Becca Jane St Clair

This week we upped the dose to 5mg! Fiona warned me that the side effects might become worse and I could drop back down to 2.5 if I find I can’t handle things, but honestly? I’ve felt amazing this week with a few small exceptions, but I found nothing unmanageable.

On Monday, we played Traveller with our friends again and so I gave myself the shot fairly late in the evening and then went to bed…and I was glad I did because about 2 hours later I had the worst cramping I have felt in years. It was close to the PMS cramping I used to get when I was younger. I actually screamed and cried from the pain, and I actually have a fairly high tolerance for pain! I wound up taking some Nurofen Meltlets that I keep handy in the bedside table and jacked the bedwarmer up to the pre-heat setting. The pain eventually settled and I went to sleep.

Tuesday started with no appetite. I made myself my usual breakfast and ate barely half. I also started burping again. It was still the “rotten egg” flavour, but it wasn’t as strong as it had been in previous weeks, it was just annoying. I also had a hot flash while I was in town for an appointment and while that wasn’t related to the Mounjaro and had more to do with Perimenopause, I figured I’d include it anyway!

On Wednesday I just wrote “lightly queasy” and tried to explain the feeling to Tim, but I really couldn’t. It was just a generic unwell in the stomach feeling and made me not really want to eat a whole lot.

Unfortunately, Thursday around 2AM I woke up with such burning heartburn I honestly thought I was going to throw up stomach acid. I ran from the bedroom down the stairs into the bathroom without grabbing my phone to use as a torch on the steps or my slippers I was so in a rush to get there just in case. Fortunately, I wasn’t sick, and I finally opened up the box of Omeprazole that I was prescribed back when I started as a “just in case”. I also keep in stock those little cocktail sized cans of Ginger Ale, so I drank one of those and went back to bed. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for the medicine to kick in and I was able to get back to sleep.

Friday led to some constipation, but not bad enough to medicate myself. I just ate some dried prunes (which I now keep on hand!) and had some Weetabix and things were soon normal.

Saturday and Sunday were completely free of any symptoms other than an occasional burp. Perhaps I’m getting used to the medication, or perhaps it’s just that it starts to wear off by Saturday and Sunday! But yeah, I actually felt a lot better this week than I have in the previous four, so either I’m now used to Mounjaro, or my body just tolerates the 5mg better for some reason.

I’m still working on eating better. We haven’t resorted to takeaway or fast food in weeks, and even if cooking sometimes annoys me (I often hate cooking for myself if Tim is at work), I’ve been doing it. I haven’t really pulled out any new recipes yet, but it’s been fun rediscovering old favourites. We also got out the bread machine for it’s inaugural run, after replacing it several years ago when a shelf in the kitchen collapsed and broke the first one. We purchased a new one, but I just never used it. I finally made a box mix, but it was great to actually use it and I look forward to using it more.

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The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission.

There are Amazon Affiliate links within this post. I do receive a tiny commission if you purchase the items.

I have not received compensation from any companies mentioned in my post.

I am not a Doctor or Nurse and the information contained in this blog post is meant for information purposes only. Please consult your GP with any health related questions.

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beccajanestclair
Blog: http://blog.beccajanestclair.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/beccajanestclair

Previous Posts about Mounjaro:
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week One
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week 2
Mounjaro For Tyep 2 Diabetes Week 3
Mounjaro for Thpe 2 Diabetes Week 4
Mounjaro After One Month

I’ve been on Mounjaro (2.5mg) for one month, and just started the 5mg. Even though I was keepnig weekly records and blogging weekly, I wanted to do a monthly check-in as well as there are some things you notice more after a full month.

First, I wish I had kept a food diary alongside the first month side effects. It might have helped me to identify patterns and what foods were problematic. It also would have helped me to discover if I have any deficiencies in terms of eating balanced meals…and I KNOW I have some because I can go through an entire day and not eat any fruit and sometimes the only vegetable I will have eaten was potatoes or tomatoes in pasta sauce. Not deliberate, just how my meals sometimes went. I did try to start my day off with frozen mixed berries thawed out with either Weetabix or porridge, but I also ate Kellogg’s High Protein Bites a few mornings if I felt like something chocolate.

Eating out was hard. I had the warning from Fiona (my diabetic nurse) of “don’t eat chinese food or greasy foods” and the horror stories from friends that eating overly greasy food would cause diarrhea and vomiting. This past month Tim and I had plans on three out of the four weekends – two involving overnights (one in Leeds, one in Cambridge). It was easy on the first day of the weekend trips to at least make sure I ate decently at breakfast before we left and I would do a pack-up lunch for us both. Dinners could have been troublesome, except that we lucked out and stayed next to a Toby Carvery in Leeds so I was able to have a roast dinner with veg (avoided the cheese topped veg!). In Cambridge, we ordered from the Indian restaurant we really like and I was fully prepared to have to deal with any aftermath, but I also deliberately ordered Tandoori style chicken – which is dry roasted and comes with salad – and shared a saag paneer with Tim.

Did I want to pop into McDonald’s when I was in town for an appointment and grab some nuggets or a burger? Sure. But did I? No. If I was hungry in town, I either went to Subway and had a salad or I ate at the local bagel shop and had a bagel sandwich. It was important to me to not subject myself to the outcome of greasy food. I’m not saying I was a regular eater of fast food, but it sometimes was a convenient option that is now only to be used in an emergency — like if we have been travelling all day and the only place open at our destination is a 24hr McDonald’s.

I learned about portions. Which, I know sounds crazy as an almost 47-yr-old, but hear me out — I never measured out my food. I just put food on my plate and ate it. But I learned this past month that I don’t need as much food as I thought I did — even a salad, which I love, can be too big if I keep piling the bowl high with veg. I even only drank half (250ml) of a can of Cider! But I’m learning, and that’s the important part.

