Meeting ZP Theart

Tuesday night was massive!!
Monday night my hubby informed me we were going out the next night as he had won a meet n greet with one of our favourite singers ZP Theart.
The Venue NQ live (Formerly Moho live) is in a cellar with some steps down into it. oh dear not wheelchair friendly; but the staff were. They carried me down in the chair so I was able to enjoy the evening, and when we finally left they were patiently waiting to help me out.
We saw 3 metal bands play. The intimate setting, not usually conducive to loud music, had a very good sound system with sound people well fit to operate it. the only negative of the venue for me was the price of soft drinks. Small niggle hardly worth a mention.
1st up was "Farhan". this band has only been together in it's current line up for 6 months. Incredible how polished they are together after such a short time. I could identify each instrument even at the back of the room and barely if any note was wrong. I'm not used to being moved by music this early in the night; but this band impressed me greatly. Once their name is known they will go far.
2nd up "Athemis". To be honest I had no expectations because I am used to there being a duff band in the line up that I don't particularly like. Well this heavy/thrash band had me jigging and head banging in my chair, so I had another very pleasant surprise. Thoroughly enjoyed the time watching and listening with them.
3rd and finally "i AM i" What a grand surprise, they sounded better live than on cd. The guitar harmonies sent a few shivers down my spine (good going for metal music), and ZP was on form, only slowing down when his throat dried and he needed more refreshments for it.

Meeting with him after the show was incredible: I'm 56 and that night made me feel a teen again. I asked some searching questions and he answered as fully as he could to someone he barely knows.
I got to chat to the other bands and came away with all cds signed in full. I can highly recommend the venue and the bands for those who love it live.

The Lynx Effect

My wonderful husband finally got back into the workforce at the beginning of this week. He went away for a couple of days for induction, and came home Tuesday night well pleased with himself.
Wednesday morning he was up early and ready for a long drive for the next lot of training on a different section of the business.
I woke up choking, with mucous filling my nose and throat, just before he was ready to leave. I could smell body spray, and thought he had used it in the bathroom, not closing the door.
I was wrong! He had used it outside the front door to try and protect me from the asthma it can bring on. The air current had blown it indoors, upstairs, and in to the bedroom, where I had the worst reaction yet. I had to clear my airways fast, so I ran if you can call my waddle a run into the bathroom grabbed a toilet roll. snatched some to clear my airways and had to find somewhere that the propellent hadn't reached. The clearest room was the living room. having done another clearing of the airways on the stairlift on the way down, and another on reaching the living room I took Piriton. This seemed to take an age to kick in. I also used both my inhalers to help ease my breathing. I was exhausted by the time it all settled down, and so weak I could barely stand. I spent most of the day in bed.
The cause, Lynx body spray.
It has had a knock on effect on another allergy of mine which is highly inconvenient. I had a low level latex allergy that affected breathing and broken skin. Now It has burnt my skin on the knicker line, So I am now touch sensitive too. New underwear must be found fast.

Judgement Day

I do my best not to judge anyone lest I be judged. Yet this weekend has revealed I am judged without facts, just suppositions because I don't want to bore everyone with the full details of my disabilities. If I'm asked I answer honestly and fully.
Because I have been recovering from my surgery and am not prepared to break my back to be at afternoon functions, I either don't like people or am a person living a cushy stuck up life.
Sorry folks I am not prepared to put myself in bed for days. just to attend at a time you all know I rest, and not for the fun of it. None are prepared to see me at my home (heaven only knows why) unless they are all allergic to cats.
Too many people are to idle to find out the truth before they spuddle and judge on their perceptions from a distance, and those people wonder why I prefer my cats for company

Home To Rehabilitate

Getting home was a shock. All the time I had been in hospital my sitting had been supported.
Due to nearly 18mnths of not sitting up due to extreme pelvic pain, I was now going to learn how tiring and time consuming it was to learn to sit up straight again. Still healing from the surgery meant a 5 minute sit led to 1-2hrs of sleep, and due to my lower back damage it was going to take nearly 3mnths before I could sit up for 30 minutes without totally wearing myself out.


My new urostomy worked well and healed very rapidly. To aid my friendship with this ever moving piece of intestine that had reduced pain levels to near 0 in the pelvis and undoubtedly saved my life, I named it "Polly pop out".


A tummy that now looks like a patchwork quilt with all the previous pelvic surgeries I've had led to some fun finding suitable housing for Polly. I contacted all the stoma bag companies I could find and requested samples of all their suitable dressings. 
A couple had to be removed within an hour of placement, as the adhesive reacted with my skin. Others were rejected on aesthetic grounds: they looked bad on me! Finally I found a bag that I didn't react to, didn't turn into a huge sausage shape when it started filling, and wasn't glaringly obvious if my waistline accidentally revealed itself.


