Wow - where did the noughties go.....

Hey everyone,

I hope that everyone is doing OK despite the totally atrocious weather that we are having at the moment (those of you who live in England that is!!) We have had a hideous amount of snow - my street looked like a skating ring and my garden was lost in almost a foot of snow though it has been worse.... The other day i couldn't see my old car on my drive as it was totally covered in snow and there was snow all around it (how can a car become just a mountain of snow lol!!!)?

Anyways I have a lot to update you guys on and I am very sorry that I have been so rubbish at blogging lately. Just before Christmas I started something called pulmonary rehab. Its usually reserved for people with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) however due to the fact that I have been rather poorly recently and my fitness is not that great etc the community physio wrote a letter to my respiratory consultant and asked if it would be safe for me to join the group etc, I had an assessment which showed i was just about OK to join the group and so I had my first session before Christmas. I did 30 seconds at each task (there are 10 in total) and i was totally shattered afterwards. They do a full warm up and cool down and they measure your observations prior to and on completion of the session and in between if you start to feel unwell or look unwell. It is a mix of weights and load bearing exercise as well as general aerobic fitness so its a great all round routine and it is twice a week!!! My first session went rather well except that i couldn't do the squats due to high levels of pain in my hip and even though i thought the bike would be easy i found that too aggravated my sore hip. My physio and i changed the squats to backwards lunges and have since tried a smaller bike though that too aggravated my hip so we are trying to work something else out at the moment..

Soooooo - I had my first session and was due to have my second later that week but when my carer arrived in the morning I really wasn't feeling too great. I eventually phoned and told them i was not going to be there as i had a tummy bug. The tummy bug rapidly developed into the evil norovirus and i was really poorly for two days not able to keep anything at all down - by the third day i was so dehydrated and couldn't move without feeling really dizzy so ended up in A and E. They started me on IV steroid replacement because of the hypoadrenalism and then gave me some pain relief and anti nausea medication and of course fluids and by day five of it starting (day 3 of my hospital stay) i was feeling a little better though still very nauseous. I was enjoying the company of the other ladies in my bay whilst on the medical admissions unit when i got very wheezy from laughing and my chest just got worse from there - i started a nebuliser and the nurse came over and asked if i was OK but heard me wheezing and got a doctor and an obs machine.... Needless to say my obs were rubbish they started me on high flow oxygen and tried to do a blood gas several times in the end getting the ICU doctor to do it and i was transferred to the HDU. I was there for several days and then transferred to a ward where i then had the drama of trying to get well enough for home before Christmas which was rapidly approaching!!!! During which time the weather outside was getting steadily worse and worse and the roads were all getting closed here and there.... Most of my routes home to my parents were closed with two days to go before Christmas eve and i was still on oxygen! I came off the oxygen on Christmas eve and was allowed home 4 hours later thankfully as it was Christmas :)Once I was at my house via the patient ambulance transport system i packed all my bits and bobs for Christmas presents i had into the car and loaded some spare clothes and stuff and then started on all the extra precautionary stuff i needed to take as a just in case! So in went some table salt in a big container, a spade in case i got stuck in the snow n needed to dig my way out of the situation, a flask of super strength coffee, plenty of spare blankets and a spare coat, plus spare shoes/boots with tread on them and then finally a torch.

The journey was rather tricky in places as it ended up being a motorway drive instead of the shorter more minor roads way but those roads were closed as the were treacherous!!! I started off driving through a rather bad blizzard on the M1 and then it turned into icy patches on the motorway which wasn't very good and then rapidly progressed to freezing fog which was a huge challenge. I got home to my parents after stopping twice at services for a stretch and a drink of coffee :)

Christmas day was quiet as my brother, sister in law and nephew were all in London seeing her relatives. It was weird for me to be opening presents without my little brother. We had planned to have a big goose dinner on the 28Th Dec to celebrate Christmas day a little later as we would have my brother and his little family over then :)

None of us had ever had goose before and so had no idea what it would look like or taste like - all we knew was that with the goose fat from our bird we would have incredibly tasty roast potatoes. I can say now that goose is rather tasty and the whole dinner was fab!! opened all my presents then with my brother and sister in law as we often get same or very similar Santa presents! :)

