Where Have I Been?

My regular followers will have noticed I've not posted since May apart from the odd Silent Sunday post. If you saw yesterdays you will probably have figured out that I've been in hospital and had my right knee replaced. I've been waiting a long time for this, I used to blog about it a lot on my other blog Me, Myself and I.

 

As a result of the surgery 12 days ago I'm practically housebound at the moment, I'm unable to drive for a minimum of six weeks and although the knee replacement has taken the pain of the Arthritis away in that knee, I'm still in a lot of pain from the surgery and the physio and unable to walk far or stand for any period of time.

 

I've had plenty of time to knit or make cards since I last posted, but to be honest my Crafty Mojo got up and did a runner out of the door, I was stressing so much about going into hospital.

 

The morning I went into hospital I started an event on facebook, as a result I had the most wonderful support every step of the way, from the most amazing people all around the world, who  took time out of their busy lives to wish me well and find out how it was going, if you want to check it out you'll find it here.

Writing the description for the event was hard, it just didn't look right so it became a poem, I'm no poet as some of you may know from my #BlogFlash2013 efforts, but here goes:- 

 

Goodbye Arthritic Knee

 

You've lost me my job,

You've ruined my life,

You've made me suffer,

Unspeakable pain!

 

You're selfish and nasty,

Enjoyed causing me pain,

Little do you know,

The fate that awaits you.

Give up I've wanted too,
 No, you won't beat me,
A solution I've found,
Soon it'll be,
A shiny new knee

A couple of days ago I decided to get back into the craft room and make myself a Get Well Soon card, I used the watercolour Poppies I painted a few weeks ago whilst trying out some new watercolour papers and a simple Bakers Twine Bow.

 
 

 

I liked this card so much I made a another card to send to a friend with a different sentiment and colours, I can't show it to you yet, as I only posted it this morning and would hate to spoil the surprise.

 

Whilst recuperating I finally finished the Paramedic for my knitted Collectibles. It's not the best photograph as I was unable to get low enough to get the picture I wanted because of my knee. His hair looks a bit odd to me, maybe it's because the others have hats on or maybe it is odd, please let me know what you think.

Himself took me for a hobble around Godalming the other day and I was pleased to see somebody had been out and done a Yarn Bombing on the tree in the High Street. It certainly bought a smile to my face, nobody from the Knitting Groups have claimed responsibility so it would appear we have a secret knitter in our midst.

 

In allotment news, there is no news.

It all appears to be growing well without me, including the grass which is in desperate need of cutting, a job for Himself next weekend, although he doesn't know it yet LOL.

 

 

 

 

I'm linking this weeks post with Handmade Monday and Creative Mondays.

Have a great week Crafting and I'll see you next week.

xxx

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Silent Sunday

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Some Good News at Last

Morning everyone, apologies for the lateness of this weeks post.
Yesterday was a day of celebration, as I went to the hospital to see my Specialist about whether or not he thought I was finally at a stage that he would operate on me and give me some new knees.

My Arthritis pain has got a lot worse since I was forced into Medical Retirement, but try as I might I'm no where near as active as I was when working, because nowadays I don't have to force myself to keep moving.

The good news is:
I can now have new knees whenever I am ready mentally to have the operation done.



Himself is now recovering well from his latest operation, he only has one more small procedure to go, which is removal of the stent, then it's hopefully life back to normal again.
So we have an awful lot to smile about this week after the months and months of doom and gloom that have overshadowed us lately.

 

Hope you all have a great weekend too.

xxx

 

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Smile it's Friday

Last week at the hospital I got the most amazing, fantastic news.
The Nurse Practitioner has recommended that new knees would be beneficial to me!!!
WHOOP WHOOP



I know it's chuffin' amazing news!

I still need to see my surgeon who will make the final decision as to a yes or no, but it's fingers crossed from now until I see him.
If he decides I can go ahead it will change my life in so many ways. Things I've not been able to do for years will be open to me again, like horse riding and running. 

Arthritis is so debilitating, the constant pain and side effects from the drugs I need everyday make life so restricted.

I'm scared at the prospect but OMG so excited too!!!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

xxx

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I've Been a Tardy Blogger Lately

Firstly I must apologise for my tardiness and hardly posting news here in the last couple of months. Things have been totally manic since I launched Stone Pit Crafts which I'm really happy about, but it has taken up a lot of my time, hopefully now things have quietened down a bit I can get back on an even keel keeping up with everyone again.



