Friday I felt much better and we did stuff, Saturday I felt okay, bit tired but okay and we did stuff. By Saturday evening at my Auntie Ann’s I could barely keep my eyes open.
And yesterday I was too tired to move. So I knit all day, for fun, these…
And the pattern is from here.
Posted in knitting, Other health stuff
Tagged daniel the spaniel, health, knitting, PostAday2011
I have said before that we can be quite lax about dining etiquette in our household however it is still considered a faux pawx to walk into the lounge and brazenly lick the jam on someone else’s toast without permission. This applies regardless of it having been sitting on the plate on the floor so long it could almost safely be assumed it had been abandoned.
Bud has now got over it and B has promised not to do it again!
Because
1) I didn’t have another basket handy and I didn’t think I could do much with the foliage to hand and a plant pot
2) It was cold outside on Thursday night and surprisingly dark
I decided to go with a variation of the plastic bag Christmas wreath for my Mum’s plot. So courtesy of Tesco for the background and Billabong for the flowers here it is.
Because I didn’t feel up to rummaging in the glory-hole for a small embroidery hoop (let’s face it you have to be in the mood for that short of thing) I decided to use two pieces of cardboard – not one of my best ideas, it eventually tears so I ended up sticking the torn hoop, with cool glue gun glue (I wouldn’t like to deal with a hot one), to a cardboard background and then sticking the remainder of the strips in a continuation of the circle and popping just a few in the middle to fill it out. It’s only dinky about 8″ across.
To finish it off I made some flowers as per this template here and glued them on too. I have made these flowers before from fabric and they are very simple and very effective especially if you bunch them together like a mini bouquet and you can always throw in a leaf or two depending on the look you want.
Things I learned – it takes more glue than you think to stick plastic to cardboard and do not under any circumstances mix plastic bags with a lap top. The strips and more importantly little off cuts become so staticy they stick to EVERYTHING – you, your jim jams, the floor, the desk, each other, the door frame and the small furry family member and thus migrate (even though you think you have got them all) to the landing carpet, downstairs and the bed!
Oh and because the Hetty (vacumn) was downstairs on Thursday night and I didn’t want to risk carrying it up to hoover the landing I had one of those moments that you normally only see in comedy programmes with a friend yesterday.
We were going to take Bud for a walk – Chris isn’t completely settled with him yet but getting better – so after we’d been to the dentist, a retail park (rug – no, dog food – yes, a foot pump – yes), B&Q quick bite to eat (I realise this doesn’t count as going out) and some light bulbs not the ones we went for because even though B knew exactly what we wanted when faced with all the choices – he didn’t! After two furniture shops on the way home where we bought two settees (we’ve had the others about 15 years so I think we’ve had our moneys worth) we arrived home to find Chris had been outside for about 10 minutes.
B opened the garage, Bud went crazy, we’d been out three hours, and then B went crazy as Bud had chewed some more door frame. We went in the house and left Bud and B ‘discussing’ it. Chris nipped to the toilet. When we were out walking she said…
‘Er, I think Bud might be in extra trouble.’
Me: ‘Why?’
Chris: ‘Did you see the state of your landing carpet, with all those bits?’
Me: ‘It was like that before we went out!’
Chris: ‘Oh, I thought Bud must have done it while you were out!’
I am pleased to report that following my trip to the dentist today I apparently have fat cheeks (on my face) but no ONJ.
After enquiring how my dentist was settling in, having only qualified last summer, Dr F asked what he could do for me. ‘I’d like you to tell me I don’t have osteonecrosis.’
Dr F: ‘Someone been on the internet?’
So after me explaining about temp spikes, ear infection, sore mouth, Dr F had a good old poke and prod about and established which bit was sorest. Apparently the point of ultimate soreness is exactly where a whole buncha nerves meet up and party. Having checked the outside of my jaw and then the left compared to the right – they match – there is no sign at all that it is ONJ.
