Exciting news!

Where did last week go? First off, I've not had my gastrostomy this week because it got cancelled due to lack of theatre staff. I'm just waiting to hear when it has been reschedueled to, but we're holding next tuesday as a possibility.
Asides from that I had my interview at UCLan last week. UCLan is my local University - in Preston. It's right on Drew's doorstep and is about 15-20 minutes away from me. I was really wanting to go somewhere new for uni, but there are a lot of benefits with Preston and the people at Preston are just so lovely every time I've been, and this was no different at my inteview. I felt this interview went the best out of all my interviews burt I think that's because I'm getting into the swing of these Uni interviews now. I had two last year, one at Edge Hill and one at Manchester. I didn't really like the feel of Manchester or the people to be honest. I just didn't find it a very friendly place. It's a shame because I really do love the area of Manchester and it would have been great to go to Uni there. I got a good feel from Edge Hill though - which was my first interview, and the people were also very friendly there.
I went round to Drew's after my interview and chilled there for the evening seeing as I was up that way and then I came home.
Thursday was just the usual at college, nothing much exciting. But then Becca came round after college which was good. We just chilled out, watched a bit of Notting Hill, which I've never seen before and then we had a go at designing some business cards for Becca's craft and jewellery making :) So that was good fun and nice to just chill out :)
Friday I had college in the morning - I only have one lesson on a Friday, so the weekend starts at 10.30 when I finish ;)
In the afternoon I had a lovely catch up with Claire which is always good :D And then in the evening - UCLan OFFERED ME A PLACE! I was so excited to get an offer! Nursing is very hard to get a place on, and children's nursing even harder so I was already making plans for next year, should I fail to get a place anywhere. So it's a huge relief that I don't need to find other plans, as long as I get my grades. UCLan has a suprisingly low point requirement to get in - 240 which is the equivalent to 3 C's at A-Level - most other places ask for 260-300, which is around BBC - ABC. So I was on a high all weekend! :D

Me and my Mum went to Liverpool on Saturday which was AWESOME! I have to take Drew there, because he will love it. I loved it there. Theres so much to do, and so much that I have wanted to do for ages such as going to the Cavern and going in the Tate. The Tate was incredible, I could have spent all day in there. We just went round the bits open to the public, but there was an Alice in Wonderland exhibition on which I would have loved to have seen. We wanted to get round everything though, so we didnt spend too long in there. If I go back again, I really want to look round it properly.

We also did lots of shopping and I've spent nearly all my christmas money now. I got some nice things though - Mum bought me some leggings with cats on, and a Cavern t-shirt for getting my uni offer. She also bought me two post cards from the Tate, which I have up on my wall :) Then I bought myself an amazing leather jacket. I call it my Torchwood jacket, because it makes me feel like Gwen ;) But besides that.. it's really nice. I did have to take it back and exchange it today (well my Gran did because she was in town) because one of the buttons came off, but its sorted now :)
I was feeling really ill on Saturday, I woke up with explosive pains and was feeling so yucky. I didn't manage much of my feed in the night but it certainly did not ruin my amazing day and I had the best time in Liverpool :)

On Sunday I went round to my Dad's for a bit in the morning, we watched a bit of a film - Kick-Ass, which was slightly disturbing, not sure how to take it, but I actually thought it was quite good anyway - then Dad dropped me off at Drew's. We watched Dr Who as usual, we went out for a mooch round town and I picked up some cards and envelopes for Becca and a bathbomb from Lush for one of my Post pals. We saw some ~adorable owls in the shopping centre as well while we were out - which pretty much made my day :) They had them out on one of those little birds of prey displays and kids could pay to hold them and there was donation pots about.

Then my Mum gave me a lift back later which saved bus fare, and i just chilled after that.

Nothing exciting really yesterday, just college, the usual :) I've broken out in full on epic man flu again which is always good fun, so yesterday I put my pyjamas on as soon as I got in and watched Torchwood all night. I actually couldnt be bozzed with anything.
I had a big free period today so I started my homework then, and then I've finished most of it tonight and done a bit of core 3 revision as well. However I'm well ready to curl up in bed with Torchwood again.
I'm going to do a little bit more of my core 3 tonight and then I'm going to do a bit of post and ~then put my pyjamies on and watch Torchwood.
My tube still isnt bothering my gullet since its gone in the other nostril, but its really sore since ive had my cold, just in between my nose and throat. It's a pain in the arse, really can't wait to get my peg fitted!
I have the community home feeding nurse coming out tomorrow, so I will probably have a chat with her about it although I do realise theres not much to be done. I haven't seen her before though so maybe she might have some ideas that nobody else had - we'll see! It isn't too sore though unless I sneeze or cough, so it is bareable for now :)
That's all ~love x

family parties, end of exams, manchester :)

