More than just a bag lady

When I was opening my mail a couple of weeks ago there was an official looking envelope. I thought it was probably another  bill (they seem to be coming thick and fast since we moved into the new house) but no, it was worse than that. It was a letter from the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) telling me that I must to complete the enclosed capability for work questionnaire ( pictured below in all its glory) within a few weeks  or they will stop all of my benefit money.  Fan-bloody-tastic. Just what I need. Another million page booklet to fill in. I started to flick through but my head started spinning as I read the questions. I had to fill something like this in a while back when I was initially begging, sorry, requesting financial assistance from the government. I rather naively thought that as I have a chronic condition and that a number of doctors have told me that I'm never going to get any better and that this is as good as it's going to get that I thought that ...

I've got pouchitis. That's an infection in the j-pouch and it's not nice. The j-pouch is formed out of the small intestine and has to do the job of the rectum. The problem is that the small intestine isn't designed to hold poo so in some people it gets inflamed and ulcerates which then leads to infection. It causes bleeding, urgency and the need to go to the toilet. A lot.  Over the last 2 weeks my bowels have not been great which I guess was the start of it all. I went back onto a really plain diet to see if that would help but last weekend I spent more time on the toilet than off so knew that it wasn't going to sort itself out. I've been getting up in the night 4, 5, 6 times and even falling asleep on the loo. It's left me feeling exhausted and drained and the pain is pretty bad too. It would probably be a lot worse if I hadn't recently had the ketamine infusion so that was good timing I guess. Once I realised that I was probably suffering from pouchit...

A couple of weeks ago I had my second ketamine infusion. I know you're probably thinking 'ketamine, isn't that the horse tranquilliser drug?' And yes, you'd be right. But what the headlines in the tabloids don't tell you is that it originally started out as an anesthetic for humans before its use in the vetinary industry. After the horse question I am usually then asked "is it safe?" And the answer is...I don't know.  So what do I know about it?  ▪️It's a class B drug that has a history of abuse due to its hallucinogenic qualities. ▪️It's used as an anesthetic as it causes a loss of feeling in the body and paralysis of the muscles.  ▪️Long term use can cause problems with the bladder that can result in it being removed.  ▪️All medicines have to be licensed before being given to patients and ketamine is licensed as an anaesthetic so technically isn't licensed for pain relief.  ▪️It's most often used as a painkiller in palliative (end...

On Thursday 11th February  we have seen Jeremy Hunt impose the new contract on junior doctors despite repeated protests by doctors and patients. While Mr Hunt has tried to portray Junior doctors as money grabbers reluctant to work weekends the truth is that over 53,000 doctors have struck over concerns to patient safety. (I must make sure that autocorrect doesn't replace the H with a C when I talk about Mr Hunt!) And for the record: I hate the term Junior Doctor,  it implies that these are not 'real' or 'qualified' doctors. That they're a 23 year old fresh out of medical school that's yet to earn their stripes. They are infact any doctor that has yet to reach the lofty height of consultant status. As someone who has been treated by lots  of junior doctors (now referred to as JD's to save me from having to keep typing it) and spent lots  of time in hospital I have seen first hand how hard they work. When I was an in patient the JD's would start work a...

WE HAVE MOVED!!! We are finally in our new house after 8 months of living with my parents. The stress of dealing with estate agents, banks and solicitors are over and we can start a new chapter in our life as a family. On moving day we didn't get into the house until 8pm despite legally owning it since 9.30am. The seller was using a transit van  to move out of a large 4 bedroom house and must have needed to do at least 10 runs, if not 15. We tried to be patient as we know that moving is a stressful and emotional time under ordinary circumstances but to be moving out as a widow must have been even harder. Her husband had died unexpectedly whilst we were in the process of buying the house so at one point we didn't know if the sale would go through. To be honest I kept expecting her to change her mind and want to stay and even when we had exchanged I still was convinced  she might pull out. So you can imagine my relief when I finally got hold of the keys.  Since moving in it...

I've had a lovely weekend back in Hertfordshire visiting friends. I was supposed to go to St Marks in Harrow on Thursday but I was still in the middle of an energy hangover from Mondays trip into London for the pain management course and was struggling to get out of bed so I cancelled it. It's meant that aswell as having to rearrange that appointment I didn't get to see one of my dearest friends Kitty as I had planned to stay with her on Thursday night. And to top it off  my roots are still awful because I had to cancel the appointment at the hairdresser too! I had planned to spend a few hours in the salon on the Friday getting spruced up and relaxing. Never mind. I have yet to find a hairdresser in Nottingham and it's not really at the top of my to do list at the moment so it looks like the roots will be staying a while longer. If I leave it long enough it might become trendy. Mmmm. Maybe not.  I had arranged meet ups with the kids old school friends and their mums on ...

Last  Monday was the first session of the LINK pain management programme at UCLH. I had to be up at the crack of dawn to catch the train from Nottingham to London and I was even up early enough to see Hubby before he left for work so it must have been proper early!!  After getting dressed I finished packing my case then did the kids packed lunches to save my parents a job. They're looking after the kids as I'm staying overnight at Bestie's to break up the journey. Plus it's my god daughters birthday so it was perfect timing (the return train fare was soooo much cheaper on Tuesday morning than Monday evening but don't tell my god daughter that- it's totally about her birthday!)  I decided that I couldn't be doing with having to catch a bus in the dark and then having a 10 plus minute walk to the station so instead I treated myself to a cab. When it arrived Big Fella suddenly got all upset and clung to me begging me not to go. I think that he gets frightened...