Crowning Glory

I've gone back to the classroom, and I am learning how to make bridal accessories, hair accessories and fascinators. My favourite bead shop, in Bristol, offers classes and I decided that this was an opportunity too good to miss.

I'm still a novice when it comes to working with silver wire, and I am also very fussy, which means that sometimes something gets undone and then done again! I'm sure I am not the only one to be so meticulous...


I made this tiara is my class tonight, and as you can see, there are little green crystals. I've been debating how to add these crystals in a way that I would be happy with, and chances are, I might even remove these crystals and start again!!

Oh, and I nearly forgot - sadly my submission to exhibit in September was not selected. A part of me is disappointed, but another part of me is relieved I won't have this deadline hanging over my head! It's not easy competing against people who manage to be artistic for a living!! Better luck next time, eh?

Don't sweat the small stuff!

If you live in the northern hemisphere, you'd be hard pressed not to notice that it's quite warm at the moment. Oh, it's raining where you are? My apologies... it's rather warm in my part of the world, and according to my friendly weatherman, it's going to get a whole lot warmer! Oh, and I hope you're slapping on the sunscreen if you're heading out to enjoy the sun...

Regular readers may recall that I recently started on a new drug regime, to help combat my hypothyroidism, and if you are a doctor working for the NHS, you'd best look away now. I started taking T3 (in addition to my regular T4) four weeks ago, and can't quite believe the difference I am feeling! I've also started taking cortisone, to help my adrenals recover, and a week later, I can honestly say I am feeling ten times better than I was a month ago. It's just a pity I have to order these drugs from abroad, which isn't cheap. And before anyone tells me off for taking "dodgy drugs" - I am only taking medication that is freely available in the US, although some doctors there appear to be just as blinkered in their approach in dealing with this condition.


The differences, for me, have been huge. I can actually walk without wincing my way along, and my regular afternoon naps have become a thing of the past. I've wobbled on a couple of days, but collecting my son at gone midnight from his school formal didn't help... especially as the formal was held on a Wednesday evening! Going to bed late on Fridays and Saturdays is okay, as I get to have a lie-in - and I certainly do have those.

Now, the list of signs and symptoms of people suffering from hypothyroidism is large and varied, including dry skin, thinning hair, losing said thinning hair, and for some, losing the ability to sweat. Now, not sweating has its plus side - forget to apply some deoderant in the morning, and in the afternoon, you're not ponging like a hormonal teen. I am starting to notice a difference in the dryness of my skin, and yes, I am starting to sweat.


Who would have thought I'd be so pleased about it, eh?

Twenty Five Things To Bore You With

Kerrie appears to have tagged me, and it's been a while since I've done one of these, so here goes. If your boredom level is switched to 'low', then look away now...

1). What is your current obsession.
I've been obsessing about my health, and in the process of experimenting with new medication, to try and sort out my hypothyroidism.

2). What is your weirdest obsession.
I've been trying to think of any, but I don't think I've ever been weirdly obsessed about anything... just making jewellery, wearing jewellery, selling jewellery. Is that obsessed enough? ~grin~

3).What are you wearing today?
My jim-jams. It's Saturday night, and I've not left the house all day!

4).What's for dinner?
It was tasty bangers, boiled potatoes and veg, followed up with a "Exotic" Solero ice cream lolly. Yum!

5).What would you eat for your last meal?
Oh gosh! That's going to be really hard to decide, but it would be a toss-up between the all-you-can-eat buffet at Cosmo's in Bristol, or No. 82 at my local Thai...


6).What was the last thing you bought?
That would be the twenty quid I spent on petrol yesterday afternoon. Unleaded is over a pound a litre these days - shocking!

7).What are you listening to right now?
The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow. They have been a favourite for a few months now, and I was thrilled at their Brit, Ivor Novello and Mercury Prize awards.


8).What is your favourite ice cream flavour?
Mmmmm... Häagen-Dazs does the most wonderful Strawberry Cheesecake, but after a little persuasion I am now a big fan of Ben & Jerry, and Phish Food is my current favourite.

9).What do you think of the person who tagged you?
Kerrie is a recent bloggy acquaintance, but I am sure she is a lovely lady - most bloggers are good people!

10).If you could have a house totally paid for where would it be?
Copenhagen in Denmark or Grindelwald in Switzerland.

11).If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour where would it be?
A small village near Matlock - it's been a while since I last visited my mum.

12).Which language do you want to learn?
Rather than learn a new language, I'd prefer to improve the shocking state of my Norwegian!

13).What's your favourite quote?
Houston, we have a problem.