Woops - sorry, long time no update again. I'm going to try and remember everything that happened over the last few weeks. It's been a bit busy, and I haven't been able to justify blogging if I've had a spare minute, because the spare minute has gone on revision instead. Anyway all my exams are out the way now - all went well apart from my core 3 maths exam which I anticipated to go badly anyway. Core 2 was pretty nice, and my unit 3 psychology was a bit of a stinker but I think it went okish.
I had Becca round last Friday (a week ago last friday) and we made this amazing sunflower;

If anyone knows where I can get these amazing paper flower sets from please can you let me know? I've searched everywhere for them but I can't find them anywhere: hobbycraft, the works, amazon, play.com - nowhere! Even if anyone knows where I might be able to find any instructions on how to make different ones, that would be helpful, because it's easy to get hold of crepe paper and sticks :) But I'm in love with it, it turned out so pretty. It's made entirely from crepe paper and a green stick. Would love to do some different flowers. I've really missed crafting since I've started college. I think this is the first thing I've done in three years. I used to craft every single day. Anyway it was really good fun and I had a good time with Becca :)

Last weekened was a weekend of family get togethers. My Mum had Nigel's family over on the Saturday. Drew came down for Saturday evening and we went to stay at my Dads. Watched a really good film at night, "Wake Wood" highly reccommend that to any thriller fans :) I had a bit too much food on Saturday and was in a bit of pain for the next few days with it but I still managed to go out on Sunday with my Dad's family. Dad and Bev stayed at home because they're not too keen on the restaurant we were going to but I went with lots of my other family including my Auntie Bev and Roger who had come up for the weekend from London. We went to Tiggis and it was a good afternoon. Here's some family pictures I took:




My Uncle Harold



The family



My Auntie Bev, cousin Charlotte and Me :)



Auntie Gill and my Nan

 

My Uncle Harold and my Grandad Terry



Roger and Auntie Bev

 

Me and Drew!

 Then last week, was a week full of exams. I had my maths core 2 on tuesday, which went well - it was a really good paper. I know I got some questions at the end of the paper wrong, but hopefully I may have got marks for working.

Wednesday I was down in Nottingham to see the small bowel specialist. He didn't really come up with too many ideas but he said he wants to get some more biopsies done when I have my gastrostomy done. They phoned today, to say that they have me booked in for it on tuesday but they are just looking for a bed for me. I also had to have my tube out again on Wednesday as it was causing problems, so I went a few days without feed to give it a rest - this could possibly have been the cause of my bad exam.

Thursday I had my psychology unit 3 exam which I think went ok. The questions were really rubbish but I think I answered them ok.

Then it was core 3 maths on Friday which went about as well as a car crash. Don't even think I'll have scraped an E on that one, so I'll be resitting that in June and I'm going to keep practising it until then. I also had my tube put back in, in the morning at my local hospital and decided to try it in the other nostril to see if it improved any and I'm pleased to report, it did! Anyway, I went round to Becca's after college which made my day much better :) We pampered with face masks, did our nails and took some pictures while we watched Toy Story. Lovely time :)

This weekend me and Drew had a lovely weekend in Manchester, it was kind of a last minute decision but we had a great time (all bar one MAJOR heartbreaking event ;)) I bought a cardigan (well my Gran and Grandad paid for it as they wanted to buy me one for christmas and I hadn't see one just yet) a hairband and some bracelets. Drew also bought be an amazing Cyberdog tshirt and he bought two new Cyberdog tops for himself :)

We bobbed our heads into Gina and John but they looked busy so we didn't go in. Gina and John are my amazing teachers from GCSE they taught me Drama and Expressive Arts. They really brought me out my shell and gave me so much confidence. After years of being isolated due to my illness I was a bit shy - but Gina and John were so good to me in my first years of college. I loved Expressive Arts so much! I really miss it :( Neither of them work at college any more but they have a theatre shop/work shop in Manchester so we've bobbed in and said hello when we had been before.

All in all a good day... until the heartbreak! We were walking through the Arndale just as all the shops were about to shut after our busy day, when there was a bit of hype going on around the Pulp shop. There was a que outside and there was obviously someone doing a signing. The shop had just shut the que so the last few people were getting to see these mystery celebs. Now it comes with the territory to miss things for me, it happens all the time. But to miss these guys TWICE now, is just my luck! Me and Drew were supposed to be going to see All Time Low for my christmas present. But in the end, we didn't go because I was ill. That was a bummer, especially as they were right round the corner from Drews. But I was fine with that because it always happens. But this time they were doing a signing in Pulp to open Alex's new clothing line. And I missed them :( As I peered into the shop I could see them right there. I missed them. Again! My heart = truly broken. I've missed them TWICE and I still can't quite believe it! I got into my car on monday, and I always blare ATL out when I'm driving, so turning on my engine I could have cried and Time Bomb screamed out the speakers at me. I had to turn it off and change it to Snow Patrol, how sad is that? Oh well, I'll just have to wait another 200 years until they come back to the UK.

