Major Breaking News!!! Headline Stuff!!!!!

At 3.30pm today, 30th November 2007 I became..


A FAIRY ODD MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!

(Its like being a God mother, but better lol)

My best friend Loony gave birth to Amy Robyn who weighed in at 9lb 2oz!!

A friend of mine said he wants to name his first female child Polly Esther I told this to Amys dad, Chris, who texted me back saying he now wanted to change his daughters name.

Something tells me Loonie wouldn’t agree to this…

Nearly the weekend! yay!

Sorry for lack of posts during the week - there really has not been much to report!

I tried to post yesterday but someting went wrong and it wouldnt publish....

So.. quick synopsis of the week!

Monday
D went into hospital for a check up.. after a very long wait as usual, they said his blood results were looking very good, and instead of visiting them on Wed and Friday for more of the same, the vampires would like to see him next Tuesday :-)

He feels so much better now hes home.. his arms have gone down to normal size and his spots have considerably reduced in number!

Wednesday
It rained. D did some shopping and went over to my little brothers house, I got off the tram early and had a very wet walk over to the house too. Very kindly, Thos came out and rescued me from the last 10 mins walk and drove me the last bit back to his.

My black fluffy cardigan/coat was drenched, so whilst it dried out, Thos, his kids, Douglas, my parents and I had tea of cheesy pasta and salad. It was lovely! (Katy is away on a writing course)

Thos went out to his guitar lesson leaving us to sort out the kids. Little one (hes 3) started crying and howling for dad and then mum. My mum went into meltdown, got very stressed and didnt cope with all the tears so I took over :-)

Poor little one was sooo tired.. but he had a pee and allowed me to put on his bed time nappy, before putting him into bed (still floods of tears) I gave him loads of love and cuddles, and asked him if he wanted a story. No!! All he wanted was Daddy. I decided (dunno why) that I would read one of his books next to his bed. Seconds after I had the story book down, little one decided he wanted to read it, tears vanished and he enjoyed the tale of a little boy called Leo who gets jungle wallpaper in his bedroom :-) Peace reigned again! Hoooray for Aunty Anna ! lol

Thursday

D went into town to get the tax disc and go to Waterstones bookshop (what a surprise) and was totally exhasuted by the time he reached the car. I came in to find him fast asleep on our reclining sofa, covered up with a dressing gown. Ahhhh poor thing :-)

Friday

Well it is sunny out this morning.. I was a good girl and got the tram to work (was sorely tempted to get in the car, but that provides nil exercise for the day, and I have a tram pass!!)

D might go swimming today, but I also want him to visit our neighbour, whose husband sadly passed away last week.

I probably have loads of paperwork to do and lots of checking certificates against applications, so I better get ready to start work (Im there already)

More soonish.. but please dont worry if posts are a bit slow in coming.. will keep you informed.

Ohhhhhh also.. my "odd" daughter (not God daughter but similar) is due to be born by C Section today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Watch this space!!

Saturday

D is continuing to get better - his arms are still sore but so much better than they were, and although he is still rather spotty, and has mouth ulcers and cold sores, hes in good spirits and came with me to visit my parents new house, which is not too far from our local Tesco :-)

I did a huge sort out of all our recyling, which normally sits quite quietly in a double doored cupboard under our microwave. Our civic amenity site seems only to open in hours of daylight, and since I work 9.30 - 5.30 its been difficult for me to get there, so the reclying was almost shreiking to be sorted and taken away.

I felt so much better when id done the recycling trip, done mountains of hand washing (most of my stuff is not machine friendly cause I like hippy things) I also did loads of washing up, and some cooking.

Roast Beef

Now, Im a veggie, but Douglas loves his meat.

I purchased a nice lump of Organic Beef at Asda, and set it on a trivet made from 3 carrots. I made up some powdered English Mustard with some water and some olive oil, threw in some mixed herbs some bashed up garlic, made it all into a paste and spread it on the beef.

Douglas put it into our gas oven on about Gas 3, and about 3 hours later, out came a very tasty looking lump of cow! :-) He said it tastes wonderful.

