Round 2 week 24 -Carbon Monoxide scares

Over the weekend we were rudely awoken by the carbon Monoxide detector going off which mean evauating the house and waiting for british gas to come and confirm the house was safe for us to use. All a bit of a storm in a tea cup in the end, turns out the detector had gone faulty and scared us for no reason, but better to be safe than sorry.
We missed out on going to join our friends in Swindon at the Dewali celebrations as a result of all the fuss over the heating and having to replace detectors etc,
I managed to get an oxygen session on Saturday morning although it was in the chair outside the chamber as I'm a bit bunged up and didn't want to risk having problems with my ears under pressure.
It's been a pretty quiet week this week, just work, dog walking and relaxing really, I can't say we've done a lot apart from that. We had a new cleaner start on Firday morning (yep yet another one) we had to let the last one go when we had to move everything for the roof leak in the conservatory we found huge amounts of dog hair behind / under furniture that obviously hadn't been done for many weeks. I gave her one last week to confirm it wasn't being done properly, but in Gareth's words - she cleaned like a teenage boy cleans his bedroom. The new one after the first day is a bazillion times better and costs the same.
It's 'that time of year again' when everything we do will revolve around being there for the dogs and cats while fireworks are going off. Amber-Dog is terrified of the bangs and Winston-Dog just barks hysterically at them so I figure I'll be spending the next 2 weeks in the lounge where the noise is less obvious with shaking dogs glued to my side. The cats are pretty cool about it all, but we don't want them out there just in case, you hear so many horrid stories of people who think it's funny to do bad things that it just isn't worth the risk.
It's that time of year when we need to start considering a little trip to France for Christmas supplies and gifts (I'm thinking Christmas courtesy of France this year rather than by Amazon Prime) It would need to be a long weekend I think just to accomodate 2 locations, 2 restaurants and shopping (it should have been 3 restuarants but The Seventh Sin which we discovered last year has closed - this makes us very sad)
The whole eating meat / fish / vegetarian days thing is working out really well, we both feel better in our selves for eating less red meat and more vegetables. It's also made us much more inventive with what we are eating bevcause we put more thought into things. It also means we have found we are wasting far less than we were prevoiously.
So K9 PP tonight with the dogs while I work out the menu for tonight (I've been wracking my brain here trying to remember what's in the fridge / freezer and my mind seems to have gone rather blank - but I also have a thumping headache so I'll blame it on that)
Onwards and upwards, tonight we will have 1 set of trick or treater's (assuming they didn't do it already over the weekend) from nextdoor but one and I've got Kinder in for them as it's not quite as bad as the other stuff and I'm not mean enough to join in this year's new game of 'Ferrero Brussel Sprouts' or 'Toffee Onions'
Looking forward to home time and pup snuggles
Stay strong ladies and gents xxx

Lem Blog - The book - 0.99pence/cents this weekend

Those nice people at Amazon have finally allowed me to discount the cost of the eBook version of year 1 of the blog in 2 currencies so for those of you using Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com the cost for this weekend is now discounted to £0.99p and $0.99c respectively.


The bank acocunt details behind it aren't mine, they are for the registered charity SHIFT MS which provides so much help and support for both newly diagnosed and the long term MS'er.


I published it because I was asked for a more 'reader friendly' way to read the old content on here, and I've been told it's much easier to keep track when reading through the archive.


So starting 8am Friday both the GBP and USD prive is 99p/c


Fill your boots, and if you could please leave some not too scathing feedback on Amazon xxxx


https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GE1V00M

Round 2 week 23 - Month 5 blood results are in

Week 23 – yikes time is flying past once again, another 3 weeks and I’ll be 6 MONTHS post round 2 and round 1 seems like yesterday let alone round 2 being 6 months ago.

Last week seemed to all blur together with a couple of migraines in the same week, I guess all the stress of the break in at the house in Portugal, the leaky conservatory roof, and emotional time with the anniversary of losing mum all rolled on top of each other just caught up with me and it was time to ‘pay the piper’ for it all.

