Resting

So I go away for 1 week and suddenly I have so many posts to read on the blogs I follow!
Either I follow too many blogs or the ones I love catching up with are super good at posting lots of posts!

However seeing as I am resting up for the next week or so following surgery then I have all the time in the world to read the 63 unread posts that are showing on Bloglovin.
Yes I ventured out and joined Bloglovin.
Even by following Abi's little demonstration video I was able to set up little groups for the different types of blogs I follow and suddenly I can see what I want to read now and what I want to read when I have more time etc.

And time is something I suddenly have plenty of.
Believe me when you sit down and wish you could stay there and not do anything it is a lovely thought, until such time as you do actually have to sit there and do nothing, and I mean nothing......

No washing
No cooking
No cleaning

Ok so I am happy to not have to do any of that for a week but it is difficult to sit knowing the vacuuming needs doing, that the table needs wiping etc.
You also don't want to sound too nagging from your place in the chair with the blanket wrapped round you as you try so hard to point out that said jobs need completing.

But I really can't complain. All the washing has been done and is dry. The house has been vacuumed and the bathroom cleaned, well sort of. And last night we had roast chicken for dinner and it was so nice that I didn't cook it.
Now I remember that my husband is a great cook and I think there will be some turning of tables when I am back up and running, maybe like he can be in charge of dinner every Sunday or something like that?

Shh It's Christmas

Yes Christmas is coming, well for those that have maybe been asleep for the last month and had forgotten!
We are so close yet I am missing a few things and have found 1 thing.......

Missing

I have the Christmas spirit which is great, just a shame that "The Book Depository" did not quite have the same spirit that I had! They managed to screw up thousands of orders coming down under to New Zealand. Consequently the wonderful new addition to our family, that little mischievious "Elf on The Shelf" didn't arrive until 2 days ago.

Therefore he has sadly had to go into hiding until next year. Never fear, I have welcomed him into the family and shown him round the house, feed and watered him for his long sleep ahead and explained the situation to him. He is perfectly happy to finally be in a new home and not stuck in a shipping container at the immigration warehouse, so is happy to not meet the children until next November/December and has now gone away. He will be back though.

Missing

One thing I like about Christmas is the music. I love Christmas carols and I doubly like singing along to them. However this year I think someone is trying to tell me something......as yesterday I sadly got struck down with Viral Laryngitis! In plain simple terms.....I have lost my voice!

The boys think this is funny and my husband cheered! I hit him.
The boys have been unwell with viral infections since Dec 1 and I knew it was only a matter of time before I gained something. I just wish it had been their cough and cold instead.
Ok I feel really quite well, apart from a little tired and no voice, but that is not helping us get everything completed in time for the up coming holiday.
I was sick last Christmas from Christmas Eve through till just before New Year, so I can't believe I am so close again. Hopefully the cough and cold will never come near me and the voice will have returned before Tuesday!

Found

With everything that is missing at present it is lovely to find something that has been missing.

I have found a job

I have secured a position at the hospital 3 days a week.
It has only taken me 6 months! However when they tell you that they had over 70 applicants, shortlisted to 4 and you get the position then you start to  realise just how hard the job situation is at the present moment.
We have never had a situation like this in nursing for as long as I have been a nurse!
There has never been an abundance of nurses there has always been a shortage of nurses!
The jobs have just been few and far between and when you do find something worth applying for so does 50 other people. I have been shortlisted several times for interviews but sadly there has always been someone just slightly better qualified than myself but this time it was my turn, yea for me.

So on that happy joyful note I will wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful joyous New Year.

The Computer

I love our computer...well most of the time!
Sadly it has been unwell recently but is now home, it is taking a rest, as usually advised on returning home from being sick and it will be a few more days before it is up and running again and keeping up with our daily family life.
However, I am not computer savvy, well no I lie, I am computer savvy.
I know how to find the computer, how to switch it on and how to log in.
I know where to find most programmes to be able to control my life with technologies and I know where and how to use the internet. I am savvy enough in Power Point, Excel, Word, Outlook and any programme we have loaded.
I am not so flash hot at downloading things and finding them again later but I am getting better at that.
Unfortunately what I am not savvy at is actually understanding the workings of the machine!