Anyway, we went back to Preston and watched some more Dr Who and went to bed (we know how to live life on the edge, ok?)

Sunday we headed out for some more shopping. I bought some amazing new shoes. Real big girl shoes ;) they are purple velvety with a gold trim and they're stunning. They're platforms and make me really huuuuuge :D I'm in love, they're so pretty. I also bought a new bag and a new purse - both my current ones are too small for all the junk I carry round. I used the rest of my WH Smith voucher from Sam towards buying a new pencil case and some bits for college. I went to Staples last week too and got some new folders (as well as a new keyboard for my computer, I must confess, because I spilled orange juice on the last one :() Trying to be more organised for college right now, because I was so unorganised last year it was unreal!

I've just pretty much had college today and yesterday, feel much more chilled now my exams are over. We haven't really done much and we convinced Wendy into letting us watch Shutter Island today (it wasnt hard!), because its a "psychology film" - another great film, Leo-Di-Cap = ;)

As said earlier, Manchester called today to say that I'm booked in for my gastrostomy on tuesday. On the condition they find me a bed, I'll go in on Monday and then have it done for tuesday. I'll be in a couple of days, but I'm not sure how long I'll be out of action for. I'm hoping I'll be back up and running pretty soon after, but I'll have to see.

Tomorrow I have my interview at UCLan (Preston - My local Uni) - they've just opened a new children's unit at Blackpool, which is the biggest in the North West, so that's more of an option for me now. However it's still at Blackpool Vic and I have my reservations about that place ;)

I'm feeling pretty well at the moment though. I was a bit poorly last week when my tube came out, but that was possibly due to the tube or perhaps I had overdone it a bit on my stomach. I also wasn't too good yesterday (monday) after having a larger than normal portion at Drews. It's very difficult as I'm getting hunger pangs again now. Eating sets me back miles though unless I only nibble. The peritive feed is very good though and my symptoms are so much better with it. I get reflux still most nights but it's much improved and all my symptoms are much milder since I've been on it. I believe the combination for now is the peritive and controlling what I eat. I am going to keep trying to increase the food I take in by mouth where possible, in the hope that one day I'll be able to eat normally again, but for now I seem to have gained a little control over it by managing what I eat along with the peritive. One to me, nil to the evil intestines!

I will try not to leave it too long this time. I'm going to go and get on with finishing my second english coursework draft now, and wrap some presents - possibly a bit of Torchwood :)

Wednesday's hospital update

I'll do a quick post on what went down on wednesday, and then I'll do an update in the next post before my busy weekend.

We had to get up at 5.30am on wednesday morning to skip rush hour/works traffic and get to the hospital in time for 8.30am. So we set off at 6.30am. It's hard to tell what was rush hour traffic, but it was horrendous, it rained and stormed all the way there and then there was an accident. A journey that usually takes us just over an hour took us nearly two and a half hours - ugh! So we rang the hospital on the way and explained we were going to be late, and we got there for 8.45 so we weren't ~that late. Just took a long time to get there.

We headed straight down to radiology and then I went and took the capsule. It's a little bigger than a tablet but its still teeeeny - to think there's a camera inside that thing! First I had sticky pads attached to my large intestine, small intestine, stomach and gullet area. These were attached to a little pack that I carried round (about the size of a CD walkman). This collected pictures picked up from the sticky pads. Then I swallowed the capsule and headed onto the ward.

I seemed to have visits from everyone. Dr Jones came down to see me and we talked about things - he's been talking to people from all over the place trying to see if anyone can come up with any ideas on where to go; the Prof, the intestinal failure and rehab team at Salford, and he's also been trying to track down all my results from Great Ormond Street. Bare in mind, I've been transitioned into adults at Manchester for almost two years now - they still haven't sent over my notes. Despite constant naggings from just about every member of my team - they have nothing. Prof has been trying to get hold of them, Mr Attwood tried to get hold of them, Prof Spiller in Nottingham has tried to get hold of them, and now Dr Jones joins the club. They want all my results from my previous tests so we can move forward but the chances of ever getting these notes from Dr Hill are slim. Anyway, he decided to put the tube back in and spoke to me about the gastrostomy. As I haven't been getting much nutrition while I have been off the tube, he supported the idea and is referring me to get it done. I'm hoping to have it done in around 2-3 weeks.
He's also referred me to the endocrine specialist to check there is no problems with my adrenal glands after my steriod treatment. He told me my ACTH stimulation test that I had done when I was admitted in December, was borderline normal. So that's good but he just wants to check nothings been missed and theres no problems with any of my hormone levels (I did have a sky high Prolactin level a few years ago, but they put that down to Domperidone which can apparantly cause that as they did brain scans and there were no tumours in my Pituitary gland - which can be another cause of high Prolactin levels).