Hes happy to kill, prepare and cook his meat so I feel he has the moral right to eat it. People who have never, and would never kill and prepare an animal to eat it are hypocrites if they eat it.

(thats my view and Im sticking to it!! Im not prepared to kill animals so I dont eat them)

I wonder.. am I then hypocritical for preparing and cooking meat for others?? All comments welcome :-)

Michelin Man "spotted" at home!!!

Hello all ye blog readers!

Thank ye one and all for ye lovely commentes :-)

We remain positive cause there are people much worse off than us, and it only gets you down so why not be happy with what you have?

Im happier than usual today because, at long last I was able to collect MM (aka Douglas) from hospital last night. He got the OK to leave at 9am.. got his sick notes but then had to wait for his tablets... and wait.. and wait... and wait........... then a bit more waiting.

At 7pm the Pharmacist had eventually sorted all his tablets out (a carrier bag full) and he was ready to come home! By this time we were both pretty hungry, and I was quite tired.

I got D home, put the gas fire on, put the heating on, and made him some cheese on toast postage stamps to keep him alive whilst his chicken cooked.

Oh, by the way.. hes no longer diabetic and it wasnt Gout so they think.. was just various infections.

Its so nice to have him back, and he says he feels better already just being back :-)

We will have a quiet weekend, but I may take him up to my parents new house to have a little look around - depends how he feels.

love from us both to all of you!
A&D xxx

Oh PS the "spotted" bit is cause his skin is in a bad state.. poor spotty baby ;-)

Im married to the Mitchelin Man

Ok.. its only one arm that has swollen up and one knee but it sounded too funny not to say it lol.

D is ok.. his left arm has some very painful cellulitis on it and his left knee is now getting better - thats the one swollen up with gout (!) so all this along with being diabetic is a lot of fun for him (not)

I took him some clean clothes this morning and a book that arrived in the post (A Dick Francis) Do we have the Dreaded Mum in Law to thank for that?? He looked very pleased :-)

Ok back to work.. more this eveing.

xxx

Elvis has landed...

Ive had a good week - yesterday (Sunday) the conference finished at about 1pm, and my friend was exhausted.

She rested on her bed, and didnt feel like going out or anything so we watched "carp" tv in her room, chatted, which was very pleasant.

We had room service (egg and chips for her, omlette and ditto for me) whilst watching "Cranford" by Elizabeth Gaskell on BBC1 (It was marvelous). I cant remember what else we watched on TV but after watching a DVD called "The Black Dalhia" it was about 1am so I crawled back to my room and slept.

I got woken at 3am by a car alarm nearby then someone knocking on my door very loudly. My first thoughts were that Shelly had had some kind of accident and the staff were knocking to alert me, but no one answered when I asked who was there. It took a while for my heart rate to settle again - I was quite scared!

I got up at 8.30 packed and had breakfast, then at about 10 I helped Shelly shower, dress and pack. By 11.30 we checked out, left our cases and got a taxi into town and saw "Elizabeth" at the Cinema (excellent film)

The taxi driver to the airport seemed very keen to help but totally useless, it was very stressful trying to get him to take us to the right place, go into the car park to shorten the walk to where we could check in and the staff would provide a wheelchair for Shelly.

The plane was a bit late, but all went smoothly. We got a taxi back to Shellys, then she drove me the hour or so up to the hospital D is in, dropped me off and went home. I got to the hospital at about 9pm, had just a little time with him to hug and kiss and see his sore arm before bundling loads of dirty clothes into his suitcase, and setting off home to see my parents who are just in the process of moving house today.

Now Im home and checked a few emails.. I have so much post and stuff to sort out as poor D has been in hospital for most of the time Ive been gone.

Promise more on how he is etc tomrorow but Im sure you understand when I say Bed is the next priority.

love to you all and thanks for texting him, and messages on blog. xoxoxo

Posting from Glasgow!!!

At last, I have found access to the internet and have a bit of time to update you all. yay!