Although I am very pleased to see, each week another person joins the blog hop "Smile it's Friday" and last week was the most entries so far. If you want to join in just add your link to the post, it runs from Friday to Sunday so plenty of time to join in.

The Arthritis in my hands has been playing up a fair bit lately, as I've been over doing the knitting and finger physio to get the orders out. My good friend Lesley sent me a picture of the Welly Toppers I made for her as I forgot to take a picture **slaps own wrist** more about them will be written on Stone Pit Crafts  Handmade Monday post next week.

I got an awsome new PDF Scanner app thing on my mobile and it works really well at scanning the cards I make, for some reason I was having real problems taking pictures of them, they always looked like they were taken with a fairground mirror.

Badger Boo is well, but I fear his advanced years may be catching up with him. He's sleeping an awful lot theses days, although he's his usual mad self when awake and not slowed down at all, he'll be 12 in October, hardly seems any time ago he was such a cheeky young pup.

Next week Himself goes back into hospital for another operation, neither of us are looking forward to it, but we really hope it sorts out his ongoing problems. It's hard to see such an active and fit person reduced to a shell of his former self, in so much pain and so unhappy.

 I'm hoping to get my little car back soon, my son has been borrowing it for the last year to get to his collage course. It's been really tough without a car, but his needs were greater than mine at the time.

I hope you're all keeping well and life is being kind to you?

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Mumbo Jumbo and Voodoo

I'd like to start this post with a "Big Thank You" to Lesley Beeton for all her support. 

She recommended I ask the Doctor to refer me to the Pain Clinic, when my Arthritis was really agonising several months ago and having a severe negative impact on my life.

As a result it was recommended I try acupuncture. 

Yeah right, it's all mumbo jumbo and voodoo isn't it?

Well I'm telling you it really, really works!!!

 It's not for everyone I grant you, but it has improved my pain management no end. I feel great, so great I just scared the chuffin' life out of myself when I realised I'd just trotted down the stairs like a normal person without thinking about it. 

Normally I have to go down one stair at a time hanging on to the hand rails in case my knee's give way, they do quite often. I've fallen down the stairs on numerous occasions sustaining minor injuries and one time dislocating my shoulder.

I've been having Reflexology for about five years now with Christina Driscoll in Camberly and it's great at keeping me moving, but as my Arthritis has got worse I've needed something a little more.

The first acupuncture session was all new to me and little scary, but it didn't stop me sneaking my camera out to prove I'd had it done, to those who thought I couldn't go through with it.

I won't lie, it did sting a bit when Gev (my Physio-Terrorist) put the needles in, but soon I couldn't feel them at all. As the weeks have gone on I now have much bigger needles and a lot more of them, although I've never thought to count how many.

I'm still on some pretty heavy duty painkillers and hopefully I should be able to start reducing them soon, but one step at a time I don't want to rush into anything to quickly.

I'm linking this post to The Gallery as the theme this week is "New" and acupuncture was new to me.

So if someone suggests it to you for pain management, give it a go.
You have nothing to lose except the pain. 
I'm so glad I did.

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A Great Weekend, But...

We have just spent the weekend at Selsdon Park Hotel for Himself's work Christmas function, what a beautiful place and so full of history. 

All the ceilings in the public areas are wonderful and have been lovingly restored, I took loads of pictures of them but here are just a few.

This stained glass window was amazing too, this picture just doesn't do it justice, it must be outstanding when the sun is shining through it!

This window was beautiful too, and opposite it was the most stunning fireplace I have ever seen.

We booked in, then headed off in search of our room on the second floor. We couldn't find a lift so started to climb the stairs, which turned out to be a massive mistake, there were so many twists, turns corridors and small staircases both up and down. 

It was a very difficult climb with my limited mobility, I was very soon worn out and in extreme agony, we saw several members of staff but only one of them asked me if I needed any help with my bags, of which I didn't as I only ever take what I can carry, I never expect Himself or anyone else to carry my bags, I know I'm far to independent for my own good. 

Eventually we found our room and right next to our room was the lift so we had a laugh about that, but then noticed it was out of order.