I know that they changed the RAM whilst at the hospital and I also know they reloaded windows, which means I also realise that they did nothing to the hard drive and all our items on there.....pictures, documents, emails etc are still all intact and available to us
However what I didn't understand is that by reloading windows means that they have placed our whole hard drive in a folder and wiped all other programmes.
So currently I can't use Outlook for my emails as Outlook is not loaded on the machine.
I can't open my PTA minutes to check them as we have no Word.

Suddenly:-

• I realise what a whole heap of work Steve has to do with the computer this weekend
• I am realising just what programmes we had loaded on our computer that we had brought on-line.
• I am realising just how much this is going to cost us above and beyond the hospital fee for them looking after our dear buddy for 10 days!
• I am realising that maybe we should have kept the discs from Office 2003 that we finally got rid of last year when 2007 was installed via the internet.
• I am now realising all the games etc that have kept us all entertained on cold wet days that we downloaded.
• I am realising that we really do need to make sure that all and I mean all computer discs for the computer really do need to be stored in 1 set place!

Luckily for us we have a lap top, so all is not lost, we can check emails online but there are ones we need to save for reference to later so my inbox is filling up nicely online.

I am able to blog from my laptop but alas no personal pictures that I have on the main computer, no fun little pictures I have gathered over the years that make things look pretty but I know they are not lost, they are all resting on the hard drive.

The only good thing throughout all of this, is that we have a 1TB external hard drive that we back up to regularly and store far far away from the computer, so if all had hit the fan as they say when the computer was sick, we would have been very lucky in that apart from a few months of pictures we would have 90% of everything that was on our hard drive. There is a god sometimes.

So if anything from this, my biggest word of advice to you all is....do you have an external hard drive that you back up to 3-4 times a year or even monthly if you are a big user of the computer? Believe me if something goes wrong you may just be very grateful for it.

So leave the keyboard and mouse alone, go get in the car, drive to the nearest techo store and purchase yourself one and then back up your hard drive, when everything fails you will be glad you did!

Doctor Visit

Don't worry all is well, apart from the computer which is sick.
We took it to the doctor on Saturday and we are waiting for the diagnosis any day now.

So please bear with me during this time as I am only really able to blog from work, and having just had 2 days off then it feels like I have been away for ages!

Catch you soon

Update Post

If you have missed it I am currently taking part in a blogging challenge....A to Z Challenge where you blog from A to Z throughout the month of April. It is such fun and I am enjoying it, have met some super great blogs along the way and made some wonderful new friends.

It is just what I need actually because I have been sick and we are not just talking a few days in bed or on the couch we are talking that I am on day 10 now and things are about 60% better.
As mentioned here and then again here I thought I was getting dizzy due to my blood pressure being low, turns out that was maybe just a little cover for the real problem.
I saw the doctor and my bloods were all back and good, no worries there. However he did not like the extra fluid in my ears so decided that I had a balance problem due to too much fluid so put me on decongestants to help dry up the fluid. These did nothing, with the exception of making me realise that I was allergic to the drug!
So 2 days later, when I finally succuumbed to the illness and gave in and lay on the couch and just didn't move, I went back to the doctor. Saw a different one this time, just coincidence, but he decided that I had Vestibular Neuritis, a viral infection that effects the inner ear and makes your balance go totally out of whack.

I have no energy, I can't concentrate, things keep swimming in my peripheral vision and the rooms spins regularly.

My father has told me that he too has suffered from this in his time and so has his sister, my aunt. So is it hereditory? Or just chance?
At the moment I hope it is just chance because another attack of this, that could knock me out of action for 4-5 days, would be my worst nightmare come true.
All websites I read talk about recovery being anything from 1-3 weeks!
Good job, to an extent, that I am on holiday next week with the boys due to school holidays, but not so good a job because this is not how I wanted to spend my week off, sitting on a couch half the day resting!

So thank you to all my new blogging friends I have made over the last week. It is fun to read what you are writing about. I have laughed, I have learnt and I have agreed with you on many things.
I look forward to catching up more during the month of April and then on throughout 2012.