I had my monthly check-up with Fiona on Monday and before I went in, I took some measurements again. I measured around my belly, my hips, and under my breasts. I lost 3.5 inches overall in the past month as a pleasant surprise. And another unexpected side effect is I lost 5lbs. Like I said from the beginning, I’m not on Mounjaro for the weight loss, but if it happens it’ll be a nice little bonus. I just want my blood sugars under control…even though I never knew they were out of control.

Speaking with Fiona, I was chalking some of the side effects to perimenopause instead of my diabetes like being extra tired, needing to pee more frequently, and having a dry mouth. However, we have decided to check my hormone levels next month when I have my blood work done just to see where I’m at in terms of perimenopause in case I do need support there.

We upped my dose to 5mg now. The current plan is to stay on 5mg for at least 2 months (assuming I can handle the side effects) and then see where we’re at. I might need to go higher, I might not. Someone left me a comment on my Week 1 blog and stated that the NHS doesn’t prescribe above 5mg. I asked Fiona about it and she said that wasn’t true, that you can go all the way up to 15mg if needed, so it might vary from trust to trust. At any rate, I’m hoping I handle 5mg. Fiona said the side effects might increase, and if I find it intolerable, she can drop me back down to 2.5. But I’m going to give it a go. We also checked my blood just with the glucose monitor, which I don’t do at home, and Fiona was pleased with the number, but it still has a bit to come down.

I will continue to post weekly updates at least each time I change dosage for the first month, and then always a monthly update at least while I’m having monthly appointments with Fiona. Once things settle down, these posts will likely only be every three months. (Though I probably need to buy a scale if I’m not seeing Fiona monthly…)

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The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission.

I have not received compensation from any companies mentioned in my post. Some links may contain affiliate links.

I am not a Doctor or Nurse and the information contained in this blog post is meant for information purposes only. Please consult your GP with any health related questions.

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blog.beccajanestclair
Twitter: https://twitter.com/annaonthemoon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beccajanestclair
Blog: http://blog.beccajanestclair.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/beccajanestclair

Previous Posts about Mounjaro:
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week One
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week 2
Mounjaro For Tyep 2 Diabetes Week 3
Mounjaro for Thpe 2 Diabetes Week 4

Pic via Reddit

I wound up giving myself my shot a few hours later than I have been because we were playing Traveller (TTRPG) until around 2100. But I was able to give myself my shot and pretty much head straight to bed. I’m still feeling “funny” after I give myself the shot. I can’t really explain the sensation but it’s near where I give myself the injection and almost as if I can feel the medicine moving through me? I wish I had better words! My back also started to hurt later in bed, but I’m not sure that’s related to the Mounjaro and is more related to our bed being old and my body being old!

Tuesday’s journal entry simply reads “lots of poo”. I think every time I went to the loo, I had to go and I went to the loo a lot on Tuesday!

Wednesday was the worst day out of this week for me. I wound up going in my pants early in the morning (I’m still not sure if this is Mounjaro related or some kind of stomach issue with what I ate the night before). THe diarrhea got to the point I needed to take immodium, and I was having bad acid reflux. I’m not a stranger to acid, so the fact that I wrote down 8/10 indicates that it was pretty rough.

Thursday, I had more heartburn and a very weak stomach ache. Not to the point where it was full-on nausea, and not to the point of needing pepto…just a very dull, light stomach ache.

The surprise came for me on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday though.

I had ZERO side effects. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Even risked it with an Indian takeaway in the hotel on Saturday night and I half expected to need to take something before we met up with our friends on Sunday, but I was surprisingly fine. Am I finally “used to” the Mounjaro? Of course, this is the end of my 4 weeks on 2.5, and I will start on 5mg later today, so we might be in for a whole new round of side effects! But I’ll keep tracking things in my journal, and still write up weekly posts – at least for this first month on 5mg (second month overall). My goal is to hopefully have no symptoms and only need to keep monthly updates, but we’ll see what happens.

***
The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission.

I have not received compensation from any companies mentioned in my post.

I am not a Doctor or Nurse and the information contained in this blog post is meant for information purposes only. Please consult your GP with any health related questions.

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blog.beccajanestclair
Twitter: https://twitter.com/annaonthemoon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beccajanestclair
Blog: http://blog.beccajanestclair.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/beccajanestclair

Previous Posts about Mounjaro:
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week One
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week 2
Mounjaro For Tyep 2 Diabetes Week 3

Cosplaying as my Pathfinder Character, A Gnome Druid named Aoife.

Week three was an interesting rollercoaster for me. Just when you think you get the hang of it….bang!

I took my shot in the evening once more. Tim was on nightshift, so this was the first time I did it with no one in the house with me in case anything went wrong. Once again, it left my stomach feeling “funny” for lack of a better word. It almost feels like I can feel the medicine going through me. It’s a weird sensation! I had low level nausea, so I went to bed.

Tuesday started up with the diarrhea again. Not bad enough for immodium, just pepto was needed. I also was really tired and when Tim came home at 0630, I actually went back to sleep and didn’t wake up until I was almost late for GP appointment! I also was really cold all day and after eating dinner I felt like I had overeaten. My stomach felt so full. I took more Pepto and went to bed!

Wednesday was an emotional day for me. I don’t know if it was related to the Mounjaro or if it was Perimenopause rearing it’s ugly head, but I cried over really dumb things again. both Wednesday and Thursday I had no appetite and ate very little. Basically, I ate because I knew I needed fuel, but not because I was actually hungry although on Thursday I also cooked a full batch of Hamburger Helper (from a recipe, not boxed). I wound up freezing pretty much all of it, but at least that meant I had more food in the freezer for future meal options.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were just full of the eggy burps. It was pretty rough as Saturday and Sunday we were out! I was afraid about finding food to eat while we were away, so I made a pack-up of cheese, biscuits, apple slices, and a few other snacks for Saturday. We lucked out staying next to a Toby Carvery on Saturday night, so had a roast for dinner. Sunday was rougher as after breakfast in the hotel, I had minimal options for Lunch. I wound up with poutine, but didn’t eat all of it and it still made me feel a little ill later on.

But today brings shot 4 and the last dose of my first pen. Though I had to google an image to make sure I actually had taken 4 doses because there was a bit left in it!