Douglas

Hes not really been very well at all - with a tummy bug or something making him feel sick, and making him run for the loo on a very frequent basis :(

Its been tough being up here in Glasgow with a friend who can be pretty difficult at times, and so far away from my loving husband. One thing this time away has brought home to me is how harmonious we are as a couple, and how well we get along!!!

I have chatted to D daily, and keep in touch by text. the latest news is that they think he might have Gout, as one of his knee joints has swollen up and hes been generally unwell. they are going to stick him on (yet more) sterioids to see if they can sort this out and also take some of the fluid off his knee!

He is keeping in good spirits, and has been bouyed up by visits from two little brothers - his and mine. I know he would have more family visitors if he were accessible, and Im glad others of you have kept in touch with him by text.

I will be home Monday evening, and straight into his arms!!!

Glasgow

Well, ive done quite a lot of wandering around between helping my friend shelly in the mornings, and fetching her lunches from town, as well as copious amounts of booze (at this point she has 3 bottles left and I dont think she will manage to drink them all before we go)

Glasgow, from the little Ive seen is a beautiful city, and apart from one day of rain, the weather has been lovely.

Yesterday there was a major match between Glasgow and Italy. In my City, when there is a match on, there is a heavy police presence way before the match, but in the town centre I dont think I saw one cop.. Many of the tammy and fake ginger hair topped fans were very drunk at about 5 when the match started, but no sign of violence whatsoever, which was great.

Well.. time to sign off now.. look forward to being home and seeing my parents, who are moving up to our City tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday

Good day at work for me.. just processing applications all day for people who want to get registered as carriers of waste (think builders rubble, landscape gardeners, scrap metal merchants, companies who take your personal rubbish away)

I normally go on the phones alot but only had half an hour first thing, and half an hour to finish with.

I had my "one to one" with my team leader Joe, who wanted to know how things are going (very well thank you!) and set me a few challenges for next month - one of which is to get my "competencies" folder up and going. Its rather soon, but if I put it in in January I might end up with £1k pay rise!

Douglas got his plasma exchange today (machine fixed) and hes a little weak and wimpy but well enough to tuck into 3 beefburgers, a volcano mound of mashed potato and some sprouting broc that I made him! I made loads of mash, so that should sort him out for tomorrow as well.

Can anyone spot the film reference in that last paragraph???? A prize for the first person who can spot it, and tell me the name of the film :-)

Im off to Bonny Scotland as soon as Shelly picks me up tomorrow, so hopefully will keep blogging from there :)

The weekend

Saturday

I went down to the place I used to live on Saturday to sort out my -now thankfully empty - let property. The tennants of many years stopped paying, and it was a long proceedure to get them to finally move out!

I met up with a rather fast and rather too casual decorator who looked around and said £1,500 plus vat and plus paint to do the whole house - way too much Im sure.. saw me and thought "ha female with no idea, lets screw her for all shes worth"

The poor house, looks so unloved and scruffy, and I admit part of that is my fault, as Ive not done any work to it for years, but things like torn wallpaper and the horrid smell of smoke were not to do with my neglect!!

I also had a lovely guy visit - hes mainly a bathroom person, but it turns out that his company specialise in fast make overs of scruffy houses (particularly for landlords) We went round the whole house, making a long list of all the little jobs that need doing, and Im looking forward to a quote soon.

My parents, bless them, will help fund all this work, and in return the rent will be theirs until its all paid off :-)

Before I left, I took Douglas back into the hospital for one more IV treatment, and another plasma exchange. Sadly the plasma machine has broken, and will not be fixed until Monday at the earliest.

It didnt take me too long to drive back up the motorway, so I had time to have a rest and have tea before going back to pick D up.

Sunday

D is feeling a bit fragile, but as I type he is enjoying lunch of steak pie and broccoli spears :)

The Week Ahead.