So Mickey one of my dieticians came down later on, along with lovely Tina, one of my nurses from F14 to fit my NG back in again. Tina was watching the placement to learn how it was fitted - two student doctors watched my last tube too, so I'm a bit of a tube celebrity ;) Apparantly I'm a good model because my tube goes down nice and easy :)
At 11.30 I could have a drink, though only water which I wasn't really in the mood for. Then at 1.30am I could try some food so I nibbled at a sandwhich and some ginger biscuits.
Lisa came down in the afternoon to write up my feeding regime and discuss feed - we decided to stick with the Perative as that one seems to work best for me :)

That's all been fine too, I began on 300mls at 30mls per hour and then last night I went onto 500mls and 50mls an hour and tonight I'll go on 700mls and 70 mls an hour - until I get to 1000.

I did a bit of revision in the day lounge. And then had a sleep which went down well on a comfy recliner :D
I woke up at 4.20pm (as did Mum who also fell asleep) to make my way back down to Radiology for 4.30am to unhook from the pack and give it back to them. Then we went into the canteen for some tea - mushy peas and potatoes - mushy peas seem to go down really well for me. I'm really into them at the moment.

Then we headed home :)
That's wednesday's update!
I think I'll do the updatey update in the morning as I'm really tired and I need to get my feed on :)

Unit one is over!

My days - I am so happy! I've said if I fail everything else, but never have to sit that awful unit 1 exam ever again - then I'll be happy!
Saying that, it was quite a nice paper and there were no nasty suprises or any questions that scared me. The twelve marker was the nicest one yet. The only thing that panicked me was that I hadn't done any practise papers for this exam, and obviously it was my first January exam so I was just worried I wasn't "doing" the questions in the right way or something. But it went as well as expected.
I managed to get a bit of homework done in my frees this afternoon, and then had a psychology lesson. Unit 3 absolutely boggles the mind after you've just done Unit 1 - there is ~so much to learn. I made some little cue-cards last night for my Unit 1 exam so that helped massively, so I'll be doing the same for my Unit 3 which is a week on thursday. My next exam is a week today, and it's my Maths Core 2 resit. In honesty I haven't done much Core 2 because I've been so busy with my psychology so I'm going to try and do a couple of Core 2 papers tonight.
Apart from that I've been "liquid only" since 12 noon, ready for my capsule endoscopy tomorrow. I am still allowed to have tea and soup as long as it isn't "lumpy" so I tried a little extra watery carrot and corriander for tea - yum :| aha.
Was at Drew's over the weekend - had a rest on Saturday morning before I packed and then Mum dropped me off. I had the day off revision on Saturday (not intentionally, I just kind of ended up not doing any) Drew had toothache so he wasn't up to much, but he felt a bit better later on so we went out and he got his haircut and then we went in CEX, (as usual ;)) and I bought two DVD's - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (because it's been ages since I've seen that one and I've only seen it once. I haven't seen any of the ones after that) and Gothika, which I used to have but it disapeared. Really like that film so I bought that one aswell. £4 for both of them - love CEX!
Sunday I banged out shedloads of Unit 1 psychology in the morning - like ten pages of it, while Drew slept. So that was really productive :) Then I came home, had a relaxing bath and went out to the pub with Mum and Nigel, Nigel's son Neil and his fiance Emma. Had some chips - they did not go down well and I was in quite a bit of pain yesterday. Have been suffering a bit with my kidney's lately - they were really bad on friday evening. They settled down but have still been quite sore. My stomach pain was very bad again this morning as well and I've been having more dizzy spells.
Yesterday I went to college, had maths. Was well excited to get my flask out and take some tea to college yesterday (that's the most anal sentence I think I've ever said!). Until my flask broke and I had to fork out for the vending machine, and then carry the stupid broken flask around all day - pfft! Had a really weird spell with my dizzyness + blood pressure and felt ill after maths so I got my brew from the canteent and attempted coke for a sugar rush to perk me up - only, they gave me sugar free coke in the canteen, which was a massive help :|
Perked up a little bit, throughout English and managed to get some of my coursework edited - I finished my first draft just before christmas, but it still needs a lot of work doing to it. This english coursework is so hard - it's really stretching me.
Sat with Jess in the general studies room during lunch - daily lunch time chinwag with Jess is the best :) Then sat in Kazza's classroom to do loads of psychology revision and make my cue-cards for the rest of the afternoon :) Being in Kazza's classes is also pretty good 8-)
Last night I did psychology revision all night :| ugh! I made my cue-cards, revised them, and then got Mum to test me so I think all that really helped me in my exam.
Today was my exam - I had to be in at 8.30, so I had to be up at 6.45 to set off at 7.30 to get there in time, but I did it. Then did a bit of last minute revision before my exam at 9.00. I was out the exam by 11 - unwound for the next hour and tried to get some crackers down myself while I still could. Psychology this afternoon - as said previously. After psychology, headed home and gave a mate a lift home on the way.