I was far to exhausted to worry about it at the time, and we let ourselves into the room and had a nap to be ready for the evenings proceedings.
Here we are all dressed up and ready to go

Then we remembered we would have to find our way back downstairs again, as the hotel is so massive we set of in search of another lift on our floor. Up and down these little staircases and what seemed like miles of corridors, after the climb this afternoon to get upstairs my knees and back were in a pretty bad way, I was in agony and I was really struggling to walk.

 We found this beautiful corridor with a very old phone, we didn't dare pick it up to see if it had a ringtone but it was all wired in with a modern plug so guessing it is in working order still.

Eventually we found a lift that took us down to the lobby and we proceeded to make our way to the Tempest Bar and it was absolutely packed out, there were lots of large groups all meeting at the same time, it was like being crammed into a cattle truck, several times I was nearly knocked off my feet by people squeezing past and there was nowhere to sit, we had to stand around like that for approx 30 minutes and the whole time my body was screaming in agony until we were called for our meal. It was total chaos and very hot, I was starting to feel most unwell.

The food I have to say was outstanding, I had some sort of Duck Pate to start, Sea Bass as my main, which was delicious and for desert I had the most fabulous chocolate mousse which was very rich, I could have eaten two of them.

I couldn't stay for the entertainment as I'd had to take so many painkillers to get through the evening that I was starting to fall asleep. Because our room was so far away I decided to go to the lavatory before making the journey but was shocked to find the Disabled toilet was in the Gents, so Himself went in first to discover it was actually next to the Gents so I went in.

It wasn't very pleasant, as men had been using it and there was a lot of urine on the floor. We then set off upstairs, we opted to take the direct route up the stairs rather than use the lift and face the maze of corridors and stairs, as Himself had earlier found a direct route to our room whist I had been having my nap when he went outside for a breath of fresh air.

Once I was sorted back in the room, Himself went back downstairs to join his work colleagues and I had a bath and went to bed.  

As is usual I was up first and set off to find the Dining Room for my Breakfast, Himself isn't a Breakfast person so I left him to sleep. I could barely walk by this time and the agony I was in is the worse I have suffered in a long time, my painkillers barely touched it.

I decided to take a picture of each of the four flights of stairs on my way down to Breakfast, it was a very slow journey with many rest stops but I got there in the end.

I was feeling very shaky by the time I got to the Dining Room and had to sit at my table for about 10 minutes before I could summon the energy to go and get my Breakfast, which took me six trips as I only have one hand free as I couldn't do it without my stick, and no offers of help were made by any of the staff.

Before I headed back upstairs to wake Himself and pack, I spoke to Reception about the stairs issue and all I got was "I'm sorry about that"

I've never before stayed in such a disabled unfriendly Hotel, it totally ruined the weekend for me which is a shame as it is a fantastic building.

Now Panic and Freak Out

Only two and a half more shifts to go at work and next Wednesday I officially become a retired person Eekk!

 I'm only 47 years old, but they say I'm not fit enough to work there anymore so that will be that.

It has been quite an emotional week.

 Because of the way the shift system works I had to start saying my goodbyes this week, as I won't get to say my goodbyes to some of the wonderful people I have worked with over the last 13 years as they will be on rest days next week. 

Mind you there are some people I'm so glad I will never have to set eyes on or make polite conversation with ever again. Luckily they are only a small percentage of the workforce, most of the people there are brilliant and have been great to work with. Several I consider to be very good friends and I really hope we keep in contact after I leave.

So what will I do with myself?

I have absolutely no chuffin' idea!

Regular readers of this blog will know how much I have fought against this retirement decision, but to be honest I have got to the point now where I'm actually starting to look forward to it.

Love the title of this little book of quotations and thought it very apt lol

My job has kept me clean and sober for 13 of the 15 years since I cleaned up my act and stopped wasting my life. It's not always been easy, I deeply regret the years I wasted staring into the bottom of a Whiskey bottle and being estranged from my son, but I stuck with it and now we have a proper relationship again, and just because I will have time on my hands soon I intend to continue to remain clean and sober.

I love my job but as one door closes another one opens, well hopefully it will after Christmas as I will need to find myself a part time job to support myself **gulp**

A couple of weeks ago I knuckled back down to a healthy eating plan again, I really hate the word diet, I had worked so hard to lose over 7 even stone in 2010/11 and although I haven't put any weight back on, I am still a fatty with rubbish knees who needs to lose another 80 pounds. You can check out my weight loss story here, but I warn you the first picture is truly horrendous!

