How I am maintaining my sanity

I don't like the way the combination of painkillers and muscle relaxants is making me feel - useless and confused and still in pain.

 I am asleep most of the time.

When I am awake, this is how I stay sane:

Oh, little £6.99 hot water bottle from Tesco, how I love thee!

Spring distraction

My Easter break started a day earlier than planned, as I seem to have done something to my neck. Bearing in my mind that I'm far from a wuss and usually have a high tolerance of pain - it was so bad last night that I was convinced I was developing meningitis again or (at the least) having a brain stem bleed. j has seen all those FAST adverts and kept 'discretely' asking me to squeeze his hand and look into his eyes. I don't think the tingling in my left arm or the blacking out in the bathroom when I tried to look up into the mirror helped things much.

Anyway, a call to the emergency on-call service seemed to rule out stroke and suggested torticollis, which sounds a friendly little disorder. The on-call dr recommended anti-inflamatories (which I can't take, having little stomach) and a hot water bottle (which we last saw in the early '90s). J and j were all set to find an all night hot water bottle emporium when I gave in and agreed to have something with codeine in it. Me and codeine are a bad mix normally, but it did take the edge off enough for me to sleep a little, wedged upright with 4 pillows.

This morning, I was so stoned and still in pain that I couldn't go to work. i think I left a coherent message on the answering machine, but who knows. I did manage to make coffee.


My own GP agreed with the diagnosis and gave me some diazepam to relieve the muscle spasm for a few days. Consequently, I've spent most of today in pain, alseep or spaced out on top of my newly acquired hot water bottle.

No doubt, when I come around again sufficiently, this lovely warm spell will be gone, but I'm taking my mind off things by loading some spring pictures from earlier in the week.

Just when you thought it was safe

to look, I have news of a surgical nature.

I'm on a waiting list to have abdominoplasty. The term 'tummy tuck' seems to minimise and make cuddly a procedure that a surgeon described to me as 'brutal'. So, I'm going to keep saying abdominoplasty.

I'm not sure how long the waiting list is, and feel a little caught out and surprised. I'm rarely this unprepared for life's big events, but this one caught me on the hop. I knew the referral had been made and was rather surprised to get an appointment this year, let alone make it to the list. In fact I hadn't let myself get my hopes up at all.

Today I will ring the surgeon's secretary and ask how long I am likely to be waiting. Don't get me wrong, I'm not greedily eager, but need to let work know what is likely to be happening as soon as I can.

In the meantime. Here are some scary/encouraging videos!

When evening drops, magenta

I love the way the Gateshead Millennium Bridge is lit at night.

We were at The Sage to see the Waterboys. It was a great evening - some real blasts from the past and new songs from An Appointment with Mr Yeats.

Terrible phone pictures. Don't know why I do it really.

Moderate waves

I finished a sweater. The yarn is gorgeous. It's Madeline Tosh sock yarn, from Loop, courtesy of J and j.
The greys are great. I love how they evoke the area we live in. That's not a bad thing. I love grey.