It has been a pretty crazy week this week, and
I’m exhausted. If anyone fancies taking me on a relaxing holiday somewhere,
that would be awesome right now! I’m getting a little bit stressed out as my
Uni work starts to pile up, alongside all the other life stuff I need to do.
I’m struggling to see how I’m going to fit everything in (whilst making sure my
health doesn’t get any worse) but I’m trying to prioritise what needs to be
done and not beat myself up if I have to leave some things until later.
I finally got to have a proper lie-in last
Sunday morning. It felt like I hadn’t had one in ages, and it was so good (and
so needed!) After I’d got up and dressed, my Mum and I popped down to Waitrose
so I could get some money out for the week ahead. I also wanted to get some
mini pumpkins for blog photos, but they only had a couple and they weren’t very
nice, so I’ll have to keep looking. When I got home I spent some time writing
and uploading a blog post (and watching a few episodes of The Simpsons). I
spent the rest of the afternoon watching Family Guy and doing some Uni work. In
the evening we all went out as a family for my birthday dinner at Bill’s, which was
lovely. I had a really yummy cocktail called Hedgerow Fizz and a Marks and Spencer Connie the Caterpillar cake. I’ve made the same wish when I blow out my candles
for more years than I can remember. Maybe one day it might just come true.
I didn’t feel too well when I woke up on Monday
morning and to be honest all I wanted to do was stay in bed. But instead, my
Dad drove me over to Uni. We spent the morning talking through the portfolio we
need to submit before Christmas, which I’m stressing out about a bit at the
moment. At lunchtime I went to Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice Latte with my friends Ife and Shanae, which was nice. In
the afternoon we looked through a few different narrative journalism articles
to help us with ideas for what we can write for our portfolio. I’ve got loads
of ideas buzzing round my head, but am struggling to work out which ones are
any good. Thankfully we finished a bit early, so I was able to come home and
get some rest. This box had arrived in the post from Japan Candy Box, which I
won in a competition on a blog a while ago.
Monday was World Mental Health Day and it’s
something everyone needs to be talking about. One in four people will
experience a mental health problem at some point in their life. If it isn’t
you, then it will be someone you know and love. Which is why it is so important
to talk about mental illness openly and honestly. And it’s also why mental
illness needs to be treated with the same importance as physical illness. It’s
not something to hide away or be embarrassed about. I have struggled with my
mental health since I was a teenager – depression, an eating disorder, anxiety
and Cyclothymia. I’ve been hospitalised, sectioned, medicated. I’ve had years
of different therapies. I’ve tried to take my life on numerous occasions. And
things are still really hard. But I’m here and I’m fighting. The theme for this
year is psychological first aid and the support you can provide to someone in
distress. Getting support early is really vital, but because there is so little
funding, it rarely happens. But you don’t need to be a professional to help
someone with a mental illness. Simply being there to talk to them and asking
how they are can help. We need to keep talking and keep campaigning for better
support. If you’re struggling and need help, you can check out some of these
amazing charities: The Samaritans,
Mind, The Blurt Foundation and Time to Change.
I was up early on Tuesday morning so my Dad
could take me over to Uni. I didn’t feel that great – I seem to be very
headachey and wiped out at the moment. In the morning we got into groups and
were given a story to work on. We had to go and get some audio interviews to
back up the story, and then start editing it into a package. At lunchtime my
friend Nina and I went to Starbucks for our long overdue catch-up. I tried a
couple of new things – their Hibiscus tea and a Mallow and Marsh raspberry
marshmallow bar, both of which were really yummy. I’m a big marshmallow fan, so
was excited to discover these! In the afternoon we had to put together a radio
bulletin using current news stories, and then record it in the radio studio,
which was good fun. My Dad picked me up and brought me home, where I crashed
out on the sofa for most of the evening.
