What's Up in September 2016?

[Nollaig]

Thanks everyone

[Madeleine]

We're dog-sitting for the next 2 weeks, give or take a day or so and I have a few days off to do some dog-bonding and hopefully it will be a bit cooler so we can go out for some nice walks, not that she likes going out anyway, she much prefers lolling around on the bed or the couch all day!  She's getting on a bit now and sadly has cataracts so can't see very much and is deaf as well, but is quite lively otherwise, especially when there's (human) food around.  She's a roan cocker spaniel, really pretty. 

[Virginia]

Hey y'all!

 

Its lovely outside (so far). The temps have dropped and it looks to be lasting. I can always tell because the arthritis in my ankle gives me a heads up. I'm back in my brace for a while. I'd rather wear this than walk miles using my cane, although I keep it in my truck just in case.  Not much going on today, class in the afternoon and I have to get my graduation application in ASAP. 

 

Finished up Descartes and am now reading Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan. Hopefully this will be less frustrating than Descartes. I truly believe D should have had a more pleasant life he picked up a bottle of wine and got a nice buzz at least once a weak. I swear this man was a barrel of laughs. Not.

[Athena]

We're dog-sitting for the next 2 weeks, give or take a day or so and I have a few days off to do some dog-bonding and hopefully it will be a bit cooler so we can go out for some nice walks, not that she likes going out anyway, she much prefers lolling around on the bed or the couch all day!  She's getting on a bit now and sadly has cataracts so can't see very much and is deaf as well, but is quite lively otherwise, especially when there's (human) food around.  She's a roan cocker spaniel, really pretty.

Good luck and have fun with the dog-sitting .

 

Its lovely outside (so far). The temps have dropped and it looks to be lasting. I can always tell because the arthritis in my ankle gives me a heads up. I'm back in my brace for a while. I'd rather wear this than walk miles using my cane, although I keep it in my truck just in case.  Not much going on today, class in the afternoon and I have to get my graduation application in ASAP.

I hope your ankle won't hurt too much.

 

My sister spent the night (not last night, but the night before) and yesterday morning we talked a lot. I enjoyed talking with her. Unfortunately I felt quite tired the rest of the day, from it. Today I hope to rest a bit.

[Madeleine]

Hope your ankle feels better Virginia, those supports can be very good.

 

We had a bird of prey in our garden this morning, demolishing a poor dove.  I think it was a buzzard, it was about the size of a crow and brown, fascinating if a bit gruesome (especially just after breakfast )

Edited September 15, 2016 by Madeleine

[Talisman]

Glad you enjpyed the talk with your sister Athena, and I hope the ankle feels better too Virginia.

 

I have been off work since Tuesday feeling absoutely exhausted by it all. I shouldn't really have gone in on Monday, but against my better judgement I did. I didn't sleep at all that night though and so by the time I did get up at 6am I knew I was in no fit state to go to work, let alone try driving there. The sleep issue has been ongoing for about 5 years now. Because it started at a time of different unrelated stress I put it down to that, and although it did get better for a while, it has been like this on and off now since that time. This is what makes me suspect that there be another underlying cause for this (most likely menopause, I am exactly the right age for this, and I have noticed a few other changes as well that typically relate to this), so I have asked to have some blood tests done to try and get to the bottom of it. It could really though be any number of things. This though and the combination of the stress from the current situation at work finally got a bit too much. The heatwave that we had on Tuesday when the temperatures hit 34 degrees didn't help either - at one point my own temperature was 102 degrees and I know that Coran was very worried about me. The main problem really though is the lack of sleep - if I could just get a good nights sleep then I would have the resources to deal with all the other stuff. The doctor has also given me a short term dose of sleeping tablets to try and help with that while I wait for the blood tests next week.

 

When I do go back to work on Monday though it will be time for a very straight and honest talk with a few people, as it is clear that things most definitely cannot go on as they have been. One way or another it will get sorted out.

