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A better day

Well today has been considerably better than yesterday. Let me tell you why.

Firstly the pain has been better managed today and I haven't found myself doubled up and screaming in agony. That's always a plus I find. I've tried to stay one step ahead of the pain and had regular pain relief throughout the day. I think this has helped although at one point I did feel a bit 'drugged up' and not able to think clearly. I would rather that though than the pain I had yesterday. 

I met with a dietician today. My regular dietician is on holiday so I had to go through everything with this one as she hasn't really been told much about my history. That's a bit frustrating but such is life. She is going to speak to Dr 7 and see if we are going to explore the option of not eating and going onto full TPN feed and if so, when we might do it. 
She didn't really have many other suggestions other than to try a yoghurt tomorrow and see how that goes. So that's the plan. 

Just to update you on the carrots- sadly they didn't agree with me so I'm going to leave those for the time being and try them again in a few weeks time. I have also stopped having the Ensure milkshakes and will switch to the Ensure juices tomorrow. Hopefully I will be able to tolerate them a little better as I think it was the Ensure milkshake that triggered off the bad attack yesterday. 

We had menfolk on the ward today taking down the curtains that go around the beds and replacing them with new ones. Here's an action shot for your viewing pleasure. 


Not only are they a different colour I hear that they have a special lining that makes them soundproof. This means that when the doctor comes to talk to you on his ward rounds the other patients won't hear all the details of your procedures,treatments and medical history thus maintaining your privacy and dignity. This special lining is invisible though- that's why you can't see it. 

I've been watching Homeland series 3 on DVD and I'm hooked. I tend to watch it late at night and I nod off and miss parts of an episode. Today I spent a few hours rewatching the episodes I watched last night and filling in the gaps. I've only got a few more episodes left to watch and I'm desperate to know what's going to happen. 

I had 2 lovely friends visit me today. The first is a lady I met at the kids school and she lives in the next road to me. We can spend hours chatting and yet feel like we've only been sat there for 5 minutes. I love it because she doesn't let me feel sorry for myself and often takes the mickey out of me and my medical problems. It's nice to sometimes have a friend that does this and to an outsider it might sound like she's being horrible to me but it's just banter and it does me good. 

She brought with her some more mini cross stiches from Hobbycraft and also a variety of muller rices. I've found that I can eat the apple muller rice so I thought I would try some different flavours and see how I get on. She also bought me some bonjellla. Where I've been in pain I've found myself subconsciously chewing on my bottom lip and now I have a large, painful ulcer. Hopefully this will help it to heal but I think I do it in my sleep and its getting bigger and bigger. 

As she was getting ready to go my second visitor arrived. A dear friend who I met when we were both pregnant with our Big Girls at an NCT coffee morning. She told me she had been so worried about me that she wanted to come and see me with her own eyes and see how I was. She was happy that although I'm not great apparently I don't look as bad as she thought I would and I've looked worse. I think there's a compliment in there somewhere!

She brought a few DVDs for me to watch; it helps to pass the time in here. I'm not paying to have the tv as I find myself watching awful daytime tv all day and not getting out of bed. If I want to watch tv I can go to the day room- plus it's free in there! We went to the day room to make a cuppa and we sat nattering on the sofas as if we were at home. 

I really appreciate it when people come to visit me as I know it's a long journey for them and it's not always easy when people work, have their own kids to look after, housework to do etc. Last week a friend came and dropped a bag of supplies off to me as Hubby wasn't able to make it and was going to Nottingham for a family wedding over the weekend. I know that she probably had a million and one things she could have been doing that Thursday night but I appreciate the fact that she cared that I was running out of clean knickers and had no slippers or hot water bottle here so did the 2 hour round trip. 

I had really hoped that 2014 was going to be a better year, not only for me but for friends and family too. It seemed that 2013 brought nothing but bad news, illnesses and sadness and unfortunately 2014 hasn't been much better so far. So many of my friends seem to be having a tough time with things, each of them facing their own personal battle. I really hope that we can continue to support each other through these difficult times as we have done in the past because when we stick together we are stronger. If I can keep smiling then so can you guys. 


I did have some good news tonight though. You know on Facebook there's always these competitions you can enter by liking and sharing a page? Well I entered one and won! I couldn't believe it. I never win anything. 

So courtesy of Looby Loo and Missy Moo I am now the proud owner of this gorgeous, handmade blanket. You should check them out on Facebook- they have some gorgeous, unique items that are perfect for gifts. And no, I don't know them and I'm not being paid to endorse them in any way!


Although the blanket won't be mine for very long. My bestie is pregnant and due in May so this will be our baby's blanket. I say our baby as she has to share this baby with me. Her children are the same age as Big  Girl and Big Fella. Because of all my surgeries I can't have any more children even if I wanted to, so baby number 3 isn't even an option for Hubby and me. I was always happy with 2 but now she's having number 3 it means I get to have baby cuddles and do all the fun things but be able to give it back if it cries too much, has a smelly nappy or I'm feeling tired. It also means she's got a very willing babysitter and someone who will love this baby almost as much as she will. It's a win-win for both of us!

Today is Shrove Tuesday (aka pancake day) There were no pancakes in hospital but I was reminded by my work colleagues about the time I did pancakes for my team at work. I took in a gas camping stove, frying pan and oil, along with a bunch of pancakes that I had pre-cooked at home. I then reheated them, did a few good tosses and they all tucked in. I had to do it next to the window to make sure the fire alarm didn't go off and somehow I managed to melt the handle of the frying pan so ended up chucking it away but we had a good laugh and my team were happy with full tummies. It made me smile remembering the things I used to do when I was well and had plenty of energy. I've promised them pancakes when I return to work to make up for all the time off I've had!

So there you have it. Overall a much better day than yesterday. Fingers crossed tomorrow is ok too and then the good days might just start to outnumber the bad ones. Wouldn't that be nice?

NB x


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