The Adventures of Seb
I am heading down to Newcastle tonight for clinic tomorrow morning, so thought I should do a quick update before I go. I am hoping for good news and in light of the fact I got on well at my CF annual review last week, I don't anticipate any problems. I got a gold star for walking further in the 6 minute walk test this year and my chest sounded A1. I am going for a bone scan to check the osteoporosis situation as I have not had one for several years, and I am also meeting up with the diabetic nurse and dietician next month to try and work out a more accurate insulin to carbohydrate ratio as I am still having quite a few hypos (low sugars). My joints have also been playing up this week and are pretty sore but I know it will just settle down on its own again. Otherwise everything was fab :-)
This week has been eventful for little Seb so thought I would share some stories. It all started last weekend when I decided once and for all to stop him barking in the garden. Now I don't mean stopping him having a wee woof now and again - I mean stopping him going beserk and barking his head off for no apparent reason. The dog trainers suggested a super soaker to spray him when he barks - we used the same method of spraying him with water when he barked like a lunatic at dog training and it was very effective. I don't have a super soaker and with a 90ft stretch of garden it wouldn't reach him anyway. But I do have a hose. So last weekend I was out in the garden in my pyjamas at 8am spraying Seb with the hose every time he barked. He very quickly got the message and for the next couple of days there was blissful silence. However he was clearly not happy with this power struggle so has just decided to be naughty in other ways to get his own back ;-) It started with him refusing to come in one evening which ended up with me and Andrew chasing him around the garden at 11pm until we trapped him behind the greenhouse! We then realised that the next door neighbour was in his garden and could see us running around like eejits (me in my pyjamas again). Unfortunately he was also out the following morning when I was out in the garden again with the hose - this time fully dressed for work but with my dressing gown on top as it was quite chilly. Andrew did point out when I came back in that it looked as if I was just wearing a dressing gown with black high heels. Oops.
Things calmed down a little until we went to visit my friends Lee and Ali for dinner this week. They have a big garden down a private road so I was confident that Seb could run around off lead. This was fine until he decided he was very interested in the next door neighbours garden and pretended not to hear me calling as he darted up their driveway. I had to go after him and was slightly embarrassed to find the neighbour was standing outside with some guests who were just leaving. In a bid to escape me Seb even tried to get into the car with the people leaving!! I caught him and came back indoors - but the naughtiness did not end there. Over the course of the evening he had jumped on the kitchen table twice, stealing a biscuit the first time, and also tried to climb into the bath, for reasons unknown to myself. It is like having a small child at times.
He did also have an unfortunate incident of falling down an embankment this week. I shouldn't laugh but it was quite amusing - he was there one second, then he was gone! He had tried to climb down this almost vertical embankment to get down to the river but had obviously slipped and I could hear him scrabbling around - he is like a tiny mountain goat and got back up no problems but must have pulled a muscle because he has been slightly hobbling since. I decided however that if he could jump on the kitchen table and run off at high speed then there wasn't that much wrong with him!
I have also been working hard on the CF and Body Image booklet and have completed the first couple of chapters, which were fairly involved. I think it is looking good so far and would aim to get it all written up by the end of the summer - at which point we need to see if the drug company will still sponsor it (looks promising though).
Well I am going to go and enjoy the sunshine today and will report back once I have some Newcastle news.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Hurrah for sunshine!!
What lovely weather we had over the weekend and it makes such a difference to how you feel :-) I had a quiet Saturday spent sitting in the garden sifting through a box of old letters and keepsakes which I had left at mum and dads (and they are redecorating my old room!) It was lovely looking back at different parts of my life - letters from pen pals, cards from mum and dad sent to me during difficult times at university, funny letters from my best friend and lot's of cards and letters from Frances Ann, most of which are hilarious. I also had a few diaries written about specific experiences - one of these being the week I spent shadowing my paediatric consultant as a form of work experience needed to apply for medicine. It was interesting looking back at what I had written all those years ago. There were lots of detailed accounts of people we had seen and their medical issues which fascinated me at the time. However there was also a lot of reflection on how the patients were feeling, how their life was affected and how I felt about medicine. I was worried that I would not be able to physically cope but that I thought it was better to try and fail than to never try at all. I think that has been the ethos of my life and it is such a simple concept that I hope to continue to live by! I felt exhausted by the end of the day with all the emotions that memories bring to the fore. It is difficult looking back at letters from Frances Ann but they do also bring much joy. There was one particular card that simply said 'you are my best friend' and this simple phrase speaks volumes.