[Autumn]

We had a bird of prey in our garden this morning, demolishing a poor dove.  I think it was a buzzard, it was about the size of a crow and brown, fascinating if a bit gruesome (especially just after breakfast )

 

We get a sparrowhawk in our garden on a fairly regular basis.  It's a beautiful bird, but I hate it eating the other birds.  I know it's nature but I really don't want to see it happening in my own backyard.

[Athena]

We had a bird of prey in our garden this morning, demolishing a poor dove.  I think it was a buzzard, it was about the size of a crow and brown, fascinating if a bit gruesome (especially just after breakfast )

Poor dove. I know it's nature but I still feel bad. We sometimes have that happen in our garden, birds of prey or cats, and I don't like seeing it (I usually just see the remaining feathers though). I am always glad when I find out it wasn't one of our own chicken.

 

I have been off work since Tuesday feeling absoutely exhausted by it all. I shouldn't really have gone in on Monday, but against my better judgement I did. I didn't sleep at all that night though and so by the time I did get up at 6am I knew I was in no fit state to go to work, let alone try driving there. The sleep issue has been ongoing for about 5 years now. Because it started at a time of different unrelated stress I put it down to that, and although it did get better for a while, it has been like this on and off now since that time. This is what makes me suspect that there be another underlying cause for this (most likely menopause, I am exactly the right age for this, and I have noticed a few other changes as well that typically relate to this), so I have asked to have some blood tests done to try and get to the bottom of it. It could really though be any number of things. This though and the combination of the stress from the current situation at work finally got a bit too much. The heatwave that we had on Tuesday when the temperatures hit 34 degrees didn't help either - at one point my own temperature was 102 degrees and I know that Coran was very worried about me. The main problem really though is the lack of sleep - if I could just get a good nights sleep then I would have the resources to deal with all the other stuff. The doctor has also given me a short term dose of sleeping tablets to try and help with that while I wait for the blood tests next week.

 

When I do go back to work on Monday though it will be time for a very straight and honest talk with a few people, as it is clear that things most definitely cannot go on as they have been. One way or another it will get sorted out.

 

I hope you feel better soon . Good luck with the talks.

 

We get a sparrowhawk in our garden on a fairly regular basis.  It's a beautiful bird, but I hate it eating the other birds.  I know it's nature but I really don't want to see it happening in my own backyard.

That makes sense, me either.

 

Today I have an appointment with my psychiatrist. It's been a while since I've seen him. I'm not totally looking forward to it, because the last talk we had was rubbish (I felt like he wasn't listening to me at all). The talks before that though were fine, so I know I shouldn't let one experience spoil everything, but I can't help but being a bit apprehensive about the appointment today.

[Talisman]

 

I hope you feel better soon . Good luck with the talks.

 

 

Thanks Athena. At least my own Manager has the day off on Monday. His mother in law is getting married this weekend, so the whole family will be having a big celebration. This means that they will probably get someone else (either HR or the Department Head, who is back from his own holiday also on Monday) to do my back to work interview. It will a hell of a lot easier to be honest with someone who is not at least partly the cause of the problem !

 

There is one good thing about being off work though - I have done heaps of reading.    

Edited September 16, 2016 by Talisman

[Athena]

Thanks Athena. At least my own Manager has the day off on Monday. His mother in law is getting married this weekend, so the whole family will be having a big celebration. This means that they will probably get someone else (either HR or the Department Head, who is back from his own holiday also on Monday) to do my back to work interview. It will a hell of a lot easier to be honest with someone who is not at least partly the cause of the problem !

 

There is one good thing about being off work though - I have done heaps of reading.

That sounds nice, it'll be easier that way.

 

I'm glad you're enjoying doing lots of reading .

 

The appointment with my psychiatrist went better than I was expecting, it was definitely a lot better than the previous appointment. This weekend I plan to rest, because I've been feeling tired the past week (from doing things).

[chesilbeach]

We got back home yesterday after a week in Devon.  Didn't get up to much while I was there, a few day trips (and found the best french bakery outside of France I've ever been to!) but read plenty of books! Hoping for a relaxing weekend at home now.

