This week has been crazy busy and I feel like
my feet haven’t touched the floor. It was so good to get to Friday evening,
knowing I had two days of no plans in front of me (even if I do have a list of
work longer than my arm to do!) It’s only another week until half term from
Uni, and I seriously cannot wait! I will have to spend most of it catching up
with work, blogging and various other things from my to-do list, but hopefully
I’ll be able to have the odd lie-in too.
I decided to try and not have too much of a
lie-in last Sunday morning, as I had so much to do. And I actually didn’t do
too badly with getting up! I spent my morning watching episodes of The Simpsons
and writing a blog post. I lit one of my Yankee Candles - I
know it’s only October, but I do love a Christmas candle! I then sorted out a
load of filing for my Uni work, which I’d been meaning to do for ages. David
and Emma popped round, so I chatted to them for a while as they were off to New
York towards the end of the week (and I’m not jealous at all!) The Rescuers was
on TV in the afternoon, so I popped that on and spent most of the afternoon
doing Uni work. I keep feeling really headachy, so I thought I should get a bit
of fresh air considering I hadn’t been out of the house for two days. So my Dad
and I went for a tiny walk out of our back gate with the dogs. I don’t think
the dogs are very impressed if I ever go out for a walk with them, as they
don’t get to walk very far! Going out for long walks (or any walks a lot of the
time) is something I really miss as my health has got worse. I’m looking for an
electric wheelchair to give me more independence but it’s probably not going to
be suitable for country walks. I’m guessing if I want something like that
though I’m going to need to buy two different chairs, which I can’t really
afford to do.
I had to be up super early on Monday morning so
my Dad could take me over to the hospital. I had a phone call on Sunday evening
asking me to go in for an MRI at 7.15am! We got about half way through the scan
of my hips and the radiographer came through and said the pictures were looking
very strange. After a bit of investigation we worked out I had a tiny mental
button on my trousers. So we started the scan again, minus the trousers! I was
in the scanner for an hour in total. My Dad and I then went to the hospital
café for a bit of breakfast before heading over to Uni. Our morning at Uni
consisted of talking about interview techniques, and I also went through my
narrative article ideas with my tutor, so I now know which topics I’m covering.
After lunch, a guest speaker came in to talk to us about writing longer
articles and doing interviews. He was really interesting and shared a lot of
advice and knowledge with us. I was exhausted by the time I got home and pretty
much crashed out on the sofa for the evening. This unicorn picture that my
friend, Becca, sent me for my birthday made me smile.
Getting up on Tuesday morning was even more of
a struggle than normal. My Dad drove me to Uni for another news day. Myself and
my friend Amber took on a story about a piece of research that shows
Southerners are the most likely to avoid the 5p bag charge by bringing their
own bags. We headed over to Waitrose to get some interviews with customers
about their opinions on the matter, and then went back to Uni to start editing.
We also had to write a piece for online, so Amber focussed on the radio piece
while I wrote an article to go online. I also had to record our narrative to go
with the interviews for the radio piece. At the end of the day we listened to
the final broadcast before my Dad brought me home. I felt absolutely drained
and had been feeling really unwell all day. I seem to be finding this a lot
harder on my health so far this year, and I’m worried how I’m going to cope.
I’ve also been feeling pretty upset about being such a burden on people. I have
to rely on people for so much, like my Dad to drive me to and from Uni, but I
can’t see another option. My health is getting worse and I don’t feel safe to
drive myself to and from Uni, never mind not being able to lift my wheelchair
in and out of the car. It’s just getting me down at the moment.
My Dad and I were up pretty early on Wednesday
morning so we could drive to the station. Traffic was awful and we ended up
having to park in a side road so we didn’t miss our train. We went to Guildford
and made our way to the Crown Court. It was a long and pretty intense morning
sitting in on a case. Afterwards, my Dad and I went to Costa for a bit of lunch
before catching the train back. We popped into Waitrose on our way home so
my Dad could pick something up. I spent the rest of the afternoon making phone
calls to sort out medical things and doing some Uni work. I was so glad to
finally get into bed in the evening!
On Thursday morning I managed to oversleep a
bit, so it was a bit of a rush with my Dad driving me over to Aldershot. I had
another session of this Recovery College group I’m doing, but really struggled
to focus because my pain levels were really bad. When we got home I just tried
to rest on the sofa for a little while. It was my Mum and Dad’s wedding
anniversary, so they went out just after lunch to go up to London to see a
show. These are some of the roses in the bunch of flowers my Dad bought my Mum.
I spent a while watching Family Guy and doing Uni work. I then drove myself
down to the hairdressers and had my hair cut. After some rest at home, in the
evening my sister, Rosiie, and I met my brother, David, for a drink before he
went off on holiday to New York.
I actually got to have a bit of a lie-in on
Friday morning, which was definitely needed. I had to miss my first lecture at
Uni because I had to wait in for my Neurogastroenterology Professor to ring. I
was getting quite anxious as he hadn’t rung, but an hour after our appointment
time the phone rang thankfully. He thinks I still have problems with small
bowel bacterial overgrowth, so I have to continue with courses of strong
antibiotics and increase my probiotics. He has also said that he believes I
have mast cell problems (Mast Cell Activation Disorder), which is likely to be
making a lot of my symptoms worse. He’s going to talk to my Neurologist about
prescribing something to try and help it, but unfortunately there’s no cure.
I’ve got mixed feelings about it all and am still trying to get my head around
it. It’s good to have a diagnosis, but upsetting and worrying to have another
serious incurable illness. After my phone call my Dad drove me over to Uni. I
was meant to be seeing my mentor, but because I was so late all we got to do
was say a quick hello. In the afternoon we had our Law lecture, which was
pretty intense but very interesting. I was really glad to get home though, put
the kettle on and rest.
I had a really long lie-in on Saturday morning,
but really didn’t feel well when I woke up. This always seems to happen at the
weekends. I push myself so much during the week then end up crashing on my days
off. It took me ages to get myself started with anything, but I finally managed
to edit and upload a new video to my YouTube channel, which is good as I’m not
uploading as much as I’d like to now I’m back at Uni. In the afternoon I caught
up on a couple of episodes of a new series called The Level, which I’m really
enjoying. I also spent most of the afternoon filling in my PIP forms. They’re
so difficult to fill in and my brain really ached afterwards, but I made a good
dent in them. Hopefully my Dad can help me finish them, as they have to be sent
back within about three weeks. This little sleepy chap kept me company all
afternoon.
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!
