday I can’t complain too much.
I wore my penguin onesie for a short while yesterday for Halloween. Had to take it off when I overheated (which coincided with hunger making me shaky so I felt pretty rotten) but I’m happy to have worn it for a little bit. We had two calls from trick or treaters but Johan was too scared to answer the door to them and though our friend/flatmate was willing to for the second lot they’d gone before she got to the door. That’s one more than last year and two more than the year before so I’m fully expecting there to be three next year
Asked Johan what I should blog about as wanting to blog, he came up with the title 😛
Being this up and down is frustrating. Johan thinks it’s because of my cold. He’s probably right. Although ME is a fluctuating illness, I’m not used to it fluctuating so much in so short a time span. I’m going from being able to play WoW on my computer to curled up in a ball hoping my body will behave or vice versa within a couple of hours, rather than the usual few days. The computer playing isn’t even the cause as there are days I’m waking up in agony and struggling to cope with anything then a few hours later I’m doing much better and can go on my computer. It’s visible to Johan and the carers as well. I don’t go on my computer every time I feel up to it but it’s an amazing distraction and is much easier to pay bills, do the food shop and stuff on there so I’m glad I can do it some of the time at least.
The main downside of this is my nausea is worse than usual. I’m having to take cyclizine more often, and that makes me dopey, and often needing to sleep. With taking it nearly everyday (and sometimes twice a day) I have no sleeping pattern at the moment, which is difficult for Johan and planning things. I wanted a wash this morning but by the time the carer arrived I was feeling very sick and in too much pain to be touched so I’ll have to wait until I’m up to it. I was doing okay (and on my computer) before that as well.
Next week I have an appointment with my consultant. Johan made all the phone calls needed yesterday so hopefully it will actually happen this time. Stretcher transport has been booked, and they’ve been informed it’s time critical and it’s been rearranged twice because of them. The clinic at the hospital know I’m coming by stretcher, are arranging a clinical room to wait in (as stretchers can’t fit in the waiting room – fine by me) and they’ll transfer me onto a bed in there, where my consultant will see me. Hopefully it’ll all go to plan, though the appointment is at 9.15am which is going to be fun. We’ve not been given a time to be ready by so I’m going to aim for 8am, with as much stuff prepared beforehand as possible.
I’ve got to think of what things are most important to discuss with my consultant. Muscle spasms are the big one, as my GPs haven’t wanted to treat it without the consultant having input. My inability to digest food in a timely manner is probably important too, as is discovering I’m more hypermobile than I thought. I’m expecting there’s not much he can do, but he’s pretty good at figuring out what’s ME and what is something else and he might have some ideas that will help. If he had any ideas to make my hands less useless I’d be so happy, but that’s probably asking too much.
I’m desperate for a shower or bath. Bed baths just don’t make me feel clean, especially since the carers don’t wash me how I want to be and I’m not well enough to go explaining it. One of Johan’s difficulties right now is he can’t print or scan anything, so even though I’ve got it typed up they can’t read it. I’m also not well enough to have my hair washed and body washed on the same day, which doesn’t help. I’m also really wanting my hair shaved off again as it’s too long, itchy and making my scalp really sore but that’s not likely to happen any time soon.
I feel like this post has been really negative. I’m still mostly happy, and I have penguins. They make everything better 🙂
One of the things I miss most now is singing. I used to sing to express emotion, and just because I enjoyed it. I wasn’t too bad at it either- I could normally keep in tune at least, and some people liked listening to it. Now I can’t. I know why- I don’t have the energy, memory or concentration, and my breath control is nowhere near good enough, but it still upsets me when I really really want to sing but know I can’t.
I think I’m starting to get a bit better after that relapse from the care home and stuff. Unfortunately after two good days my digestive system decided to play up (at one point mimicking the symptoms of appendicitis to scare me) but it’s mostly behaving again now (or at least back to normal levels of grumbling). Hopefully I’ll be able to be doing more again soon. I was a bit naughty and did some tidying up in my bedroom, once even getting out of bed (and shuffling on the floor on my bum when I discovered I couldn’t crawl). My sitting is better than it was, though my neck and back are still weak (my sitting on the floor was mostly bend over double with my head on my knee- luckily it wasn’t too uncomfortable :P).
Because of needing cyclizine to control really bad nausea (thanks to the digestive issues) I’ve been really dopey and out of it the last few days, as well as sleeping lots. I’m grateful I have my Chromecast as just putting random non-thinky stuff on there helps (sometimes I even just have the default screen with the photo slideshow on in the background so I have something I can look at). I got my birthday present from Johan this week, along with a few other stuff. My present is a purple t-shirt with a stick figure in bed, saying “My awesome is on strike.The duvet is overseeing essential negotiations…”, which is perfect for me. I love it 🙂
I really need to cut down on my Facebook useage. It’s the most draining of the social networks yet it’s really easy to be pulled into spending loads of time reading groups and stuff. I don’t want to leave it completely, but will need to think of a solution so it stops using so many of my spoons. Conversations through it are particularly draining, especially when they involve drama I don’t want to be involved with. It’s my only way of keeping in contact with some people I love though.