***
The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission.

I have not received compensation from any companies mentioned in my post.

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blog.beccajanestclair
Twitter: https://twitter.com/annaonthemoon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beccajanestclair
Blog: http://blog.beccajanestclair.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/beccajanestclair

Previous Posts about Mounjaro:
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week One
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week 2

My March 2020 calendar

On 14th March 2020, Tim and I travelled to Harrogate for AireCon. Little did we know that this would be our last trip anywhere for many months, and my last time out of the house interacting with the public for at least the next six months.

COVID was on the horizon. The UK shut down on the 23rd. The NHS advised me to stay away from the public for 12 weeks (how long they thought the pandemic would last). Tim’s job was “essential”. He would go to work and remove his uniform in the hall or bathroom changing into other clothing before entering the living room and seeing me because no one knew if COVID could be transmitted via clothing. People were dying. Shelves were bare.

Meat was scarce

Asda started offering free regular delivery slots to those of us on the NHS shielding list and other grocery stores started following. This was a relief for us, as Tim had been going shopping after he got off a 12 hour shift armed with my list organised by aisle of Tesco and having to ring me when they didn’t have something on my list. It was contactfree delivery, so the driver would leave your groceries on your doorstep. I almost wish they still did that!

We watched the world burn. Friends in the medical field were overworked. Stadiums and concert venues were being converted into mass hospital wards. You know things are rough when the fast food restaurants have to close!

Lockdown did something to my brain. I’m not going to lie or sugar coat it. Things that I once enjoyed I had no desire to do. I stopped writing and even stopped watching TNG for almost an entire year and watched probably every single Disney Channel tween series on Disney+. I stopped reading books, and delved into reading Harry Potter fanfic instead. Not TNG, surprisingly. I stopped cooking real meals and doing kitchen experiments and relied on making frozen “things” – our word for anything that was coated in breadcrumbs and frozen or making simple pasta or rice one-skillet meals. If it was served in a bowl or could be dipped it ketchup, it was my thing.

Slowly, the world recovered. We tentatively opened places up with precautions in place. Travel became possible again as long as you were vaccinated and wore a mask.

We went through a lot of hand sanitizer.

During lockdown, it felt as though everyone was in it to help others. Now? Not so much. All of the togetherness and community we experienced is gone, replaced with hatred. We’ve learned nothing.

But me?

I’m getting better. Slowly. We deep cleaned the kitchen after a burst pipe and I’ve started cooking and baking again. I started blogging again. Maybe, I’ll even start writing again….

***

The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission.

I have not received compensation from any companies mentioned in my post.

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/annaonthemoon
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I didn’t have any other photo for this week.

Last catch-up post, and then I’ll try to post on Mondays about the previous week.

Week 2 started with getting extremely cold pretty much right after I gave myself the shot along with mild nausea and that same feeling “funny” that I just can’t place. I think I once again went straight to bed after giving myself the shot so that I could get warm with the bedwarmer and blankets.

On Tuesday, it was more of the same, only the nausea got a bit stronger and I was extremely tired. Tim left for work at 0600 and I went back to bed and barely got back up when my alarm went off at 9! Not a great start to my week if I’m quite honest.

Wednesday was a better day. I still had a little nausea in the morning when I woke up, but after drinking some ginger tea I felt better. In fact, I felt so much better that I decided to go for a short run! My run turned into more of a walk though as when I started running, my skort started to creep down and I was worried it would fall off. So, it was really a fast walk, but I was really glad to be out there! Especially as when we went to bed that night, I started in with the eggy burps again.

Thursday and Friday have nothing written down because I had symptom free days. I even felt creative on Friday and tried a new recipe….which entirely backfired on me in an explosive way, if you get my drift.

I had decided to make a recipe I had on my pinterest board for years but hadn’t – Honey Sesame Chicken. The recipe naturally called for sesame seed oil…and little did I know that I was apparently extremely intolerant of sesame seed oil. I was awake most of the night sick from both ends. And I’ll be honest with you, I shat myself slightly. Wet farts are no joke! This was horrible as we had plans with friends on Saturday and I really didn’t want to miss it! So, I popped Imodium again and tried to get some sleep.

I made it through the day on Saturday, though I did nap in the car in both directions. Unfortunately, the imoduim wore off and I was sick again, only this time we added the eggy burps back into the mix and I once again had a “wet fart”.

When I woke up on Sunday, I didn’t feel like doing much of anything so I placed an order on Morrisons for same day delivery and went back to bed until about 10 minutes before the order was set to arrive. I made one of my favourite meals for dinner (Lasagna) and we had plenty to put into the freezer for another day.

Roll on week three. We can do this.

***

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links (not sponsored)

The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission.

I have not received compensation from any companies mentioned in my post.

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blog.beccajanestclair
Twitter: https://twitter.com/annaonthemoon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beccajanestclair
Blog: http://blog.beccajanestclair.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/beccajanestclair

Previous Posts about Mounjaro:
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes Week One

I’m going to be real with you and share some very personal details over the coming weeks. If that’s not your cup of tea, please stop reading. But if you want some real, first hand experience from someone using Mounjaro for the first time to treat their Type 2 Diabetes, welcome.

So today is actually the day after shot 3, so I’m backtracking a little to cover weeks one and two, but then there will be weekly updates. I’ve been keeping detailed notes in my journal with what side effects I’m experiencing each day and anything else I feel I need to take note of, and I’m going to use these notes to write my posts. I think keeping track of things like this is a great way for someone to remember things that happened to them, so if you discover a pattern or have something you want to ask your nurse about, you have it written down. (I also keep a list of pretty much all illnesses and perimenopause symptoms to help identify patterns)

I am starting on the lowest dose, 2.5mg and then after four weeks we will be increasing my dosage to 5, then possibly to 7.5 and on up if I need the higher doses. But let’s talk about week one.