As I was just parking up and heading inside Mum was heading out to Booths, so I went with her. Chose some other soup to try at some point and some ginger biscuits to try also :)

I'm nil by mouth as of 6 tomorrow, and we'll be setting off at half 6. I hate early mornings :| Hoping I can just roll into the car and sleep though ;) Going to take some Core 2 and Core 3 revision with me tomorrow and do a few of those.

As for tonight I'm going to finish writing my letters and then do my Core 2 revision. I'll get my bag together and all that, and then try and get an early night. Before that - next cup of tea ;)

Just a note to say that I may be de-activating my facebook for a week or so, due to exams and stuff. I've not decided yet - but I am still around, I will be available on my email h.mckearnen@live.co.uk and on my blog, as well as by phone (though, I may be slow/rubbish at replying to texts but thats nothing new ;))

Back to college

On wednesday, it was back to college. Was only half a day so wasnt too bad. I'm supposed to be redoing my coursework from last year, and I'm just getting nowhere with it. I have so much revision to do for my exams that I just feel like I'm getting nowhere.
Then I came home and did a bit of revision - finally making some progress with that mountain of unit 1 psychology. This is the one that I have to resit, where I'm pretty sure they lost my paper. Theres so much of it so its taken up pretty much all of my time, so I've not had much time to revise for anything else - argh! But that exams on tuesday so after that I can start revising my other stuff. This January, I have 2 resits and 2 exams. I'm really hoping to do well because I don't want to accumalate any resits ;[ I know I'm going to have to resit core 3 - I'm just aiming to pass that one at all tbh and hoping it won't be such a car crash.
I had a Maths tutor come out on wednesday afternoon, but I didn't really feel I learned much. A-Level Maths is ~so hard and I think he was struggling with it as well, so it really didn't help and it confused me and knocked my confidence a bit. Uncle Howard helped me a lot though so I feel like I'm making a little bit of progress. I have some revision sessions after college this week so hopefully that will help too :)
Thursday was college again, I have a full day with no breaks on Thursday - but I will have a lesson off after this psychology exam so I will go in at 10.30 instead of 9.00. I've just been going in for the AS psychology lesson, to help me with my resit. We had the best English lesson ever on Thursday; we had to come up with a list of insults for men, and a list of insults for women. So yeah, it was pretty funny ;)

After college on thursday I went round to Becca's - that was epic as always. I haven't been to Becca's for ages, so I've missed that! We had a mess with her camera, and her Dad brought her a tripod home from work to try out, so we had a play with that in the garden, and took some pictures of the moon. We didn't stay out long though because it was soooo cold. We had a catch up, took some more pictures inside, watched a bit of Beauty and the Beast ;) and then we made some cards for some of Becca's friends birthday :) so that was goood.

I came home and then just chatted to Drew for the rest of the night on the phone. Lazybum!

Friday I had college in the morning - just one lesson first thing - but then I stayed and did some revision, and then went to another unit 1 lesson in the afternoon for some more revision. After that I headed home and found my new Torchwood DVDs had arrived - woo! I had horrendous kidney pain last night, but it seems to have eased a little this morning. So I had a bath, dosed up and I kicked back to Children of the Earth for the rest of the night.

Drew isn't too well at the moment so I'm going to head round there soon - Mum said she'll give me a lift so that's a thumbs up - and I'll stay there for the weekend, do a bit of revision and try and look after him :)

Healthwise I have nothing new to report. I changed back from Pregabalin to Amitriptyline again last week and I think that is making some difference. Pregabalin was horrible - it works for some people but I'm not one of them. It didn't help at all with my pain, it made me sleepy and dizzy all the time and I felt so grumpy and irritable. So I'm back on that again - theres no more weight loss, which is good. I haven't gained but I wasn't expecting to. Just good I haven't lost.

