In my last Post I was telling everybody me about my upcoming first cruise and my poor auld body after just coming out of a really bad 10 day flare. Well I'm back and I survived both!
First the cruise. Well it was not what I was expecting at all. I thought I was going to Butlins on water......was I ever wrong. We, my brother and traveling companion, were on a brand new ship, 15 decks high and first class treatment from day one. It was more expensive than I would normally pay for a holiday (I was a back packer for years) but I have to say it was worth every halfpenny.
We booked a balcony and I would recommend it to anyone thinking of cruising. At the end of the evening we sat with a nice bottle of red and watched the lights of distant cities and islands float past. We got lost in the moonlight on the Med and were dazzled by falling stars.
During the day there every kind of entertainment you can imagine. The thing I like most was that you could do as little or as much as suited you. My brother and I are of an age were we are quite happing to leave the more physical activities to the more fit people on board. Having said that on the last day I did go down the water slide, yes I did and lived to tell the tale, only just mind you! I think I should remind all of you that I was pumped full of steroids and continued to take them while away and pain free so I was as manic as hell.....
I liked the idea that the most strenuous decision I had to make most days was wether I would have another G&T or a Mojito while laying ina cabana on the Serenity Deck. The food was excellent and as a vegetarian I was very well catered for. I was in top form as like so many have said before I had neither ache nor pain for nearly a month due to the dry heat. . In fact it is only today that I can feel my body pain returning since about Sept 5th, it was wonderful. My only setback was after we did two tours two days in a row and on the third day I had to take to the bed for the day, my body felt 10 times it's own weight there was nothing I could do but lay down. I'm glad I did as I was right as rain the next day.
We visit our beloved Rome, we just keep coming back. We went to a quaint farm outside Sorrento and sampled home motzzorella cheese. Our only rain drenched day was spent in Pompeii but it didn't deminish our amazement at the site. We also viewed the Acropolis in Athens, from ground level. I bitterly regret not climbing to the top when I had the chance when I was physically fit to do so. We loved Athens too and intend to go back as there is so much to see. We walked the Rumbles in gorgeous Barcalona whwere I accidentally payed €19 for a bottle of hair conditioner........and then forgot to pack it when we were leaving the ship! €19......I'll never get over it.....
Now back home nearly two weeks and it is all like a dream, as if it never really happened. The dayy after I got back I had two runs to the chemist and an emergency appointment to the Health Centre with my 92 year old Daddy......holiday over.
Anyhow, I saw my Rheumy nurse Bronagh on Monday there past and we have begun the process of getting gold injections for me and what a process it is too. Bronagh wrote the prescription (the pharcamy in the hospital don't stock it as it is so old and rearly used anymore), I took the script to my Dr and now I have to wait to see if my GP will administer the drug on a weekly basis, some do and some won't. If not the hospital pharmacy will have to order the drug from wherever it is stored and I will have to go to the hospital every week to get the injections in the Rheumy Ward.
I had an awful time just before our cruise. I was physically and mentally a wreck. I look after my eledery and increasingly disabled parents of 88 and 92. I'm the only one here in Ireland and so it is left to me. Some days it can be hell on earth and there are the odd days when they are both well and we can have a bit of a laugh but they are the exception believe me. Anyhow I had a great rest and now it's back to reality. My full body pain is returning daily and I'm beginning to have very limited movement again. Try lifting a wheelchair out of a car boot when your shoulders, upper arms, wrists and fingers are causing a lot of pain......I have to say though that on many occasions some kind soul will always offer to help, there are good people around still and I be very grateful for them I can tell you.
This is like a book isn't it? So I'll end by saying that my hope for the coming months is the the 'gold' works for me and not in the 6 months Bronagh warned me it could take....we'll see what happens. Take care everyone. J XX
I'm being pulled about like a puppet
A happy Christmas but wish I had felt better....
New medication. And denied for treatment?!?!
