Forgive me, I am a bad bad blogger!

I know it feels like forever since i sat here and tapped away on the keys. It seems like a lot has happened to me, to us but i have not had the energy nor the inclination to write. I guess i lost my way in the blogging sense. For a little while i have sat here and wanted to type but nothing sprang to mind. I see a lot of you onFB and catch up or read your goings on from there. And although i may not comment i do still read your blogs! SO i guess it is time to put fingers to keys and reciprocate.
So July.. was it really that long ago that i last typed? Whats been going on here then. Crumbs. Lots!
Ok ok so you want a little more detail than that.
Let's go monthly:

July: Saw me return to work FULL time for the first time in 14 years! I am loving it! Really, really loving it! I am a receptionist at British Car Auctions Europe head office!

August: saw us on the Isle of Wight, a small island off the South coast of the UK. We spent the holiday with Richards family. Oh i got my NEW camera from my Dad! A CanonEOS 350D. I L♥ve it!

September: Saw David turn 10! All the kids settled back in to school well and are still happy.

October: Rae turned 14 and Becky became a teenager! Rae is doing extremely well in school and music! Becky is also doing very well. We are still having on going Epilepsy tests for Becky... (explained more in Nov!).

November:
I am diagnosed with life threatening allergies to some fresh fruits and vegetable (but am OK if they are cooked!) So i am given epipens! It is all good fun!
Becky had a sleep deprived epilepsy test today. We stayed awake for 24 hours (not easy in the slightest!) so that she could sleep during her test! She is currently sound asleep on the sofa. Results in two weeks.

And that is a very quick run through to now!

So now i am determined to be a better blogger! I am back, keen and raring to go.

The blog is a bit sparce but i am working on refreshing it! Watch this space!
For now here are some photos of my friends new baby girl, taken with my new camera this past weekend:

Rachel is back from Italy...

wanna see what she got up to??......

The White Cliffs of Dover

Sunrise in Switzerland

Mountain view from the coach window.

Some of the plant life.
Underneath Juliets Balcony in Verona.
Ahh a Spagetti Ice!
Resonate, the gifted and talented choir.

She had such a great time! They sang to an audience of 500 people on their second night and did an impromptu performance on the ferry home, raising £100 for the Kododo project (the schools chosen charity.).

Medly post!

Seems all of my most recent posts aremade up ofa medly of things that have been happening to us all.

So this week i have completed my first week in my "big girl" job! I can honestly say i love it! I am having fun and totally enjoying wearing smart clothes again.

Rachel came home with her school report which was absolutely amazing! WOW she blew me away! She not only improved in two subjects she doesn't like but kept her grades up in everything else so she is now a straight A* student accross the board! Her teachers are all impressed that her classwork and homework standards are very high, her work ethic and commitment are a credit to her and the fact that she is involved in so many after school activities also make her one of the top students in the year group! I am so very, very proud of her. She is also (which i think is very important) kind and caring to both staff and students alike, including students she doesn't know too well or hang around with. She will always help them and is always polite to all. "She will achieve great things." (quote from the head of music not taken out of context either!!!!)
So i am glad she is currently sitting by a pool in Lake Garda, Italy with the gifted and talented choir. She deserves it.

I am baaack!!

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin!! I am sure you are all wondering where on earth I have been? It even comes to something when poor Julie over at Octamom adds me on face book just to see how we are all going! Hehe.

So where do i begin?

Perhaps Becky should have centre stage for a moment!!

She does NOT have epilepsy! Woohoo i hear you cheer! So what has made my child so ill this year? Well i am so glad you asked!

Her heart cannot control her blood pressure, so when she sits then stands or walks then runs her blood pressure should rise. But it doesn’t so she faints! So we have a diagnosis but what is the cure? Well it is quite technical really are you ready? She has to take more SALT each day. Yes dear reader, Sodium Chloride is our long awaited cure! She has to have more in her diet and voila one much better child! All that stress and such a simple thing comes of it. Still we are now on the up!

She has recently auditioned for Peter Pan and has been cast as Alf Mason one of the pirates. More news when we have it!

Her school report came through too. And even though she has been sick for 5 months she is an A grade student across the board...well except for Geography but i can live with that!

Rae is off to Italy next Saturday with the gifted singers from school and is so excited! I will miss her lots but know she will have a great time!

David is still just happy doing his thing! Doing well at school and trying hard. He has taken up playing cricket too!

No reports for either of them yet but i am sure they will be equally as good as Beckys'.

I started my NEW “grown up” job yesterday! I am now no longer in child care but am a receptionist for a large car auction company. I am so excited to have this new start. Full time work for the first time since Rae was born!

And that my friends is where we are at!

A day at the pond!

Where the kids ate ice creams, swam in the pond and played in the sand...and where we saw this lovely family:

Ok so the hospital says...

