Holiday!

I went on my little holiday/vacation last week to the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare. We were really lucky with the weather. As I come out in a rash in the heat, I was happy it wasn't too hot, it was perfect for being all out day for me. We spent a lot of time outside! We had a beach day and visited the pier, went to the aquarium and had a look at the sand sculptures, which were really amazing.

How they manage to make these out if ordinary sand I have no idea! But they were all brilliant.

We went to the theatre while we were there and saw a really good play called 'Double Death', which was a bit of a crime mystery. It was really clever and I liked how all the objects from the game Cluedo were props on stage. The dagger, the candlestick, the rope and the others were littered around the stage. It was really clever and reminded me a bit of the Agatha Christie stories. 

We had a day at Noah's Ark Zoo Farm in Clevedon, which was a kind of cross between a zoo and a farm. You could feed the chickens and the goats and hold rabbits and gineapigs (which made me really miss my little rabbit! I miss having live things to cuddle!) but they had lions and tigers, monkeys, zebras, giraffes and two new elephants, one of which had only arrived the day before. It's such a great idea to have them together because although zoos are great it's frustrating, especially for children, that you can't get right up close or touch any of the wild animals. There were groups of nurses and patients from old peoples' homes and lots of disabled children so I think it must be well known as a good place for wheelchairs. There wasn't anywhere we couldn't get to, which sadly is a rare occurrence at places like this! The restaurant was terrible but we had plans to go out for an evening meal anyway so we didn't want to fill ourselves up. 

On the way home we stopped in Bristol and had a shopping day. I popped into H&M for a basic cardigan as it's getting colder and my pacemaker is still sore so getting jumpers on is a bit of a struggle. I also got some bath bombs from Lush to save for a rainy, cold day. We had a great meal in TGI Fridays, which is an American themed restaurant, for those who don't know, so unlike the grumpy old British the waitors there are really lively and friendly. We had a lovely Italian waitor who was practically bouncing off the walls with enthusiasm and we really liked that. They do tapas in there now, which is perfect for me as I don't eat much but I still get to try lots of different things. 

In other news my pacemaker is still hurting. I got the stitches out last Monday on the way to Weston and the actual wound has healed really well but it's still really swollen and sore over the actual area of the pacemaker. Apparently it's, not exactly normal, but nothing to worry about. It'll go down eventually but it's going take a long time unfortunately. My chest is still bruised and isn't fading much either but it'll heal one day! I'm glad the wound is okay anyway. That's the bit that could get infected so it's important that that heals quickly so I don't get any nasty bacteria in there. It's definitely getting less painful and that's the main thing. It's just hard to remember not to move it too much now as it's only very painful when I move too much or over-stretch it. The thing I'm finding annoying is I seem to spend a lot of my time changing dressings because I have my line and then I have my pacemaker wound too. I don't think it's quite ready to go without a dressing yet but I can probably be less careful about being sterile soon. The stress of not being able to scratch your face for twenty minutes is not fun! 

This week I'm looking forward to the Invictus Games, which is a kind of Paralympic Games but only including injured armed forces. It'll be great to see those suffering from mental and invisible illnesses competing alongside amputees, which I think is great because it'll make people understand a bit more about invisible illnesses and injuries. Just because you've got all your limbs doesn't mean you're not disabled. Obviously watching disabled athletes can make your average disabled person feel like they should be achieving more but I'm just glad to see more disabled people on tv. I feel like it might help attitudes and perhaps change the sad truth that disabled people are far more likely to be victims of crime than normal people. This should be televised in all countries taking part so give it a google if you're interested in watching some of it and don't live in the UK. There will be some sports that you won't have seen it heard of before, created specifically for disabled athletes, so it's worth a look. 

I have lots of blog ideas piling up so I'll be back soon! 

Living each day as it comes!

Okay, it's a terrible clichè but it's a pretty good clichè to live by if you've got a chronic disease (or two). It's really hard to plan things because you never know if you're going to catch a virus or an illness, or if you're going to have a lot of chest pain or have a bad breathing day, or just feel really tired and just want to lie around all day. I really hate missing out on things because I'm ill. I've danced in a show while suffering with tonsillitis, having spent all day in the out of hours centre before now. I'm a tough old cookie and I won't miss something unless I'm so ill I can't leave the house. But tiredness is something that's extremely difficult to fight off. Especially when you have two diseases, which completely drains your body's energy.

But the last week has been really good. My chest pain has still been really bad and I've been tired but it seems to be easier to fight off now. I recently upped my dose of iloprost so, now I come to think of it, that's probably why I've been feeling good.

The weather has been really nice here in the UK, so I went up to Swansea for a couple of days with my boyfriend, and just had a really awesome time. We went to the beach, went out to lunch at lots of pubs and went out for a curry one evening. Also went down by a lake to watch the swans and the ducks and even had a mess around in a kid's park and was pretty surprised at how out of breath I was just on the swings. Swinging apparently uses up a lot of energy!

I also got my hair cut and re-dyed a different shade of blonde, which always makes me feel loads better after I've been feeling down or really tired for a while. I'm planning a boat trip down a river tomorrow so I'm quite excited for that.

Just makes me think of all the little things that really make me happy and how I need to do more of them when I'm having good days.

I'm just really enjoying life right now. Even if I am in a lot of pain, it's so much easier to deal with when you're having a nice day and not feeling crazily tired on top of it! It's nice to feel really happy and appreciative on the days I'm feeling good, kind of gives a nice positive to being ill a lot of the time.

I hope you're all enjoying the weekend and the sunshine if you're in the UK!