Im going up to Glasgow with Shelly on Wednesday morning (Douglas insists) and will be back on Sunday or Monday. I will try and find an internet cafe to update this and read email etc.. but Douglas will be home so if any of you want to call or phone him, please do :)

nee ha ha

thanks to my sneaky evil plot i havew escaped(briefly)from stalag hospital till to morrow am at least. i get a second session to morrow of the plasma exchange(for those technically minded: it's plasmaphoresis a process similar to dialysis but quicker along with a shot of calcium gluconate. i am also on a high dose of methly prednisolone to ease the inflamation.
i'm a bit of a curio, not only do i have early signs of rejection and a reoccurance of my mebranous nephropathy but also some interstitail nephritis[cause unknown but though to be linked to my ramapril bp tablets] so this lots is being chucked at me to resolove it all and delay heamodyalisis).

Enough of the tehnobabble, i am now at home with a warm wife and a chilling bottle of chardoney(small glass only sadly) listening to the zen channel as i type with some dfficulty as my right hand is still bandaged with a needle(venflon) stuck in it.
Snuggle in our own bed for tonight life is good. thanks for all the support you have given me and anna love and hugs to all concerned.
D

yay!

I get to take him home for tonight, throw him back in tomorrow morning, then the same again on Sat night. Woooooooooot!!

Friday morning

I woke at about 4am this morning feeling very miserable and had a chat to two adult Runescape friends - Linda aka Funnyhare, and Darlene aka Mommapeel who were very supportive and made me feel lots better. Went back to bed about 6 and got another hour or so of sleep in, which helped.

Went to see the D on the way to work. Took in two large books (one of them being Hugh Fernly Whittingstalls River Cottage Cook Book) a Caramac, Tablets, I pod and noise removing earphones, a Guardian and an Independent!! Hope this will keep him happy for a few hours :-)

He is bright eyed and bushy bearded, tells me they are starting the plasma exchange today and that he slept fairly well last night. He needs 6 treatments of this plasma exchange, and he’s hoping that if the first one goes well that he can be treated as an outpatient.

More update soon – will probably pop in on my way home from work depending on how drained I feel at that time.

Thanks for all text and blog messages :-) If you want to contact Douglas – send him a text as he has phone and charger with him.

Dougal

Ok Ive been a bit remiss - No update on the Douglas all week. Sorry..

The week before last D felt really horrible.. "carp" as we say. He had a rash of spots (possibly chicken pox??) and felt grotty. Last weekend he began to feel much better, and apart from where he is at present hes bright eyed and bushy beareded ;-)

This must be his 3rd night in hospital - they wanted to do a scan then a biopsy of his kidney as his blood results have been getting worse quite quickly.

We hoped "they" would let hi escape yesterday, but no such luck. The Drs want him to stay in to push some IV "stuff" into him, and do some plasma exchange, which is a bit like dialsys but they take his not so great plasma away and put in some better stuff instead. Sorry for the repeated use of "stuff" its 5am in the morning and Im not exactly on best form.

D hopes that the Drs will let him do the plasma exchange as a day patient, but he hasnt said whether they have agreed to that or not yet.

Im taking him in a huge book a day (have his ipod lined up, and will buy a couple of newspapers on my way in to see him later this morning) Have also to take him some more tablets in today.

Apart from D being in hospital, Im feeling very miserable because Im due to go to Glasgow very early Wednesday morning with my good friend Shelly. Shes going to a Union conference up there, and as a result of an injury at work, she needs some help with her personal care and dressing at each end of the day. I am going as her facilatator to do these things for her.

Douglas still wants me to go, as this has been booked for ages, but Im really torn and don't want to leave him lanugishing (or otherwise) in a hospital bed with no visits etc. I just dont know what to do... if only my parents had managed to move up by now.. but then again, Thos and Kt live in Sheffield and might possibly be persuaded to visit, but with 3 kids they do have a very busy life.

I just dont know what to do....

The Weekend (Sunday) !

Sunday

The kids were awake before us, but they played quietly in their rooms until Douglas ventured down.