[Nollaig]

Yesterday I went for dinner with a friend, and we ordered a cocktail each while waiting for our food. The food ended up being lost, so they offered us a free second drink, or our current drinks on the house. We went with current drinks on the house, so free 9 euro cocktail!

 

Also bought myself a few books, and a really nice black velvet top. 

[Flip Martian]

I was at the hospital yesterday, finally getting confirmation that I have Chronic Fatigue. Nice to get a diagnosis after several years really. Onwards and upwards! No sense moping about.

[Virginia]

I was at the hospital yesterday, finally getting confirmation that I have Chronic Fatigue. Nice to get a diagnosis after several years really. Onwards and upwards! No sense moping about.

I'm glad you're finally getting your diagnosis. Nothing worse than trying to prove something is wrong and no one believing you or minimizing your issues. When its finally set in stone, will you be able to go back to work?

 

I've been wasting away my morning on Facebook. I haven't been able or inclined to post much in the past few weeks. Gotta remind people I'm still here! Today I'm studying and getting my shopping list together. Not much else planned besides those things.

[Athena]

We got back home yesterday after a week in Devon.  Didn't get up to much while I was there, a few day trips (and found the best french bakery outside of France I've ever been to!) but read plenty of books! Hoping for a relaxing weekend at home now.

I'm glad you had a nice time in Devon . 

 

Yesterday I went for dinner with a friend, and we ordered a cocktail each while waiting for our food. The food ended up being lost, so they offered us a free second drink, or our current drinks on the house. We went with current drinks on the house, so free 9 euro cocktail!

 

Also bought myself a few books, and a really nice black velvet top.

It's nice you got free drinks . I hope you enjoy your purchases. 

 

I was at the hospital yesterday, finally getting confirmation that I have Chronic Fatigue. Nice to get a diagnosis after several years really. Onwards and upwards! No sense moping about.

I'm sorry about your diagnosis, but it is good to finally know. I wish you good luck in managing your life around CFS. My boyfriend has had it almost all his life (he was very young when he got it), it's not an easy condition to have. Are you going to have some sort of therapy in the beginning, to help you cope, or will you be allright on your own? Good luck. 

 

I've been wasting away my morning on Facebook. I haven't been able or inclined to post much in the past few weeks. Gotta remind people I'm still here! Today I'm studying and getting my shopping list together. Not much else planned besides those things.

I hope your studying went well.

 

This weekend I've been on a little shopping trip with my parents. I needed only a couple of things but my parents wanted to look at lots of stuff. It was quite tiring, but also fun. The rest of today I plan to rest from it.

[Talisman]

I was at the hospital yesterday, finally getting confirmation that I have Chronic Fatigue. Nice to get a diagnosis after several years really. Onwards and upwards! No sense moping about.

 

I am glad you finally know Filip. I know that CF is very hard to live with, I have at least one close friend who also experiences this. Just knowing that you are being taken  seriously and can put a name to what you are experiencing goes a long way.

 

I go back to work tomorrow after 6 days off. Part of me is looking forward to it but part of me isn't, but I know it needs to be done. It's only 2 weeks until I go to Prague  anyway, which I am looking forward to. I know that if I hadn't taken this time off now as well, I probably would have been too exhausted to enjoy being there. I have my own blood tests to look forward to on Thursday, which I am not looking forward to - although I am hoping the results will confirm my suspicions as well - that I am becoming a wrinkly old crone ! We will have to see.

[Athena]

I go back to work tomorrow after 6 days off. Part of me is looking forward to it but part of me isn't, but I know it needs to be done. It's only 2 weeks until I go to Prague  anyway, which I am looking forward to. I know that if I hadn't taken this time off now as well, I probably would have been too exhausted to enjoy being there. I have my own blood tests to look forward to on Thursday, which I am not looking forward to - although I am hoping the results will confirm my suspicions as well - that I am becoming a wrinkly old crone ! We will have to see.