That's all - not a very exciting update but, it hasn't really been a very exciting week ;)

Special Christmas with Beccaboo

A few days before Christmas, me Becca had our own little Christmas :) A few weeks before, while we were on our way back to Becca's when she'd been at mine, we noticed the christmas lights in town were really pretty, so we said we'd go into town and take some pictures one night. We did have it planned the week before, but as it turned out I was in hospital so we rearranged and we did it the day I came out.
We went into town and took lots of pictures of all the pretty lights that were up in town, and the big christmas tree. There was a little ice rink and some christmassy huts selling really cute bags and nick-nacks, so we took some pictures round there and Becca bought a soap with a little ducky on :)
Not only that, Father Christmas was on the ice! Once we'd taken a few pictures we stood round the edge to see if we could get a picture with him. So he came over and we asked and then we ended up in his grotto - haa!
So we had our picture taken with the professional photographer and bought the picture along with a keyring each :D Here's the picture;

Here's a few of the pictures we took in town:

Then Becca came back to mine and we warmed up. We had our own little christmas; we opened some presents, pulled some crackers and then had some food :)

My christmas tree :)

Crackers!

Becca mid fall - pulling crackers is a violent game!

Opening presents

This looks like christmas ;) oh the mess!

Becca put my presents in an enormous bag - so this just had to be done ;)

Presents ;D I bought Becca a dress and a hair band :) and Becca bought me a necklace, an engraved bracelet with our "bff padlock" slogan engraved. It says Bff, and then a picture of a padlock ;) aha, genius! A big fifties picture with a car on, and a picture frame with us inside :)

Then we went round to my Grandads to photocopy our picture with Santa, and then I dropped Becca off back home.

I will do another post soon with an update on :) But just wanted to blog this, because it was the best and I missed it in my last post :)
xxxxx

Making a mountain into a mole hill...

Wow - long time no blog! I did intend to keep my blog up to date while I was away, but unfortunately I couldn't log in from my laptop. When I came back to this blog, I had to create a new email address, because I hadn't used that email in so long, it seems it had expired! My current email address already has a google account, so I couldn't use that which left creating a new address as my only option. That's great and works just fine if you can remember it! Which I couldn't. I did try for ages to get back in, but I couldn't so I decided to leave it in the end, and just do a mammoth update when I got back. Only the last few months have been mad and I just never got chance to do that mammoth update.

As the last few months has been absolutely mad, I'm going to try and cut it down - making a mountain into a mole hill ;)

