Tuesday 20 December 2016

Week 30 & 31 post round 2 - Damn but I wish I'd just snapped my arm

Soft tissue injuries are a serious pain in the ..... well the arm as it happens.
I've now had 2 visits with the Physio team again and a lot of excercises to work my way through each day. The pain has dialled back a little, but it feels like tooth ache deep in my arm (you know that bone deep hurt that just doesn't ease up, can't be made more comfortable and just makes you want to chop the offending appendage off with a blunt rusty spoon) I'm sure if it had just broken properly then it would be much better now)


Sorry for no post last week, but once again we've had some heart breaking news. Karen's Dad passed away last Monday. He'd been living with that awful bloody shitbeast Dementia for the last 8 years and he had other medical problems as well on top of it. The sorrow of him and relief that at last he's at rest once again are uncomfortable bedfellows.


The funeral is this Friday up in Chesterfield so we will be heading up north a day early for our Christmas with Gareth's family in order to see Alan off and to be there for Karen and her Mum.


In the month of spiralling Vetrinarian bills, after the monster £710 Beagle 'lumpectomy' Bill earlier this month, tomorrow will bring another one this time for BamBam the 14 year old cat who has a partially falling out tooth that needs extracting (shudders at thinking about how much that will be)


Gareth's Christmas present is sorted, and some of the others are in hand. We might have actually cracked it with a few days to spare this year - except I've bought no wrapping stuff yet so unless I crack on with that people may be getting things in the various courier wrappings and plastic bags which isn't really how these things are supposed to be done.


I realised this morning that for the first time since I started Lemtrada that I'd actually forgotten to book my monthly blood tests (in fact I'm a few days overdue for them) - EEEK - completely and utterly unlike me to forget that as I'm usually chopping at the bit to find out the scores on the doors. All sorted now though I've got an appointment tomorrow at 12:10 for the ritual blood letting.


Those things aside, life is relatively uneventful and quiet. The MS remains a little shadow in the background, a 'Label' rather than an active condition. I've been a little more tired than normal but I'm putting that down to stress / bereavement and the pain medication for the arm rather than anything sinister. It could also have something to do with me barely having any wine for the last 3 weeks (again pain meds) and there's probably far more blood floating around in my alcohol system than my body is used to.


Hopefully my blood results will come back before Christmas so I can share them with you all, but to be honest I'm not betting the bank on that.


So to you all my best wishes for Christmas and the holidays (whichever you celebrate) have a great time with your friends and families. I hope the time is special and full of love for you all and please don't forget to tell those you love how special they are to you.


So to everyone reading.....


Love you loads xxxxx



Monday 5 December 2016

Round 2 Week 28 and 29 Welcome to winter and I've busted my arm

Okay this post is going to be all mixed up because it spans 2 weeks and I've not published it so there's bits from week 28 and week 29
Week 28 - BRRRRR it's getting cold in Berkshire, the car looked like a big icicle this morning when I looked out the bedroom window. Needless to say I went and started the engine and let it warm up while I got ready for work.
I'm finally the proud owner of some winter boots that are both comfortable, practical and stylish and don't offend my stuck in the 1980's fashion sense. Best of all the style name was 'Tracy' (even spelt correctly) so I'm wearing boots named after me (well probably not me personally but I'm claiming it regardless)
This week is a veritible hive of activity (well apart from yesterday when I had the day off using up my remaining annual leave before the end of the year - that was me lazing around mostly and baking my test batch of mince pies)
Tuesday week 28  -Tonight we are off to Basingstoke to see the comedian Josh Widdicombe at The Anvil which I'm hoping will leave me feeling like I spent the eavening doing situps because I've been laughing so hard.  EDIT - Josh was absolutely hillarious we spent most of the evening laughing so hard we were wiping tears from our faces.
Wednesday week 28 is 'Argentinian Experience Night' at The Tasting House in Reading - a 6 course taster menu with paired wines. EDIT - I stayed home looking after Amber-Dog after her surgury and let Gareth and Rob go to Argentinian night (I figured Rob would enjoy Gareth's company more than mine) they were dispatched with takeaway containers and told to bring me a 'doggie bag' home (the irony of the term doggie bag has only just dawned on me)
Thursday well it's late night shopping if we can work up the energy in town to go and finally get started properly on some christmas gifts. EDIT - This did not happen
I would like to say the weekend will involve some rest but it's not looking hopeful right now. EDIT Strangely it did involve rest but only because of what happend at bed time on Thursday which is described below ....


MS wise things are continuing with the uneventful theme. I missed my oxygen therapy this week and for once I really do feel the lack of it, just a little sluggish and weak, and falling asleep on the sofa in the evening a lot (well when I say falling asleep gareth describes it as 'switched off - like someone pulled the plug out and I just shut down') worth mentioning and keeping an eye on I guess. It could just be the change of seasons kicking in (along with the central heating)


Thursday week 28 - At bedtime, I fell over the end of the bed whilst trying to get my trousers off (the bottom of the legs were still tucked into my socks from when we'd walked the dogs earlier) I hit the ground with an almighty bang hands first to stop myself hurting myself and then dragged myself up and got into bed.
Friday week 28 - Damn but that fall last night really did do some serious damage to my left arm - mostly to the elbow area. A full dose of Co-Proxamol didn't even touch the sides and my whole arm and hand were swelling, so eventually I decided that it was time to go to the hospital and get it checked out properly.
Something interesting that might be useful to you if you are attending A&E (well my A&E anyway) there's a big sign up about chemotherapy type treatments which says if you have a compromised immune system you must tell them at the desk when you 'check in' (LOL like it's a hotel or a Spa or something). This is where those little cards you were issued when you had treatment come in handy, the Lemtrada one and the irradiated blood products required one.should be presented. Hopefully this results in not spending 4 hours sitting in a waiting room with people who lets face are all potential plague bearing germ monsters.
So an excrutiatingly painful set of x-rays, some twisting, turning and pulling and my engagement ring snapped the results came back. Nothing is 'broken' as in snapped, however the socket bit of the humerus bone (funny bone my arse) is squashed - something that is referred to as an impact fracture - it's a crush injury essentially. So no plaster cast, just a sling and lots of pain killers.
Oh and I can't tie my hair back because I can't lift or rotate or grip anything with my left and and it's driving me completely nuts.
As I said the weekend was really quite quiet and restrained out of necessity, Gareth had to assume all chauffering duties up until Sunday afternoon when the pain had dialled back enough for me to feel like I could drive.
It's now week 29 fortunately Saturday's oxygen treatment has assisted with my already super fast healing process - Gareth and I worked out how many times I've actually 'broken' a part of me .... this makes 17 breaks in total - 11 wrist breaks and 6 others. Strangely despite the fact that I seem to break incredibly easily, I also heal super fast and even with complicated breaks the longest I've had a cast on for is 18 days.
So anyway after all that I've now had the fracture clinic get in touch with me and they say they don't think it's an impact fracture at all, they just think it's a really nasty soft tissue injury......
I've considered going back and editing this again for the bazillionth time in the last week and you know what I really can't be arsed and my elbow / arm is starting to throb even if it isn't broken


And it still hurts like an absolute bastard .....
As always life in my world has a slightly weird lop sided camber and is 'special' in a 'now many times were you dropped as a baby' kind of way.



Far too long between updates (again)

 So what have I been up to in my long absence and how have I been ? Well the Crohn's is under control and back to how it's always be...