Updates – Beards, Yarn Bombs and Green Tea

I have been meaning to do a post for a while, but things keep cropping up to stop or distract me, here’s a quick update.

The visit and the Green Tea Diva

Back in February my best friend visited from Manchester, we were both really looking forward to the visit, it hadn’t been a good year for Kylie and we both wanted a good cry over Matilda Mae, unfortunately things didn’t go as planned.

My GP sent for a random blood test, I still have no idea why, but the results came back saying my white blood cell count was extremely low, so low that at the first sign of being ill I would be admitted to a Neutropenic ward.  I felt fine in myself, but everybody fussing around with tears in their eyes got me worried, I was really lucky to have Kylie around for support, things were discussed about how to get my count back up and the nagging started, being stubborn this got my back straight up, I really don’t like being told what to do.  Kylie knew how to handle it though, she stepped in before I started arguing with my Nurse and Mum, we found things together that could help me and decided on a strict regime, I would drink Green Tea, Tomato Juice, V8 and 1000mg effervescent vitamin C, my GP put me on Complan too, these things are far from my favourites, I’ve always enjoyed cold drinks, Cherry Coke being my main drink of choice.   She could see I was scared, something I don’t like admitting to anyone, she just sat by my bed reassuring me and being calm, that’s really what best friends are for, I wish we had got our cry and that I could have been strong and given her the support she needed, but as she puts it I was a “diva”.

Amazingly after just a few weeks on this diet, with regular nurse visits to take my blood, my white blood cell was back to normal, I have stuck to the diet and feel pretty good for doing so, I’m used to the tomato juice and V8 now, the Green tea still isn’t my favourite but it’s bearable ice cold with a squeeze of lemon juice and have also found it’s good at settling my stomach when I feel a bit ill.

This was also the month I got my first ever Valentine’s cards, and one Valentine’s ecard, they were no doubt from my carers, still a nice thought, I actually sent one too.

The Yarn Bomb Proposition

My best friend Kylie really is amazing, she came up with this idea as she wanted to give something back to the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign and do something special for me as well, you can read all about it on her blog, the basic idea is to get lots of supporters to knit or crochet items then decorate an area outside, the event will be sponsored and the items will be sold afterwards to make even more money.  It sounds simple, in a way it is, but there is lots of organisation behind the scenes which Kylie is absolutely brilliant at, I’m really proud of her and grateful too.

She visited last week and decorated our front garden with some of the items already made, it looked pretty great as you can see.

The Beard

I have had an interesting couple of months, other than the above there has also been other stress, questioning of people close to me and strong emotions and feelings, I won’t go into it but the fact is over the last seven months or so I have changed, I’m more confident, I feel healthier, I’ve opened up my feelings and more, I like this new me but some people are struggling to get used to it.

The end result is I’m enjoying myself more, my stress and panic attacks are getting much less and I have been getting out in the wheelchair much more, I also accepted seeing a psychologist to help with my panic attacks, she is great and I made the decision to be honest and open up to her, it wasn’t, and isn’t easy, I like sorting things out on my own and have always been a very private person, but the time has come for me to change and overcome my fears, so I will.

Part of this is my new look, I’ve never wanted or liked beards but it’s an outward change to reflect the inward ones, I may not keep it for long, but for the moment I’m enjoying the compliments, apparently I’m quite handsome, who knew?!