Blood Pressure

Do you have problems with your blood pressure?
It is a common enough problem.

As parents I am sure our pressure has risen higher than it should on occassions, but then they always do something to make it come back down again, got to love them!

Steve's is high, I mean way high....got to take medication high!
However in the last 2 days if he could give me some of his high blood pressure then it would assist me with my rather too low blood pressure! The doctor laughed at this and said 'if only'

Yesterday morning my blood pressure decided that I had to have a close encounter with the wardrobe! I am fine I am not hurt, luckily the wardrobe made me sit back down on the bed where I was able to close my eyes until the room had stood still.
Once I was up and going I was fine for the rest of the day.
This morning when I lifted my head off the pillow the room was swirling not nicely, so I put it back down again.
This time I got Steve to check my BP before I even got out of bed.
He had trouble finding it at 90/60. It is usually 120/70 which is good by the way the other is too low.
So Alex kindly got mummy a drink and I decided that I would stay home, but half hour later I decided that I was fine for work and off we went.

I was however a good girl and made an appointment at the doctor.
He sent me for a whole heap of blood tests as when I saw him it was only just 102/65.

I feel sort of fine, a little light headed but able to carry on. I am tired so am resting when I feel like it.
When we got home from work it was 90/68 and I have a feeling that if I checked it again now it would be pretty much the same, I can tell by how wishy washy my head feels. Seems there is a reason to have a decent blood pressure....it keeps you on your feet! Although the boys loved listening to my BP as because it was quite low it didn't get uncomfortable when Steve blew the cuff up each time so the boys could listen to my BP through the stethoscope.

What is funny is I found this next picture in Google images whilst searching for the above picture....

I am not exercising as much as 30 mins a day but I am loosing weight however if that is making my blood pressure go down then maybe I will love the weight I have and not complain!

Thankfully

I have just got half way through a post about the local library and memories and then realised that in fact I have something to post about that is more important.
I have just been reading Rocking Chair Reflections and she is doing a month of thanksgivings. Last month she did a month of memories.
I really should have done a month of giving thanks seeing as it is now November (holy crap where did the year go?)  but had already said I would do memories, although I think I might mix it over the month.

Anyway, I digress, another Blog I follow, Deb's Doodlings is someone I have met through work, well we met through blogging but then worked out we both work at the hospital so we met a few times, usually in the staff canteen when both buying lunch!
However, when I checked her blog yesterday it was to discover that she had received the call that every parent dreads "Hi, we are calling to let you know there has been an accident, your daughter has been injured!"
For the last week she has been at the hospital with her 11 yr old who is in a bad way, head injury, facial fractures, broken leg and pelvis, more bruises than you want.

Deb is only just resurfacing after having the week from hell, although she still has many weeks to go. Her daughter is non weight bearing for at least the next 6-8 weeks, when she finally manages to sit up for longer than 20 secs.

So suddenly I am thankful that she is going to be ok, I am thankful to everyone that helped them with getting her to hospital, the ambulance, fire brigade and the air ambulance.
I am thankful for my family and that we are all safe tonight in our house together.

Just Perfect! The Joys of Parenting

This time last week I was ranting and raging about having time off work due to a sick child. He by the way is now fine and we really don't think he was ever that contagious, but we will not argue that point now!
So yesterday life finally got back to normal.
Everyone went to school and I got to go back to work.

However that only lasted until 5pm last night.
Ben jumped down of the stage at after school care last night (like he has everyday practically for the last 2 years) and then complained his foot hurt. Apparently he walked across the hall and then mentioned it hurt.
He could walk on it and move his toes and said it didn't hurt too much when touched. We decided that a pulled muscle was probably the best and left it at that. He had shoes on at the time so we felt his foot was supported so expected nothing sinister at all.
This morning his foot was swollen and sore, so Steve took a couple of hours off and took him for an x-ray at 9am.
I on the other hand called in the cavalry (aka Grandma)
They diagnosed a sprain and sent us home telling us to keep him home for the rest of the week. So Grandma came and did a snatch and grab and whisked him home to her house till Saturday.

Don't you just love Grandma's?

