Sunday, 18 October 2015

Sunday Snippets - 18th October 2015


Firstly I just wanted to apologise for being rather quiet on my blog recently. I’m finding things a real struggle at the moment and keeping on top of everything just isn’t happening right now. I have so many ideas for posts I’d like to write, but finding the time and energy to take photos and get them written just feels impossible. My health is being a bit of a pain, which in turn makes everything else more difficult, so I have to prioritise things like Uni work at the moment. We also found out this week that we won’t be getting the Reading Week we thought we would, which has really thrown me and I’m pretty worried my body just isn’t going to get me to the end of term without a break. So if you don’t mind just bearing with me for now, I would be very appreciative!


On Monday I decided to try one of the new Taylors of Harrogate teas I bought recently. My bladder nurse had advised me to drink elderflower tea, as it’s meant to help reduce inflammation and infection, but after looking everywhere all I could find was this Blackberry and Elderflower tea, which I thought was better than nothing. It tastes really yummy too, as does the Rose Lemonade flavour, which I drank in my personalised mug from Jilly Jilly Designs. My Monday was fairly uneventful – I had university in the morning, which was very quiet as some of the class were visiting the Magistrates Court. I also had to pop down to the hairdressers to sort out having my hair coloured, so I now have an appointment to get that done.



I tried a couple of these delicious macarons on Tuesday – my parents obviously know me really well, as they went to Betty’s in Harrogate at the weekend and brought these back for me. They have a slightly different texture to the Laudrée ones, but are still really good. I’m determined to go to Betty’s for afternoon tea one day. I’ve been a few times before, but never tried their traditional afternoon tea. Unfortunately the productive day I had planned seemed to go out the window. I got up reasonably early as we had noisy men on the roof fitting solar panels and had plans to get Uni work done. I sat down on the sofa with my laptop and the next thing I knew my Dad was waking me up at 11.30am – not what I had planned! I went to see my CPN, which went OK but the stuff we talked about was pretty superficial, as I seem to be finding it hard to tell her how I’m really feeling. The rest of the afternoon was a little more productive and I managed to get an article written for Uni as well as some planning done for my Mad Hatter’s Tea Party next Saturday.



I didn’t feel too great on Wednesday – my pain levels have shot up recently and I seem to have had a constant cold/virus since the beginning of September. In the morning I went to a workshop at the Pain Clinic, which was quite interesting. Then in the afternoon my Dad took me to the hospital for my appointment at the breast clinic. They were running a bit late, so I managed to get through three chapters of my book, which is a bonus! I saw a lovely doctor, who did my scan, and thankfully she didn’t think the lump was cancerous. It looks like it’s been caused by a problem with the non-fatty tissue not responding normally to hormonal changes. I will have another appointment at the clinic in the next few weeks to discuss things properly, but it’s a relief to know it’s unlikely to be something sinister.



Thursday is the day I’m at university all day, so I often find it difficult to find something to take a photo of. But this Thursday was pretty easy, after we were sent out to do some filming on campus and my friend Nina and I came across these beautiful leaves carpeting the ground. I wish I’d been wearing more attractive shoes though, but that’s a minor detail! In the morning we were sent out into the town to take some photos, so once we’d done that Nina and I crashed out in Starbucks and enjoyed our Pumpkin Spice Lattes, which are fast becoming my new favourite drink.




My Mum bought me these cute little munchkins on Friday, which I’m hoping to use for some blog photography (if I ever find some energy to do it!) I just need to collect some pretty leaves now and I’ll be sorted. I had another fairly busy day, but got to have a lie-in, which is a bit of a novelty these days! In the morning I had an appointment at the hospital with my Urologist, which was quite productive. After much begging and persuading, he has agreed to try doing the operation again that I was meant to have in August. But he wanted me to understand that the stress or the anaesthetic could trigger another daytime seizure, but I decided it’s a risk we need to take, as it really needs to be done. He also said that the scarring on my right kidney could be causing my pain, so it’s good to finally have some sort of answer. I headed over to Uni after that, but to be honest I wish I’d gone home. I wasn’t feeling good anyway, and the lecture was very difficult to relate to again, so I left feeling even worse than I was before.



On Saturday I probably should have had a quiet day to rest, but that’s not how I do things is it?! I’d been planning a birthday shopping trip with my Mum for ages, and this was the only weekend we could do it, so I pushed myself to go. I felt really unwell while we were out and the fact it was so busy and crowded probably didn’t help, but we managed to have a nice time. I treated myself to some winter clothes to keep me warm, some bits and bobs for my party next weekend and some birthday presents for friends. We didn’t get to look in all the shops I wanted to (sadly Topshop, River Island, Office and New Look were just going to be too much) but we did manage to go to Accessorize, Superdry, Primark, Lush and Paperchase, which was probably more than enough for my bank account! We’ve decided we’ll go back another time when I’ve had a chance to recover and just go to the shops we missed, which will hopefully make it a bit more manageable. When I got home I found I’d had this lovely letter in the post from Becca, who is a member of the Letters of Love group I run (click here if you’re interested in joining), which really brightened my day as she wrote some really lovely things.

I don’t normally talk about my Sundays as I don’t tend to post my happy photo for today until a Monday, but I thought I would just summarise what I’m up to today. I had a nice lie-in this morning, which was much needed after yesterday! My friend Charlotte popped over with my birthday present (some Laudrée macarons and a beautiful decorative star hanger) and it was lovely to have a quick catch-up with her. She lives in London so we don’t get to see each other that often, but thankfully her parents still live down the road, so whenever she’s home we make a point of putting something in the diary. The rest of today is set aside for odd jobs – Uni work, admin/paper work and more party planning.

If you haven’t read my blog before, I just wanted to let you know I recently started a second blog, which will just focus on my health in more depth than I talk about it here. I’ve mainly set it up for friends and family to follow and keep up with what’s going on, but if it’s something you would be interested in reading as well, you are more than welcome to follow me over there. It’s called Unicorns and Floral Crowns and you can find it by clicking here. I’m also trying to post on Snapchat a bit more, so if you fancy following me, my username is Jennycole44.

What have you been up to this week? I always enjoy hearing about your news and adventures!

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