A Long time and no silly blog fuss. Life has been very fast and hectic and some of it has been hilarious, and some not quite so. I have one teen about to sit GCSE's and the other A Levels, both part time at school with myself trying to co-ordinate work and tutors, actually I mainly pay the A*6th formers who are closer to the work and need the dosh and make it far more fun.
Yesterday marked a turning point for me in terms of my various conditions. I have been on NDT since the end of November climbing at a steady speed, with the odd blood test thrown in. I have more stamina for my daily exercise and physio and need a bit less recovery time. The major mile stone yesterday was my attendance at a place of dread - the hairdressers! It is a lively one where my teenagers go. I have marched in there twice over the last six weeks for them to check my scalp in case I had over vivid imagination. Twice a gaggle of fun young women have gathered around my head and pronounced lots of new hair growth NOT a figment of my imagination. Yesterday I had a hair cut, my first in years, other than me periodically hacking my split ends of with the kitchen scissors, as I felt there was no point going along. I really do have the beginnings of quite a lot of new hair.
Of course in the past despite my other four conditions, I was told I had no Thyroid problems despite having nearly every symptom on TUK's check list. Now I seem to be top of the class with passing tests, one for Lupus, another for Hughes Syndrome/APS and of course my TSH showed I needed more medication, which I was more than happy to comply with. I am also slowly losing weight, it is slow, and I am not one for crash diets as my diet is excellent and full of the right things. I have now in total lost ten pounds since November which is a great start and I am sure it will continue.
I also broke another record.. I have remained out of hospital for 16 years, but had to stay over night with Lupusy kidneys, it was a dire experience and I had to re train the entire ward. There were handbags at dawn regarding my care, and the registrar and I had to kiss and make up in the morning, such was my infuriation at their manner. However they are now fairly well read as I set them some homework! I was supposed to stay in longer, but quite frankly I am better at monitoring myself. I saw the approaching holiday as a cure!
Once recovered. My man whisked me off on a quick 7 day budget holiday to the delights of Marrakech. I got ill on the plane there and on the way back, with the usual predictable, extreme allergy and a reaction to the intensified bugs floating about the place, but the bit in the middle, 'the holiday' was hilarious. I was expecting him to have booked some sort of budget, fly blown hovel with no amenities whatsoever, but instead I was treated to a spa where they laid on breakfast on the roof terrace and provided, super and very delicious food and superb rooms. All very economical, despite the stunning linen and rooms. I have recommended it to lots of people and some have already been and stayed in it.
I had a great opportunity to practice my dire French, I am always understood but most people proclaim it to be the very worst they have ever heard due to the lack of tenses, same with any language I try, always pigeon! I do always make new friends due to the dreadful things I say.
I soon got into the swing of bartering in the markets and several traders named me as Fatima Berber which is apparently indicative that I ferociously drove a hard bargain and wore the trousers during the transactions. The Berbers were a fearsome lot and through history were warriors not to be taken on lightly. I drank lots of hot mint tea and enjoyed many local dishes. Although the man who ran our spa told me to not eat from the cafes in the middle of town, which is of course exactly where my husband planned to eat, he said in rather broken English that people who ate at those places would have squirty bottoms, and also if we drank the water.
I did not really care much for one of those. My husband at this point did listen and immediately swapped all water for beer and wine. I was so over excited to be in such a different culture that I had to stay up nearly all night and out all day as there was so much to see. I bought myself lots of pointy leather slippers and endless throws and bottles of Argan oil. In fact we did so much walking, I forgot to take the wrong shoes off and wore a hole in my foot which was infected almost instantly. However very easy to buy drugs over the counter, in fact I stocked up my entire suitcase with useful things at a very cheap price and felt most pleased about not having to go to the doctor for antibiotic creams etc. Or indeed wait four weeks for an appointment to be issued with weak steroid cream.