However I do the mouthy equivalent of a bruise because I have chubby chops. Because I have had my top left wisdom tooth out the bottom one has nothing to press against and is a little longer than it would otherwise be (I just realised that as well as saying I had fat cheeks the young whipper snapper also told me I was long in the tooth) and the fatty deposits in my cheek are being accosted by said tooth resulting in quite a lot of redness and a bit of whiteness which was the ‘bruise’. I just figured the redness was a result of the sore bit.
I got to look at this myself with the aid of a mirror and do you know how unflattering an angle it is to look at yourself whilst laying down with your mouth open – you can see up your nose and everything, well your nose.
So Dr F asked for a second opinion from Dr T, whose practice it is and who has been dentisting for about 25 years – so I had the best of both worlds – newly pressed dental knowledge and the wisdom of experience. Dr T concurred and apparently I am a grinder as well so that could exacerbate the problem with the fat cheek.
So the outcome was no ONJ and if my fat cheek doesn’t settle down in seven to 10 days I can go back and they’ll do something – I don’t know what, maybe put it on a diet!
Posted in Dentist, Multiple Myeloma, myeloma
Tagged dentist, Multiple Myeloma, myeloma, onj, PostAday2011
My creative space this week is a bit of an unusual one for me. I normally, if at all humanly possible, steer away from anything remotely close to arranging flowers. However the one exception to this is when we make a trip to the cemtary on my Mum and Dad’s anniversaries. I did used to buy flowers or wreaths but then I hit on the notion that it was nice to take something out of the ‘garden’ so whatever has been available has been bunched up, ribboned and transported for a number of years. Since said anniversaries are December and January I am sometimes a tad lacking in suitable candidates.
So yesterday was my Mum’s 19th anniversary and my father in law’s 2nd, so I decided to apply this rule to B’s Dad too. However with the snow and our lack of ‘garden’ I didn’t have as much to work with so had to put more effort in.
Yesterday morning I trimmed some foliage and then with spending an hour and a half out at lunch time I didn’t get time to do anything with it. The GP I saw yesterday is notorious for running late – which once prompted an old lady finding out by hook and by crook who had what time appointment in front of her, then complaining about the delay and then saying that said GP was very thorough and very good! A bit like the mother in law saying she wasn’t going for her flu jab if she had to wait like last time!
So as neither was going to get to the respective plots after B went to work last night and I didn’t feel like it I left them until this morning before work. Well so far I’ve only done one. I managed to find some oasis and a basket that originally held a begonia (never give me a begonia I don’t know what I do with them, I certainly don’t over water them but they tend to break off at soil level when moved about a millimetre). B took his Dad’s this afternoon.
It contained conifer, ivy, some sort of dryish berry (I have no idea what) and some lavender…
I think it may have looked better in the flesh, or rather foliage as B thought it looked good and he doesn’t exactly pull his punches with his opinions.
Other creative spaces can be found here.
I feel like I have spent the last 11 days moaning – I feel sick, I have a headache, I’m cold, I’m hot, my back aches, I’ve given myself whiplash from nodding off at my desk, I don’t wanna eat that, I don’t know what I want to eat, I’m melting no, I mean wilting AND I have a spot!
Well not just moaning there has also been a lot of time sleeping, a huge amount of time in the bath and well that’s about it – with work all the whingeing didn’t leave room for anything else.
However I went to see one of our GPs today and by the end of the week I will be remarkable, no wait, I should feel remarkably better. If I don’t I need to shriek and they will squeeze me in Friday afternoon without an appointment.
I have an ear infection or two. That is I have an infection in both ears, I don’t know if they know each other or not. Maybe one liked it and recommended me or found it ran out of room in one and expanded to the other or two separately thought my lug holes made a des res. Apparently in non-children (I don’t think I qualify as a grown up) ear infections can be present with no earache.
The GP checked applied pressure to my sinus regions still nothing. I however mentioned this bit of discomfort at the back of my jaw and it could be that that is the same thing. I said that the only time I had a tooth infection it was ragingly painful and he agreed where this definitely isn’t. However I am to keep my dental appointment to get it doubly checked out.