Recovery was well underway, and as energy levels returned to my normal, I was back to pushing myself around in my NHS provided chair. It was like wading through mud, and my urostomy was getting very achy and sore. Time to try support wear! The only thing that helped was a level 3 hernia belt: not a good look for my newly acquired  waistline, and it didn't change the wading through mud strength needed for me to self propel my wheelchair.
I have since managed to obtain support wear that doesn't leave me unable to breath as it comes so high (not good when you need to breathe propelling a chair), or look so chunky I should be a weight lifter. the strong belt I use when I know I am going to be pushing myself around outside. When I asked for this originally, I was told "You don't have a hernia". I said "and pushing a chair around I don't want one thanks". It seems not many manual wheelchair users have stomas.


The next challenge was to apply for a different chair, preferably lighter in weight and without the arms on as they set my arms at a peculiar angle for self propulsion. In this request I got lucky. First I was offered an electric wheelchair; which I declined, as apart from upper body swimming, pushing myself around in my chair is the only exercise I get. the solution they came up with is a dream, and a Ferrari compared to the chair I had. It is lighter in weight, has wheel guards rather than arms. A rubberised covering on the propelling wheel gives better grip, and the shorter wheelbase means I can get round the house easier without taking door frames and wall corners with me. The other brilliant thing is that on a reasonably level surface I can easily keep up with whoever is with me rather than them waiting for me to catch up. Never mind that I am out of action for a few days after such an outing as back pain and weariness get me big time, at least I can with a bit of company to assist on hills or when I get tired I can now have some kind of life outside the house.


All in all this was a huge operation, and the work involved to be fit for it was excruciatingly painful; but the benefits have been huge for me. Polly is now a good friend I couldn't be without, and at 56yrs of age I don't think I need to worry to much about my quilted tum.

Urinary bypass Recovery

I had my urinary bypass in late January. I have to thank my surgeon for moving hell and high water to make sure my operation wasn't cancelled.

The anaesthetist decided I was to have epidural combined with a knock out infusion due to my many allergies.

I went to theatre at 8am and arrived in the high dependency unit at 4.30pm. The first thing I was aware of was my husband with a very relieved look that I had finally made it through.

I spent 3 days there with the epidural under constant inspection. The extraordinary thing was the checking of where the epidural was working. No pin tests, just an aerosol can, and depending on whether the spray felt warm or cold to me told them how it was working and my position adjusted accordingly. The epidural hadn't gone down as far as they wanted it too due to the damage in my lower spine; which was why they were testing its effectiveness so frequently.

My Mainline Direct Into Jugular Vein 

I moved to the urology ward once I started moving for myself, and was aware of what was going on.
I  spent the next couple of days in the bathroom either sat on the toilet, or hanging my head in it, and a couple of occasions where I needed to be a contortionist  as both ends were active at the same time.  During those days there was a distinct smell to the whole ward as it seemed everyone was doing the same thing, and even closing my room door was no relief.

The time had arrived for the epidural to come out and standard pain relief to begin. I had enjoyed my breakfast for the first time since the operation. I took the last mouthful of rice krispies and the pain doctor was there to give me my 1st dose of pain relief. Dose swallowed the epidural was then taken out. Lunch time came and I had a lovely meal which again I was keeping down. Enter the pain doctor with the second dose of pain relief, 2 syringes of liquid taken orally. The doctor was leaving the room and I projectile vomited everything I had eaten that day in a totally undigested state. The rice krispie that had still been in my mouth at the first dose was deposited on the top of the lot. The doctor had me in bed and checking my vital signs so fast I wondered what was going on. I had had an allergic reaction to yet another drug. The doctor couldn't prescribe my own medication as it is not on his allowed list, so it was a good job I had taken my own stock. As it turned out I needed very little pain relief as the pain i did have was no worse than a cut finger compared to the pain I had been in previously.

Due to my disabilities the medical team had expected me to be in a minimum of 10 days; but more like 14 days. I was very happy to beat everyone and get home on day 8 post op.

Now the real healing and getting healthier began. More on that another time.

Book Review

Today  has been brilliant! I received a personal review on my book from someone who has read it. It is so amazing I have to post it here.


"hey. I got your book on monday.i have just finished with it. what a great read.you did a very nice job and it flowed wonderfully.i thought due to subject matter it would be emotionally difficult to read but you wrote it in such a way that what you went through was hard to deal with but endurable to the reader with some lighthearted moments.it left me wanting soooo much to know the rest of the story! what a wonderful woman you turned into despite what life threw at you.i applaud you.with all my love."


This is the book being referred to:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Fathers-Daughter-Martina-Anne/dp/1475199708/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343242225&sr=1-2   Paperback

http://www.amazon.co.uk/FATHERS-DAUGHTER-Early-Years-ebook/dp/B007S9XB7U/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343242225&sr=1-1  Kindle edition