I had another session with my counsellor on
Wednesday morning. It was good to talk through some things and get things off
my chest. When I got home I phoned the hospital to try and sort out my POTS
appointment, but unfortunately the specialist has had his registrar taken away,
which means they’ve had to postpone half of his appointments, as it’s only him
now. It’s very frustrating that services for people with rarer severe chronic
illnesses are continually being cut and receive so little funding. I then had a
session of reflexology, which was lovely and relaxing. I fell asleep after my
therapist had left and woke up an hour later – oops! In the afternoon I watched
the last episode of Shetland with my Dad and did some Uni work. We also took
Jaffa to the vets for his annual booster jabs. She checked him over and said that
he’s all good and healthy, which is good. When I got home I had one of these
Pukka teas,
as I was feeling kind of fluey, so thought the honey and lemon might be
soothing.
On Thursday morning I had my Recovery College
course called Managing Intense Emotions. It was a pretty difficult topic this
week (self harm) so I came out feeling pretty drained. I drove my Dad and I
home and rested for a little while. My Mum and I went to see my friend Katy. I
did some admin on my laptop while my Mum had her nails done, then I had my
eyebrows done followed by a very relaxing facial. We popped into Waitrose on
our way home so I could pick up a couple of essentials. Half an hour later, my
Mum took me down to the doctors for my appointment with my GP. She spent quite
a long time with me, as we had a lot of stuff to sort out. I’ve got to have
more blood tests, speak to my gastro professor about this reflux (as she thinks
it’s more likely to be related to my gastroparesis), be referred for physio on
my jaw and make a couple of phone calls to chase up tests and operations. After
a pretty crazy day I really wanted to try and have a relaxing evening. So I had
a Lush Snow Fairy bath,
put on my Topshop teddy bear robe,
read a bit more of my book and used my Febreze sleep spray to
send me off to the land of nod.
I managed to oversleep a bit on Friday morning,
but somehow got to Uni early (how does that even work?!) We had a lecture about
media ownership, but I had to go out for a bit halfway through to go over my
evacuation plan. My Dad picked me up at lunchtime and brought me home, where I
relaxed a bit for half an hour. He then took me to our local hospital for my
appointment with a hip surgeon. He was actually running early, which is pretty
rare! After examining me we looked at my x-ray, which shows the ball and socket
joints are OK in that there’s no arthritis or dysplasia. He’s referring me for
an MRI to check for other problems, so I had to have some bloods done, as they
may want to inject me with dye. He was really nice, very knowledgeable and also
very honest. He said if something shows in the scan that he can ‘fix’ with
surgery, he’ll talk me through the pros and cons and help me all he can. But if
nothing shows on the scan, then we will have to accept that it’s ‘just’ my EDS
and that I’ll have to learn to manage the problems. I do appreciate doctors
being honest when they can’t help (as opposed to not knowing when to
stop/fumbling in the dark) but it doesn’t make it any less upsetting being told
they may not be able to help you. He did jokingly (I think!) advise me to go
and wear my hips out as quickly as possible, as then he could justify giving me
hip replacements, which could vastly improve my symptoms. When we got home I
had a phone call from the Doctors and had to pop down to collect something from
them. I then came home and tried to rest for a while. Alfie does this a lot
with his teddy and I think it looks so cute. He loves that teddy so much, which
is a bit worrying as it is becoming rather threadbare!
I slept until really late on Saturday morning,
which frustrated me because I’ve got so much to do, but I’m absolutely
exhausted at the moment. Once I’d got myself up, dressed and feeling a little
more awake, I stuck some episodes of Family Guy on, edited a load of photos and
wrote a blog post. It took me a lot longer than I expected (probably because I
kept getting distracted or nodding off!) I then spent a while opening the pile
of post that had been building up over the last couple of weeks, which included
the Japan Candy Box that I won. It was jam-packed full of so many colourful
packets! I spent the rest of the afternoon curled up on the sofa doing Uni
work. I was feeling quite unwell to be honest and have had a continuous
headache for a week.
I also opened this month’s Birchbox, which is
really pretty and apparently glows in the dark! The contents aren’t my favourite
selection, and I think a couple of them are more suited to summer products, but
I’ll certainly give them a try.
You can check out my YouTube channel here, where I have recently uploaded a few new videos (and hope to
continue doing!)
I’m also trying to post on Snapchat a bit more,
so if you fancy following me, my username is Jennycole44.
If you don't already, please give me a follow on Bloglovin here - I would love to reach 800 followers, and do have a little giveaway planned for when I get there!
What have you been up to this week? I always
enjoy hearing about your news and adventures!
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