I ended up going down to Manchester on 20th October. They found me a bed on a lovely ward and I stayed there for a month, just as planned :) The ward was amazing, so much nicer than Blackpool and I felt really settled and at home there. All the nurses were lovely and amazing, one or two in particular became very special friends to me.
I met a couple of friends (or "inmates" ;)) in there too which was nice, both in the bed next to mine (obviously not at the same time!) and it was good to have someone to chat to, and someone to cause trouble with.
For the first couple of weeks a shared a small ward with four beds, and then I got my own room :) Mahoosive room, door into the garden and my own bathroom - not bad! You just cannot compare it with the hell hole of Blackpool Victoria.
My new consultant is great :) He was really good and supportive the whole way through. He did however, change the plan a little - though I'm glad of it, as TPN really is not the best case senario. Saying that, the Prof did come and speak to me while I was in there and he say personally he would still prefer TPN.
Anyway, my new consultant decided to try an NG tube (nasogastric) feed. It helped me gain a little weight - albeit very slowly (I've put 2 or 3kg on since admission in October, so it's not a massive weight gain) and it took a long time to bump the feed up to the amount I needed to be on.
Initially I was started on a high energy, fibre free feed. I stayed on that throughout my hospital stay. My energy levels increased once I started the feed, so that was a plus, however I was still feeling very ill. My reflux was awful and I was bringing up the feed. I could only have the feed during the day, because having it led down at night just made me feel too ill and I wasn't able to sleep through it. After two or three weeks, I was put on a waiting list to have a NJ tube (nasojejunal) placed.
This was put in about 5 days before I came home. This was very painful in my nose and throat as it had a double lumin - one left the tube in the stomach and the other in the jejunum. This made the tube really massive - like having a hose pipe up my nose ;). Up until the night before, when the feed was running at 70mls per/hour, the NJ was going ok. I was getting much less reflux, the feed could be run through the night.
However, when I sped it up on the last night I only managed half my feed. I'm still unsure if I had a bug at this stage, as to why I was feeling so poorly, but even so after the bug passed I couldn't ramp it up. I did get to one point where I could run it at 80-90mls per/hour for around an hour or so if I ran it in the evening. But apart from that it had to be run slowly over 16-20 hours. I had a back pack to put it in and I just carried it around with me. It wasn't really too much trouble as long as I wasn't trying clothes on in a shop ;) Also it was a bit of a pain at college - it has to be carried on my back so its kept straight and stable and doesn't swing the feed around and collect air bubbles - but my college bag weighs an absolute ton so carrying that around in my hand rather than on my back was bloody awful. Not only that, after being home no longer than 3 days did it decide to block. This became a bit of a problem over the coming weeks. In my personal opinion its the supplier of the feed around here. Often my tube would go unflushed all night if I was feeling poorly and couldn't handle a flush whilst I was in hospital. They used a different supplier in Manchester to my local area and if I didn't flush it within 5 minutes of disconnecting (it was a push if it even lasted that long!) it would block.
The first night it blocked, we spent hours in A&E (at Blackpool Vic. :|) they looked at my tube like it was some sort of spacegear from the future. They tried to flush it with cold water - just as I had done at home and even doing that - I had to show them how to do it. So we gave up and came home - I rang the ward on the way back. They said the only thing they could suggest was warm water (which we had already been doing)  and coke. But it still wouldn't budge. So they handed over in the morning, and the news was that it was passed on to radiology. I went into college the next day (this was tuesday) and it was so good to be back :D Seemed that I hadn't fallen behind really at all. I'd been doing work while I was in Manchester and it had given me something to do really, which was good. The problem has been since I've been back, I've just felt like I've been falling behind and the work just keeps mounting. I seem to get one piece done, and then find myself with 3 more.
Anyway, we still hadn't heard from the hospital to let me know what was going on with my tube. The pain was getting unbareable. It seemed to get better in my nose but worse in my throat, to the extent that I was struggling to swallow - so I took matters into my own hands the next day. I rang the hospital and asked them to put my through to radiology. To cut along story short it ended in "Ok - just come down and we'll do it now" - Cool!
So this time I told them I wanted a smaller, single lumin one. So they found one and put that one in and the pain much improved.
After that it was pretty much just lots of college, I can't think of anything else I did that was of any excitement. I finished my christmas shopping, wrapped presents, prepared for christmas and all that sorts of stuff.
I've struggled a little with college. My energy has been so low. I usually finish any work that I don't manage at college, in the evening but I just wasn't managing that. College was so tiring that finishing my work was such a slow process and it just kept mounting. I needed to do my Maths coursework urgently so spent pretty much two days solidly at college doing this - it was such a relief to get it finished, let me tell you! Exam wise in Maths, I was doing terrible. I got a U on my mock - I've never had a U in anything before. So that knocked my confidence massively and I've began panicking. Like I said, the problems seem to have arisen since going back - I was keeping up just fine while I was in Manchester. I need to be getting my Health and Social Care coursework from last year redone and I've just done pretty much none of it. Plus the fact I'm facing the prospect of typing it all up again because my memory stick has smashed and theres not much to be salvaged on the computer. I just cant wait to get these January exams out the way.
My new tube lasted a couple of weeks before the pain in my throat started again - this time it was worse and in the end I couldn't swallow at all. I couldn't eat the little bits of food that I was managing and I couldn't tolerate much feed either cause I was feeling so sick so I began losing weight. In the end, I pulled it out in the middle of the night and went up to Manchester for them to sort the pain out. I missed the last few days of college (which I'm not that concerned about, because not much went on) and I missed a University interview/selection process at UCLan. However, they were really good about rearranging this at the University, so I'm going back for it on 25th. They diagnosed it as being an ulcer in my gullet and left it out for a few days while it healed. My tube stayed out for about 5 days before they put it back in again. I was put back on F14 again and got to see all my lovely friends on there which was so nice :D
I decided to take the opportunity to talk with my consultant and dietician about the feed. It wasn't making me feel any better and I was struggling with the speed of it going into my JEJ so we changed tactics. I went back on the NG tube again, but this time tried a semi-elemental feed. That went much better and I even managed it in the night. It by no means cured, but it was a million miles better than the old feed into the Jej. The pain was fine at first, but then the next day it came back. I also had an ACTH test that my consultant has wanted me to get done - it tests your adrenal gland, as it was something my consultant wanted to look into due to how responsive I am to steriods. I was waiting to have it done anyway on a day admission I have coming up but they got it done while I was in hospital but they managed to fit me in for it the morning before I went home.
I was discharged a couple of days before christmas which was just in time to get last bits of shopping and wrapping done and relax.
Christmas was lovely, I spent it with my family and Drew came over on Christmas Eve and stayed until 27th. We opened presents at home in the morning, then me and Drew went round to my Dad's to see my other family and do a bit more present opening and then back to my Grandma's for lunch.