As you know I love our GPs (general practitioners, not global positioning satellite) and even though I can shriek on Friday if not better, and can shriek basically any other time I feel the need and I get wool from the receptionists, they let me down today – there were no newsletters!
So roll on remarkable – hopefully by Friday I will be able to open a box of medication without busting the box. Hey I’ve never had a box of tablets that opened like a box of maltesers before.
What do you mean it’s back to front – this is my phone’s idea of ‘cool’ which I can’t stop it doing!
Oh and to put the top hat on it this morning B got himself dark instead of milk Kit Kats – What a catastraphuf.
Yesterday morning I felt fantastic. I made me realise that even when I felt better last week I was a way from the usual me. And then yesterday afternoon I wilted again. It didn’t help that I was typing a HUGE homebuyer survey report by a really boring sounding surveyor (think highly successful alternative career making tapes for insomniacs). I awoke several times to this sort of thing…
In a proppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp
There were high dammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Seriously! Not good. And because this time of year can be quite quiet I was thrilled to pick up such a big job – obviously every other typist knew something I didn’t. The general lack of enthusiasm, on both parts I think, was compounded by the surveyor changing his mind about things and in my 10 years of working for a surveyors typing or otherwise, I have never heard the word ‘verticality’ used – in relation to chimneys or anything else.
When I took my temperature when I clocked off, guess what, it was a tad high 37.8 but I felt pretty blah. As the report had taken me 20 minutes over my working hours I was having to work an additional 30 minutes anyway because of an appointment with my acupuncturist things in the kitchen were hotting up too by 18:50. With B working nights we can’t exactly be too flexible with tea time so B had started tea – not a tea he normally does on his own. Anyhoo I surprised him by getting it done by 19:15 and we had tea – my appetite was fine and then I nodded off on the settee until B went to work. My temp hadn’t settled and I decided to have a bath – I then proceeded to nod off in the bath from 20:30 until 22:00. Fortunately we have a talking Simpsons clock in the kitchen and I’d left the light on (it doesn’t work in the dark) so I was awakened from my slumber at 21:00 and subsequently 22:00, at which point I dragged myself out of the bath.
Now normally if I’m in the bath any length of time I’m reading so the extreme wrinkled state in which I found my hands was something to behold. An hour later when I went to bed they were still wrinkly. It’s just as well I haven’t activated fingerprint recognition on the laptop or I’d have been stuck.
Today I should have gone for my second revaccination but when I phoned the nurse said to book it for next week as this morning my temp was not back to 37 and I felt ropy. I did feel better by lunch time and although tired now I’m not sleepy or exhausted. B had been relieved since he got up that my temperature had stabilised and this afternoon actually went back to 37 then just after I clocked off work I felt really warm and it was 38.7. When I told B he suggested I may not have been reading it correctly. So I showed him the thermometer which still said 38.7 and he nodded sagely and then, approximately half an hour later this being, I took it again so he could witness the whole high temp thing – it was 37!
At this exact moment 09:01 it’s 38.1. I think I’m going to make an appointment with our GP tomorrow and I already have one booked with the dentist as the back of my mouth, definitely not tooth, possibly jaw has become a bit sore and I’m wondering if this is the source of the infection. And no, Ruth I didn’t get a leaflet when I changed to Zometa I forgot to ask for one despite you mentioning it but I have now printed off the information from Myeloma UK.
I seriously think I may be turning into a hypochondriac but then again you can never be too careful.
On the crafting front which has been decidedly small over the past two weeks I’ve made one Buddy, a pair of mittens (which I can’t show because they were ordered) and my worm got a tad fatter…
although it may have to go on a diet as I think I went wrong and all the blocking in the world ain’t gonna fix it. The sides, which somehow the camera missed, are not as straight as they should be. Doh!
Posted in Crochet, Crochet Club 2011, Other health stuff
Tagged crochet, crochet club 2011, dentist, GP, high temperature, PostAday2011
If you have a dog that likes to play fetch while you are out walking, except if you walk at the side of a busy road, you HAVE to get one of these…
Well except with ours we’ve replaced the tennis ball, lasts all of 20 seconds, with a rubber ball, lasts up to a week. My Uncle Ray kept mentioning a chap near them that uses one to tire his black lab out. I thought lazy so and so, put a bit of effort and the ball is bound to drop out numerous times on the way from the ground to launch position. However something changed my mind – basically I throw like a girl! In my case a pretty young one who’s lucky to get it out of the pram.
