Finally, a lovely week :D

Hello! This week has been really lovely. There has been something I enjoyed every day!

On Thursday of last week I had my first session of acupuncture. I was referred for this by my palliative consultant. It can help people with nausea, and has a rising success rate. I don’t know if we were the only people that used these, but do you remember the bands that you put on your wrists as a kid if you had travel sickness? Well, if put on at the right spot they massage the same point that acupuncture hits, and actually work! I just thought it was the placebo effect – but apparently not!

I had the leavers awards ceremony at my old school on Friday of last week. It was so lovely to see the teachers who were integral to me finishing my A Level, and for keeping me sane with the odd belly laugh. I received an award called the Nan Fishwick Memorial Award, for my continued support throughout the years to the school library. Then, I received the Chandler award for endeavour and participation in the sixth form. It was a great feeling to realise that others recognised how damn hard I had worked to get that A Level!

Then, on Saturday I performed for a half hour slot at the Lakes Alive festival. I had quite a large audience and I felt the reading went really well. I did have to shout my poems, as the yert was open at the sides and it was raining VERY heavily; but it was certainly a good exercise in voice projection!

Yesterday, I went to Blackpool. I wanted to go to an art gallery there. The actual art gallery was a complete let down. It was so artistic that I didn’t really get it… However, trip adviser served me very well, and we ended up going to Illuminasia in Winter Gardens. I have put pictures of this below. Everything was huge and well above a person who was at standing height. I have put pictures below. Oh my goodness, it was WELL worth a visit. The sculptures are made of fabric and have lights on the inside. The overall effect was ten times better than anything I had expected. There were lots of rooms, and although the lifts were a bit scary and rickety, they did work and I got to see everything. My only grudge about the place was that you don’t get a free carers ticket, and so I had to pay for both of us. Mind you, entrance is only £5. If you live anywhere near please go, it is unlike anything I have ever seen before!

 

 

That is all for this week. I am beyond exhausted, but am very happy. As you can probably understand I haven’t done much reading this week (I have watched a lot of rubbish TV though….); but am listening to Cinder by Marissa Mayer. It is a reworking of the Cinderella story, so far it is a COMPLETE reworking, and you have to work a bit to find the comparisons.

As always, thank you for reading! See you next week!

August 2017

A Handmaids tale by Margaret Atwood REVIEW

How to build a girl – Caitlin Moran REVIEW

Salt to the sea – Ruta Sepetys REVIEW

Notes from a coma – Mike McCormack REVIEW

#GirlBoss – Sophia Amoruso REVIEW

A hope more powerful than the sea – Mellisa Flemming

Good me, bad me by Ali Land

Confessions of a GP by Benjamin Daniels

Hospital High by Mimi Thebo REVIEW

The Bad Doctor by Ian Williams

Expectations vs. Reality

Hello! I have had a jam packed week and am absolutely exhausted but happy. I was at the hospice for a bit this week. I had a great time! We made Mauam popcorn (my brothers review was “terrible” and my mums was”It’s going in the bin…”). I also made some rainbow cookies. Below is my expectation vs. reality… Apparently they were very hard and got better as they ‘matured’ (went soft…).

Expectation reality

 

I watched Beauty and the beast on the cinema screen they have in the teenage zone. I also went out in a huge minibus kitted out with things that could strap my wheelchair down. I went to a huge craft shop and had a little look around. We came back a little quicker than we anticipated though because I had a migraine. I am going to start marking them in my diary as I seem to be having them every sixish weeks. I hate them!

I have also done a few hours work experience at my old school alongside the librarians. Over the eight years that I have been at school they have been a constant, lovely presence. We have had our fair share of laughter, and I wanted to give them a hand to do a few jobs over the summer. Obviously they weren’t overly physical, but they were hopefully a couple of things that they could tick off of their huge lists!

Last night I went to see Hot Ice with my family in Blackpool. I am beyond wiped out and exhausted, but my goodness I am so happy we went! It is a very well organised and flamboyant dance show that is on ice. If you have never been it is sooo worth seeing. I think they are in their last week of performing for this year, but there are still tickets left – so book quickly! I wish you could take photographs, but you couldn’t. They did every style of dance you could think of. My favourite routine was this irish/ tap routine they did (on ice!!). The wheelchair access seats weren’t comfortable, but they gave a good view. My only quibble was that they do not offer a free carer ticket. This means that I would have to pay £30 x2 to go out with my carer – which is not going to happen. Most places have modernised enough to recognise that free or reduced carers tickets are essential – why haven’t they moved forward? I have the DVD of the show we saw last night due to my poor memory. I am going to watch it lots and try and make everything I saw stick, because it was incredible. I wore my sunglasses throughout due to light sensitivity, but it didn’t detract from the experience at all.

I also loved seeing my grandma so happy. We went out for a meal beforehand and I did what I normally do – sat knitting little prem baby hats on my loom!

My collapses have been quite difficult to manage this past week, but we have still managed to do quite a bit!

My phone broke this week. I got it for christmas and can’t afford a new one at the minute. I have sent it off for repair, and am hoping the quote to fix it isn’t too massive. It just stopped working! It is outside of warranty but I am hoping the company are reasonable. Meanwhile, I have been posted a phone by a very kind person, and I am very grateful.

I have posted a video on Monday of this week talking about all of the books I read whilst I had my infection. There is one really different one I read called Notes from a Coma. It is set in Ireland and I really enjoyed it.