A lot happened in November. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Here were the key events:
4th November 17 – I went Smoke-Free, Day 1.
Smoke-Free Logo
5th November 17 – I was given the cold shoulder by Dylan. He just walked away from attention to sit with his back towards me. I called him by his name and was ignored.
Blanked by Dylan.
6th November 17 – My week made with the arrival of my pre-orders from Amazon.
11th November 17 – I tried on silly Christmas hats!
Silly Christmas Hats!
12th November 17 – My lovely Grandma passed away. I am sure she is missed dearly by all who knew her. I am also very lucky to have some wonderful memories with her.
My Lovely Grandma.
14th November 17 – I went to the GP about an abscess in my groin. I was given oral antibiotics and told if it gets any bigger I must go to A&E to see a Surgeon.
15th November 17 – The abscess had doubled in size. So went to A&E, was given a dose of IV antibiotics and eventually saw a Surgeon. They decided to operate first thing the following morning.
I had been Nil By Mouth since arriving in A&E at around 1PM and had not eaten since breakfast. They let me go home well after 9pm to eat, rest and with instructions to fast from 3am and be back at the hospital for 8am.
Oh pink…just my colour.
16th November 17 – The day of the surgery. All of the NHS staff were kind, compassionate and understanding. But communication could have been better.
I arrived on the ward at 07:50am and was instructed by a Nurse on the night shift to wait in the waiting room, while the early staff had handover. The night shift Nurse didn’t tell the day staff that I had arrived and meant I ended up waiting over an hour. Apparently staff had been looking for me everywhere.
After the surgery, I didn’t know whether my open wound had been packed or not, because it wasn’t documented in my notes.
It has been uncomfortable, a bit tender and at times painful. I have thanked my family and Steve who have been amazing in supporting me pre and post surgery.
The surgery and waiting for the open to heal has been very frustrating for me.
Everything has had to be put on hold. I’ve had to rest and haven’t been able to do very much apart from watching Netflix, reading and napping. A huge positive is that I have remained Smoke-Free throughout.
17th November 17 – I became super excited after watching a video clip that revealed the title of the new Fantastic Beasts (Harry Potter) film: The Crimes of Grindelwald on Twitter @BeastsMovieUK. The film will be released on 16.11.18.
22nd November 17 – The day of Grandma’s funeral, which was really a celebration of her life. The service was touching and well attended. Grandma’s family and friends came together afterwards to share memories and the many things they will miss about her.
25th November 17 – Day 21 of being Smoke-Free.
Smoke-Free Logo
29th November 17 – Last day working at my old job. I will miss the people and liked the work, but am excited to start my new job.
What’s new? Lots. In this blog post I’ll be telling you all about new things I’ve bought (or been treated to by others), my latest batch of homemade and handmade candles, my experience of using Bipolar UK’s eCommunity, attending my local Bipolar Support Group and dealing with a change to my medication.
Things
I’ve got quite a number of new things recently. I saved up and bought-in-bulk the following Dorothy Morrison candles and oils from The Angry Cauldron:
Photo above is of my candle collection.
Photo above is of my oils chest. Included are Dorothy Morrison limited edition oils and other essential oils.
My old hoover started making sounds like it was going to explode and takeout half of the town with it. So I bought a new one:
My New Hoover bought on Amazon: VYTRONIX VTBC01 1400w Compact Cyclonic Bagless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner HEPA Hoover
My mum recently got a new sofa. She kindly gifted me her old sofa. It was really appreciated as my old sofas were knackered. To protect the leather from scratches by my cats, I bought throws and rubbed lemongrass essential oil on the sofa in places they would be tempted to scratch. Cats don’t like lemongrass essential oil or at least mine don’t. I also dug out some old cushions to match the throws.
Here are the results, a lovely sofa and chair, which are both like new:
New sofa with brown throw and red & gold cushions.
New sofa chair with red throw and red & gold cushion.
My birthday came and went without any real celebration. Lots of people gave me money, which I am going to save for when I go away for a night in June.