Good luck with work and with your blood tests .

 

The night before last night I didn't sleep a lot - there were so many mosquitoes buzzing around our heads. We killed about 15 in the house yesterday (yes we counted lol), and gladly last night I was able to get some sleep. There were still a few around that I heard (there's a few near my desk at the moment too), but not as many as the night before. My boyfriend's not up yet (it's quite early at the moment), I hope he's getting some more sleep too.

[Madeleine]

I hate mosquitoes, I hope you didn't get bitten Athena?  Horrible things.

 

I've had a nice few days off looking after our guest dog - last week it was too hot, and on Friday too wet, to take her out, but since Saturday she's been out over our local nature reserve, and yesterday we took her to a nearby town's festival - a sort of exhibition by local charities, crafts people, businesses etc, which was very busy and afterwards we went to a cafe for tea, and she was very tired last night!  I've got tomorrow off then it's back to work....oh well.

[Nollaig]

Struggling with my mood today. Trying to make myself go to the shop and it's a serious struggle. Napped this evening, which I shouldn't have done, and ordered food yesterday and today, which I also shouldn't have done. Keep putting off chores, too. Not sure if these poor behaviors are causing the poor mood or vice versa. Gonna make myself do a few bits this eve and see how I feel. Have had a feeling of indifference for a while now and half feeling like all the stuff I seem to be 'coping' with I'm actually repressing and something is gonna make me snap. Particularly feels that way when I feel like this. Sorry for rambling about this here, also feeling a bit isolated at the moment.

 

Right, shop. Shop shop shop.

[Athena]

I hate mosquitoes, I hope you didn't get bitten Athena?  Horrible things.

 

I've had a nice few days off looking after our guest dog - last week it was too hot, and on Friday too wet, to take her out, but since Saturday she's been out over our local nature reserve, and yesterday we took her to a nearby town's festival - a sort of exhibition by local charities, crafts people, businesses etc, which was very busy and afterwards we went to a cafe for tea, and she was very tired last night!  I've got tomorrow off then it's back to work....oh well.

I don't think I got bitten last night, sometimes I get bitten but last night the mosquitoes seem to have mainly bitten my boyfriend. Mosquitoes are so annoying. I'm so done with them. We kill several every day and yet it seems to never end, every night they bother us again (and sometimes also during the day, but that's less annoying). It's a lot colder today so hopefully soon the cold will kill them all off (until next spring). 

 

I'm glad you had a nice time looking after the guest dog . Good luck with going back to work, I hope you enjoy your day off today.

 

Struggling with my mood today. Trying to make myself go to the shop and it's a serious struggle. Napped this evening, which I shouldn't have done, and ordered food yesterday and today, which I also shouldn't have done. Keep putting off chores, too. Not sure if these poor behaviors are causing the poor mood or vice versa. Gonna make myself do a few bits this eve and see how I feel. Have had a feeling of indifference for a while now and half feeling like all the stuff I seem to be 'coping' with I'm actually repressing and something is gonna make me snap. Particularly feels that way when I feel like this. Sorry for rambling about this here, also feeling a bit isolated at the moment.

Awww . I hope you feel a bit better today .

 

Today I have an appointment with my 'therapist' for lack of a better word. I will see her soon now. Yesterday evening I worked on something for my dad. I don't have much energy left in the evening so it was tiring, but my dad needed it done yesterday. So today and the next few days I plan to rest from that. It has to do with the Smart Calendar my parents are writing, they did one last year (for 2016) and they're doing one now for 2017. It could well be the last year though. But the 2016 one sold pretty well (for an 'indie' calendar in the Netherlands), we were surprised at the numbers. Hopefully the 2017 one will do well too once it's finished. Deadlines are coming up so that's why my dad needed things done in time. Later this week there'll be one more time I have to do something for the calendar. Anyway, it was tiring to help him last night, but I do love my parents so I'm happy to help them even if it tires me (they do a lot for me too). So the next few days will probably be spend mostly resting (and doing some reading).