Unfortunately I wish it was all just that simple.
Turns out someone else reviewed his x-ray later in the day and they called us at 5pm to say he needed to be seen again due to actually having a broken foot.
Slight problem, he is now 1hr drive away.
So Grandma took him to local clinic and they called our clinic who advised of the diagnosis.

Now we have a back slab, non weight bearing with crutches for 3 days, then a visit to fracture clinic and then 6 weeks in a cast.
So soccer season, which he is loving has just disappeared along with Judo.
Not sure if he realises this but then seeing as he is not at home at present, still at Grandma's, then we will discuss this with him when he returns!

So here we are, 10pm and I still am not exactly sure what is happening. I never saw the doctor, we haven't really spoken to anyone proper about the phone call because no one has spoken to us yet! Grandma knows more than we do due to being told directly at her clinic what the Hamilton clinic told them, but even then because she is not in town, then they don't know who, when or where.

My day off tomorrow is obviously going to be spent getting to grips with everything and when we have to be places and what for.

The joys of Parenting.

Frustration Again

Yet again I am writing a post entitled 'Frustration'
I last wrote one just over a year ago and now I am writing another on exactly the same subject.

Frustration at being home from work with a sick child.

Now don't get me wrong...I love my children and they mean the world to me, there is nothing I wouldn't do for them.
I also know there is nothing that can be done when they are sick, you just have to love them and help them through it.
BUT that doesn't help work!

In January I was off for a week sick, I had a medical certificate to back me, so no worries.
In March Alex was sick and I had a few days off with him.
Ben got sick somewhere along the line and Steve happily took time off.
Alex also had another 2 days off somewhere else and we both shared that time, taking 1 day off each.
In May I got a nasty viral chest infection and ended up with a week off again.

By now you can guess that I have used up all my sick time from work!

Unfortunately on Saturday night the babysitter informed me that Alex had redness on his back. Thought nothing of it and promptly forgot.
On Sunday morning Alex informed me that the redness on his back was bigger, like all of his back, he had a nasty rash.
It wasn't chicken pox (no spots) and it wasn't measles, German, English or any other nationality!
It started to fade by the end of the day, well it was still under the skin but just not so prominant. The dose of Phenergan also helped I feel.
Monday there was still a hint of rash but nothing else. He went to school and I to work.
Last night unfortunately Alex looked like he had done 6 rounds with a mosquito, hive type bumps all over his legs and back!
So another quick visit to the emergency doctors only to be told he has a viral infection and that .....wait for it......you guessed it........it is contagious! So no school.

So here I sit, at home with Alex who is feeling fine apart from so itching.
I got so frustrated last night I actually called the emergency doctors and demanded a medical certificate for Alex that I could present to my work, because it just made it much easier to swallow knowing I had something in writing from a Doctor.

So today, before going to see my manager, I went and saw the manager above her. Felt I really had to talk to her first before my direct manager informs her yet again that I am away sick!
She was understanding, grateful for the medical certificate and even asked if there was anything they could do to help me?

It makes me feel so useless, so unreliable. I hate that feeling of not being able to support the team and feeling that they may feel I am not a sure thing, cause you just never know when I might take a day off sick! In fact last time I was sick I actually went back to work way too soon and practically killed myself in the process and got sent home being told not to return until I was well again.

Oh well, life goes on. Got a week off in July for annual leave, aren't I lucky!

P.S - this is when I wished we lived next door to Grandma!

Hit for 6

I am sick.
Now don't panic, nothing terminal just your typical winter stuff that goes around when you least want it.

But I wouldn't mind, I gladly accept my share of it, if it actually eventuated to something.
The sore throat started last Wednesday, the general feeling like crap and no energy started late Friday and now the doctor has put me off work for 2 days, seems the tightness in my chest and the lack of energy are not condusive to work. Funny I could have told you that without paying any money.
If the cold was going to come out...then I wish it would, at least I know it will pass. But the light head and the tightness are driving me nuts!