On a lighter note, we joined a few friends on Sunday to visit our friend who had a baby girl, Aiyla, a few weeks ago. She is a wee cutey and was so well behaved all afternoon allowing us to all have a wee cuddle without any fuss. It was also my cousins wee boy, Lewis' 3rd birthday so we managed to catch up with them briefly. Lewis is hilarious and has a completely wild imagination - he was telling me about giant monsters he had fought off and explained this all with a straight face. His mum was telling me that at a children's group they were reading a story about alligators and Lewis announced loudly "an alligator bit my head off once". I predict he is going to be a handful ;-)
I have had some fantastic news about my job. The clinical director has fought my corner with enthusiasm and I have been given a permanent contract - so my job is safe!! My contract had been due to finish in August and I was very concerned it would not be renewed due to the budget cuts. I still don't know whether I would like to move back to old age psychiatry in the long term but at least for now I can relax.
We have applied for our building warrant and have made some progress in finding a builder. We had a recommendation and viewed some extensions he had recently done - they were really similar to our plans and the customers couldn't have been more complementary. We have not seen the quote yet though and obviously we still need some other quotes to compare, but our first impressions were extremely positive. It's all rather exciting :-)
On a final note, my friend Victoria is doing very well following her transplant. I think pain is still a big issue but she is otherwise progressing well and hopefully will continue to do so!
What lovely weather we had over the weekend and it makes such a difference to how you feel :-) I had a quiet Saturday spent sitting in the garden sifting through a box of old letters and keepsakes which I had left at mum and dads (and they are redecorating my old room!) It was lovely looking back at different parts of my life - letters from pen pals, cards from mum and dad sent to me during difficult times at university, funny letters from my best friend and lot's of cards and letters from Frances Ann, most of which are hilarious. I also had a few diaries written about specific experiences - one of these being the week I spent shadowing my paediatric consultant as a form of work experience needed to apply for medicine. It was interesting looking back at what I had written all those years ago. There were lots of detailed accounts of people we had seen and their medical issues which fascinated me at the time. However there was also a lot of reflection on how the patients were feeling, how their life was affected and how I felt about medicine. I was worried that I would not be able to physically cope but that I thought it was better to try and fail than to never try at all. I think that has been the ethos of my life and it is such a simple concept that I hope to continue to live by! I felt exhausted by the end of the day with all the emotions that memories bring to the fore. It is difficult looking back at letters from Frances Ann but they do also bring much joy. There was one particular card that simply said 'you are my best friend' and this simple phrase speaks volumes.
On a lighter note, we joined a few friends on Sunday to visit our friend who had a baby girl, Aiyla, a few weeks ago. She is a wee cutey and was so well behaved all afternoon allowing us to all have a wee cuddle without any fuss. It was also my cousins wee boy, Lewis' 3rd birthday so we managed to catch up with them briefly. Lewis is hilarious and has a completely wild imagination - he was telling me about giant monsters he had fought off and explained this all with a straight face. His mum was telling me that at a children's group they were reading a story about alligators and Lewis announced loudly "an alligator bit my head off once". I predict he is going to be a handful ;-)
I have had some fantastic news about my job. The clinical director has fought my corner with enthusiasm and I have been given a permanent contract - so my job is safe!! My contract had been due to finish in August and I was very concerned it would not be renewed due to the budget cuts. I still don't know whether I would like to move back to old age psychiatry in the long term but at least for now I can relax.