I've put a weight lose tracker on the left hand side of my blog under the Archive, because if I do it publicly I'm hoping it will keep me on track.  This is what it looks like (see little dog below) and as you can see I have lost 8lbs already, only another 72 to go.

I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time with my family, friends and of course my little dog Badger Boo plus spending time doing things that I enjoy, as for the last couple of years my life has just been work and sleep as I'm always so exhausted.

Through this blog I have had some wonderful support from people I have never even met, plus made some really good friends. I don't know what the future holds but rest assured I will be keeping you  all updated.

News at Last (sort of)

As many of you know the the last nine months have been pure torture for me, because my employer decided that I wasn't fit enough to do my job anymore. 

Yes I have severe Arthritis and yes it was a struggle to do my job, but I'm still able to do my job as a result of some reasonable adjustments that were put into place approx two years ago.

In those two years I have been happy in my work, and had very few sick days. In fact in nearly 13 years of working there, I have never hit the trigger point for disciplinary with my sick days.

I registered my Disabled status with my employer approx five years ago, as with all things computerised, systems get updated and Disability details needed to be re-entered, which I duly did as it's a legal requirement.

As a result of updating my details, I received a letter saying I needed to attend a medical, I have since attended several, all with the same result. 

I'm not fit to work!

I disagreed with these findings, due to the fact I was still at work and doing my job. So a meeting was called and I was interviewed by several people from various departments.

In June I completed all the paperwork for my Medical Retirement/Dismissal very reluctantly, and started my IT course to help me find another job.

As the months dragged on there was no news on the retirement/dismissal/job front and I'm still attending work full time. I would rather stay at work in a job I love, but I have come to accept it's for my own welfare these decisions have been made.

On the 30th October I received a letter stating I was being Medically Retired not Medically Dismissed, which is a massive relief, as I will be getting a small pension. If the findings had been for Medical Dismissal I would in a world of financial hardship, as you can imagine it was a huge relief!

I don't know when I will be actually retiring, there has been no mention. 

I'm still attending work!

It's got to the point that I've had enough! 

They got what they wanted, so just give me a leaving date and let me go! 

Why Does It Always Happen To Us?

Himself has wanted a decent camera for some time, he has always been happy with a compact in the past, but lately has decided he wants to join me in my love of photography, and I'm more than happy to help with my pretty limited knowledge. If I'm honest, most of my pictures are down to having a brilliant camera rather than any skill on my part, but please don't tell him that!

On Saturday we went shopping to buy Himself his camera, he had done a lot of research and finally decided a Canon SX40 would suit his needs. All the lenses built in, and some really good features, in fact I was so impressed with it I'm seriously thinking about replacing my old Fujifilm S100 with it.

So off we went to Guildford and into Jessops, the sales assistant was a lovely girl and very knowledgeable, she suggested we also look at the Sony DSC-HX200V which was one he hadn't researched.

What a great camera, we both loved it, but we're very reserved about impulse buying, she printed of the

Getting Very Bored Now!

Went to the Doctor to see if I could get signed as "Fit for Work" today. 

No such luck, got to have another week off, as I have to have my medication reduced. I'm so bored now it's starting to really get on my wick! 

Crikey, I even resorted to making a massive dent in the leaning tower of ironing! 

Yep I know, using foul language isn't very nice I apologise.

Not a lot is happening here, tomorrow I get to wait in for the man to come and rewire the shaver light. He wired it all wrong, so it will only charge if you leave the light on, so it means we've had to leave the bathroom light on overnight just to charge the toothbrushes, how annoying is that!

On Friday I'm getting a haircut Whoopy Do!

Stop the Ride, I Want to Get Off!

"Stop the Ride, I Want to Get Off!"

Have you ever heard those words as a roller-coaster sets off when someone changes their mind? 

That's exactly how my life has been feeling for the past few weeks, the pain in my back is becoming unbearable! I can barely do anything at the moment. I can feel the big black cloud of Depression pushing it's way back into my brain. 

 The house is a mess as I struggle to keep on top of things. We've been eating processed food **muck** as I can't stand long enough to cook, just walking around the in house is absolute agony. How I wish we had a downstairs toilet, I stand at the bottom of the stairs and they look like an impossible challenge, it can take me several minutes to climb them, so I'm now spending a lot of time upstairs to avoid the climb. 

All this extra back pain is on top of the Arthritis pain in my knees, hands and joints. My