I was…surprised. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I made sure I had dinner before I gave myself the first shot as I read it could cause nausea and I didn’t want to make myself sick with the first dose. Sticking myself with the needle was easy and it barely feels like a pinch. The cold medicine going through your body? a very weird sensation. I can’t even describe the feeling other than to say I immediately felt “funny”. Not nausea, not dizzy, just…funny.

We went home and went to bed.

The following day, the constipation hit. I opted against taking any medicine for it and just drank lots of fluids, including a high 5 electrolyte tablet. I woke up at 2AM on Wednesday having the nastiest, eggy/sulphur burps that I’ve ever had. I honestly thought I was going to throw up but fortunately I didn’t. My body then gave me the opposite of constipation and I wound up taking Pepto Bismol just so that I could get back to sleep!

Later that day I needed to go out on the bus into town and I noticed I felt a little motion sick if I tried to look at my phone on the moving bus. I don’t actually suffer from motion sickness, so this was new! Fortunately, that didn’t last long and it was only on this day that it happened.

My notes for Thursday just say “eggy burps” about three times, so it must have been bad. I remember it even woke Tim up it was so foul smelling and the sound! I don’t know if you’ve ever had an eggy burp, but they don’t sound like a normal BRAAAARP kind of burp. The closest I can compare it to is a bull frog croak. Something really loud and echoing and just unpleasant all around. I took some LeFax powder we always bring back from Germany* and went back to bed.

On Friday, the diarrhea got worse and I needed to take Imodium. I also had really hot, red cheeks with no fever, but I’m also Perimenopausal, so it could have been unrelated!

Saturday and Sunday were both side-effect free days, which was expected as the medicine was dwindling down in my body.

Throughout the week, I noticed one BIG thing — I was feeling full with less food. I wanted less food. Now, I’m not the kind of person who experiences “food noise” and in fact until I started taking Mounjaro I hadn’t even heard of the term. I only think about food if I’m making a meal plan or actually hungry and deciding what to eat. Food has never really been constantly on my mind, even if being on Slimming World seemed to want to force that in the past. But this week, I found myself filling my plate with less food than usual but then also leaving a quarter to a half uneaten and put into the freezer for later. A few nights I ate Weetabix with yogurt and berries for dinner because I wasn’t overly hungry but didn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night hungry.

The other side effect I’ve been experiencing that I didn’t know existed is feeling extremely cold. I mean, it is still kind of Winter here in the UK, and I do tend to get cold extremities due to poor circulation so my feet tend to be cold a lot…but I was absolutely freezing. Adding on socks on top of socks and cardigans on top of jumpers with a blanket on my lap. I used the pre-heater on the bed most nights this week even if it wasn’t that cold out.

All in all, There was nothing unexpected for me to deal with and I feel like things are going smoothly. Of course, the real test will be after week 4 when I have my bloods tested to see if there’s been any positive change, but I feel like there will be.

***

*Once when we were travelling, we both became ill with what we can only assume was food poisoning and when I went into the Apotheke and described the symptoms, the pharmacist reccomended this product and we’ve been bringing it back with us ever since.

Some links in this post are Amazon Affiliate links (Not sponsored).

The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission.

I have not received compensation from any companies mentioned in my post.

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blog.beccajanestclair
Twitter: https://twitter.com/annaonthemoon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beccajanestclair
Blog: http://blog.beccajanestclair.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/beccajanestclair

Previous Posts about Mounjaro:
Mounjaro for Type 2 Diabetes

Mounjaro Pens. Pic via Shutterstock

Back in September, I had surgery on my leg to drain a very large abscess. When I went into hospital and they took my bloods, it came back that my blood sugar was extremely high for a diabetic on Metformin and they had to put me on a sliding scale for insulin before they could even attempt the surgery. This triggered alarm bells, but not very big ones as having an infection can obviously spike your blood sugars and I hadn’t taken my Metformin the night before or morning of surgery.

The wound healed, but it caused a Hidradenitis Supperativa flare in my groin from where the dressing had been sticking. I’m still seeing the wound care nurse, and she put in a request to my GP to have it looked at to determine if I needed a second surgery (I hope not!) or further meds to clear it up. I received a week of antibiotics and a message to “please make an appointment”.

Now, we all know how hard it can be to schedule GP appointments at the best of times, so I scheduled an appointment for three weeks from then, figuring if they needed to see me sooner they would contact me. I assumed it was regarding the HS, but I was wrong.

My appointment was with the new diabetic nurse who had been reviewing all of her new patient files and she discovered that my blood sugars had been on the rise for FIVE YEARS, pushing me from barely diabetic (I originally got diagnosed by accident when I was getting diagnosed with PCOS) to fully diabetic. No one told me.

To further complicate the matter, some Metformin was easier to swallow than others and sometimes I would get sick within an hour of taking the Metformin and we couldn’t be sure if the pill was coming back up as well. But it was obvious my body did not tolerate Metformin as well as it used to….so the nurse suggested Mounjaro.

I was familiar with Mounjaro as far as knowing it was a diabetic drug that people were buying OTC from online pharmacies to assist in weight loss as the NHS would only prescribe it for the treatment of diabetes or extreme/morbid obesity. I also of course had seen all the online articles about Mounjaro, Wegovy, etc. and the horrific side effects being discovered. So Fiona (my diabetic nurse) put in for the prescription for me and we scheduled another appointment for a week’s time and she told me to write down any questions that popped into my head to get things sorted and then I would decided if I wanted to do it and she would supervise my first jab. She also assured me that the side effects for weight loos and for diabetic use were different (and the information booklet she gave me indicated this as well)

The Questions and Answers I had:

Do I need to eat low carb? No, I can continue eating as normal
Are there specific foods to avoid? overly fatty food and fried food. I can eat it, but it might make me sick or give me diarrhea.
Can I still take my multivitamin for Perimenopause> Yes
What is the end goal? Will I be on this for life? The goal is to get my blood sugars under control and get them possibly down to below Diabetic numbers. I can choose to stop the medication at that point to see what happens or I can continue to take it.
Does it need to be injected at the same time each week? Only the day is important. I can take it at any time once/wk on the same day
Do I need to monitor my blood daily? No, I will have checks every three months while we figure out the dosage required, then just an annual blood test like usual.

