A VERY long weekend, Gareth's birthday and 'stuff'

We had 6 days off for the Easter weekend, this year Gareth's birthday fell on the Tuesday so we had an extra couple of days to enjoy ourselves.

I got Gareth a Pizza oven for his birthday, whilst I have to admit Gareth making loads of pizza's is not going to be helpful for my diet, it's made him super happy and he's produced some really lovely pizza's and garlic bread from it.

I've now had my 5th Covid vaccination - if there's microchips in them I think that I'm probably now able to communicate with the International Space Station simply by clicking my fingers, sadly I still can't just wave my hand over a chip and pin machine and say 'you have been paid' like a Jedi 😂😂

We've put telescopic draws into a couple of tall cupboards which allowed us to get rid of a load of stuff we didn't know we had and certainly didn't need and rationalise them into a 'dog & cat stuff' cupboard and a larder cupboard. We're so close to the end of the kitchen renovation now, some minor touch ups and one more kitchen counter to be refinished and we are done 

Before

After 

Larder

Dog & Cat Cupboard

In hindsight putting the dog toys on the bottom shelf was probably an error as Winston is straight in there helping himself to tennis balls every time the door is opened - little treasure 😂😂

I'm now doing 3 sessions a week with the Physical Trainer (not because I'm rich and can afford that) he's got a 6 week holiday scheduled for later this year and the 12 sessions I would have had in that time are being popped in now before then. It's helping even more for me to rebuild some strength in my arms and legs. I'm still working on my core with the sit up bench too. 

The one thing that I'm really struggling with right now though is anything that involves 'cardio' - and by cardio I actually mean anything involving e moving around - my heart rate goes crazy and my Fitbit thinks I'm doing cardio when all I'm actually doing is shuffling to the fridge to refill a glass of water. I had another fall on Good Friday and around mid day on the Saturday my heart rate was at 148 beats per minute - the Fitbit recorded a whopping 3 hours of 'in cardio exercise zone' time with me shaking like a leaf - really quite frightening while it was happening which I'm sure didn't help the heart rate one bit.

I've asked Gareth the help me get the recumbent bike set back up properly in the upstairs room so I can use that to see if I can get something like stamina going - one problem I don't know where he put the power supply for it when it was moved up there - hopefully we will locate that this evening.

In the interim I ordered myself some of the 16mg CBD capsules from CBD Brothers as an experiment to see if they will help with both my anxiety over the heart rate thing but also to help me get a better quality of sleep which I'm hoping will help with things .... they arrived on Saturday so today is day 5 on them and as I'd hoped I'm sleeping better than I was before and my mood and heart rate are far more normal now. I'm taking 2 a day, one in the morning and the other about 40 minutes before bed. So far my experiment is working 😎

I've got the spine guy appointment coming up on May 10th and then round 4 of Ocrevus at Charing Cross on May 26th (which yes is highly likely to kill anything created by vaccine number 5 😐

Oh one thing of note - I've asked both my Doctor and my Neurologist to get me scheduled for Evusheld - it's a 'pre-emptive' treatment for the immune suppressed for - yes you guessed it Covid ..... I've said if I have to drive to Edinburgh for it I'm fine with that but would they please sort it - no news yet fro either of them despite a chaser email and asking my Doctor while he did my vaccine. Watch this space.....

Apart from that all is pretty good in my world.

Hope you're taking care of you 

T

xx

Feeling brave, the new range and weight loss update and it's effect on my MS and yet another covid jab planned

 The Physical Trainer sessions continue along with me using the sit up bench - I can do 100 sit ups per session without breaking a sweat and hold a conversation - I've even started to do the last 30 with my arms crossed over my chest 'army style' and the 30 before that with the sit up and turn motion - I have to do them as the last ones because if I do them earlier I can't finish 😂 I even asked the lively Micka about his group sessions and which he thought I might be ready for - we've decided on Kettle Bells and I've ordered a light weight set for home so I can train to get ready for training 😂

The new range has been delivered and installed in the refurbed kitchen and looks awesome - it's also got proper temperature control and glass in the doors so you can see the food cooking - a massive improvement on the hideous old blue beast that came with the house.

I've lost over 2 stone since the start of the year and I'm well on the way to the next 1/2 stone - it's really showing now, I have cheek bones again, collar bones too and hip bones are making themselves known too. I have a waistline that I'm really rather proud of and I\m into pair 1 of my 3 pairs of 'aspirational jeans' without a struggle. 

I'm in nowhere near as much pain from my back and my hip as the weight comes off. I'm also not quite as 'MS narcoleptic' - I can stay awake in the evenings instead of crashing on the sofa and leaving Gareth to his own devices every evening. (not sure he thinks thats such a good thing as me being awake cuts into his gaming time 😂😂)

I think it's a combination of everything I'm doing but it feels good to have some control again of my own fate. I've got the spine surgeon appointment on the 10th of May and I really do want a new number at the start of my weight by then - its an in person appointment and I think Chris will be shocked at the change in me since he last stabbed me in the back 😂

We've had Gareths parents down for a visit and done yummy BBQ food and with Gareths birthday coming up on the 19th I have plans afoot for celebrations.

Lastly I have another covid vaccine booked for the 20th of this month - my spring booster - this will bring my jab count up to 5 😂 the question we're all asking is will it have any effect this time? It will be 6 weeks before my next Ocrevus (Round 4)  so if there's ever a time it's actually going to work it's this time ....... of course it could once again be as useful as chucking a wellington boot filled with water down an alley 😂😂😂 - I have noted that if each one has had a microchip in it then I'm probably now going to be a personal wireless access point and will be able to communicate with the international space station with the click of my fingers. I wonder if I''ll get a different flavour the time ???

Life is really good right now, long may it continue