Tea and a chat

Having just read The Madhouse's last post, in part about tea I thought I would share this, my favourite tea quotation from William Gladstone...

If you are cold, tea will warm you; 

if you are too heated, it will cool you; 

if you are depressed, it will cheer you; 

if you are excited, it will calm you.

This is so very apt for me, describing my relationship with tea perfectly.  There have been many, many occasions throughout my life when I don't know what I would have done without it, my ever present friend.  I've just read that back and think I sound like a proper sado !

Now that we've done the tea, it's time for the chat.  I feel the need for a good catch up again.  I have been in Devon, without much internet access since last Monday and got back yesterday so feel totally out of touch with you all. So here is a whistle stop tour of what's been going on in my world...

Sewing - I now have a machine ! A Brother ES 2020 if that means anything to any of you.  I had an unexpected little windfall, and rather than fritter it away I thought I would get a machine.  I also have some fabric, and some thread so I'm all ready to start the online sewing course that I subscribed to earlier this month.

Duck Feeding -   I have managed it a whole three times since the new year...not good.  But in my defence we have had inclement weather and I have been in Devon for a week so I'm back on the case, which started with a little outing this afternoon. The Daddy even joined us and we went into the cafe for tea and cake before coming home :D  Easily pleased !

Drawing - miserable failure I'm afraid.  I have flicked through my book and unpacked the box of 'equipment'.  That's it.

Baby Making - An even more miserable failure.  I'm already taking the drugs for another go next month, and will be going for scanning the week after next.  I don't know whether it will work out though as The Daddy has to be away on a  course at the time he may be needed so all in all not good.  I'm REALLY cheesed off as I was convinced we were going to be successful this time.  Unrealistic ?  probably, but that's how I felt.  So cheesed off with it am I that at the moment I am a whisker away from abandoning the whole thing :(  I'm sure I'll get over it...

Last but not least Star has developed a nasty eczema type rash all over his trunk, and less so on his arms and legs.  Nothing on his hands, feet, bum or face.  It doesn't appear to bother him but it bothers me.  It started a couple of months ago with a few small patched and has gradually increased but seems to have gone mad over the last week or so.  I need to get to the bottom of what is causing it but am slightly confused at the moment.  A couple of months ago we started making his porridge with cows milk, and at the time I thought his poo turned slightly green, but my mother said to give it time for his system to get used to it so I persisted with it.  The poo situation improved, and as he has had cows milk formula, yoghurts, fromage frais and cheese for months I assumed it wasn't to blame.  But as it's the only 'untreated' cows milk he's had I am now wondering if it is causing the eczema.  I have started making his porridge with goats milk today to see if that makes a difference, but I'm not convinced it will.  I'm really worried he's developed a dairy allergy, as he has also been quite 'snotty' since he was a baby, and dairy can do this.  We'll see.

For anyone that has tagged me in a meme since the new year, and I know there are a few of you, I do apologise for my tardiness in responding.  I do intend to participate...sometime...

  

 

Tea and a chat

Hereditary Dementia - Would You Want To Know ?

 As you may have read in an earlier post, last year my father was diagnosed with a type of dementia at the age of 62.  I have considered posting about this many times, viewed from many different aspects but each time I have chosen to push it aside.  Having just had my parents staying for a week it is once again in the forefront of my mind and this time it's coming out...be warned this could be a long and depressing post.

My mother had been convinced there was something wrong since before his 60th birthday. The reason his diagnosis took so long was that the type of dementia he has is rare.  Twice he was visited by a psychologist who set him tests which he passed with flying colours.  The explanation my mother was given was that he was just relaxing into retirement and was 'under-stressed', the implication being that without some stress we can't fully function.  Finally he was sent for a brain scan and our fears were confirmed.  Whilst he remains physically very fit and well,  my lovely Dad has already left us.

Dementia, in all it's forms, is a terrible disease and one for which there is very little, if any treatment.  Worse still, relatively little research is being done to find a cure.  If you are unlucky enough to get dementia, Alzeimers is currently your best bet.  There are drugs to delay the progression, and as it's by far and away the most common strain, most of the dementia research is aimed at Alzeimers.  Sadly my Dad doesn't have Alzeimers.  He has Frontotemporal Dementia, a type of pre-senile dementia.  It's called pre-senile as it effects people between the ages of 40 and 65.  One study found the average age to be 56.1 yrs.  I will post another time about the symptoms and how this effects the family as it is quite different to that which people generally associate with dementia.  It can also be an inherited condition with strong links in families.  Whilst we don't know the type my grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother all had dementia...

I'm sure you've guessed where this is going.  Will it be me ?  I am 40 already, and Star is only 1.  Have I passed it on to him ?  Should I have another baby and risk passing it on again ?  How long have I got ?  Will I stay well to see grandchildren ?  To see Star marry ?  To see him graduate ?  To see him finish school ?  To see him start school ?

I feel I've been living in the shadow of this since my father was diagnosed early last year.  The initial panic has passed but I think about it at least two or three times a week, sometimes more.  Every time I forget something...what did I come upstairs for ?  What was I saying ? Every time I drop something...one of Dad's early symptoms was clumsiness.  I don't feel as sharp as I was...is this the result of being a SAHM ? or the pregnancy brain loss not recovering ?  Every time something like this happens the thoughts cloud in... is this the start of it ?  I try to keep busy... with Star, with blogging, with tweeting, anything to keep my mind from wandering...and wondering.