So yesterday I nipped to the pet shop and got one. It is the best £2.99 I have ever spent. Okay I didn’t shop around I could possibly have got it at the Poundstretcher near Jolleys for £2.98.
I can now throw it as far as B can without one and we had to check out what was over the hill (Bud Hill) where we play the serious game of fetch because this bit of rough ends up on a golf course and we didn’t want him ending up in a water feature.
A lady on a horse asked if B could stop throwing whilst she went past even though we were about 20 feet in from the path, not because of Bud but because her huge black horse was showing an unnerving amount of interest in the ball. I tell you what I think that would have phased Bud more that the time the Scottie dog decided he’d like to play too.
And whilst I was looking for a picture look what I came across…
It fires four balls up to 200 feet! Ohhhhhhh, except unless you were playing fetch you couldn’t exactly entertain yourself on the actual walk with this one. With the original dog thrower you can rub your husband on the back of the head, pretty much anyway especially on top of the hat that he wears with way too much excess hat on top – at best he looks like a smurf at worse… I’ll let you fill that bit in. And you can mither small furry family member in the same way – apparently Bud’s not too struck on having his tummy tickled whilst he’s walking and needless to say B is less than impressed too.
I would like to address the comments yesterday that suggested that the only time B and I go out together is for a myeloma related appointment. This is not true, well not strictly true we also go to my Auntie Ann’s once a week!
That was how I intended to start this post this morning and then justify it by saying I may not go out with my husband but I go out with my friends and they’ll go to places B won’t – let your imagination run wild! Right, reign it back in and think museums and art stuff. Sorry to disappoint.
But basically I do have a husband who really won’t go out for a meal unless we are on a trip to Liverpool relating to myeloma or we are on holiday! When B started working nights in 2008 I imagined that this would give us more leisure time. However that’s not the case and his sleeping pattern at the weekend is all over the show. Now I have Friday’s off it may well be different – because I will be going out in the car whether he’s with me or not and he’ll just have to get his finger out in the getting ready department because he takes foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. He criticises me for taking ages but that’s because I seem to think I can start to steam clean the suite or de-moss the roof while I’m waiting. And why go out for a meal when a takeaway can be delivered, is cheaper and he can stay in his trackie bottoms.
So I would have attempted to justify his lax ways a tad, if we hadn’t had the following conversation when we sat down to use the laptop. I’d left the only bit I’d done, the first paragraph, open in word and couldn’t get it shut fast enough. B got the gist of the first sentence…
B: ‘What was that?’
Me: ‘What did you see?’
B: ‘What was it?’
Me: ‘Fiona and Ruth suggested that we may need to get out more. They both concluded that the only time we went out together was for a myeloma related appointment.’
B: ‘Oh! But that’s not true.’
Me: ‘No?’
B proudly: ‘No, we also go to your Auntie Ann’s.’
What more can I say?
Having myeloma means you get quite a few trips out in the space of a year – even working on the basis that all is well. When I was calculating that I needed to go part time, it was 13 Zometa appointments and possibly 6 Blood Clinic appointments. I also need 12ish re-vaccination appointments, but these are with the Practice Nurse at our GP’s so literally 20 minutes from leaving home to being back (and let’s not forgot I sometimes come back from there with wool.)
And then we have the spur of the moment trips out. Fortunately I have only had two (addendum – it’s three – the other was projectile vomiting after my 40th birthday party – no, I had not been drinking). One was when I had shingles* and one was last night. As Bud said yesterday I ‘wilted’ about 19:00. I’d felt good, been out with B and Bud for a walk, although I had felt a bit tired I’d figured it was just the after effects of whatever I had last weekend. Although, and this should have been a clue, I was knitting a pair of mittens without a pattern and I was having real trouble with the second one for no reason, so my concentration was a bit off. So much so that I asked B if he wanted to play a game on the laptop instead.