We spent a good half an hour discussing all of the questions above and how I felt about going on a jab. Then Fiona weighed me to get my starting weight. I’m not going to share it here, but it’s been recorded. I initially didn’t want to know what I weighed because of my prior issues when I was on Slimming World, but I decided I needed to know and I wrote it down in my journal. I also took measurements of my belly, hips, and chest to compare with next month.

Then, I learned how to do the jab. I’m a watcher, not a read instruction kind of person, so Fiona mocked putting the pen together and showing me what to do before handing it to me and having me stick myself. Giving the jab wasn’t painful or stressful at all and I barely felt it. Fiona then left the room and returned with a Massive sharps bin and about a dozen bags of needles for me to store. I’m not sure she intended on me storing them in an ice cream bin, but it’s the perfect size and I love the irony:

We had our dinner before my appointment, and I was glad for it as I wasn’t feeling the best after it, so home I went and I went straight to bed.

I’ll make another post with my week one notes.

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Top image from Shutterstock.

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The past year for our family has been…a bit of a rollercoaster. There have been some amazing things that happened, but underneath it all was a level of darkness. I don’t want to give out a lot of details because it’s not my place to decide what information is made public, and of course, out of privacy for people involved.

On Saturday, May 12, 2018, Tim’s younger brother was in a serious cycling accident. He was doing a charity ride up Great Dun Fell with some of his friends. They reached the summit, and then on the descent his bike skidded in some gravel, and came off his bike.

He was airlifted from Cumbria to Middlesborough to the neurological specialists at James Cook Hospital. He was in a coma when he arrived. I imagine they rushed him straight into surgery, but I didn’t arrive until around 10PM.

I had been in Nottingham for the day, planning on seeing Sunny Ozell perform. I was hanging out around the venue when I received a phone call from Tim’s mother that she needed to speak to Tim right away. I can’t remember why Tim hadn’t answered his phone – he might have been on nights and sleeping. I asked if everyone was ok, and only got told that there had been an accident….now, if you know me and know my history – those are words that strike fear in me. Those are the words spoken to my mom and I the day my father died. So….panic.

I texted Tim, PMed him on Facebook, and was nearly about ready to ask my friend with a key to our house to go over and let themselves in to wake him when he responded to me. He spoke with his mother and called me back to tell me he was driving his mom and sister up to Middlesborough and he asked if I could meet him there. So we looked up trains and I figured out a way there, grabbing whatever food I could from the food trolly on the train – I actually remember having a cup of coffee, a kit kat bar, and a bag of crisps. Highly nutritional, let me tell you! I also remember plugging my earphones into my tablet and watching three episodes of TNG on the train as I couldn’t concentrate on reading.

When I arrived at 10, we still had no information. Tim’s brother’s wife and her dad were there along with Tim, his mum, and sister. We finally were spoken to sometime after midnight by the surgeon, and it wasn’t a very pleasant conversation. We were let in to see him, and I think we all thought this was it. Of course, we would have many more moments like this over the course of the year.

We got to a hotel in Middlesborough around 230 in the morning with nothing but the clothes on our backs. The hotel (The Holiday Inn in Middlesborough) was amazing to us. They gave us free toiletries and water bottles, found us a phone charger to borrow, and even gave us a reduced rate. In the morning, we were told to take whatever we waned from the breakfast area, so we grabbed plenty of food for the rest of the family still over at the hospital. I spent about an hour on a Sunday morning wandering around an unfamiliar town centre looking for a Boots and a Primark – Tim needed shaving supplies, we both needed deodorant, and we needed clean clothes. Tim had thrown on the first clothing he could find at home that day, and it happened to be his gardening jeans. Fortunately, I found some inexpensive Cargo pants at Peacocks, and I picked up a clean shirt for myself.

We found out his brain was swollen. They removed part of his skull to allow for the swelling to calm down (he’d get a titanium plate later). He had fluid in his lungs, which turned into multiple lung infections. At one point, doctors asked us to think about “what he wants”. I can look back in the messages I sent to my best friend and read the despair in them.

And thus began our lives for the next six weeks – twice weekly trips to Middlesborough with the occasional overnight and one emergency overnight when the trains were cancelled stranding us in York. We got to the point that we kept a change of clothes in the car with toiletries for Tim in case he needed to go straight from work, and anytime I left the house, I threw in toiletries and clean underwear into my backpack just in case of an unexpected trip up north.

We hated when the phone rang, even more so if it was during “unsocialable” hours. Our lives came to a total standstill, not knowing from one day to the next what was going on or going to happen.
We were both totally drained. Like, barely functioning at this point. Each day when we came home from the hospital, we collapsed into bed for 8-12 hours and then were zombies the next day….only to do it all again a day or two later. Tim took a few days off from work here and there, but we tried to organize our trips up around his days off – which also meant we no longer had a social life. A small price to pay, I know. But being cut off from your friends isn’t very fun, especially when you need their support.

We shortened our Summer holiday. We originally had been planning a two-week trip to visit the Harz, but we shortened it to just one week with full knowledge that we might get called home if anything happened. We still managed to enjoy ourselves, but we also felt so guilty for going away.
A bed became available a little closer to home – Nottingham – and Tim and I were there the day they transported him down, taking with us some of his personal belongings so they wouldn’t get lost in the shuffle.
He stayed there for a few months in different units – at one point he was in his own private room due to the lung infections until he was finally moved to Lincoln.

Now, due to my own illness that seemed to never quit, I haven’t been to see him many times in Lincoln, but Tim tries to go twice per week as long as he’s not at work. Some days are good visits, others aren’t so good.
Parts of it aren’t my story to tell, and I still want to respect his privacy by not putting in too many details, but I did want to write something as we arrive at the one year mark from a life-changing event. Some lives (Tim’s brother, his brother’s wife, and their kids) are changed more than ours, but it’s still very life changing….and we’re only now beginning to come out of the black cloud that seemed to be following us around for months on end.