After a couple of days in the capital, we took a bus out to the coast to a low key seaside resort, here we met up with lots of people we knew, and half we did not know, who were flying in from all over the world to attend a 50th birthday party. The host had hired three different Riads, (houses), and we were treated to a lovely room with a few mod cons, a bit basic, but clean and comfortable. Again another round of markets. I really enjoyed the mountains of herbs and spices but at one point did find myself deep inside the chicken beheading area, which of course was not quite so nice, but a bit more real than our culture in the UK.
In the evenings we had stunning food and a trip to rather unusual cheese farm and winery.. having tested all the wines and eaten our own weight in cheese. I was happy to stick to salad for a few days after that. We did all collectively have cheese every morning for breakfast... I had taken a vast supply of gluten free oat cakes with me so these acted as a vehicle for conveying the cheese into me, alongside a ready supply of freshly squeezed oranges from the local trees, and large bags of tomatoes and nuts. Also abundant local strawberries and very tasty bananas.
I bought the children lots of fine ethnic clothes and shoes and spent a delightful hour or two with a young man who made silver necklaces, rings and bracelets, who also showed us on line that he was the maths champ for his country. Having bought lots of nice bartered things from him, he then decided to treat us to his local herb tea, according to him as we drank it down to the bottom of the glass, it was laced with special herbal viagra for myself and husband...and also some flower heads thrown in which would actually cure all other ailments known to man.
My husband who is a veteran of decades of Bradford curries and who possesses a cast iron gullet, due to being also stretched with yards of ale in his youth, was grinning inanely for quite some hours afterwards. Meanwhile, forget the Viagra, it had the most sudden purgative effect on my system, less of a Love Potion Number Nine, and clearly more of a Dance quickly to the Karzi No.2. I began to think at one point, having reached Olympian speeds through the back streets to our lodgings, in order to be first in the bathroom, that perhaps I would be remaining in the smallest room for the rest of the holiday. Actually I felt brilliantly fine two hours later, but clearly my system was not geared up for such an onslaught of mysterious steeped herbs.
All the back streets by the way do look the same, and we lost all our maps and did not know the names of our abodes. I just knew that there was a box of cats outside containing 7 newborn kittens and a tortoiseshell mother! If somebody had moved that box, I might still be there now! Having not located the correct front door.
While we were away, my friend Hairy Legs, acted as Mrs Doubtfire, keeping a humorous and friendly eye on teenagers who are not currently very well with their ailments similar to mine. I can't thank him enough really for the break it enabled us to take.
This week-end we are dragging each other to a charity ball. I have not been to one in decades and HE has never been to one. There is a lot of protesting going on, but he will be scrubbed and buffed up and stuffed into a dinner suit, the same applies to myself of course, I have purchased a silk floaty thing which will glide over my evening dress and hopefully not make me look like a drag queen, mind you some of them look great. I used to watch Lily Savage in the early days, in Vauxhall London, pre fame days, and then buy a pound of sausages from the local butcher, named the in honour of the act. I am beginning to veer more towards Cinderallla and less towards the direction of the ugly sisters. This afternoon I have been in my daughters room as she tries to fit me for shoes for the ball. The silver sandals fitted, I shall be going to the ball. If I turn into a pumpkin at midnight it will be strangely familiar and comforting, bring it on, this happens nightly anyway.
So... life is good, there are the usual emergencies, bound to be with myself and the teens, but some things are quite a bit better....I am so glad I found the right forum for my Thyroid needs and read all the right books...as I sit in the evening filing my fangs, it is clear to me that life is good. I have a summer of endless camping ahead, (plus the ten hot water bottles I take for emergencies), and my first adventure will be the UK's largest music festival. But first, I must become 50 and my husband must become 60 all in the same week! I have heard that if you have not grown up by the time you are 50 you never have to!
MaryF
but it's never stopped me going back! I hope you have a good summer of balls and festivals and manage the next 16 years without another hospital stay.
my letter from my endo to gp, this is crap!
My journey from misery to hope.
Just at the start of trying to take control of my thyroid issues.
Kardia EKG - the answer to my worries over my palpitations and heart racing!