One thought that crosses my mind is whether I would be better off knowing.  Do I carry the genetic blueprint to develop this disease?  Or to pass it on to my children ?  I worry about it now, so maybe if I was to be tested I could either breathe a sigh of relief, or start making plans.  But could I live with knowing what was awaiting my family and me ?  At the moment I have decided not to find out as I just think that to know, whilst watching my fathers decline, would be too much.  But I haven't ruled it out forever. 

We have been told that my Dad has, at best, a year of any kind of quality of life, after which he will almost certainly need full time nursing.  So this year my sister and I are trying to ensure that he does as much as possible.  Last week The Daddy  and I took my parents to Cirque Du Soleil and Chinatown, next month my sister is taking them to Mousehole in Cornwall for the weekend.  In  the summer we are all planning a big family holiday and I'm sure there will be other things organised.  It's very difficult to know how much he takes in, or appreciates, but he seems to enjoy these things, at least superficially, at the time...

If you suspected you may have inherited an incurable, untreatable disease would you choose to face the demon head on, or would you run and hide ?

Hereditary Dementia - Would You Want To Know ?

Why everyone, yes even you, should watch American Idol...

...at least once.  Just give it a try.  I bet you won't be disappointed.

I have noticed a distinct lack of American Idol tweeting and have concluded that this must mean that you are yet to discover this particular joy.  So, in order to satisfy my need to be of service to you all, I will endeavour to explain.


For the completely uninitiated American Idol is rather like the X Factor.  There are nationwide auditions, followed by a weekend in Hollywood to select the finalists.  Then, each week, they all sing and the US public vote for their favourites, with the least popular going home.  And of course, as is inevitable, one of the four judges is The Cowell.


Now, if you're thinking 'I don't even like the x factor' well neither do I !  I don't watch it because the talent is usually somewhat thin on the ground, the hype is unbearable, and the british voting public seem determined to back the novelty acts to the detriment of those with talent.  However, the same cannot be said for American Idol.  The quality of the finalists is so much better that every week there are a number of stunning vocal performances.  There are no 'novelty acts' and generally speaking the weakest are voted out first.  As it should be in a talent contest.


If you do watch X Factor and particularly enjoy the audition stages, this is bigger and better.  More auditions, more deluded and many simply crazy...it's just hilarious, but with some incredible talent too.


So if you are at least intrigued to find out more tune in to ITV2 on Wednesday at 8pm and let me know what you think :-)

Why everyone, yes even you, should watch American Idol...

Bloggers for Haiti

There have already been so many posts on this subject that I'm really not sure I can do a new, or interesting take on the subject, but if I can in some small way simply keep the issue at the front of peoples minds, I'm happy.


For me, one photo in particular really struck home.  

Photo credit

As mothers, I'm sure we all strive to provide the very best we can for our children, and given her situation I felt this woman's pain.  I saw her desperation, her despair, her disbelief, her numbness, her desolation...and I imagined how I would feel if it were me.  If my precious Star was sick, or injured, or cold, or hungry, or thirsty, or frightened...and I couldn't fix it.  


Sadly I can't fix this woman's pain but 'Bloggers For Haiti' are trying to do something to ease the pain for some by raising funds to purchase Shelterboxes. 

Each Shelterbox costs £490  and is a complete rescue package in a box.  Each box contains:

• A ten-person tent with privacy partitions that allow its occupants to divide the space as they see fit
• A range of other survival equipment including thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets, essential in areas where temperatures plummet at nightfall
• Life-saving means of water purification. Water supplies often become contaminated after a major disaster, as infrastructure and sanitation systems are destroyed, this presents a secondary but no less dangerous threat to survivors than the initial disaster itself.
• A basic tool kit containing a hammer, axe, saw, trenching shovel, hoe head, pliers and wire cutters.  These items enable people to improve their immediate environment, by chopping firewood or digging a latrine, for example. Then, when it is possible, to start repairing or rebuilding the home they were forced to leave.
• A wood burning or multi-fuel stove that can burn anything from diesel to old paint.  This provides the heart of the new home where water is boiled, food is cooked and families congregate. In addition, there are pans, utensils, bowls, mugs and water storage containers.
• Each box can be adapted to the individual needs of the disaster area, for example, following the Javanese earthquake in 2006, when some resources were available locally or could be salvaged from one storey buildings, the overwhelming need was for shelter – so ShelterBox just sent tents, packing two in each box.  The box itself is lightweight and waterproof and has been used for a variety of purposes in the past – from water and food storage containers to a cot for a newly born baby.
• And lastly, but I think just as importantly, each box contains a children’s pack containing drawing books, crayons and pens.  For children who have lost most, if not all, of their possessions, these small gifts are treasured.

At the time of writing £1415 has been raised so far which is a truly fantastic sum in less than 24hrs.  If you haven't made a donation to a Haiti relief cause yet, please go to the 'justgiving' page set up at Bloggers For Haiti and help us on our way to another box. 


Thank you.

Bloggers for Haiti

Quick comment on comments

I just wanted to say a little bit about blog comments as it has been playing on my mind.


I am not very good at responding to comments directly but this is no reflection on how I feel about them, and particularly the wonderfully supportive comments I have received recently.  I am SO grateful for anyone that takes the time to even read my diatribes, let alone spend added minutes leaving a comment.  I know only too well how busy you all are.  My problem is simply a lack of time.  


I would like to read every post in my reader, comment on each one, write a post of my own every day, and respond to all comments left for me.  But I can't.  So, please don't take offence, and please, please don't stop leaving your comments x

Quick comment on comments