Do you ever feel like you’re taking one step forward, two steps back? I reckon if I could sum 2015 up in a sentence, that would be it. Along with ‘Oh FFS’ and ‘That’d be right!’ as they seem to be two other catch phrases I have found myself blurting out (or thinking, depending on where I am) on a very regular basis this year.
Last week that pesky bout of Epiploic Appendagitis or alskdflakshdf as my mate Emily calls/spells/pronounces it, which just quietly, I think is the best description of it I’ve ever heard!, finally disappeared after giving me a solid three weeks of agony. Hooray! So I did what I do best and did far too much too soon.
Yep, I visited the new Pottery Barn/West Elm precinct with a friend for a spot of shopping, caught up with a girlfriend for lunch and on Friday took on my endocrinologist’s advice and did 40 minutes of water walking at my local swimming pool. It was a lovely week and I can’t tell you how nice it was to finally have the energy to do normal, everyday things again!
Well bugger me if on Saturday alskdjflkajsdf decided to rear its very ugly head again and quicker than you can say ‘how the hell do you pronounce that?’ I was back to popping anti-inflammatories like they were tic-tacs and spending more time than is socially acceptable lying on the couch watching infomercials about blenders that are actually bullets.
On Thursday I dragged myself away from the couch and headed to the neurologists office for a follow-up appointment. This plant in the doorway greeted me
which at first made me laugh because you know me, I’m all about trying to find the funny side of things and my first thought was ‘Well if that doesn’t scream we can fix you! I don’t know what does.’ But then I looked around the waiting room and kind of understood why the plant looked so sad.
Of all the specialists I have to see to get this IIH thing sorted, waiting to see the neuro is the one I find the most confronting and upsetting. If you’re having a bit of shit day, maybe head to a neuro office and take a peek inside the waiting room. It will make you feel very grateful for the life you have been given, that much I promise you.
So when my name was called, I felt dreadful guilt that I could actually stand up and walk into the neuro’s room on my own but then the neuro was really pleased to see me, like he finally had one patient that he could deliver some good news to, so that was a good thing.
We chatted for a bit and I waited for him to swear, just so I could throw a funny story into this blog post for you, but he didn’t swear once, which was really disappointing. I was so tempted to tell him about this blog and how I’ve nicknamed him Sweary Neuro Bloke, in the hope that he might drop the f bomb, but he was too busy laughing at my answer to his question (below) to start a convo about blogging.
“Are you finding losing weight difficult?”
“Not really. I mean I had to choose between going blind or eating cake, so you know, I just decided to put the cake down.”
In other news, it might be time for a new phone cover….
Anyway, in keeping with the whole one step forward, two steps back thing, the neuro decided that a couple of weeks of dropping back on the Diamox as per the eye doc’s recommendation in my really good news post, has flared things up slightly.
Cue thoughts of ‘Oh FFS’ and ‘That’d be right!’ from me while the SNB told me it’s not all bad and he just wants to take a very slow, cautious approach to things. Long story short, I’m stuck on the same amount of Diamox for a while yet and I’ll be back to see SNB in February for a review of things then.
So my original goal of being completely off the tablets by my birthday in March is not looking good, but I’ve dropped back from 8 tablets a day to 5 in the last 3 months, so that’s something!
Also, and please try not to be jealous when I tell you this, but yesterday I scored a total rock star car park outside my new home away from home:
So clearly I am on some sort of borderline medical winning streak. What will be next do you think? Will the Food Nazi tell me I’m allowed to incorporate one piece of sugar-free, no carb, zero fat, paleo approved chocolate into my measly 1,000 a day calorie allowance? Or maybe the Chemist Warehouse will give me some sort of platinum loyalty card for spending what feels like the equivalent of a Chanel handbag there each week on prescriptions? Really, the options are endless!
How about you? Ever feel like you’re taking one step forward, two steps back? Or maybe scored a great carpark outside a chemist? Tell me all the things!
Leave a Reply