But for the May full moon I’d burned one of my Dorothy Morrison Hot Damn candles. I had a load of wax remains on my altar and then came up with an idea: What if I bought a Wax Melter and burned the remains? I saw this gorgeous Yankee Candle Wax Melter on ebay and couldn’t resist:
This gorgeous Yankee Candle Wax Melter was what I bought with some of the money I got for my birthday. The orange wax burning is the remains of a Dorothy Morrison Hot Damn candle (purchased from The Angry Cauldron).
A good friend of mine got married yesterday. I needed a suit for her Wedding and I picked up this stylish and absolutely bargain priced suit:
I bought this Charcoal Grey suit from ASDA for a bargain price of £50 (£35 for the jacket and £15 for the pants) for a friend’s Wedding. It looks exactly like a Next suit but was probably around one third of the price.
Candle Creation
In January I made a batch of homemade and handmade White Champagne & Strawberry candles. I couldn’t blog about them at the time because a number were reserved as gifts for people. I gave one to my mum for Mother’s Day, one to my Grandma for her 75th birthday, one to Simon and two to my friend for her Wedding. Here is a photo of one of my candles:
My latest batch of handmade and homemade candles. They are White Champagne & Strawberry Candles in a 500ML mason jars.
I’ve completely run out of wax and fragrance. I’m hoping to do a batch of orange Pumpkin Spice candles and possibly repeat the red Hot Cinnamon candles.
The eCommunity is an active forum/message board where users (who can be people with bipolar or friends or relatives of someone with bipolar) can ask one another questions, share experiences and share helpful information. It’s free to use, open 24 hours and 7 days a week, and goes a long way to reduce isolation people with bipolar can experience.
I regularly check the forum and have posted there and replied to the posts of others. You can access Bipolar UK’s eCommunity here.
My local support group meets once a month. It took a lot for me to go along to a meeting, but I’m so glad I did. Nobody can understand bipolar or a mood disorder as much as someone who lives with it.
The facilitator and all participants of the group that I have met have been really friendly. I have found conversations there to be very useful and learned a lot just by listening and talking to others.
My group isn’t well attended and I think Community Mental Health Teams could do more to promote these local support groups (both in terms of posters/leaflets in waiting rooms and speaking to patients about them). These groups are free to access and go along way to reduce isolation. You can find your local Bipolar Support Group here.
Medication
I’ve recently started on Venlafaxine (antidepressant).
I’ve been in a depressive episode since at least last November. So I’m currently in the process of cross tapering, off Mirtazapine and on to Venlafaxine (NHS). So far the side effects of Venlafaxine have been quite severe. My side effects have included:
Dilated (large) pupils.
Daily headaches.
Being tired but wired.
Waves of nausea & dizziness.
Decreased appetite (not always a bad side effect).
Huge yawns.
Apparently Venlafaxine withdrawal is very severe. So I have two hopes for this medication. One that it improves my mood. Two that it is several years before my brain develops a tolerance and I have to be weaned off it and on to something else.
I’ve had a lot going on in my head recently, so much so that I decided to write my thoughts out as a mind map. The idea was to offload my thoughts on to the paper. I’ve written this blog post for the same reason. So this blog post is about me and mainly written for me.
Here is the mind map:
A mind map of thoughts to show what’s going on in my head.
As you can see I quickly ran out of room on the paper. So here’s the list of just some of the thoughts going on in my head:
My Brother after his recent spinal surgery – He is now in recovery. I am relieved that his surgery went well. But I worry that he’ll push himself too hard, as sometimes he thinks he’s indestructible.
My friend whose mum recently passed away – It was an expected death. His mum was 87 years old and had been in ill health for the last few months. She’d had a long and happy life and been in good health for most of her life. But it was still his mum. I have thought about my friend and his family often since I heard the news earlier this week.
How good my new Dorothy Morrison candles & oils smell – For several months I’ve been putting in small orders with The Angry Cauldron, ordering a few Dorothy Morrison candles and oils each month. A few weeks ago, I paid combined shipping and my orders arrived earlier on in the week:
Photo above is of my candle collection.
Photo above is of my oils chest. Included are Dorothy Morrison limited edition oils and other essential oils.
Need eyes testing – I’ve not had an eye test by an Optician for a while. The Optician has sent two letters. Need to sort this out.
Vodafone letters wrongly stating I owe money – Vodafone have apparently sold a £100 debt of mine to another company. The problem is that I don’t owe Vodafone any money. I left Vodafone two years ago (in May) and everything was paid in full by Direct Debit. I have the bank statements to prove it.