14).What is your favourite colour?
Lilac, although it's not a colour I would wear much.

15).What is your favourite item of clothing in your wardrobe?
Thanks to my unwelcome weight gain courtesy of my under-treated hypothyroidism, I have a wardrobe full of clothes just waiting for me to fit into! My current favourite item, though, is my Jane Carr silk scarf.

16).What is your dream job?
I'd love to run my own arts & crafts shop, focusing on beading and knitting.

17).What is your worst habit?
Putting off until tomorrow what I could have done today...

18).Do you admire anyone's style?
I've never been a dedicated follower of fashion, except when I am watching the trends for my accessories business.

19).Describe your personal style?
When I'm not feeling frumpy and forty, I tend to go for the "smart casual" look. I can slob with the best of them, but I tend to do this behind closed doors. I never like to leave home without my watch on, a ring on either hand and a bracelet. I feel undressed if I am not wearing these things, and my jewellery always matches my clothing in some way!


20).What are your favourite movies?
I enjoy rom-coms, murder mysteries and thriller adventure movies. I'm not averse to a little U action, especially if it's a Pixar movie! "Mine!"

21).What is your favourite fruit?
Strawberries, closely followed by Kiwi fruit.

22).What inspires you?
Knowing that nothing is beyond the realms of possibility. Admittedly some things require more money than others, but if one is determined enough, anything is possible. Isn't it?

23).Your favourite book?
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. Admittedly the book is better serialised into a mini-series, starring the delicious Colin Firth as Mr Darcy!


24).Do you collect anything?
I have a growing collection of teddy bears, most of which are currently stashed under my bed. I'll admit to having at least 40 Beanie Baby bears, as well as a couple of firm favourites. I think this makes me a amateur arctophile...

25).What is your favourite smell?
There are so many, including freshly brewed coffee, freshly baked bread, cinnamon, lemon & lime juice and especially my favourite perfume, Flower by Kenzo.


I'm not going to tag anyone, but please feel free to pinch this meme if you like the look of the questions.

How not to start a weekend...

It's been a week since I was forced to age ten years from a simple phone call. My Friday was all mapped out - I was off out to join a wedding reception, to congratulate a friend who had married her man that afternoon, and the reception was being held within walking distance of my home, which meant I could possibly indulge in a little alcoholic beverage...

Alas, it was not to be. About half an hour before I was due to leave, the phone rang. It was my son, phoning us to tell us he had been in an accident, and the police were with him, and they were just waiting for an ambulance. I grabbed my car keys (and my purse) and was off down the road before anyone could blink.


Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how you look at it, Son appeared to have had his accident in plain view of a police car. He was pedaling his push bike along a main road, and apparently his foot slid off the pedal on a downward push, and had slammed in between the spokes of his front wheel, effectively stopping the bike dead in its tracks. Of course, the momentum continued, and Son went sailing over the handle bars just as the bike sailed over him.

Thankfully, Son's injuries were not serious, but given that he had forgotten what he had told my husband on the phone, and given that he did have a rather nasty cut and tarmac burn on his forehead, as well as another nasty looking, and very BIG tarmac burn on his right shoulder, I was totally in agreement when the paramedics suggested taking Son to A&E, to get checked out.

The ambulance departed, and I was left with trying to get the bike into the car. Thankfully I drive a large five door saloon, and the seats in the back fold flat, so I was able to actually get the bike in (although I will confess it did take much pulling and pushing, as well as poking and prodding to get the damned thing in)! The front fork was bent, from Son's weight, I would guess, and so the bike wouldn't manoeuvre as easily as I would have liked!

I finally found my way to the hospital, and was thankful that I had remembered to grab my purse - parking at hospitals is not cheap in England (although totally free in Scotland and Wales, thanks to devolution ~grumble, grumble~), and after feeding the meter, I hot-footed it over to A&E, where Son was in a queue, waiting to be seen by the Triage nurse. This happened within half an hour of his arrival, which was just after 20h15, and then we were sent back to the waiting room, where we waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.

While we were waiting, we established that the vending machine, filled to the brim with nice, cooling drinks, wasn't accepting any money, the volume on the television bolted to the wall wasn't quite loud enough to hear the programme being screened, but just loud enough to hear the annoying music of the advert sponsoring the show, and that there are some people in the world who feel that they are to be the centre of attention at all times.

