Smiling Clare

Posting again sooner than expected as I’ve suffered yet another set back in my health. Since the beginning of the new year I’ve been suffering from a very sore throat, being a symptom of M.E. and knowing that with viruses and the festivities have drained my energy resources I put it down to that.

Wednesday night I started having earache so Thursday morning my Mum insisted I go to the Doctors. Of course she’s always right! It turns out I have a severe throat infection, prescribed very strong antibiotics and ordered to rest! Well that’s all well and good but one of the side effects of the antibiotics is difficulty sleeping (which is also an M.E. symptom), I’ve been getting roughly 5 hours sleep each night the past couple of nights. So resting seems to be all I can do without making myself or this illness worse.

I’m finding myself dozing in the evenings, but unable to go to bed til 11 because I have to take an antibiotic at 10:30. (My fault – took the first one when I got back from the doctors at 10:30am and have to take one every 12 hours! I just wanted to start them as soon as possible) During the day I doze, do a little bit of reading, and spend way too much time on social networks! I have managed to do the washing up today but even that simple task has really taken it out of me and I’ve spent the afternoon not knowing what to do with myself – I’m so tired but unable to sleep, I know if I do too much it will only make things worse yet laying here trying to sleep doesn’t seem to be doing much good either.
Also it’s bad to sleep during the day with M.E. because it can totally mess up your sleep pattern so you become nocturnal! Which I don’t want to happen.

Trying to find productive low energy things to do is proving difficult. My next Open University module website opens this week, normally that would mean I’d start studying before the official start to get ahead but this time I’m not sure it will be possible. I suppose I can print anything that needs to be printed as that can be done from the sofa with very little effort on my part!

Hopefully these antibiotics will get rid of this infection and I’ll slowly be able to improve again. Also hope that I will be able to manage to keep up with my latest module…I will try my utmost to do that as it gives me something positive to focus on and the final result of gaining a degree (hopefully!) will be an incredible achievement!

Righty ho, that’s all for now. I’m off to have another doze! I’m hoping that despite my tired state this all makes some semblance of sense! Apologies if it doesn’t!

Well it’s been longer than I planned since I last wrote! Christmas as always was really draining but reasonably enjoyable as well. New Year’s eve was spent curled up under a blanket on the sofa, half-asleep! I hope wherever you were, however you celebrated, that you had a good New Year! I hope 2013 brings health and happiness to all!

I’ve had virus after virus this Christmas and New Year period which has made the festivities even harder to deal with! However I did manage to enjoy myself for at least some of the Christmas traditions etc.

2013 for me is going to involve studying from January right through til October, hopefully be going on a holiday with the family at some point as well – it’s been 4 maybe 5 years since I’ve been on holiday so it’s certainly something to look forward to and aim for! The main problem is deciding on a destination that has everything we need – entertainment on site, a ground floor apartment or chalet or bungalow, and preferably some form of internet access on site because I will probably have to do some studying whilst there! Of course the travelling time/distance plays a part but I think I could cope quite well with a long drive now – definitely much better than I could a few years ago anyway!

I’ve recently decided to take up meditation and mindfulness to help me cope/deal with the pain and everything living with a chronic illness brings. I’m hoping this may also lead to an improvement, as I learn to keep calm and accept the situation I am in. Whatever happens, as long as it doesn’t make me worse I think I shall stick to it.

That’s all I’ve got for now! Posts from now on might be even more sporadic, as I soon start my next Open University module which will take priority over everything else except obviously my health!

Well the start date of my next module T215 Information and Comunication Technologies is drawing ever nearer and this Saturday just gone the first block of materials arrived in the post! The rest of the course material should arrive at the beginning of February.

Pretty apprehensive about starting this course – it’s my first Level 2 module but not only that, it’s the first time I’ve studied at University Level whilst being so ill. A relapse in October and virus after virus this winter have left me more ill then when I first started doing my degree. I’m hoping I will be able to continue my study and hopefully improve health wise as well this year. I’m going to have to be careful not to do too much though as I certainly don’t want my study to make my health worse.

However I am also excited to start this module – not only is it computing and technology it has a fair amount of maths in it! Exponent notation, algebra, and Binary!! I absolutely love that side of things!

I’m hoping to update this blog again soon, but obviously it depends on my health and how well I cope with studying. For now I shall leave you with a picture of the Block 1 books that arrived on Saturday.