[shirley]

Just got back from a lovely week in Eastbourne, well I don't know what weather we were expecting but it wasent the heatwave that we had.  Not complaining about it, got lots of walking done, went for a trek over beachy head again, even with lots of people out walking I find it so peaceful.

 

Was so nice to sit out in an evening and listening to the waves crashing on the beach and people watching of course.

[Madeleine]

Just taken the dog for a nice walk, loads of slugs about though, she nearly trod on one

 

Hope your boyfriend's bites aren't too bad Athena.

 

Your week away sounds lovely Shirley, I love the sound of the sea, especislly the lovely sucking sound you get on shingle, when the waves recede - I tried to record it on my phone in Devon but there was too much other noise around, and I could watch it for hours.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Madeleine

[Athena]

Just got back from a lovely week in Eastbourne, well I don't know what weather we were expecting but it wasent the heatwave that we had.  Not complaining about it, got lots of walking done, went for a trek over beachy head again, even with lots of people out walking I find it so peaceful.

 

Was so nice to sit out in an evening and listening to the waves crashing on the beach and people watching of course.

 

I'm glad you had a nice week away .

 

My boyfriend's bites aren't too bad I think, but he's not been sleeping well because of the mosquitoes buzzing around his head.

 

Just taken the dog for a nice walk, loads of slugs about though, she nearly trod on one

I'm glad you had a nice walk . Eugh slugs . I don't mind them outside, but I don't want to step on them (also, it's sad). We have them now and then in the garden, I try not to step on them. We have them inside occasionally too, I really don't like the feel of stepping on them when I go to the bathroom barefoot at night (it's happened a few times).

 

Yesterday I was pretty busy. I had my appointment with my 'therapist', I talked with my sister (on the phone), with my grandmother (on the phone), with my mother (in real life), and the power was off for a few hours while my boyfriend sorted something out with cables. It's not right yet (currently the power goes off when we turn the lights off - whoever wired this house can't have known much about electricity, they wired it in such an odd way), so he's going to need to turn the power off again when he works on it again (I don't know whether that's today or tomorrow, it depends when he feels up for it). It's quite dark in the bakery without the lights, more than I was expecting.

 

I plan to rest a bit today, as I feel pretty tired from yesterday and the day before yesterday.

[Flip Martian]

Sorry, I missed the replies on here. I would like to get back to work but...at the moment its not great. I felt ok enough to get out of the house on Saturday and drive myself to the book farm I visit occasionally and had lunch there. But I felt myself getting worse and should have come straight home while there, and didn't. So the last 3 days have been very tired and foggy. I need to listen more closely and not push things, clearly. The normal "push yourself to get fit and you will" thing doesn't apply at all with CF...

 

Currently work are very supportive but ultimately I need to be able to commute regularly by train to London again. That seems some way off at the moment but I am staying hopeful. I've read some saddening case studies of people far younger than me with this. Terrible really. The consultant I saw will be writing to my GP with details of a specialist centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital - I'm hoping to get referred to there for whatever they can offer. I suspect its CBT and Graded Exercise Therapy, the 2 current treatments.

 

1 thing I will say about having this - its made me far more patient and accepting of things. Being able to do so little at the moment, patience is definitely something required!

[chesilbeach]

Lovely trip out yesterday to meet up with Janet and Kay (and Alan ) and we had a fantastic chat, setting the world to rights about all sorts including books (obviously!) and the time just whizzed by.

 

On Monday night, my knee started aching a bit, and when I got up on Tuesday morning, I was hobbling about all over the place.  Fortunately it seems to be a bit better today, so not sure what I did to it, but I think it's healing itself.

 

My OH upgraded my laptop yesterday while I was out, and it's so much faster now, I might be able to use it a bit more and hopefully will be around here a bit more often too, as things are starting to calm down a bit around home now.  I've loads of reviews to catch up on, so I might try and get stuck into those this weekend.