We made eggy bread for breakfast, M managed 3 slices!! L was desperate to have a go on Runescape, so having set him up his own account, he chopped some logs and then set fire to them, and was delighted to watch his skill levels rise! (C watched, seemingly quite happy just to see what big brother was doing, M happily read Roald Dhal, curled up in a chair. Katie arrived to pick the kids up at about 10am and peace descended.

Shortly after this, we had a call from Thos saying he had found a kitten on the way to Waitrose, and would we like it?? After the initial shock, we said yes, and got quite excited about the prospect of having a cat a bit sooner than we planned!

We agreed to pick the cat up after lunch, and got all excited, and found details of a pet shop that was open to buy a few necessities (litter tray, scratching post and toys).

Just as we were about to set out, Thos called again saying M had fallen in love with the kitten and they had agreed to keep it on a trial basis (this, as I write is still going on – not sure how keen Katie is on keeping it)

We decided to go to the pet shop anyway, since even if Rosie does not become ours, we will get some, and we need some equipment anyway! The pet shop was lovely, and we came away with a scratching post, a cozy bed, a “cat lopedia” a cat carrying basket and a cat fishing rod! Now all we need is the furry things and we are done!! (watch this space...)

The weekend! (Saturday)

We got on the tram into town on Saturday morning and met up with my Sister in Law and the 3 kids. M&L came with us, their little brother will be delivered to us a bit later. We visited the local “lush” shop, got the kids to choose a bath bomb for their bath that evening, and went home on the tram.

We had a lovely day, we watched a film, then – L helped unpack the new lawnmower whilst M washed up. M volunteered to do this much to our surprise – L was not so keen on helping with the mower – he wanted to read the Roald Dhal book I found him earlier!

The kids and Douglas watched “The Last Mimzy” a slightly sentimental sci fi film whilst I played upstairs online, then, when it had finished, C was delivered to us for the evening and night in a much better mood than he was earlier!!

The twins and I made cakes – a few plain cupcakes for D, then we threw cocoa powder in to make choccie cake for the rest of us. After feeding them pizza for tea we went outside and Douglas lit some fireworks. M&L enjoyed them very much, but C, being only 4 didn’t like them at all – so I put the “electronic nanny” on and let him watch Childrens BBC. Every few fireworks I nipped in to make sure he was ok – I don’t think he moved once!

I took C upstairs to play snakes and ladders whilst I ran his bath. He enjoyed sloshing around, and went to bed without a complaint afterwards! I read him a story, kissed him goodnight and he was as good as gold until morning. The older two also had a bath, and enjoyed their bath bomb. They took slightly longer to go to sleep, but all was quiet by about 9pm.

Douglas and I were exhausted but we had a lovely day with them. They, and we slept like logs :-)

Update re Douglas :-(

Douglas update.

His kidney function has got worse again.. blood pressure tablets stopped, water tablets lowered (that’s the only good bit) He is going to have a blood test on Sunday morning and a scan on Monday, and possibly may stay in hospital on Monday depending on the scan results. He has also been put on a fluid restriction. This is all pretty depressing news, but as usual Douglas is putting a brave face on it, and doing his best to keep me cheerful too.

Halloween

Just thought I would update by saying we had a load of kids calling for Halloween - We got through 2 tins of choccies!

Douglas put ash on his eyes and face, and flour in his beard, and limped to the door like a good Ogre should! He managed to scare a few kids, and amuse a few adults.

Later, when the kids had gone, we watched the film "The Last Mimsy" which was great - its a sci-fi for kids and big kids film, but a bit soppy.

Douglas is feeling much better now - the fluid certainly has gone down but hes still got a rash - particularly on his feet and back. He did loads round the house yesterday (hurrah for house trained husband!) and made me a really great veggie curry! yum yum yum.

D is due to see the Dr at the hospital again today, have given him strict instructions to disucss his legs, and ask them for ceterizine (an antihistamine/anti allergy/itch tablet) on prescription as he keeps dipping into my supply.

Looking forward to the weekend - we have M&L (the twins) with us for the whole of Saturday, and then their little brother, C will be deposited with us in the evening. Will give their parents a nice break, and us a chance to spoil the three of them rotten (as usual!)