I’m also extremely grateful we have the NHS. Out of pocket, all the family has had to pay for so far in regards to his hospital stays has been parking at the hospitals, food/transportation/lodging to visit (We personally probably spent around £500 those first weeks), and that’s been it. All of Ben’s care – from the air ambulance to the surgeries to the medications to the hospital stay – have been covered. Seriously. I don’t understand why the US can’t wrap their heads around nationalised health being a good thing.

For those of you who knew about this this past year and have sent positive thoughts, vibes, prayers, smoke signals, etc, I thank you for your continued support.

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Having a first aid kit in the car is a legal requirement for some European countries and it’s just a good idea in general. You can purchase pre-made kits (and we have a cheap one of those too just so we can fulfil the legal requirements) in Halfords that will comply with the applicable laws, but I have kept a personal first aid kit in the car since 2010 with things that we specifically need or use. Also, some countries have a weird rule that the first aid kit needs to be sealed, so this was just easier for us. And having it has come in handy on multiple occasions! I decided to get our current kit out of the car in preparation for our road trip to Austria to check the expiration dates and give it an update before we go again. No surprise, a lot of it had expired as it was put together in 2010! So now it’s updated, and here’s a video about putting together a first aid kit:

The nice thing about making your own first aid kit instead of buying a pre-made one is you can create it around your needs and your likes/dislikes. If you have products you like better than other for first aid, if there’s a pain relief product you like better than another (or tummy remedy!), or if there’s a product you know you’ll need based on your own medical needs…it can go in your own personalised first aid kit. The type of box you use doesn’t matter, but it should be sturdy and waterproof. Alternatively, you could keep everything in a zippered bag (and it would probably squish better). I took a cardboard box we had waiting for the recycle bin and I covered it with clear contact paper. You also could use clear packing tape if you don’t have any contact paper and I added a red cross to the front to make it easily recognisable as a first aid kit. We also always keep it under the front passenger seat so it’s always in the same location and can easily be grabbed or we can tell someone else exactly where it is.

The total cost for putting this together was probably around £20. I bought all the value range first aid items from shops like Tesco, Wilkinson’s, and Asda…and they work. You don’t NEED fancy brands for first aid. Or if you’re really attached to having a certain brand, you always have the option of buying those. Probably the priciest item was the 4head stick!

When I first went to make the kit, I solicited advice from my friends who are first aiders, EMTs, and nurses on what they felt were important things to have on hand in a first aid kit, so this list is medical professionals approved!

Our first aid kit contents in no particular order:

-Box of plasters/band-aids
-Blister plasters
-strapping tape
-micro-porous tape
-gauze pads
-elastic band
-paracetamol
-ibuprofen
-diarrhoea medication
-soap box for above medicine to keep it dry
-gaviscon
-antiseptic wipes
-antiseptic ointment
-sudocream
-medical scissors
-tweezers
-antibacterial gel
-rubber gloves
-burn ointment
-spray on plaster
-4head headache gel
-duct tape (I fold over a piece several times to have a small bit, not a whole roll!)
-nit comb
-sanitary towel

And don’t forget to check with Halfords or the RAC or AA what other requirements are needed in each European country you will be driving through, as they can vary. You also should sign up for temporary European breakdown coverage (we got the highest level of coverage that not only will bring your car back to the UK for you, but give you a rental car to finish out your holiday and provide a way to get you back home at the end. Pricey, but worth the peace of mind) as well as additional coverage through your car insurance. For example, our insurance only automatically covers a few days abroad, and adding coverage for the three weeks only cost £42. Also make sure you have signed up for your EHIC card as well before you go (this is subject to change depending on the terms of Brexit). If you are not a UK or EU resident, make sure you get travel insurance before you go, because you never know! We have a multi trip world plan that costs us around £100/yr, but you can get single trip plans for as low as £8. You can read more about other requirements for driving abroad in my previous post from 2011.

I also always try to carry a mini first aid kit in my backpack when we aren’t in the car just with a few plasters and some antiseptic wipes to clean and cover a cut until you get back to the car.

Obviously, this first aid kit isn’t going to fix all medical problems that arise, but it should cover enough basics until you can get somewhere else to get proper medical attention. And I think the Halford’s ones even include a thermal blanket, but you also could pick one up at the pound shop if you wanted to include one of those for emergencies too.

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This post has not been endorsed by any of the products mentioned in this post and I have not received compensation for writing this post or making any videos.

The contents of this post, including personal images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog. If you are reading this through an e-mail subscription, you might need to go directly to my blog to view videos and images.]

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Thursday to Friday last week I was on the Shuttleworth Ward at the Lincoln County Hospital for what amounted to 24 hours. The care I had in hospital was excellent, and the staff there even waived the visiting hours rule for me since I was brought in as an emergency case and my status was unknown for large parts of Thursday evening and Friday afternoon. But before I get to that, let me explain what was going on with me, in a sort of diary form as that’s the easiest way for me to get everything out.

30 December 2013
I woke up with a very large, very painful lump/bump on my neck. A call to my regular GP yielded no available appointments, so a trip to the Monk’s Road Walk-In Centre was made. At the clinic, the nurse diagnosed me with an Abscess and prescribed Flucloxacillin, with instructions to seek medical help if the pain or swelling got worse.

31 December 2013
I was wheeling around Waitrose and started to feel ill in general. I don’t even remember going through the tills, but I did stop in the cafe for my freebie cup of tea (Peppermint, I thought to calm my stomach) and a sandwich. Well, I wasn’t able to eat my sandwich and only could sip at my tea because the pain was getting worse by the minute and the pain was spiking up into my head and across my shoulders to the point where I was holding in tears. After talking to my husband, it was decided that I needed to get to A&E and my options were waiting for the bus, going home and waiting for Tim to get home, or asking someone to take me. Fortunately, Tim works with someone who was coming on to relieve Tim and he happened to live near to where I was, so he gave me a lift to the hospital.