I moved out of our little office for something and I got cold, very cold, very quickly. Shaky cold. I think B thought I was putting it on a bit as he was plenty warm enough. So I put my cardigown on over my trackie bottoms and T-shirt and snuggled up closest to the radiator. This is prime position because this is closer to the mouse to control the game. As it turned out B had no worries, I warmed up and them put my head down on the desk and fell asleep. 20:30 when I took a brief break from drooling on the desk B suggested I ring for the Indian takeaway. I did and then went to bed – now this is never good. I rarely go to bed if not feeling well. I ‘take to the settee’. I think this is because I was brought up being told ‘you die in bed’. Hey I know you can die anywhere, Grandad died in the garage reaching up for something off a high shelf and having a heart attack – which is also why you should never overstretch yourself or you’ll drop dead of heart failure. And you know sometimes I wonder how superstitions got started. Anyway, the ‘die in bed’ mentality has served me reasonably well and certainly got me out of bed everyday during my SCT holiday.
So B came in and told me the Indian food had arrived, and then told me again, and again, and again and finally I got up, slapped it on plates, went through to the lounge and stared at it a while, then nodded off over it briefly, then ate a piece of chicken, then a piece of poppadom, then a couple more pieces of chicken and then B and Bud scavenged the rest.
I then assisted Bud with any technical issues on his first post, otherwise it was all his own work, and B felt that I must be feeling better. I was however by then really hot (but not in a good way) and figured it might be a good idea to take my temperature.
39.2 – ohh
39.1 – wasn’t a boo boo then
39.1 – ah poop
Took two paracetamol, slapped a wheat bag I keep in the freezer round my neck and drunk some cold water.
This is the highest I’ve knowingly had outside of my SCT holiday and I have to say it perked me up immediately. You know that sudden cold ‘ohh, that’s a tad high may be I should do something.’
So I phoned our GP for the after hours service which turned out to be in the town centre and we got a trip out at 23:50 in -2 degrees celsisus. I had a long sleeved T-shirt, a thin cardy and a pair of linen pants on and wasn’t cold.
We saw a very efficient Russian (I’m guessing – she said Dah at one point) lady who did smile once – she asked if I could provide a water sample and B asked if he should leave the room! I had to say ‘It is late.’ – she smiled as she showed me where the toilet was. B doesn’t cope well with ‘sudden’ situations at one point before we left home he’d briefly had his head in hands – so we are not talking clear rational thinking in a crisis – he’s very practical otherwise but not under sudden pressure.
While I made wee wee B rallied and attempted to engage the doc in small talk, I have said before he will talk to anyone/everyone – apparently they stay open until 07:00. That is all.
So my vital statistics were
Temp – 38.6
Chest – fine
Throat – fine
Wee wee – fine (nice colour – I may be a bit obsessed with this because I do tend to check quite often to see it’s light straw and this week it had been a bit well, not light straw – by the way I don’t have a wall chart or anything – Note to self google wee colour wall charts)
Pain in various areas – abdomen, bones, joints – fine or not vastly different than normal – bit stiffer round hips but possibly due to not doing as much this week.
I came away with antibiotics and instructions that if my temp doesn’t stay down for the next 12 to 24 hours we have to take a trip to A&E. This morning 37.8.
If the temp had been in isolation, Dr Russia wouldn’t have given the antibiotics and I would probably have settled for advice over the phone rather saying I’d prefer to call in, however as I’d been off last weekend she felt it better to take that route.
And the best bit – I got popcorn on the way home because I’d been a good girl!
* If you ever get shingles on your head and look like you’ve done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson remember to tell friends/family who visit you in isolation that you do. It’s no good saying that it started as a small spot, which it did, only for them to get there and find out why your husband made you wear sunglasses and a winter hat, in September, when you went to the hospital.
Posted in Multiple Myeloma, myeloma, Other health stuff
Tagged antibiotics, high temperature, out of hours GPs
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