The good time had at Grandma’s 57th Birthday meal – The family met up for my Grandma’s 75th birthday. We went for a meal in one of my favourite restaurants. I had a great time and have found myself frequently thinking of the family and the meal.
Week Off Work – I’ve got a week of annual leave coming up. I can’t wait. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to spend my time during that week off.
My friend’s Wedding in May – I’ve been thinking about what to wear, what to buy as gifts and what to take with me to the hotel (I’ve booked a 2 night stay in the hotel where the wedding is taking place).
What I’d do if I won the euromillions jackpot – The euromillions jackpot has been won quite a few times by UK winners this year. At the moment it keeps rolling over, making the jackpot prize bigger and bigger. So for the last few weeks I’ve been buying tickets and fantasising about what I’d do if I won the euromillions jackpot.
Electricity Final Bill – I misread my final electricity bill from SSE. I saw a credit on my account and not the debt balance that was in green. Easily done. But has meant that I have to find over £200 to pay the final bill.
I’ve left SSE via uSwitch for two reasons. Firstly because they didn’t take enough money by Direct Debt, so I was always in debt with them. I had repeatedly asked them to increase the Direct Debit, but they never did. The second reason was to save £50 per year.
Need to get rid of old sofa – My mum is kindly giving me her old sofa when she gets a new one. This is great because my sofa is on its last legs.
Man with a Van for new sofa – See above.
My Depressive Episode (December 2016 to now) – In December I started having some difficulties with my mood. I put it down to Christmas and being busy. My mood problems continued in January, with me noticing more symptoms. Again I put it down to busyness. In February I started talking to my GP about it. Fast forward to this week and my GP has referred me to my local Community Mental Health Team to review my medication.
The result of this depressive episode is that I’ve been working, eating, bathing, sleeping (terribly) and doing nothing else. Very little reading. Practically no creative output including no writing, no blog posts and even no thinking about them. Depression makes you feel empty, no ideas, no inspiration, no motivation, no energy and no drive.
I have been mediating more often, taking more time to relax and tried to do more of the things that I like.
My car needs a clean – The inside of my car looks like a shanty town. This is one my signs and symptoms of depression.
Candle Making: Pumpkin Spice orange candles – I really want to make a batch of Pumpkin Spice scented orange candles for Samhain (Halloween). I have the perfect jars to put the candles in. But I need supplies and that means I need money. Despite not having the money or energy/motivation to make them now, I like to think about them. How good they would look. How good they would smell.
John Smith from The Dead Zone by Stephen King – I’ve been slowly reading The Dead Zone by Stephen King. It’s about a guy called John Smith who recovers from a coma and can see the future by touching people or things. What I can’t get over is the main character’s name. John Smith. The story makes clear from the outset that he is an average guy. So using such a common place name to represent that he’s an average guy is not required. It strikes me as lazy on King’s behalf. It’s a great story, but is let down by John Smith’s name.
My New Hoover bought on Amazon: VYTRONIX VTBC01 1400w Compact Cyclonic Bagless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner HEPA Hoover
Microwave needs replacing – At home things generally break in threes.
First the hoover started making noises like it was about to explode and take out half of the apartment block with it, so I bought a new one (pictured left) for a bargain price on Amazon. If you’re looking for a new hoover, then this is the one. It’s compact and the suction is powerful. I’ve been really impressed with it and didn’t realise how bad the old hoover actually was.
Since then the mop has snapped and the microwave has stopped heating up food properly and is rusting. So I now need to buy a new mop and microwave.
I wants – We all have an ego that demands things like a two year old child. On my list of wants right now are the following:
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With Yuletide (or Christmas) on it’s way, I had a week off this week to prepare. Monday I bought a real Christmas tree, named Trevor:
(Click on image for full size image, Trevor was decorated by me at some point in the week!)
I manged to spend time with my Grandma on Wednesday, leaving time for mum on Thursday evening and Saturday. I caught up with my good friend Simon on Thursday as well. In between times, I crammed in my assignment for my Leadership module (see A general update). Finally finishing it yesterday (Friday). So now I can relax, well apart from the last minute Christmas shopping.