I don’t think I have anything big planned for a while. I think I’ll just take the time to do things that I’m able to do, and continue planning some big stuff (like going abroad, which I’m aware will be a bit into the future yet). I’ve resubscribed to World of Warcraft as I was missing my friends in there and I have stuff to do, so if I’m having a good day it’ll be fun to go in there. I’ve also got other games to play, and I still have the Young Wizards books to finish reading. I’m hoping to watch a couple of films if I can, so that will be good. I wish I were able to make firm plans, but that’s something this illness doesn’t allow. I find out how I’ll be doing at the time, and only have a limited amount of control over it. I try to make everything worth it anyway, and that’s mostly working 🙂
I was not expecting as many people to see my previous blog post (either here or on Tumblr) as actually did. I now have about three times the followers on Tumblr as I did before it, which is kinda scary.
I’m working on communicating better with my main care worker. Some things are a bit better for it, others I still need to figure out. I’m not sure if I’ll be showing her the post or not (I want Johan’s opinion but he’s too meowy to give it at the moment). The main issue will be there though even if it gets better with one person.
How bad I communicate became even more obvious when I had a new care worker this week. She’s nice, but there’s something about her that makes me not want her to be near me and Johan not want her to be in the flat. Since she’s meant to be providing my personal care, that’s a problem. I’m going to have to ask the agency if they can send someone else instead (my main care worker now has Sunday’s off, which I’ve been telling her to get back for months now). If I can’t ask myself my main care worker has said she’ll speak to them for me. It would be easier if I knew exactly why I’m having trouble with her, but I don’t. She’s just not a good fit.
Penguins imprinted on leg
Yesterday I had penguins imprinted on my legs from my knee high penguin socks. I also had a really sore band where one of them had been digging in. I never used to have this problem with socks but I do now. Having penguins on my legs is cool but I don’t think it does them much good (and they’re itchy and a bit sore). I think I might need to look into some socks that are less tight, though as my legs are rather skinny (from disuse mostly) I don’t know how easy that’ll be. Ones without seams will at least prevent it digging in there.
I’ve been getting a bit frustrated by being stuck in bed. I’ve still not got back to where I was before I was in the care home, and I’m having to be careful about sitting up (though I do try to sit up at least once a day, in an attempt to convince my body that it’s not a bad thing). My nausea levels have been pretty bad and the cyclizine has been messing up my sleeping patterns. This doesn’t help with trying to plan my days, or even working out if there’s a better time for the care calls.
I finally got around to putting my medication in my pill box (one with separate boxes for each day of the week, and five slots in each for meds- four for regular medication and one for as needed). We’ve discovered that most days I don’t take all my medication because I’m not awake enough- I’ve set it so I take domperidone (to be taken before food three times a day) with the first three lots of tramadol, but some days I only have two. I also ended up basically skipping Friday because of an extra long sleep on Thursday. The good thing is it did let us know in good time that I needed more medication so Johan was able to order them before I ran out completely (due to the doctors being closed when he tried to order them the first time I would have run out Sunday evening if I’d taken every dose of tramadol, but by that point I had at least four extra doses so it was fine and he’ll pick them up today).
One thing I think I forgot to mention in the update post is I’ve finally been approved for the hoist! I’ll be getting a ceiling track hoist in both the bedroom and the living room, as well as a tilt in space shower chair. The hoist will be at least August before installation, and Johan has quite a bit of work to do in the living room beforehand, but he’ll get there. I am really excited by it as it would mean I could get out of bed even if I’m not well enough to transfer independently, which would be really good for me.
I’ve been playing a bit of Hearthstone, a bit of Minecraft, a bit of Long Live the Queen, and some games on my tablet like Ninja Chicken Multiplayer Race and Pocket Legends. No idea what I’m doing on the tablet games but they’re a good distraction. Also managed to read the second Young Wizards book today when it became obvious sleep wasn’t happening, and I liked it even better than the first. I want to read the third now but I have to be careful not to try and read too much at once as it’s so easy to overdo it (and one book every few days is enough for me right now).
I watched the World Cup final, supporting Germany (I’m quarter German). They deserved their win, but I got really worried by the amount of head injuries during the entire tournament. There were a lot of times where I thought they really shouldn’t have continued playing, as some of the players looked more out of it than I normally do (which is saying a lot). It was fun to watch though, and nice to support a team. Johan has been having fun watching it, and I’m trying to convince him to support Liverpool in the premier league (they’re my team because I’m a Scouser :P).
Had a few problems with people trying to break into my blog last night. It didn’t help that for some reason the security plugin had stopped working properly and wasn’t blocking those who were trying to brute force. Johan was clever though and managed to fix it. I found out about it because I was getting the emails for each attempt- I think there were over 25,000 by the end of it, including the 5,000 that Johan just deleted from the mail queue. It wasn’t fun but sorted now. I’m so glad Johan is able to do server stuff as my brain isn’t good enough to do more than the very basics now (I accidentally dropped a table instead of deleting a row in one in mysql a few days ago- I really need to install phpmyadmin so I don’t mix my commands up again!).
I should probably sleep soon as I’ve been awake since last night. I’m hoping everyone is as okay as they can be, and I’m just glad I’m well enough to do some stuff, even if I’d like to do more 🙂