We have applied for our building warrant and have made some progress in finding a builder. We had a recommendation and viewed some extensions he had recently done - they were really similar to our plans and the customers couldn't have been more complementary. We have not seen the quote yet though and obviously we still need some other quotes to compare, but our first impressions were extremely positive. It's all rather exciting :-)
On a final note, my friend Victoria is doing very well following her transplant. I think pain is still a big issue but she is otherwise progressing well and hopefully will continue to do so!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Just a quick blog to say everything is fine...just been too busy to blog! Spent all last weekend in the garden getting things tidied up for Summer (if that ever comes!) Planted all my flower seeds in the greenhouse but it hasn't been remotely warm enough for anything to start growing yet but hopefully it will start to warm up soon (I have still been wearing gloves walking the dog!)
The other big news is that we have planning permission for an extension at the back of house, which will be for a new kitchen and dining area. We now need to get a building warrant...and then find a trustworthy builder. It is all very exciting and we have been looking at kitchens and spent all afternoon trying to compare prices of various ones we quite like. I am not looking forward to the building work but can't wait until we have this extra space :-)
This week has been bitter-sweet in the world of CF. A girl from my hospital, Nicola, sadly lost her battle with CF this week. She was only 27 and although she has been unwell for quite a while it was still very unexpected. Then this morning I woke to hear the good news that another CF friend from my unit, Victoria, got her transplant this morning - after 8 false alarms! She is already starting to wake up and everything is going smoothly so far. Please keep both of them, and their families, in your thoughts please - not to mention the donor who made the wonderful decision to give the gift of life.
The other big news is that we have planning permission for an extension at the back of house, which will be for a new kitchen and dining area. We now need to get a building warrant...and then find a trustworthy builder. It is all very exciting and we have been looking at kitchens and spent all afternoon trying to compare prices of various ones we quite like. I am not looking forward to the building work but can't wait until we have this extra space :-)
This week has been bitter-sweet in the world of CF. A girl from my hospital, Nicola, sadly lost her battle with CF this week. She was only 27 and although she has been unwell for quite a while it was still very unexpected. Then this morning I woke to hear the good news that another CF friend from my unit, Victoria, got her transplant this morning - after 8 false alarms! She is already starting to wake up and everything is going smoothly so far. Please keep both of them, and their families, in your thoughts please - not to mention the donor who made the wonderful decision to give the gift of life.
Friday, May 07, 2010
I am so glad it's the weekend - I don't think I have quite caught up with lost sleep from last weekend yet! It's been a fairly busy week as I am still taking a PBL group on my two days off at the moment. I am enjoying it though and it gives me a nice contrast to psychiatry work. I just got my students feedback from the last group I facilitated and I was really pleased with the comments and ratings. Everything is rated on a 1-5 scale and they all gave me an overall 5 for facilitating and some really nice comments. The only negative comment was that as a group they tended to rely on me too much, so I have taken that on board for this group and am trying to sit back more - although I suspect they will then say that I don't help them enough!
Seb seems to have forgiven me now for leaving him again last weekend. He apparently spent most of the weekend lying in the hall looking at the front door. Poor wee man! To be fair he should appreciate me though - I mean, I saved his life last week. I had to do the Heimlich manoeuvre on him. Seriously. He was getting wired into his dinner at high speed and I was in the kitchen with music playing. I then became aware of this spluttering noise and realised he was choking on his dinner (which is dry dog food). I gave him a couple of sharp slaps between the shoulder blades first but he continued to choke, so I turned him upside down and pressed sharply upwards on his stomach towards his ribcage - with that a big clump of dried dog food shot out his mouth!! He looked a bit dazed for a moment but then went straight back to his dinner and started munching away again - not even a thank you for saving his life! I had read that you could do the Heimlich on dogs (was researching this after he nearly choked on a pigs ear once) but didn't really think it would work. I think Seb is more like a cat with nine lives..