My poor laptop is starting to die though, so I had to buy a new one online. Hopefully once it arrives and is up and running I will get back to normal blogging and facebook habits.
The Z-Virus mutates people’s DNA. The majority of infected people become zombies, but a minority seem immune but the virus causes them to develop powers.
At first these powers like invisibility, telepathy and telekinesis aided survival. But as the Z-Virus continues to mutate the powers become more and more destructive.
Forced with no other choice, one group goes in search of a cure. But will they survive the roaming zombie hordes long enough to make an epic journey across the country to find the cure?
Join Alexis, Vis, Chan, Luke, Natalie, Grace, Chloe, Kyle, David and Goliath on this journey in Z-Virus Powers, the first instalment of this three part story.
Are you a Doctor, Nurse, Healthcare Assistant or Other Healthcare Professional? Or a Student?
Ways The Human Body Can Go Wrong covers every system of the body, what can go wrong when the body malfunctions or fails, symptoms (including why these happen) and cures/treatments available.
It includes knowledge around essential skills for Clinical Excellence such as Assessment, All Age Observational Norms, Models of Care, Communication/Handover Tips, the role of Specialities, Medication Tips, Dealing with Errors, Documentation Advice and a list of Useful Resources.
It is written in plain English, but highlights important medical terminology. It has been written at a level where someone from a non-medical background can pick it up and learn, but that it is still valuable to those with significant Clinical Experience.
My dear friend Roy decided to follow in his family’s footsteps and enlist in the Royal Navy.
I wanted to maintain our friendship, to continue to support Roy, to make him laugh and to entertain him. So I came up with the idea of sending him a weekly email on random topics.
These emails were on a variety of topics, always being entertaining, sometimes being interesting, sometimes funny and occasionally being serious.
Topics included: Jokes, Puzzles, Inspirational Quotes, Future Technology to Be Excited About, How to Fight A Shark, How to Woo A Turtle, Some of the Most Amazing Jobs in the World, Facts About Castles, Do Aliens Exist?, The Kindest Humans, A List of Cakes, 13 Weird Body Facts, 20 Super Space Facts, Ancient Egyptian Curses, 10 Weird Olympic Games, The Great Emu War of 1932, Quiz: Flags of the World, Legendary Characters from the UK and others.
My Royal Navy Friend is a copy of these emails. In total, there are 52 emails. Dispersed throughout the book are also Royal Navy facts and stories.
This workbook has been designed for anyone that is struggling with alcohol or has struggled with alcohol in the past.
It is written in a Motivational Interviewing style, one of the key therapies used to support people with alcohol issues. It has been designed using a trauma-informed approach and is strength–based.
What you will find in this book is more than just worksheets about alcohol. You’ll find all the tools someone needs to get into recovery from alcohol and stay there. It’s a therapy-based book, not an alcohol-based book.
SpellCast is a comprehensive compendium of spells, oils, charms and talismans. It is purely a book about magic, folk magic for the 21st century. The spells are ones that are tried and tested, with some that will stand the test of time.
In SpellCast you will read about the power of Instant Magic, of Banishment & Bindings, Blessings, Cleansing, Communication, Death, Employment, Finance & Money, Fertility, Friendship, Happiness & Joy, Health, Love & Relationships, Luck Magic, Protection, Transformative Magic and WishCraft.
This book will change your life. Your life will be abundant in all meanings of the word.
This book contains everything that you need to know about mental health and mental illness. Mental Health Wisdom is divided into three sections.
Understanding is section one and is all about the facts of mental health.
In section two, Empathy Through Lived Experience, the author shares his personal experience of mental illness.
Life Hacks is section three. It’s all about self-care and quick and easy ways to improve your mental health, prevent mental illness or relapse of mental illness.
Mental Health Wisdom contains everything that you need to know about mental health and mental illness.
Mental Health Wisdom is divided into three sections.
Understanding is section one and is all about the facts of mental health.
In section two, Empathy Through Lived Experience, the author shares his personal experience of mental illness.
Life Hacks is section three. It’s all about self-care and quick and easy ways to improve your mental health, prevent mental illness or relapse of mental illness.
If you find my blog educational or entertaining, please consider making a purchase or donation on Ko-Fi.
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