I feel ok, but then after trying to do something for too long I realise that all I want to do is sit down and rest, must admit the doc got that part right.
He said that I probably feel good when I am at home because I get to sit when I want, eat what I want when I want and rest if I feel like it, whereas at work (in my dept especially) it is busy and continuous and there is no stopping. I can't ask the patients to not 'get sick' on me whilst in our dept, unfortunately it doesn't work that way.

However, I have noticed today that I have 'dropsie' yes you read that right, in general terms it means I keep dropping everything, my reactions are not quite up to par.
In the OR we often talk about dropsie, the day you are for ever dropping the instruments!
So that is me today. I dropped the car key whilst at the doctors, I dropped my handbag whilst in the supermarket carpark, I dropped pegs whilst hanging out the few pieces of laundry that had been in the tub for 2 days! Sure it hasn't ended yet.

And to add to it all, the sun suddenly disappeared and down came some rain, so the washing just stayed on the line because I didn't have the energy to rush and grab it all in.

Don't you just love being sick?

Get Well

I have to send get well wishes to my Uncle who is sadly recovering this weekend from a stroke. Not a bad one but enough of one to have left him with left sided weakness. His speech is good but his walking is a little troubled.
Going to Rotorua today, so may get time to pop up to the hospital to see him.

Also to my brother in law who apparently has lost his appendix.
Good thing he doesn't need it!

Get well both of you please.

2011 for Alex

It seems this year as if any sickness or unwellness that is going to hit our family is going to hit Alex!

We started the year with him complaining (as he had been doing for a little while) about his bottom and it being itchy etc.
Turns out he had worms so we all got treated and yea ha for that little exercise.

Then I noticed that his bottom was still really red. Didn't want to clear and so back to the doctors we went with that one.
Now I suspected 'Strep' yes you can get strep of the bottom, Ben had it when he was 4, a nice big dose of antibugs and all is correct again. Don't know how you get it but it seems to last for ever unless you treat it.
So after voicing my opinion to I think the 3rd doctor we saw, I managed to get a swab taken (only way to prove it, by growing it) and 3 days later Alex had a 10 day course of antibugs to take.
They finished last week. He was actually very good at taking it morning and night as prescribed and we were very proud of him.

Yesterday we collected the boys from school at 5pm and Alex was walking with his head tilted to one side. Said it was sore and stiff.
My first thought was why hadn't the school called us, Alex said he hurt it at fitness, which was held at 9am!
Because he was perfectly fine in himself and had shown no previous signs of unwellness I did not even think of anything illness wise like meningitis etc, so was never really worried there.

A quick talk to his teacher, who was still around after the staff meeting, and she said he had not complained all day about any aches or pains?

Now to me a 5 yr old does not get a stiff neck, they are fit and active, I know it can happen, but they shouldn't get to the point of not wanting to move their head etc.
So we decided to do a range of movements with Alex and then make a decision about seeing a doctor.
Decision was made and off we went to the emergency doctor.
Her conclusion was that he had probably pulled a muscle in his neck, take anti inflammatory drugs, use a wheat bag to get some heat on the muscle and rest. Oh and also get him to do some basic exercises to make sure he moves his neck to keep it active.

So here we are today, he is off school today to rest. His neck is still a little sore and stiff to move although a good nights sleep did help that but then so did the Ibufen probably!
However, he is still complaining of an itchy bottom and it is still not settled enough for my liking, so guess what.............we have an appointment at the doctors for later today!

Will it ever end this year with him?

Holidays and Sickness

Our Christmas holiday has been great. We all had such fun.
Alex desperately wanted to stay home for Christmas this year.
Turns out, that with having the caravan, we have gone away for Christmas every year and he decided that he wanted to have a Christmas where he could come downstairs and see the presents under the tree.
We really couldn't argue with that at all.
So Christmas morning was spent at home.

By lunchtime we were on the road and heading to my cousin's house for a family day.
Alex didn't actually seem to mind that his vision of a whole day at home had suddenly been abruptly cut short and now we were on the move again.
I had to make a dessert to take with us, so opted for a traditional Kiwi one and made a pavlova. Alex had strict instructions not to drop it and hold on tight.

We had an awesome family day, with 30 others, drinking, eating and being very merry.
We then spent the next 2 weeks at the caravan and there are many posts on the blog about the fun things we got up to.

