Monday 29 February 2016

LIFE AS IT IS This week in... Feb 2016 - Tummy Troubles (3)

Don't assume a woman is pregnant - even if she looks six months gone...




Looking down at my abdomen and again in profile - the bloating has become more severe of late. I wake in the morning and my tummy is normal. I drink a glass of water, and oh yeah up she rises. I'm wondering if an ulcer alone could possibly be responsible for this reaction? To help combat it - together with the wonder drug Omeprazole which heals the stomach lining - I started a probiotic, but rather wonderfully, all that brought me was a commonal garden bird. FFS. Oh, and I had to dig the nit comb out - although that itch was more than likely due to a new hair product: Some mousse I bought in a bid to inflate my lack lustre locks. Perhaps I'm allergic to that? While I'm on the subject of hair, last week I took the scissors to mine and I'm feeling quite lopsided now, wearing a rather unsteady base line chop which I'm viewing positively by calling it texture. Funny thing is, I go to the hairdresser, no one says a word, I do it myself and I've had a plethora of praise. Are people being kind do you think? So as my LIFE AS IT IS bumbles along, I do have one positive to mention about the fact that I'm looking very pregnant these days... I'm getting offered a seat on the underground every time. Chivalry appears to be very much alive and kicking - unlike the baby within.

Saturday 27 February 2016

Struggling to give up the booze - A poem - Tummy Troubles (2)

Don't ask me how it's going - it's only been one week.
Truth is, it's bloody hard and I'm feeling very weak.
Friday night was hardest but even Monday wasn't great,
And now that it's the weekend, I'm thinking of my mate.

Not the one dressed to the nines and heading to the Ritz,
Who'll later neck Dom Perignon and get right off her titz.
Nor the one that's laden down with Cristal, Cru and Boli,
White wine, red wine, and rose, sitting in her trolley.

Saturday 20 February 2016

Coeliac V Stomach ulcer - Tummy Troubles (1)

So they go in looking for coeliac disease, and they come out finding a stomach ulcer.

Good job that I gave up coffee. Not so good that I left it so long.

I'm convinced it's the sheer amount of coffee I consumed year after year that led to an ulcer.

Oh and stress of course. For motherhood and my Life As It Is has certainly been stressful at times. Goodness, you only have to read this or this to see how manic it has been. And what did I nearly always turn to on these occasions? A good glass bottle of wine. Mmm. Like a lot of us do. Alas, no more for me I'm afraid. Doctor's orders.

Tonight will be my last hurrah for a while. Out to a joint 40th to enjoy letting my hair down before I stop drinking booze for 6 weeks. The thought itself is enough to finish me off. I've never been up for a dry January - let alone a dry part Feb, March, and part April. Feck!




A parting thought... and a sobering one at that... endoscopes are not pleasant.

Thursday 11 February 2016

LIFE AS IT IS - Tummy Troubles

Off for a gastro camera today. Not worried about it although I'm sure it won't be that easy to stomach. There's a question mark over coeliac disease. And not just with me.

Fia had cameras both ends a few months ago due to blood in her stools. After almost a year of wondering, they found and removed a polyp that had been 4x2 cms in size. Huge. Certainly for a wee girlie.

Unbelievably (or perhaps not), the hospital phoned me yesterday to say that they had not tested the blood they took last month correctly, and that she will need yet another blood test. It will be her sixth.

So from a mother who has been told her child is not a coeliac, I now wait to find out again. I now have the pleasure of taking her for another blood test.

And I told her there would be no more needles for a very long time.

That's our current LIFE AS IT IS...

coeliac.org.uk

Tuesday 9 February 2016

When all around you is a monstrous sea - A poem

A monstrous sea whips all around,
Waves engulf you whole.
Beyond your depth, fighting for breath,
Totally out of control.

My advice: Open the vodka.



Thursday 4 February 2016

ARCTIC CONDITIONS



There's an unspeakable beauty about a place like this.
And really… seeing is the only way of truly communicating that beauty.
For breathtaking, it renders the observer mute.
And how could one possibly recreate that vision through words anyway?
Visiting for yourself is the only way to understand. 

When she's not off gadding, Freelance travel writer Emma Oliver can be found WritingLifeAsItIs.blogspot.co.uk

Monday 1 February 2016

déjeune en Paris


Paris has a beauty and charm that defies time - yet still it had been far too long since my last visit. So there I was again, invited for lunch. And being lunch in Paris, come on... it was never going to be disappointing now was it? The food and drink - masterfully paired, were an overwhelmingly good onslaught on the tastebuds. I was left wanting more...