I took my little sick note to the paediatrician who did LOTS of checks and tests, even had a dietitian there to talk to..and they seem to think that she needs an EEG as they think she might have a "teenage" epilepsy. Which would be the factor in all her other ailments. Luckily for us the school nurse was right there when she had a seizure at school the Monday before she had her appointment and she kindly wrote a statement of all that she saw, which helped the hospital immensely. So while i hate that she is going through this all i am glad it was witnessed when it was!
Apparently when pre-teens and teens stare into the distance and become "daydreamers", or don't hear you when you speak right to them it is a classic sign of this epilepsy. They kind of grow into it and should grow out of it by the time they are in their early 20's. So this coming Thursday they will give her an EEG and try to "stimulate" her into whatever they need her to do.
If this is the case she will be medicated which WILL stop all the things she has been going through. If left undiagnosed she will miss bits of her education so i am happy to have this done and hopefully get an answer for her.
Lets hope that this will give us some answers. I will be taking my camera ;)

I too am at the hospital this week..Tuesday for the results etc of my operation! It's all go here you know!

Becky part 1.

Well I sit here trying to make sense of what has been going on with my twelve year old daughter. Where do I begin? How do I tell this story?

I guess from the beginning of her “sickness”.

It started in December 08 when I was called to collect her from the theatre in Guildford, where she was in a show.

She was not well; she suffered all over Christmas with stomach pains and lethargy. In January we went to the doctor who spoke to her about everything it transpired that she had not been pooing having bowel movements since December! Ok that explains it thinks me! So she is weighed and measured, 8 stone, perfect to her height. Given movicol to “help her go”. Back on an even keel.

She still suffered abdominal pains though and lethargy. She was eating well and keeping active. She lost a stone. So back to the doctor who arranges blood tests for her. They all come back clear. No IBS, Celiac, Thyroid issues, Leukaemia, Diabetes or other things that can be told through blood tests. So another blood test is done to rule out some other cancers (I am not told which because I did not want to know unless it happens she has one). A very long wait later and they are clear too. She is finally now referred to the hospital.

Meanwhile by March she has dropped another stone and is now weighing in at a tiny 6 stone. She is still very tired in the evenings after her school day.

She starts having dizzy and fainting spells in April, I put it down to the fact she has lost lots of weight and encourage her to rest in the evenings and take chocolate and coke at school during lunch (school nurse keeps them in her fridge for her!!).

Her dizzy spells have become more frequent over recent weeks and I have had to collect her from school early no less than 5 times between April and May.

On Monday 18 May I got a call from the school nurse who is worried about her. She was taken to the nurse having fainted. The nurse laid her on the bed to rest and encouraged her to eat some of her lunch. Becky was lain on the bed and talking to the nurse. She was tearful and cold. Then Becky’s’ eyes rolled back and “she was out of it”. The nurse said it was like when you give someone a general anaesthetic and just before they are asleep their eyes roll back and lose focus. It was similar to how a patient with epilepsy behaves. I collected her and took her to the doctor (as her hospital appointment is on Weds 20 May) i did not want to rush her to A & E as they would look at the latest incident and not take the past history into account. The Doctor tried to take her bloods for a blood sugar test but she would not give any. Her fingers would not bleed! She spent the day in and out of consciousness on the sofa yesterday. After a fairly good night sleep she woke only to fall over on the landing. She is now relaxing on the sofa and dozing.

Roll on tomorrow. I refuse to believe it is “hormonal” or “puberty”. I never suffered like this in my pre teens / teens. I would rather be told “it is one of those things, she will grow out of it”, than hear it is puberty!

Through all of this i have watched my happy, healthy, energetic child drop two stone, become really lethargic, faint and fit. I’ve seen her prodded and poked and have her bloods drawn. Not once has she whined, moaned, complained or questioned. I want her better. I want answers. I want her not to suffer any more. I’m not asking much am i?

Update on Becky...

Her hospital appt is next wednesday at 11.45, i will be twittering throughout the day!
I am NOT expecting too much from this first meeting though..meet the docs..see whats been going on..tell the story..watch her..bring her back. If it becomes more than that i will be happy to deal with it immediately but don't want to get my hopes up!
So that is where we are! At least the appt is here now!

What a weekend!

No news on Becky...still waiting!

However i did have the best weekend EVER (well in a lot of years) this weekend! LOL
I got a text on Friday from an old army friend Pip, she was coming to Twickenham to see the Army v Navy rugby match and was staying in a hotel 20 mins from my house with 3 other old army buddies, Ali, Ali and Kerry,...could i meet them there for a drink?? Haha silly question really!
So i went along to see them:

Pip

Kerry (green top)
Ali B!
Ali W

The gang! l-r Pip, me, Kerry, Ali W, Ali B.

Its been roughly 12 years since we've been together and man we laughed so much, fell back into the old ways had some drinks and talked well into the night! Pip rang my hubby to get permission to kidnap me for the night and bless him he approved! So they then decided how to "sneak" me in...they had plans of dragging me in the window on the ground floor..but i decided on the door..we've all got a bit bigger since our stealthy army days and i did not want to be responsible for any backs being put out (especially mine) however funny it may have been!