Unfortunately that wonderful time has now ended and we are back to work and holiday programme, well at least 3 of us are.
Me, I am off sick, yep that is right, first full week back and I am off for the first 2 days! I was at work last week for 2 days so have been back since Christmas.
Turns out my insides don't want to play the working party game and have been churning and cramping for 36 hours now.
Steve was concerned this morning and decided I needed to see a Doctor, which I had already decided myself at 3am!
So he happily came home from work at 9.30 and took me to my appointment.
I already had a feeling in my head that maybe I had Irritable Bowel, although we can not pin point any particular food that I have eaten that may have sparked it off, in myself I feel quite fine, although a little tired. So had looked the symptoms up on the internet, like all good medical personel do before going to see the Doctor!

The doctor sort of agreed with me and explained nothing I didn't already know.
He has given me some anti cramping pills and it is now a waiting game to see if they do the trick, although he wants to know tomorrow if they haven't.

Currently 3 hours after taking them, they haven't worked yet, although he did say a few hours. So hopefully by tonight things may have settled.
He has told me to stay away from food today, although I can't say I have eaten much this last 24 hours. I don't actually fancy any food but have had the odd moment where I feel rather hungry and I have eaten something because I know I will feel worse if I don't, but it has not been much at all.

So that is the start to 2011, let's hope it doesn't last long and that everything settles really soon!

Weird Thoughts

It is 9pm and I have been in bed the same amount of time as the boys! We all went up at 7.30pm.

I have a stinking cold and bed was the best place to be, ok so I am sat here with the Laptop, but at least I am comfortable and warm.
I am listening to the rain outside ever thankful that we are in a 2 storey house and the chance of us getting flooded is zero!
Not that it is raining that much, but with the floods in the lower North Island, the earthquake in the South Island and the major floods in Aussie, it is a thought that has crossed my mind!

But then I do not have to fear because there is a 1m difference between the land at the front of the property and the back.
We also have the Waikato river running up the centre of Hamilton, now ok we live, give or take a street about 500m away from the river but it is about 20m below our land level, the street we live in also has a difference of at least 5m between the top end and the bottom.
So when it comes to water levels, then I think we are pretty safe, plenty of areas for the water to run before it gets anywhere near our house.

Although if an earthquake strikes then we are probable screwed as we are in a 2 storey house. The roof could fly, the car could get locked in the garage and knowing our luck things would all fall down, although the middle of the street would be our safest place as we have no tall buildings around us and would not get hit by falling objects just there.

So here I continue to sit and check Facebook, blowing my nose and having weird and wonderful thoughts about what would happen if....?

Oh and I also got the emergency boxes out this evening and gave them a check over. A few things out of date but otherwise not too bad. A little supplying needed but maybe I will discuss that in another post later on one day.

Frustration

Frustration is knowing that you started a new job 6 months ago and already you have taken 6 sick days!
Frustration is knowing that this is what can happen when you have kids!

But knowing all this, it is still difficult to swallow sometimes when I have to call work to let them know I won't be in. I have even taken to letting them know I am off sick due to a child.
As you can guess, I am at home today with a sick child. Alex said he had tummy ache this morning and he was too quiet. So I kept him home from Daycare. With his 5th birthday just days away, I definitely do not want a sick child this weekend!
He has been quieter than normal all morning, happily sat on my bed and watched tv for the morning. This is so not like him at all.

I was off sick for 1 day in May with Ben.
I was unwell for 2 days in April, finally I actually got to take sick days for me!
Before that Steve and I both shared a day each in March when Alex was not well for half a week, Steve did 1 day, I did the next and the other was my day off anyway.
The last sick day was in February, and that 1 was for me, when I had finished the 6 weeks orientation and I was knackered.

So even though it is not much, it still feels like it when I have to call them, and unfortunately we are heading into winter, but maybe with everyone having already had sniffles and sneezes we might be able to get through a couple of months without mummy having to stay home from work, although thankfully Steve does share and will take a day off too when he knows I really can't take anymore.
Although having said that, work are very good. The department is more or less run by family people, we all have kids at school etc that can not stay home on their own. So we are all very understanding to each others needs.
I don't actually feel so bad today because I have just found out that 1 of the lists had been cancelled this afternoon due to the doctor being away sick!