While there, I was sent straight up to the ENT Clinic and the doctor there diagnosed me with Cellulitis and prescribed a higher dose of Flucloxacillin and some Codeine for the pain. He set me an appointment in two weeks, where it should “be the size of a pea” and he would be able to easily cut it out. Oh, if only we had a crystal ball…..

1 January 2014
I woke up completely disoriented and didn’t even know where I was. A text message full of gibberish went to Tim who was at work, and I eventually got it together enough to ring 111. 111 sent me to the After Hours GP at the hospital, where it was determined that I was having a reaction to the codeine and was prescribed Naproxen (Alieve! Hey, I know that drug!) instead. The after hours GP also told me this wasn’t an abscess or cellulitis, but was a sebaceous cyst.

2 – 4 January 2014
The cyst got bigger.

5 January 2014
Just as we were getting ready to welcome friends to a garden railway party, I started to feel amazing. No pain whatsoever, but…what’s that smell? I went all over the house trying to find the source of this smell before I said to Tim “I think it’s me” and he looked at my neck and sure enough, the cyst had exploded. It wasn’t a burst, so much as an explosion. Friends came to the rescue once again and our local friend Sue took me into A&E so Tim could stay with our guests. At A&E they drained it….which was really painful and told me I “wouldn’t need to be seen again” for this issue. Again, where’s that crystal ball?

6 January 2014
Yep, it got bigger again.

7 January 2014
I noticed hives on my arm and back, and just assumed it was from the dust we kicked up cleaning the workshop earlier in the da, so I took some antihistamine and went to bed.

8 January 2014
I had a routine appointment with my dermatologist and showed her my neck. She was alarmed at the size of it and said I needed to see an ENT urgently (good thing I had the appointment already booked) and made noises about plastic surgery on my neck to remove the “capsule”. Yikes. She also refilled my flucloxacillin, but when I told her about the hives, she advised that it could be the flucloxacillin and to keep an eye on things and if the hives got worse to seek medical attention or come in to see her.

Later that night, the hives came back. I wound up ringing 111 and going into after hours to get my prescription changed to Erythromycin, and the GP there advised that I have my GP office add an allergy to Penicillin to my record.

9 January 2014
Despite being off the flucloxacillin, the hives got WORSE. Painfully worse. My fingers were swelling, my wrist were swelling, and my hands were painful. I rang my GP office as it was still during their open hours and I was told to come straight in. I saw Dr Nellist who took one look at me, measured the abscess (which had grown and started to weep), took my vitals, and said “I’m ringing the hospital and sending you there”. eeek!

I got to the hospital around 7PM. We had no idea what was going on, but then Tim saw my name up on their board that shows who is in what bed and we both said “uh-oh”. Tim stayed with me and I was seen by the ENT within an hour who prescribed an IV antibiotic and an IV anti histamine. The plan was to drain the abscess, but at this point they weren’t sure if it would be that night or the following day. They finally decided to wait until morning, and told me I could eat until 3AM. At this point, Tim went home to get me some things for overnight (pyjamas, a blanket, entertainment) and some food. He came back around 11PM and helped me change (hard to do with an IV stuck in your arm!) and I got into bed. The nurse offered to bring me toast and tea around 230 in the morning so I’d have something in my stomach in the morning just in case. They also added an IV drip around 6AM of what they called a “meal in a bag”. You might recall the last time I was in hospital I had to ask for this, so I was happy to not need to ask!

10 January 2014
A very nice trio of doctors came to see me and the consultant wanted it to be drained that morning. However, the junior doctor didn’t feel comfortable doing it since she hadn’t done it before on a neck, so I had to wait for the other doctor to be free. After finding out it wouldn’t happen in the morning, they decided to feed me Lunch, but I was advised to take it easy on the food just in case, so I just had a salad.

The surgeon came past just as I was walking to the loo and told me he was going to do it now, so I hurried back. The whole procedure took maybe 20 minutes under local anesthesia, but it still was really painful. Tim arrived partway through and I told him to stay away because it was really gross! After he was done, the surgeon advised for me to stick around for another hour but he didn’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be able to leave as long as I had no complications and to keep it dry for 48 hours.

Of course, there were complications. They came in the form of a lovely ring of hives on my back and across my chest. Crap. So, more anti histamines and IV antibiotics and I needed to see a doctor to determine if they needed me to stay another night. The anti histamine worked, so the doctor decided to release me into the care of my GP if the hives came back and they gave me prescriptions for Clindamycin and an anti histamine.

10 – 11 January 2014
I was okay, but the dressing came off so Tim had to help me apply a new one. It was bleeding a little, but nothing to be concerned about.

12 January 2014
I decided to take a bath, and Tim and I had a date night, a lovely meal out at Ask! Italian followed by the latest Hobbit film. I only had a small plaster over my neck and all was well, so we went to bed.

13 January 2014
This morning, I woke up with my hair covered in blood. At some point overnight my movement caused it to burst again. A phone call into my GP had me going in to see the nurse, who gave me some dressings with stronger adhesives and took a look at it. She discovered that there is still a core inside my neck several inches long and I would need more antibiotics, so I was given some Erythromycin again, and a follow-up appointment for Thursday. Tomorrow I see the ENT (the original appointment given to me by A&E way back on the 30th), so we will see what happens. Like I said, the dermatologist wants me to see a plastic surgeon, so we shall see what happens.

But let’s sum this up…in the past two weeks I have been to:

-a walk-in clinic
-A & E 2x
-seen an ENT doctor 3x
-After hours appointments 2x
-admitted to hospital for 24 hours
-on-call/emergency GP appointments 2x
-seen my dermatologist

and been prescribed:

-Flucloxacillin 3x
-Codeine
-Naproxen
-Erythromycin 2x
-Clindamycin
-Chlorpheniramine
plus 3x antibiotics via IV and 2x antihistamine via IV

as well as had minor surgery.

Because I have a pre-pay prescription certificate the total cost out of pocket to us for all of this care? about £10 in parking fees.

Who exactly thinks national healthcare is a bad thing again?