This weekend we can hopefully plant some vegetables in the garden. Andrew spent all last weekend clearing up in the garden and digging the beds but he didn't plant anything because there was a frost forecast. I can't believe it is May and we still had frost! Today has been really sunny but it was still only 11c! All the plants in the garden are lagging behind this year and quite a few don't seem to have survived the long winter so I really hope it starts getting warmer soon. Having a taste of sunshine in Florida has made me even more impatient for summer coming round :-)
Seb seems to have forgiven me now for leaving him again last weekend. He apparently spent most of the weekend lying in the hall looking at the front door. Poor wee man! To be fair he should appreciate me though - I mean, I saved his life last week. I had to do the Heimlich manoeuvre on him. Seriously. He was getting wired into his dinner at high speed and I was in the kitchen with music playing. I then became aware of this spluttering noise and realised he was choking on his dinner (which is dry dog food). I gave him a couple of sharp slaps between the shoulder blades first but he continued to choke, so I turned him upside down and pressed sharply upwards on his stomach towards his ribcage - with that a big clump of dried dog food shot out his mouth!! He looked a bit dazed for a moment but then went straight back to his dinner and started munching away again - not even a thank you for saving his life! I had read that you could do the Heimlich on dogs (was researching this after he nearly choked on a pigs ear once) but didn't really think it would work. I think Seb is more like a cat with nine lives..
This weekend we can hopefully plant some vegetables in the garden. Andrew spent all last weekend clearing up in the garden and digging the beds but he didn't plant anything because there was a frost forecast. I can't believe it is May and we still had frost! Today has been really sunny but it was still only 11c! All the plants in the garden are lagging behind this year and quite a few don't seem to have survived the long winter so I really hope it starts getting warmer soon. Having a taste of sunshine in Florida has made me even more impatient for summer coming round :-)
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Hen Weekend
I have been on a hen weekend in the Lake District which was rather action packed - it was great fun although I am pretty shattered now. There were 15 of us in a (large!) cottage near Eskdale and most people headed down after work on Friday. We all had instructions the owner had sent and I had printed some maps and had my sat nav. I had looked at the owners instructions and didn't think they were very good so didn't pay much attention to these - I was correct here as absolutely everyone got lost trying to follow them! However I foolishly followed my sat nav instead. Never trust a sat nav. Ever. The owner has said if you were coming from the south then the sat nav would try to take you over Hardknott and Wrynose Pass which should be avoided at all costs. I wasn't too worried about this since I was coming from the North. Well, I was coming from the North until the sat nav took my off the M6 much later than my road map suggested and then technically I was then coming from the south, but I didn't know this at the time. I was driving myself and my friend Claire and we hadn't been able to leave Glasgow until 6pm so, factoring in a small break for food, we expected to arrive about 9.30pm. We were making fairly good time until the dreaded moment when we realised we were about to cross one of the most notorious roads in the Lake District. This route is apparently well known by motor cyclists and motoring clubs as a challenge activity and Hardknott pass is actually the steepest road in Britain, with gradients of 30% most of the way. I have no doubt this is true because the majority had to be tackled in 1st gear! It is basically a single track road with a series of hairpin bends and steep inclines and declines, with the added excitement of sheep standing in the middle of the road at unexpected moments. The major problem was that it was now about 9pm, pitch black and as we climbed higher the mist also began to descend and even with full beams I could barely see 20 yards ahead. At first we were amused and nervously laughed at our misfortune but as we progressed and the road got steeper and windier it really wasn't so funny. The moment we both realised we also had no mobile reception was also not so funny. For most of the way we were the only car on the road until about half way when suddenly headlights appeared behind us. At first it was annoying me because they were driving very close and I wanted to try and let them pass - but then I got the notion that it could be some weirdo psychopath in the car behind (we had passed a stationary car parked off the road only 5 minutes before) and I didn't want to stop the car in case we were then trapped! There was no way of turning round on this road anyway so we had no choice but to keep going. Eventually I was forced to stop on a hairpin bend because I couldn't make it round in one go (close shave with a stone dyke wall) and we then saw into the car and there was a young woman and child in the back. So we decided it probably wasn't a weirdo stalker (or the weirdo stalker already had kidnapped people so no room for us!) and we felt a bit better :-) It took over an hour to get across this road and by the end we were both traumatised to say the least. I had suggested we start saying some Hail Mary's about half way round so you get the idea of how stressed we were! We had a bit of trouble finding the actual cottage but managed to ask someone and finally arrived just before 11pm by which time some of the other girls were out with torches looking for us. Another few girls arrived at the same time as us having left Edinburgh at 5pm and getting lost finding the cottage, so we weren't the only stragglers. No one else had gone over the same road as us though - typical!