Get Well Soon

It seems that in the last couple of weeks my extended family have all managed in some form or other to get sick.

So here is a big Get Well Soon to everyone.

My cousin is now hobbbling around with a brace on her leg due to the fact she has broken her leg and knee whilst out walking one morning with her teenage daughter.
I had to laugh at first because a) she was on school holiday at the time (she is a teacher) and b) why was she out exercising at 6am?
I just had to call her up and tell her what we all know anyway.......that exercising at 6am is just such a stupid thing to do!
She laughed and agreed that she must have been half mad to do it but that now she would love to be able to just go for a sensible walk.
So mend well Nicky and keep smiling.

I have not been well these past few days. I started with a cold and then on Wednesday afternon just got hit with feeling really crap.
All I wanted to do was lay down and after I had done just that I didn't really move for 2 days.
Last night I walked up the road to get Alex from Daycare, this was the first time I had been out of the house for 48hrs.
Man I felt weak.
I am feeling better now, but still not 100%. Hopefully I will be fine to go back to work on Monday, after lots of resting this weekend.

My Uncle has also been unwell.
He has had on going probablems with his abdomen over the last couple of years and unfortuately this saw him end up in hospital again this last week.
To add to this the pain and infection was not doing good things with his heart so it was a slightly scary time whilst he was in hospital.
He is now home and slowly getting better but does require an operation in the not too distant future.

So we are all slowly falling apart here at the moment.
I think we all need so juice of youth or what ever is out there to give you energy and spirit back.
Keep smiling all, we will get better soon

Complaining

I don't like to complain to companies about service received, but I have now come to the conclusion that if you don't then you can no longer complain about how poor the service is.
If you are not prepared to say anything then what can you expect?

So I complained today about my visit to the Doctors yesterday.

It was long and slow and when in the consultation I had the pleasure of knowing the Doctor was not enjoying his job and that he had written an email to his boss explaining all this!
I only went in with back ache....came out knowing how much the Dr was not happy and not enthused about his job.
Not what I wanted on a day I was feeling not 100%, not information I even needed to know, although that does now explain his lack of enthusiasm and effort towards the patients.

So I called the surgery today and voiced my complaint, it was duely heard and noted and I am happy now. As I said to the lady, there is nothing that can be done to change the consultation from yesterday, medically I am now fine and do not need to see another Doctor today to feel happy about my condition, but felt that he really wasn't interested in what we had to say yesterday and felt they needed to know this.

Now I feel better, it is not bugging me so much now.

Resting

The plan for the next 2 days was for the boys to go to their respective care places and for Steve and I to have some quiet time at home for him to recover from surgery.

With that in mind, Steve decided that he really wanted to stay on top of his pain, so decided to set the alarm for midnight last night to take more pills, he was then going to reset it for 6am to take the next lot. Seeing as today was going to be a quiet day then that was a good choice.

Unfortunately what we didn't count on was finding Alex crawling around the bed at 10.30pm with a rip roaring temp of 39.9! A quick dose of drugs and juice for him.

So midnight did come and go, and Steve took his pills whilst I leaned to the end of the bed and checked the temp (38.9) on the sleeping child on the mattress on the floor of our room! I decided that I really needed to be close to both of them, so we moved Alex into our room as well.

He fell asleep at midnight so we let him sleep and we woke at 5am. His temp (39.3) was back up again so we dosed him again and called Healthline for further advice (just to be on the safe side and to get some unemotionally attached advice) who adviced we were doing all the right things and just keep going.

We all woke again at 6am for Steve to take more drugs and then we all dosed until 8.30am, when I realised that Ben was downstairs watching tv and really needed to be given breakfast and taken to the Holiday Programme for the day.

So Steve's quiet day at home has changed into a Daddy and Alex quiet day at home watching movies.

Alex's temp has finally broken and is now sitting at about 37 to 37.4, which is satisfactory for me.

Steve is feeling fine and has no pain due to taking pills regularly, so a not too bad day after all.