So i had to sneak out on Saturday morning and head home to collect the hubby and kids as they were spending the day with my Dad while i took my Mum to a spa day for her 60th birthday!
And what a day we had!

Full Body Massage.
Specifics Facial
Nails
Hair
sauna, jaccuzi, steam room, pool....
Lunch
Drinks all day on tap!

We had the best girly day together, it was wonderful.

So now we are all home, today is a UK bank holiday so we just hung out and chilled! Back to work tomorrow but wow what a weekend!

Update on Becky!

Numerous people have been on touch asking how the little lady is getting on!
Well the good news is the cancer(s) they were looking for are ruled out..what a load off my mind that is. She also does not have diabetes. So where does this leave us now?
Still very much in the dark as to what is causing her weight loss and lethargy. Still waiting for her hospital to come through. Still plying her with chocolate and coke! She is rapidly going off chocolate though!!
So all in all she is ok. She is plodding along, still being upbeat, still eating like a horse, still tired and worn out and still as funny as ever. She certainly has managed to keep her sense of humour through all of this. Even when her favourite clothes are falling off her. She has dropped from 8 stone to 5 stone 13 lbs since January.

I do promise to keep you all informed about when her appointment is and what any outcomes may be.

Thanks for asking about her. xx

A blast from the past got me thinking.

Not only am i a blogger, a tweeter and all other hats..i am a face booker too. I was reading some comments on a very old friends {old as in known a long time, 20+ years!} wall today. He is separated from his children's partner. His son has been in an accident recently and his ex wife is holding him {my friend} responsible for this! So i messaged him and offered to be an ear if needed!
I was pleasantly surprised when he called me up to chat! We talked life, old days, kids, everything! It was such fun! He really cheered me up..and i didn't know i was needing a pick-me-up!
I hope the call did him some good too.

But i have been thinking so much about the laying of blame. It's so sad when adults blame each other for things that happen with their children. Sure it's ok to think things, but to say them or write them where the children can see or hear is plain wrong and downright mean if you ask me.
Crumbs, every time Rich went away when he was a soldier, at least one of the kids got hospitalised! I never forget ringing him in Iraq to tell him, very tearfully, that i had "broken the baby". David had a broken arm and i was devastated. But if i think back to this time, or when Rae lost her two front teeth and had to have them reset or when David was hospitalised while Daddy was in Poland, my husband never once blamed me! And nor would he. Not because we're still married but because no matter what he knows i LOVE our children. I never blamed him when Rachel got a huge black eye in his care while i was working. If you are the one caring, whether you are married, together or apart for whatever circumstances, you WILL and DO beat yourself up about these things. Children get in accidents. It happens. I could not have stopped David breaking his arm, nor getting so ill he was in hospital for days, nor could Rich have stopped Rae getting her black eye but we still blamed ourselves. It's what you do. And kids get over it waaay before grown ups, showing off casts and stitches or bruises as if they were the coolest things.
So come on parents, do not blame each other for accidents that happen to your children. Accidents DO happen, think of the kids and put them first. If you love them anyway.

More blood tests

More blood tests were the order of the day for Rebecca yesterday. Results are back on Wednesday so i will be crossing everything till then! Again she was very good and didn't fuss or moan. I am so proud of her attitude through all this.
She got a gift today from our lovely neighbours, a get well card and two huge bags of sweets, which she will share with Rachel and David.
She is still getting tired very easily and is still lethargic. So test results aside i am waiting for her hospital appointment to arrive real soon.

8 of 52 & 9 of 52

Ok since last week i was recovering from surgery and could not post a pic i am posting this week and last weeks pics!

Here are the children and I..Dad took the pic (lessons needed i think!) And yes i know i look awful!

And here is Mum with her very own Mum! My parents dug out a lot of old pics and this was one of them! I was about 5 years old at the time. But if i have to come out then so does my Mum! hahaThank you for looking.

Successful op.

Well i went into hospital yesterday afternoon and was first on the list to be operated on. WOW the one time i am top of the list and i really didn't want to be!
While under anesthetic i decided i'd grown fond of the tube in my throat so much so that they had to wake me up to ask me to stop biting on it so they could remove it!Oops!
I recall desperately trying to come round in recovery and seeing a rather large blurred sunflower. It was so bright and big it was lovely to wake to. I had a conversation with a nurse but cannot remember it, only that it took place.
So i left the ward at 1pm and was back on it at 4pm. By 6pm i had tried getting up to use the bathroom...and failing. The floor is not that far to fall too but still hurts! I was being sick by6.30pm so they kindly decided not to send me home but kept me in.
I am now home recovering.
They looked at my right ovary...it originally had a 4.5cm cyst on it. That burst 3 weeks ago. My ovary was clear at that time. Yesterday my ovary had 9 small to medium cysts on it. They removed some to enable them to see my ovary and then decided to remove that too. woohoo. So i am delighted with how it all went...except for the pain i'm in but the tablets are working!