I say this as we had to endure the dramatics of a Vicky Pollard-type, who was wheeled into the waiting area, where she proceeded to shout and swear as loudly as possible, threatening all sorts on her (unknown) attacker - turns out she had been out with her mates, just "drinking and minding her own business", when she was set upon. Admittedly she was possibly telling the truth, but this woman was no wall-flower by any stretch of the imagination, and I'm willing to bet that she was possibly attacked after she'd flung some of the fruity and very unladylike language she was using as she was wheeled in.


Naturally, all eyes were on her as she came in, and it took the on-duty police woman (how sad an A&E should have its own police) to ask her to calm down, before things quietened down a bit. We were reminded of her presence every few minutes, as she moaned and groaned every time her ankle was (just slightly) moved, and Son even overheard one of her friends saying that she couldn't see what was wrong with half of the people in the waiting room - ie. "why am *I* waiting, I'm far more important". If I had known this, I think I would have said something, but perhaps it's a good job I hadn't!

We finally got to see a doctor just before midnight, and after some poking and prodding - and a few louds "ow!!"s, we were sent to the x-ray department, to x-ray Son's right elbow. Thankfully, there was nothing broken - just some swelling due to his landing on it awkwardly. Then we were back to the waiting room, then back in the cubicle, before Son was properly patched up, and we were allowed to leave.

At 1am.

The parking ticket had long run out, by 23h30 actually, but I hadn't enough coins in my purse for another ticket, and I had overheard the receptionist in the A&E tell another worried 'waiter' that the clampers wouldn't be out and about until 8am the next morning, so I had not bothered with feeding the meter again. We finally made it home, and after eating a much-needed meal, I crawled into bed after making sure Son would be comfortable sleeping on the couch.

A week later, and the boy is recovering nicely. It helps that he wrote his last two GCSE exams this week, that he doesn't have to go to school again until 28th August, when the GCSE results are released. He has plenty planned, including attending his prom, going off to celebrate his "freedom" with a group of his mates for a week, training for and passing his NPLQ exam, getting his first job (as a lifeguard) and much, much more!


*Sigh* - wish I could be sixteen again...

It's "Do or Die"

I've not been posting with much regularity lately. There are many reasons, but each of them hinges on the same thing. I have mentioned in previous blog posts about suffering from anaemia, plantar fasciitis, and all the rest, but it was the tiredness that had been dragging me under. Since blogging about the anaemia in October last year, I'd been back to the doctor to say the iron tablets were not doing much good. I was still bleeding heavily, so got sent off to my local hospital for a trans-vaginal scan, to check whether I had fibroids in my uterus. Finding parking took longer than the ultra-sound itself, and the diagnosis was "yes", I did have one. So it was back to the doctor, who then decided to prescribe medication to a)help lighten the flow of blood during my periods, and b)help ease the excrutiating pain I was usually crippled with during the first few days.

Like the good little patient who believes that doctor must know best - they are, after all, the one who has studied for copious years, and have experience on their side, I took the drugs. After much persuasion, I also managed to convince my doctor to up my dose of Levothyroxine, which I take due to suffering from hypothyroidism. A whopping 25mcg, but I was hoping it would make me feel better, especially as I was still convinced that my hypothyroidism was linked to my other medical ailments.

It was only just recently, while I was investigating how to rid myself of the myxoedema that I suffer from too, that I stumbled across a website, which in turn led to another, which I think may just have saved my life and my sanity! It would appear, after careful reading, that I was right all along, and probably all of my medical and non-medical ailments *were* in fact due to my hypothyroidism being mis-managed by the medical professionals. Since finding the websites, I have bought, and read from cover to cover, three books of many on the subject, and I am about to embark on a new journey. One which will not be including the NHS, sadly, as it would appear that the Royal College of Physicians have this approach to my illness, and have condemned hundreds of thousands like me to a life of misery and painful hell.

Thanks to the experience of thousands of others, right across the world, I am learning that the blood tests I have had to endure over the past decade were useless, and have only resulted in the deterioration of my own health, along with much frustration, and the feeling that I must be going mad. I have long believed that the internet is a hypochondriac's dream, but thankfully, the internet has helped me to discover that I am no hypochondriac - I am simply hypothyroid, and I need help!

I am in the process of waiting for natural desiccated thyroid to arrive from the US. It is going to be a long and expensive process, but one which I am prepared to pay for, because it will give me a new lease on life, and in all likelihood mean I can stop taking all the drugs I find I have to take each and every day. Surely *that* is much better?!? Ironically, the Levothyroxine prescribed by my GP is free, as hypothyroidism is a lifelong condition, but if left incorrectly treated, may end up killing me. Help my cause, and those of thousands of others, by signing this petition.

Who knows - this blog post might even help YOU to realise you are one of the many undiagnosed patients suffering around the world!