My Christmas Speech

Merry Christmas. 🎄🎉🙏⛄️

I am so happy to be at home that I could burst. I am here with my amazing Hubby, my kids, family and lots of people that I love a lot. 💕 But things could have been very different and I could have been stuck in hospital for the Christmas period like many other people. There are so many people that are too ill to be at home with their families and I just want to take a moment to wish them a speedy recovery and hope that they are able to enjoy the day even though they're in hospital.

I think we should also remember the fabulous doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, cooks, cleaners, porters and everyone else it takes to make a hospital tick over who will be working while we are all at home enjoying our turkey and quality street! The NHS is a marvelous institution and one that is envied by the rest of the world. We must make sure it is protected and not privatised because I for one would not be alive today without it.

I have also met some amazing people on my journey. Some of these came into my life briefly and I truely believe for a purpose, others have stayed and become part of my life. The bonds you form with people in hospital are hard to describe. I think it's the understanding that you have of each other's lives, the sufferings, the struggles, the small steps forward. You both completely understand because you're both living it. As much as family and friends try to understand they can never totally 'get it' because they're seeing it from the outside looking in. So to all my hospital buddies from QE2, Lister, St Marks and Princess Alexandra, a very special shout out to you guys.

The last few years have been undeniably difficult but it has taught me a lot of things. Now I value more than ever my family and my friends. I take joy in the small everyday things that most people take for granted because when I'm stuck in hospital they are the things that I miss the most. So try and slow down people. Play with your children when they ask instead of trying to quickly answer that email. Pick up the phone and speak to that friend you've been meaning to catch up with. Worry less about what your Facebook friends think of you and concentrate on your real life friends and how you can keep those friendship alive. Tell your parents you love them. Work to live, don't live to work because when you're ill it's not work that will support you, it's your family and friends. Do crazy things because it's what you don't do that you always end up regretting. Make a New Years resolution to make a difference. Sod the diets and going to the gym- go to the foodbanks and help there. Look after an elderly neighbour. Clear out all your clutter and take it to a homeless shelter or charity shop instead of trying to sell it online to make yourself a few pounds. Be grateful for what you have. Because what you have is probably plenty enough.

So there you have it. My Christmas speech and a few of my thoughts on life. Thank you for reading my ramblings. I hope it gives you an insight into life with bowel disease, the highs and the lows and everything in between. I hope with all my heart that next year is easier. I hope that all my hospital buddies stay well and at home with their families. And I desperately wish that my health will improve and I can try to piece back together my life.

NB x

Caravan wankers

Over the last few years when I was stuck in hospital for long periods of time Hubby and I would talk about what we would do if I ever got ‘better’. During some of those times when I was so, so poorly the idea of just being at home for more than a few weeks at a time seemed like a far fetched dream. But I’m currently living that dream! And obviously I know I will never ‘get better’ but for these purposes ‘getting better’ meant being well enough to be at home, not in pain 24/7 and not in bed all day, every day. Not too much to ask now is it?? So in our talks, once I was at home and was well enough to do the real basic things like watch Big Fella play football, Big Girl play netball, go to Tesco, play with the dog, go to the cinema etc one thing kept cropping up. We would love to have a motor home and tour round the country. We talked about the places we would like to visit, how much Buddy the dog would love it and how it would give us a chance to reconnect with each other. But...

The light at the end of the tunnel is a train

Last week was a busy and pretty crappy week for me health wise. I had to go and have blood tests done with the nutrition nurses and I had two hospital appointments; one with the gallbladder surgeon in Nottingham and the other with colorectal surgeon at St Marks. I was hoping to have at least one surgery date to write in the diary following these appointments but I came home empty handed on both occasions. Here’s what happened. I began noticing over the last few weeks that I’ve started feeling really crappy. I’m feel lucky to have been at home for the last 6 months and I have been the most well I have been for years but it felt like things had shifted slightly recently but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. But years of being sick means I know my body and I can tell when something isn’t right. I have been feeling permanently exhausted and having way more bad days than good. I’ve gone back to spending 2, 3 or more consecutive days in bed, unable to do anything but watch tv and sl...

Trying to get vaccinated

When I was an inpatient recently I asked about getting the Covid vaccine because I’m classed as Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (ECV). Apparently other patients on the ward had gotten theirs but I was told that it wouldn’t be possible and that I would have to get in touch with my GP. Apparently staff within the hospital had been using the system to book vaccinations for friends and family by saying that they were an inpatient and as a result they were now only vaccinating staff who could show their ID badge. I can understand that people are worried about the people that they love but to think that people abused the system in that way makes my blood boil. So when I was discharged I rang the GP surgery and was told that they had absolutely nothing to do with the vaccination programme and that I would need to get in touch with NHS England. So I called NHS England and spoke to an adviser who told me that according to the system I wasn’t eligible for a vaccination. I explain...

More than just a bag lady

Search This Blog