Oh Dolly, I hear ya but, make a living we must, I need to keep baby Lulu is shoes!

So, over the last few months I have been prodded, poked (*snigger*), biopsied, MRI’d, CT scanned, blood tested and x rayed , become a regular at Stoke Mandeville Hospital (an average of twice a week!) Seen five consultants from five departments across four hospitals and now, having looked at all the test results and at all my symptoms a treatment plan had been put in place that I am happy with. It deals with my various conditions and diseases and hopefully will get me fighting fit again, or at least conscious and walking. So I decided it was time to go back to work. I spent three weeks preparing myself and I worked my ass off to be the best version of myself when I got there, healthy, energised, organised and happy.

I understand that these things don’t just happen by themselves so I put in place some things to help me get to that ‘place’. I took the plunge into learning how to meditate and did an intensive private course with a lovely lady called Emma, she trained with Zenways. It was brilliant and I am now on day 15 of a 30 day meditation challenge, Emma and few of her other clients are doing a 100 day challenge, if you miss a day you go right back to day one again – now that is what I call  incentive to keep going.

I bought myself the Magimix blender that I had been coveting for months (thanks to Deliciously Ella blog) in order to make smoothies to have along side the juicing I already do. I started getting weekly Abel & Cole deliveries. Initially I got the Green Juicing box and a medium Keen Cooks fruit & veg box. Since I’ve been poorly I cant guarantee when I will be able to leave the house or when I can drive so having the boxes delivered every Monday takes the pressure off and they are great quality  and value for money. But I now have changed to small Keen Cooks box as I couldn’t get through all the produce and am now trying the Smoothie and juicing box. I already have a monthly big delivery from Tesco on payday that includes the heavy stuff, washing powder, cat food, loo roll, tins of bean and pulses etc. Essentially all pantry, fridge and freezer goods.

I put of weight with the help of the steroids – thanks for that, not. But instead of wearing my usual clothes that felt tight and uncomfortable I decided to give myself a break and bought some cheap and cheerful dresses at Boohoo a size larger than usual and they fit perfectly, I’m not going to beat myself up about gaining weight, I’ve been poorly and denying myself chocolate was not high on my list of priorites. My delightful beautician came over and de haired me, bikini line and all and the wonderful Miss Merx come over and gave me a blissful mani and pedi. These are not things that I do all the time, I do not have lots of spare money,  who does? but it was important to me so I treated myself. And I felt great for having done it. I’ve found a wonderful dog sitter who Livia will spend Mondays with and a holiday in Grenada coming up in June to look forward to so all in all this return to work lark hasn’t been too bad!

My first day back was Wednesday last week and it was daunting, like being the new girl again, but it was actually really lovely to be back. I really enjoy my job and the people and I work with and I’m lucky enough to work with one of my besties, Alex Reid, so going in rarely feels like a chore. I won’t lie, I’m still not tip top, I’m in pain on occasion, I’m tired and to top it all Lucia has been really since last week, again, and been off school. She threw up all over me as I was leaving for on Friday which meant another shower and 30 mins late but it goes with the parental territory doesn’t it.

And just as if the universe needs to remind me that we really can’t control anything Lucia is still sick and now so is my mum, so I’ve had to stay home to look after Lu!