Me and Drew at my Grans

The family :)

 Mum always drags us out of bed way too early on Christmas, and so in the afternoon, me and Drew both fell asleep to Sherlock Holmes (the old series) which I bought him for Christmas. I did very well for presents, Drew got me a new outfit and a coat, my Mum and Nige got me clothes and lots of other goodies, my Grandma and Grandad got me shoes and clothes. Also, my Mum and Nigel, and my Grandma and Grandad - both went halves on paying for my sky dive! Wow! My dad got me lots of nice goodies as well as money and... a Torchwood box set!
I'm massively into Torchwood at the moment - I've watched it on TV but I've never watched a series all the way through, only catching bits of it. I got series 1 for my birthday (18th not 19th!) but I've only just got round to watching it lately. So now I can't get enough of it. John Barrowman is pretty good ;) I've now watched all of Series 2 and I've ordered the next two series with my christmas money. Looking forward to those coming :) Drew's also got me into Doctor Who lately as well - I'd actually never seen it before. I'm quite liking that, but it's nowhere near as good as Torchwood ;)
The day after boxing day, Drew went back to Preston. I went back with him for the day and we mooched around town and went to our favourite cafe in town, where I managed to have a bit of soup :D
Between Christmas and New Year I crammed in loads of revision. My Uncle Howard was staying down at my Grandma and Grandads from 27th so for the next two days I worked pretty solidly on Maths with him. I feel like I'm picking things up a little bit, but I'm still nowhere near getting enough and theres plently of papers I feel like giving up on - so I'm just going to keep practising. I've also got myself a session with a tutor tomorrow, and maybe I'll have another one as well before my exam. So I'm hoping with all this help I'll pull it off.
The day after I got back from Drew's, the pain in my throat was really bad again. I couldn't swallow and I kept choking so I pulled it out again. The plan now is to leave the tube out, and then they will see me next week as I'm going for a capsule endoscopy. Hopefully then we will have a new plan with regards to nutrition. At the moment I'm feeling really low on energy due to my lack of nutrition and I've already lost a 1kg.
I had a lovely new year down at Drew's. We went out to a pub near Drew's, and although we did plan on mooching around some other bars, we ended up staying at the same one because we were having a nice time in there and there was a good atmosphere :) There was a little text-in screen, where you could text in some messages to, so Drew did me a couple of lovely ones, I did him one and then we both did one and took a picture of it for Becca.

Me and Drew at the pub on New Years Eve

We had a really lovely night and I just had a nice time being with Drew over those three days. We chilled most of the time, watched Doctor Who (Drew bought the box set on New Years eve when we went out) and I did lots of revision.
I came home from Drew's yesterday - he went back to work today and has college tonight, and since I've just chilled again.
I say chilled, but I've spent all day doing revision and then all evening writing this update.
I also found out this afternoon that one of my lovely friends from hospital has passed away. It was a big shock, but she was very poorly though she was such a trouper! We had endless fun causing mischief on the ward - marching around with our matching pumpstands, sorting everybody else out and keeping "the wicked witch" in her place. One of my favourite moments with Catharine has to be when Fran (one of our nurses) was setting up our feeds and showing us how they worked. Fran has a beautiful African accent, and I cannot tell you how much it amused us to hear her say "Get all dat air oot, or yo' wil be fatin' al nayt!" (farting all night). What I will remember her for though is her attitude! We had one seriously awful woman share a bay with us at one point. She was playing up during the day, Catharine had been eager to give her what for, but she was too poorly during the day. When she perked up in the evening she told me how gutted she was, when the witch was playing up that she couldn't get stuck in. So when said witch fired up in the middle of the night Catherine gave her a piece of her mind. It gave both Catherine, and the rest of the ward great satisfaction and it was hilarious!
Thanks for keeping me sane, making me laugh and being a lovely friend to me, Catherine. I'll be thinking of you always and I could never forget you!

I'm back at college tomorrow so I'm going to go and put my pyjamas on and try and get an early night. Hopefully get all my revision done for my unit 1 exam on Wednesday next week - I feel like I'm getting nowhere with it at the moment. I still have so much to cover :( So I'm going to set myself a target of getting at least 2 topics covered a day and also doing a past paper. I'm also trying to spend an hour or two on my Maths each day so that hopefully I'll be prepared for those exams, especially my Core 3.

This was more of a "Mountain into a ...smaller mountain" but I have been away a pretty long time.