I had to find an on call doctors on 27Th and then again 28Th as i needed some more of my sub cut anti-nausea medication as the hospital only gave me a three day supply for a whole 13 days away - it was very frustrating!!!!

i got the script fine as I had a letter from the hospital asking them to write me a script etc, i then had a few issues finding a pharmacy that didn't need to order it in specially as that was going to take too long and as i need this drug in order to keep anything down me i needed to get it as soon as possible after i had got the script. After going to 7 different chemists and phoning 4 others i have in went back to my mum and dads and went to bed. First task of the day on the 28Th Dec was to go to the chemist in the village. I drove there on my way to my grandads house and thankfully they had three boxes which was just enough to see me to the Sunday that i was travelling back meaning that i would need to get another script on the Monday 4Th as soon as i got back to my own house!!

The snow was horrendous on the way back home and as i came into my city it was getting deeper and deeper the higher up I drove. When i got to my road i was very surprised to see almost 2 feet of snow in places where it had drifted but most places had around 5-6 inches. I went straight to bed when i got in as i was totally shattered and was up early to sort out my meds on Monday morning. I then had an endocrinology appointment and then went straight from there to my pulmonary rehab session. By the time I had done physio and listened to the relaxation talk and she put on some whale music and told us all to close our eyes - i was that chilled out i was nodding off and kept jolting awake as my head kept flopping forwards when i was just falling asleep lol!!!

I was supposed to have had a chest clinic appointment on the Tuesday however the weather overnight had been terrible and there really was almost 2 feet of snow on Tuesday morning. Had GP appointment on Wednesday so that she could see how i was going after Christmas and my admission before hand etc. All was OK there except i had a ear, throat and chest infection which my rather kind family gave me for Christmas - I have to say that was probably my least favorite present hahaha!! lol.

Had yet another appointment on Thursday which was my first one with this new doctor - she was pleasant enough and seemed OK and i am now going to have a proper care plan made to include all health problems rather than just a couple.i am to have an appointment with my social worker coming a week on Friday and i will finally be allocated a care coordinator which should be very helpful.

Pulmonary rehab has been cancelled on about 5 or 6 occasions now so that has hampered my progress on the fitness front however it couldn't be helped the snow has been really deep and the roads rather dangerous - in a way i was glad it had been cancelled as i really didn't fancy driving in sll the snow if i could at all avoid it. I have only left my house to do bits of essential shopping and to go to my doctors and hospital appointment.

So that brings me up to today which i have done nothing - i bought a web cam from amazon the other day and it arrived this morning. I have been playing with that today online :) it has been a rather exhausting day today. My chest has been quite grumpy for the last couple of weeks but possibly a little worse the last few days. I don't think i am at the point that i need to go into the hospital but i am at the stage where unless i an sat more-or-less bolt upright i get really wheezy and tight chested. I have not got to sleep before 4am any day this week. last night it was 6.30am i went to sleep and of course the amazon delivery arrived at about 8am and then my carer arrived at about 9am so it wasnt really a refreshing sleep. I have then spent all day attempting to sleep when i have felt really tired but i dont think i ave ever been as popular as i have today - isnt that always the case though - when you really need to be left alone with no phone calls or anything like that everyone and their dog wants to speak to you or pop round!!!!!?

So i gave up and decided to stay up till normal bedtime but now i am really tired - it is crazy though as i think i may have got overtired now as im struggling to sleep now even though i keep randomly dropping off for a few seconds when i switch everything off and settle down i end up wide awake and wheezy/tight again! grrrr.

Ah well i am going to try and sleep again now as if i go now i may still get around 6 hours sleep befor ei get woken up! ~:( So I promise i will try and keep you all updated a little more as i have been rather rubbish recently due to me not feeling too great. soooooooo till next time everyone do take care - the last batch of snow may have been mostly washed away by the rain today however we here are supposed to get more snow this wednesday- oh joy of joys hey?? Its very hard when your stuck inside looking at the same four walls day in day out due to the weather but i have been finding the cold air and stuff just really not good for me on a hip pain and asthma front so im getting it from all sides at the moment.

Hope you all managed to sleep well - fingers crossed that i will sleep too!!!!

Speak soon lotsa lv Rattles Xxxx