Neck Update

My neck is starting to feel better.

I no longer have pins and needles down my arm and I can now use the arm again which is nice.

My neck and shoulders are still sore and I am still on pain killers although not as many. Driving really agrevates it so am not doing much of that at the moment. I can drive if I need to but am choosing not to if I can help it.

I am still getting pain in my neck but it is now on the right handside not the left?? Not sure on that one!

This evening I managed to get my MRI Scan. I went back to the doctors on Monday with a very stiff neck and she called the Specialist to see about organising the scan sooner rather than later.

They called yesterday to arrange a time for end of next week but I stressed that I was readily available for a cancelation appointment if one became available as I lived only a couple of minutes away.

They called today before lunch and asked if I could come in at 6.30pm. Of course I said yes. Anything better than waiting till Friday next week!

Unfortunately when I arrived they explained that they were running rather later, so I got to sit in very uncomfortable chairs for nearly an hour waiting for my scan. It is difficult to sit comfortably in a chair with a sore neck and read a magazine at the same time as listening to Shania Twain blare over the sound system!

But then spending 20 minutes in an MRI Scan was worse as it is very very noisy. Didn't mind the closed in tunnel feeling as I was so tired I just closed my eyes and half went to sleep but the constant banging and vibrating etc from the scan was running straight through my head!

So the scan is now done, the results will be seen by the Specialist next week and we will wait to see what they come back with, I may find they discover nothing and I won't even see the Specialist! I hope so but I also hope not as I would really like to know what is going on and why I keep having so much pain?

Pain

I am currently of work.

Have been now for just coming on 2 weeks.

I managed to slip over at a friends house 2 weeks ago and jerk my neck and shoulder. Also landed on my left knee, but as nothing hurt didn't think too much about it!

However during the weekend of the fall my left arm started to ache and my left thumb became really painful to use.

Now I have had syptoms like this before when Ben was first born. It made lifting a new born baby very difficult and I had splints to wear for the first 3 months of Ben's life whenever my hands got sore, not much fun with your first new born child!

Anyway, part of the problem we worked out back then was due to my neck. It was very tight and so I got treated by a Chiropractor. This solved the problem and soon I was problem free.

Since then I have taken any sign of pain in my hand as a sign my neck is getting tight and off I trot to the Chiropractor.

So this is what I did beginning of last week. He happily saw me and made a few adjustments, however the pain in my hands was now spreading down my arm and I was also experiencing pins and needles in the arm along with a constant ache, almost like I had growing pains in my arm all day long! (remember those from when you were a child? I do)

Anyway, on Monday of this week he decided that in fact there was nothing he could do for me without a scan, because he felt that it was either a nerve or disc problem, so referred me back to my own GP.

So off I trotted.

She did a whole range of assessments and immediately signed me off work for a further 2 weeks, referred me to an Orthopaedic Surgeon, put me on some lovely strong pain killers and said "yes I think you might have a disc problem!"

So here I sit, coming to the end of 2 weeks at home. I am bored and even slightly depressed some days as the uncomfortable feeling in my shoulder and down my arm is continuous and enough to drive anyone to drink!

I have made myself a list of little things to get achieved around the house but I am not getting too far with that list! I have good moments when I think I am being stupid for sitting around the house and then I have a bad moment and I realise why I am sitting around the house!

How long will this go on for? I have no idea, they do say it can take up to 3 months for this to right itself and get better. I am hoping to have seen the specialist by then and maybe had a scan to assertain the actual problem, but with Christmas happening slap bang in the middle of all of this then I will not hold my breath, because as this is also our summer holiday time then everything is well known for shutting up shop for a good 2 weeks over this period of the year!

Of course the schools all finish for the big 6 week holiday in the next week or so and everyone loves to go away on their big family holidays over the Christmas period, specialists included!

So here I sit, spending a lot of time on the computer because I am able to sit and play games with one hand and rest at the same time.

I have managed to finish the 3rd book in the Twilight series again and will start #4 sometime soon, although have started a different book for now to give me a break from the intensity of Twilight.

I can drive, but I ache afterwards so am trying not to do this unless I really need something.

So will keep you all posted on what happens next?