I would like to say that a long relaxing weekend of rest and I’ve reset all the timers on my energy and relaxation, but I’d be a raging lying hypocrite if I said that’s what I’ve done. Actually I’ve stayed up too late, drank too much wine and I have the snuffles (oxygen tank = bad with the snuffles)

Randomly I need to add to the list of ‘injuries I’ve sustained in my sleep’ tally – somehow I seem to have managed to stab myself in the hand (well stab might be a bit strong – but I have a puncture wound in the palm of my hand) it’s taking every bit of self-control I have not to make a hobby out of picking at it because it itches like an absolute b******.

Bloods were taken last week in a single stab by the lovely Carol and this morning I got my results back. The lymphocytes continue to rise at a nice slow stable rate. In October last year I was 0.7 and this year it’s 0.73 which is close enough for me to say everything continues as stable just like year 1. My Neutrophils are a little high this month which is to be expected, both the snuffles and high stress levels can cause this so I’m in ‘prime candidate’ position for them to be a little on the high side LOL.

The roof has been fixed so we no longer have water pouring in every time it rains (which is every couple of hours in in the UK at this time of year) plus it didn’t end up costing a huge amount so we are very happy about that.

The dogs as always are hours of endless entertainment, especially now that they have their winter walkies collars which have lights in them so we can find them in the dark (there’s a flashing setting on them too so we can have ‘disco dogs’ J) balls with lights in, head lamps for Gareth and I to wear which make us both look rather silly but hey it’s dark so we only have to see each other.

So my plan for this week is to take it easy, get some early nights, have a bit of a detox and generally just have some ‘chill time’ (a huge win on the Euromillions tomorrow night would help enormously with this)

So here they are on all their glory – round 2 - month 5 bloods for your enjoyment

Round 2 week 22 - And now for something completely different

I guess this weeks update is pretty much a big whinge, so apologies in advance for that.

On Friday morning last week after it rained over night I came downstairs to discover the TV and surround sound system in the conservatory standing in a puddle of water on top of the water damaged TV stand. The conservatory ceiling was leaking.

Queue me turning everything off and then manhandling the elecrical equiptment away from the water not knowing if it was fried. I cleared up as much as I could then phoned the insurance people. After a long winded conversation where they said it wouldn't be covered by storm damage on the insurance the claim was denied.


We've done what we can to ensure that the damage doesn't get any worse, but we now have a builder coming round tomorrow to tell us just how much it's going to cost to modify the guttering to stop water getting onto the flat bit of roof (which isn't pitched towards the lower guttering) potentially add a 'false pitch' weather seal the conservatory roof and the flat bit of roof too. Once that's all sorted we will need to then redecorate the conservatory to clean up where there are water marks.


Our holiday insurance only covers personal items up to the value of £300 so Gareths MacBook Pro isn't covered by it.


Just to add the kicker the new business venture that I was hoping would be life changing for us, well it turns out that my husband thinks is a hiding to nothing and will possibly make someone else rich but not us, we would just end up doing the hard work and prototype before a big software house took it away from us.


It feels a little like the final straw has been broken.


'Amplified Symptoms' has returned with a vengence with sensory problems to my core and my legs, I'm very shaky and if the little man with the hammer and anvil inside my head would just stop for a while I would be eternally grateful. I know it's just stress which plays havoc with MS symptoms, but it's like that metaphorical wall that runners 'hit' has just collapsed on me without warning. I just want to be at home, snuggled up with the dogs watching food porn through my eyelids and sleep until everything is resolved or goes away.




AAAANNNDD normal service is resumed ....
I wrote the above yesterday but didn't actually publish it - I've even considered deleting it because it really is so unlike me and reading it back I really do sound incredibly whiney and pathetic.
BUT
I always said I'd publish all of it the good, the bad and the downright humiliating (like above)
I hadn't realised it when I was writing but actually I had a pretty monsterous migraine coming, by 3pm yesterday I was a complete wreck, those blood vessels contracting in my brain were clearly shutting off some of my finer brain function. I went home popped a Sumatriptan (highly recommend these for migraine) and presto 30 minutes later and all that was left of the migraine was the gippy stomach.
The stressful things are still there, but I'm working on them, a builder is coming round this afternoon to quote for repairing the roof, Gareth's getting a promotion at work which will include a nice big pay rise so replacing the MacBook isn't a problem.
Over dinner last night Gareth apologised about the comments regarding the business venture and we are going to do some work on it tonight / tomorrow night.
And after a good night's sleep well those Amplified Symptoms have all settled down and gone away - thank goodness. *note to self - migraine might also appear to increase symptom amplification - must check that next time*
So after a wobbly day all is right again in my world and tomorrow is 'stabbing day' for my monthly bloods.