I noticed there are lots of video clips on You-Tube of people driving this road - this clip is what it was like! Although sadly I wasn't driving a porsche....
The next morning we had to leave really early to drive to an activity centre and I did point out that we should avoid the above roads at all costs. I wasn't driving that day (still in shock) and another car was leading. You can guess what happened next...! Yes, we ended up going over the same road although with the added benefit of daylight this time. There were a few events on route where one car kept stalling on the ascent and was rolling back towards our car and we also did struggle with some of the slopes. By the time we arrived at the activity centre everyone was in a state of shock and felt that we had had quite enough activity for one day :-) The other girls couldn't believe we had driven that road at night, having thought we were just exaggerating when trying to explain it the night before! I must admit it wasn't quite as bad during the day but it's certainly not a relaxing country drive!
Once at the activity centre we did quad biking and archery. I was a bit nervous about the quad biking but it was actually really good fun. You only had to worry about the accelerator on one handlebar and the brake on the other. I did notice that everyone else had a wire connecting the ignition key to their wrist so that if you fall off you pull out the ignition key. I didn't have one of these and pointed this out, but the guy just shrugged and said 'it will be fine'. Oh well, better not fall off then! We went round a small track first to practice then we had to follow him on a rubble path and then over fields going up and down hills. We were out for about an hour and it was great fun - I would probably try that again. I wasn't so keen on the archery, mainly because I was really rubbish! I don't have the upper body strength to pull back the bow properly but it was still enjoyable. We then headed back and relaxed for a while before dinner, which one of the girls kindly prepared. We made cocktails and played some games where the hen (Gillian) had to guess which answers her fiance had given to set questions. That was rather amusing! We played on singstar for the rest of the evening.
On Sunday we did our own things -some people went for a walk but myself, Claire and Stephanie drove to Ambleside for the afternoon which was really nice. We had a more relaxed evening and played some games and used up all the leftover food and made more cocktails :-) Yesterday morning we headed home fairly early and made sure to avoid the dreaded Knotts pass so the drive home was somewhat less eventful!
I am pretty shattered now from three late nights and lots of driving but it was lovely to be away from everything for a while (I didn't even have any mobile reception). It was back to reality this morning with PBL at 9am so I had to read up on the work last night and still felt a bit out of it this morning. Hopefully the rest of the week will not be too hectic and I can just chill out this coming weekend.
Would like to leave you with a link to check out Corey's new fantasy mini series which has just been published called Magic of Myths. When he becomes really famous Corey is going to give me lots of money and buy me a house (he doesn't know this yet though) so I though I should help publicise his work ;-)
I have been on a hen weekend in the Lake District which was rather action packed - it was great fun although I am pretty shattered now. There were 15 of us in a (large!) cottage near Eskdale and most people headed down after work on Friday. We all had instructions the owner had sent and I had printed some maps and had my sat nav. I had looked at the owners instructions and didn't think they were very good so didn't pay much attention to these - I was correct here as absolutely everyone got lost trying to follow them! However I foolishly followed my sat nav instead. Never trust a sat nav. Ever. The owner has said if you were coming from the south then the sat nav would try to take you over Hardknott and Wrynose Pass which should be avoided at all costs. I wasn't too worried about this since I was coming from the North. Well, I was coming from the North until the sat nav took my off the M6 much later than my road map suggested and then technically I was then coming from the south, but I didn't know this at the time. I was driving myself and my friend Claire and we hadn't been able to leave Glasgow until 6pm so, factoring in a small break for food, we expected to arrive about 9.30pm. We were making fairly good time until the dreaded moment when we realised we were about to cross one of the most notorious roads in the Lake District. This route is apparently well known by motor cyclists and motoring clubs as a challenge activity and Hardknott pass is actually the steepest road in Britain, with gradients of 30% most of the way. I have no doubt this is true because the majority had to be tackled in 1st gear! It is basically a single track road with a series of hairpin bends and steep inclines and declines, with the added excitement of sheep standing in the middle of the road at unexpected moments. The major problem was that it was now about 9pm, pitch black and as we climbed higher the mist also began to descend and even with