Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

SLEEP – Don’t you just love it? I know I do. Although B would probably say that I am fonder of it than most. I think I have very nearly caught up with the sleep I missed whilst on my short Royal-cation. I can’t remember having so many late nights – what with the dialysis and then the ‘deep clean’ on Thursday – I’ve never ever had such a late night out. I’m sure I could easily become nocturnal I certainly function better at night that in a morning.

We (me and two fellow patients) were relocated from the ward to the waiting area of the day unit when the patient who’d arrived on Tuesday night started having oxygen and blood pressure problems during a plasma exchange. We were camped out in the waiting area in our jim jams and with accompanying attachments (in my case two bags of chemo, my netbook and knitting) by about noon. It turned out that one of the people wearing clothes was actually waiting for the bed of the fellow patient due to go home that afternoon but who was at that moment in time still connected to a bag of blood which resulted in her companion telling a number of people over the phone that ‘No, she hasnt got a bed yet. The woman whose bed she’s having is currently sitting opposite.’

By five I’d decamped to one of the day unit treatment rooms, one fellow patient had managed to successfully get discharged and the other had wangled a side room all to herself. It turned out that she had bug related diarrhoea and the entire room needed cleaning. This entailed my stuff ending up in bags in the shower room while everything, including my cabinet, was deep cleaned (our washing powder smells very nice apparently as per the nurse who packed). Initially we thought I’d be back in the room about eight. Then the sign on the actual door said ‘No Entry until 10.30pm’. By eleven the night nurse had chased up where the cleaners were as the room needed tidying. Seriously it was a mess. I’d thought it would just involve making the beds but chairs and tables were all piled on the beds. I was tucking into a late night Pot Noodle at this point as I couldn’t get comfy with my back on the comfy recliner I was on by then. It then transpired that the button on the deep cleaning machine hadn’t been pressed and it needed to be done again – actually ‘again’s’ not right is it – it needed to be done!

I was provided with a bed in the day room but just couldn’t nod off despite looking forward to going to bed (a term that always amuses B when I use it when in hospital) from getting up that morning. I ended up watching two films and looking at the clock for the last time at four am. I woke up at ten to six as the night staff were about to roll me up the corridor to the ward. It was just as well that I was discharged on Friday as the new patient, even though she said she’d had two hours sleep and was really tired was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too perky Friday morning. I thought ‘HELP! I’m not going to be able to cope with her first thing in a morning after a good night’s sleep!’

So I’ve been getting flashy lights and other visual disturbances, typical of a migraine, since last week and initially thought this was due to the unusual sleeping pattern but seem to remember reading somewhere about steroids and migraines. I’ve only had a small dose (80mg over eight days) and they finished Friday so if it is related hopefully it should abate shortly.

Generally other than being part comatose I’ve felt okay. I’m still taking anti sickness tablets (Ondansetron and Cyclyzine) and they certainly seem to be doing the job. I’m also being really diligent with the mouth care (mouth wash and Nystatin about four times a day) and so far my tongue is a teeny, tiny bit tender – resulting in me occasionally feeling like I have a lisp – and it looks a bit furry.

Speaking of tender, I have felt tender all over. Kinda like muscle soreness without the benefit of exercising. It’s fine unless I’m touched! I do remember feeling like this when having Doxorubicin this time last year. It’s a lot easier today but I admit when I was half asleep getting out of bed yesterday I gave myself a little start when I thought my dialysis line exit site was sore and then I remembered that everything was sore.

I managed to get my pre Royal-cation ‘To Do’ list done except for one thing – Auntie Ann and Uncle Ray’s Christmas present. What’s frustrating is that I know exactly what I want to get them but can’t find it. Anyhoo one of the items on the list was fabric for backing my Christmas embroideries. I found just what I wanted on ebay…

It arrived last week and B opened it.

B: ‘There was another package.’

Me: ‘Was it fabric?’

B: ‘Yes. Is it cleaning cloth?’

And look even Bud’s not impressed. Mind you with the migrainy eyes I don’t think I’ll be tackling the stripes any time soon.

 

 

 

Look at my Fabric

On the way to Edinburgh we stopped off at Cabbage Patch Fabrics under duress but B insisted!

Here’s one I bought a couple of years ago and still haven’t used but this didn’t put me off.

 

Here’s my new two

 

If you look really closely at the zany blue one and the little black character in the middle – that’s the exact same look B has when he’s in the car and I’m driving!

I can see Arthur’s Seat

After checking out of my luxury hotel, I mean hospital, last night I decided it would be a good idea to have a few days away particularly as it’s my birthday on Friday.  It’s one of THOSE birthdays, the ones that seem to amuse other people.  Yesterday morning I had been sitting on my bed about four feet off the floor (because this was the only way I could see out) admiring my view of Liverpool and the wind turbines on the Mersey thinking a few days away would be nice particulary as B had booked time off from last night.  By the end of the day, although I had squeezed out a sufficient number of stem cells, it was definitely a good idea.  So I can now see Arthur’s Seat from my bed instead, which for those of you not in the know is a hill in Edinburgh rather than the backside of a bloke called Arthur.  And here it is…

 

We only booked at 10 o’clock last night after frenzied discussions because we normally stay at the Holiday Inn but B had brought up the Malmaison on a late bookings website and this is somewhere I have tentatively mentioned several hundred times in the past.  But as B doesn’t like change it took two phone calls to convince him it was a good idea this time.  One was to see if the hotel offered a better deal than the internet and the other to see if any of the rooms with the view from the front were the cheaper ones (obviously assuming not) and the deal breaker – did they have their own car park.  The guy I spoke to was very honest about the views from the cheaper rooms and that the area is undergoing redevelopment, it is round the old docks after all.  Since he was so truthful and said they would endeavour to provide as good a view as was available, and they did indeed have a car park – we booked.

So here’s my current tea tray (I’ll be wanting one of these at home at this rate)…

You can see the little chocolate bunny on the plate with the glasses and the wine that my Auntie Ann got me as a little treat for my hospital stay.  B got one too, here’s his…

I think you can just about make out what’s left of Bernard’s bunny’s seat!

 

 

 

 

Wool Stash, I mean, Yarn Collection

I sorted out my wool stash. I need to keep using yarn, the word, instead of wool as I keep reminding myself when listing things on etsy. I was brought up calling everything wool that was knit with, cotton, manmade fibres even believe it or not wool but in this age of millions of fibres it can get confusing. So here’s a pic of my stash.

That’s not actually my stash that’s my one ball boxes, as per Sally Melville Styles – a book for using up your yarn collection (I just looked that up on the book and am now going to use it instead of stash) odds and ends. The idea is you sort by colour and not weight and put one ball of each yarn in each colour box and reference to the rest in boxes, cupboards, wardrobes, etc. I have to admit I do have mine in boxes in the wardrobe I converted to shelves in bedroom two or my sewing room as my Auntie En calls it. The doll was a present from her. I have never named her, she has blue eyes and brown hair like me. She also has bloomers on, unlike me, but I love touches like that, things you don’t see but that finish things off. She watches over the boxes and makes sure they are not pilfered.

This is my DMC thread collection. I have forsaken Anchor which are all squished into a box in favour of these. The nails they hang off do provide a little bit of a hazard when getting in and out of the glory hole.

Now I just need to start on my fabric collection. Which was considerably added to by Auntie En recently.