Round 2 week 21 - Laptop Stolen - apologies for the absence

So as the title says, the holiday wasn't quite the complete excercise in relaxation and stress aleviation that we had been hoping.


First things first apologies for missing posting an update last week, we had a break-in at the house in Portugal and our laptops were stolen.


Week 1 in Algoz was lovely and relaxing and awesome. We were able to hang around on 'home move' day before heading to Galé to the new home for a week rather than having 6 hours of 'living out of the car' waiting for 16:00 when we could get into the new house. It was very different from the first one, much more 'urban' it was within 15 minutes walk of a few lovely restaurants, an epic Pastellaria which did home made ice creams and mind blowing cocktails.


Sunday was pretty quiet, it was the 3rd anniversary of losing my Mum, I'd found a church which was open (no repeat of last years leaning on the outside sobbing my heart out and feeling let down - well it was Sunday afterall) where I wanted to light candles for Mum, Dad and Ian we had plans to go and sit on the cliff top take some photo's and then a meal at the fish restaurant within walking distance of the house.


The church was an orthodox one, apparently I broke all the rules by not covering my hair, there was a service in progress with everyone standing and walking round in circles then just leaving and more joining, I was stood next to the candle table but it seemed rude to wander around light them and disrupt whatever was going on. After about 10 minutes we left feeling more than a little uncomfortable, and I'm pretty sure I've cured myself of the need to do that now. I bought some candles and lit them back at the house after the cliff and the meal then we had a relatively early night.

I woke up Monday morning early and came down to put my weekly post on here and realised that while we slept we had been burgled. All our cash and both of our laptops were stolen. Fortunately our passports, credit and debit cards, phones, iPads and my camera were not taken. The Villa rental people changing all the locks on the front and back of the house once the police and forensic man were finished and a couple of follow up trips to the police in order to get the formal report with the crime number and everything on it for the insurance people.


Tuesday we went back to house number 1 for a BBQ with the owner Pete and the lovely Brian and Kay. We had a lovely time and feel like we've made some firm friends who we will be inviting over next time we go there. We were invited to stay over rather than travelling back to House number 2 that night, but by then the fear and paranoia was high that something would happen again and we were not comfortable staying, having too much to drink and just leaving the house unattended; so we went back sober and fear we missed out on an epic night.


I DID get to do my twilight horse ride on the beach on Thursday on a kindly horse named Violet who was very calm and gentle. I've crossed off another thing from the bucket list YAY ME!!
By the time I had to dismount the horse after an hour and a half in the saddle it caused much hillarity that my legs had literally turned to jelly, the nice man who led the treck had to catch my substantial body as I pretty much fell off like a sack of potatoes and then couldn't move for a few minutes. It did give everyone there a good laugh watching my legs shake so hard. I 'm clearly not as out of shape as I thought though as the next day I was okay, a little aching in the thighs from the rising trot but apart from that all good.


We flew home on Saturday, dropped our cases back to our 'real' home and then switched to my car to go pick the dogs up from Poole in Dorset. They were SO happy to see us, I think Craig had fallen a little in love with Winston who is now so much calmer. Both dogs now can walk past other dogs without reaction and we have new techniques for difusing situations to work on. out pups are just so much more calm and confident and hopefully from here on out we will be much more calm and confident dog owners too.


Gareth and I have agreed on a few lifestyle changes we want to put into effect going forwards which hopefully will have us both losing some weight, eating more healthily and cutting right back on the 'bad things' (cigarettes).


Today I'm back in work with my 'loaner' laptop catching up on a vast quantity of email and finally getting around to updating you all.


Got to run, apparently I've only managed to scan in half of each page of the police report that I've emailed to Gareth - got to go fight with technology.


Much love xx