full beams I could barely see 20 yards ahead. At first we were amused and nervously laughed at our misfortune but as we progressed and the road got steeper and windier it really wasn't so funny. The moment we both realised we also had no mobile reception was also not so funny. For most of the way we were the only car on the road until about half way when suddenly headlights appeared behind us. At first it was annoying me because they were driving very close and I wanted to try and let them pass - but then I got the notion that it could be some weirdo psychopath in the car behind (we had passed a stationary car parked off the road only 5 minutes before) and I didn't want to stop the car in case we were then trapped! There was no way of turning round on this road anyway so we had no choice but to keep going. Eventually I was forced to stop on a hairpin bend because I couldn't make it round in one go (close shave with a stone dyke wall) and we then saw into the car and there was a young woman and child in the back. So we decided it probably wasn't a weirdo stalker (or the weirdo stalker already had kidnapped people so no room for us!) and we felt a bit better :-) It took over an hour to get across this road and by the end we were both traumatised to say the least. I had suggested we start saying some Hail Mary's about half way round so you get the idea of how stressed we were! We had a bit of trouble finding the actual cottage but managed to ask someone and finally arrived just before 11pm by which time some of the other girls were out with torches looking for us. Another few girls arrived at the same time as us having left Edinburgh at 5pm and getting lost finding the cottage, so we weren't the only stragglers. No one else had gone over the same road as us though - typical!
The yellow line is the Hardknott pass road marked (stole pic from cycling website)
Another view
I noticed there are lots of video clips on You-Tube of people driving this road - this clip is what it was like! Although sadly I wasn't driving a porsche....
The next morning we had to leave really early to drive to an activity centre and I did point out that we should avoid the above roads at all costs. I wasn't driving that day (still in shock) and another car was leading. You can guess what happened next...! Yes, we ended up going over the same road although with the added benefit of daylight this time. There were a few events on route where one car kept stalling on the ascent and was rolling back towards our car and we also did struggle with some of the slopes. By the time we arrived at the activity centre everyone was in a state of shock and felt that we had had quite enough activity for one day :-) The other girls couldn't believe we had driven that road at night, having thought we were just exaggerating when trying to explain it the night before! I must admit it wasn't quite as bad during the day but it's certainly not a relaxing country drive!
Once at the activity centre we did quad biking and archery. I was a bit nervous about the quad biking but it was actually really good fun. You only had to worry about the accelerator on one handlebar and the brake on the other. I did notice that everyone else had a wire connecting the ignition key to their wrist so that if you fall off you pull out the ignition key. I didn't have one of these and pointed this out, but the guy just shrugged and said 'it will be fine'. Oh well, better not fall off then! We went round a small track first to practice then we had to follow him on a rubble path and then over fields going up and down hills. We were out for about an hour and it was great fun - I would probably try that again. I wasn't so keen on the archery, mainly because I was really rubbish! I don't have the upper body strength to pull back the bow properly but it was still enjoyable. We then headed back and relaxed for a while before dinner, which one of the girls kindly prepared. We made cocktails and played some games where the hen (Gillian) had to guess which answers her fiance had given to set questions. That was rather amusing! We played on singstar for the rest of the evening.
On Sunday we did our own things -some people went for a walk but myself, Claire and Stephanie drove to Ambleside for the afternoon which was really nice. We had a more relaxed evening and played some games and used up all the leftover food and made more cocktails :-) Yesterday morning we headed home fairly early and made sure to avoid the dreaded Knotts pass so the drive home was somewhat less eventful!
I am pretty shattered now from three late nights and lots of driving but it was lovely to be away from everything for a while (I didn't even have any mobile reception). It was back to reality this morning with PBL at 9am so I had to read up on the work last night and still felt a bit out of it this morning. Hopefully the rest of the week will not be too hectic and I can just chill out this coming weekend.
Would like to leave you with a link to check out Corey's new fantasy mini series which has just been published called Magic of Myths. When he becomes really famous Corey is going to give me lots of money and buy me a house (he doesn't know this yet though) so I though I should help publicise his work ;-)
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