Week 42 Birthday's and Visitors and Sunshine

Now I’m technically 44 and I’ve had a lovely weekend. Gareth took me out for dinner at Tylney Hall on Thursday night for a fantastic meal. I now know that I really love Quail (well I loved it the way they served it) and that Eton Mess can be served absolutely beautifully with ‘Happy Birthday’  written in chocolate on the plate (the handwriting was far more beautiful in chocolate than I have ever been able to do with a pen)

It was a beautiful day when Aunty Kathy arrived on plan on Friday afternoon and we did the ‘tour of the house’ thing and then took the dogs out for walkies. At this point the weather turned decidedly nasty; during the course of an hour long walk we had hail, snow, rain, wind and finally a little touch of sunshine to add insult. We were both soaked when we got back to the car with muddy sand covered pups, Kathy being better at the outdoorsy thing was warm and dry inside her jacket – my jacket was soaked through to the inside, my hair was dripping ice water down my back and it was one of those walk where I felt decidedly miserable at the end of it.

Friday night we went to L’Ortolan again for dinner and once again it was truly epic, treating yourself to a meal like that occasionally is good for the soul even if it’s very painful on the bank balance. The weekend was all rather civilised really, we went into town and did some shopping I bought my first pair of jeans in over 2 years and whilst they’re a considerably larger size than I’m happy with they look pretty good especially with the very nice boots I bought that have a 2 inch heel that isn’t anywhere near as massive and chunky as the one on my previous pair – And I can walk in them and haven’t killed myself yet WOOHOO.

I cancelled my Oxygen Therapy on Saturday morning so that we would be able to spend more time with Kathy, it’s not a huge thing, it’s become quite common place of late for me to duck a week here and there to make time for something real life related.

A much more pleasurable walk on Saturday in the sunshine, the Mead was very quiet and we were brave and let Winston completely off lead, he got to run and play without being on the long line; by the end of the walk both Winston and Amber were completely knackered from playing chase the ball (sometimes bring it back) and hunt the treats thrown into the long grass (always successful that one) they were both soaking wet and filthy from mud and sand. A particularly epic delivered Chinese takeaway and Terminator Genesis on the movie channel rounded out the night.

I was so sad to see Kathy go on Sunday morning, it was all very emotional with it being Mother’s day and my Facebook feed showing me lots of memories of my Mum, it really hit home hard that this time last year and the year before my brother and I had talked about how difficult it was for us to see everyone celebrating with their Mum’s and ours is no longer with us. I felt really bad getting upset in front of Kathy, as Nana was her Mum, it’s her first Mother’s day with her Mum gone too, my Mum was her sister, my brother her Nephew. It’s selfish of me to fall apart like that when it’s so painful for her too.

In a way this weekend has started me thinking I need to re-evaluate things a little. I need to start taking better care of myself. Not just the MS stuff but the life in general stuff too. It’s a bit late in the year for new year resolutions, but this is my new year – the year of being 44 and my last one during which I can say I’m closer to 40 than I am to being 50 (bloody hell that’s an uncomfortable thing to type)

So here are my ‘New Me’ resolutions

• I AM going to do more exercise
• I AM going to eat more healthily
• I AM going to get back to a weight I am happy with
• I AM going to moderate my Wine consumption
• I AM going to cut down on the cigarettes
• I AM going to procrastinate less (because that’s why all the other things above are still a problem)

I’m working on the theory that all this is too little, too late for it to be a major improvement by the time I go in for round two of Lemtrada in May but it certainly can’t hurt (much) I figure if my weight is reduced, I’m more active, there’s more blood in my alcohol system and less tobacco then all this has to be a good thing right (see I’m procrastinating already – BAD TRACY)

By the end of next week Month 9 will be done and dusted, I’ve got my monthly bloods and pee next Friday and I’m hoping that the Lymphocytes have gotten over their mass suicide event when they finished fighting the bug I had over Christmas / New Year / January and have popped back up to something more normal again.

All things considered life as always remains pretty epic and I’m thankful that I’ve got this opportunity to take charge of my MS and teach it who’s the boss of me.