PS: Yes, I have photos of my neck day-by-day but they really are too gross to post!

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The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

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ObamaCare has been in the news a lot lately because it’s finally starting to go into effect in January (I think). As an American who resides abroad for more than 335 days per year, I don’t need to sign up for a plan. From what I understand, this isn’t trying to restrict Americans abroad to only visiting the US for 25 days each year, but it is restricting us to calling a visit to the US a visit. As in, we can’t call an address in the US our “home address”. Which sounds a bit odd since they use your last lived at address in the US as your “home address” for voting purposes, but at least I don’t have to sign up for a healthcare plan in the US I’d only be able to use occasionally. Instead, I have traveler’s insurance. But this isn’t the point of my daily post today. It’s just an a way of explaining where my train of thought wandered to today.

The point of my post is to tell you all that I love the NHS and their pre-pay certificates. No, really. I live in England, where we still pay for our prescriptions (Scotland and Wales get freebies), but we have a pre-pay scheme where you can pre-pay for 3 or 12 months in one go if you are on long-term prescriptions but don’t yet qualify for free ones. I recently switched from a 3-month certificate to a 12 month one for a little over £100 (single prescriptions cost £7.85) as I refill my Metformin every 28 days, my Zineryt every 5 weeks, and my Hibiscrub usually every other month. I switched because recently, after visiting a Dermatologist, I was given two new creams and a wash and I also have been on prescription pain relievers for my knee. Those 7 prescriptions would have cost me £54.95, or more than HALF of what my pre-pay certificate cost. I pay for my pre-pay certificate in monthly installments of £10, so it’s slightly more than the cost of one prescription.

Again, this isn’t an option for everyone, in fact it only becomes valid if you know you will be on at least 14 prescriptions in the year. Since no one can predict if they will need 14 in a year, I would say go with if you need 2 or more per month. The three-month pre-pay certificate costs just under £30, so that is a good option if you will be on more than 4 prescriptions in a 3-month period…and here’s the beauty of it. You can BACK DATE your pre-pay by up to 30 days. So let’s say you visit your GP and find out that you have a skin infection. You get handed a prescription for antibiotic pills, a cream, a daily scrub, and some sticky pads to cover it with. You can walk into your chemist and request a “blue” reciept when you pay, go home, apply for a three-month pre-pay certificate, have it valid as of yesterday, and then once it comes in the mail go back to the chemist with your card and blue receipt and get your money back. Brilliant.

It’s just one more reason why I love the NHS….

[Please note I do not get compensated for talking about the NHS. I just honestly love it that much!]

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The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog. If you are reading this through an e-mail subscription, you might need to go directly to my blog to view videos and images.]

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

I know I haven’t updated in a while, and I’m hoping NaBloPoMo in November will jump start me, but in the meantime I thought I would write a post to expand on what I’ve been posting on Facebook.

Last night around 2 in the morning I had to go to A&E for my knee, but let me backtrack and tell you what happened….

My knee had been hurting for the past few days. I was chalking it up to the change in the weather (quite literally we went from the upper teens/lower 20s to single digits overnight) or maybe I was developing arthritis (I joked on FB that I was too young for arthritis), but while we were in the US we went to a train museum and when I was getting down off one of the engines it had a particularly high step and I remember telling Tim after I climbed down that my knee hurt and I wasn’t going to climb on any more trains. It might have hurt the following day and on-and-off for the rest of the trip, but it was never anything really horrible that a hot shower or regular pain relievers didn’t take care of.

Yesterday, the pain seemed to increase throughout the day and I actually wound up in bed with the bedwarmer as a heating pad earlier in the evening. I had plans that included getting up and showering before Tim got home from his overnight shift (because our boiler is in a closet in the same room as the bed is currently if I use the hot water while Tim is sleeping the noise of the boiler wakes him), then going back to sleep for an hour or two before being picked up for my chorus’ open workshop that took place today. That didn’t happen. Instead, when I went up the stairs to go to bed, my left knee completely gave way from underneath me after I turned the corner (we have a tight spiral staircase that turns back on itself on a landing 3/4 of the way up). I managed to pull myself up on the banister, and limped down the hallway and managed to get onto the bed, where I texted Tim and told him what happened.

Tim wrote back and asked me if I was in pain and I told him that the pain was making me cry, so he suggested ringing 111* to ask them for advice. The first guy I got was a call centre person with no medical training and he asked me all sorts of weird questions that had no relevance and in the end told me that since I wasn’t bleeding or feverish that I should wait and go see my GP on Monday. I asked him what I should do about the pain because it was making me cry and he transferred me to a nurse. The nurse advised going to A&E as soon as I was able because she suspected a torn ligament and said I would need an X-ray and strapping up. I rang Tim back and told him what was suggested and he said he would get home to take me as soon as he was able to get someone to take over where he was.

I think we got to A&E around 2AM. Surprisingly, the waiting area was pretty empty and I was told there were three people ahead of me after I went through triage and it wouldn’t be a long wait. But then we started hearing screaming coming from behind the door and a nurse came out and asked the receptionist if the police were at the hospital and then three carloads of police showed up! Yikes. Still don’t know what that was about, but when I was finally called back two police officers were stationed right near the entrance to the examining area.

The doctor I saw was an intern and he admitted to me that he had no experience with orthopedics. He bent my knee this way and that way and sideways and based on the crunch and crackle (seriously, my knee sounded like walking on gravel does) he determined that it probably wasn’t a ligament, but was a meniscus tear (cartilage) and that an x-ray wouldn’t help since cartilage doesn’t show up on an x-ray. So he told me to make an appointment with my GP on Monday because I would need physio and to stay off it for about a week….but he didn’t give me a brace or anything to keep it immobile. He also gave me a prescription for Diclofenac but told me the hospital pharmacy was closed for the night and I would have to take it to an after hours.

We left and headed for the Boots at the Carleton center only to find it completely dark and no afterhours window open. Puzzled, I fired up google to find out that at that particular time (nearly 5AM) there was not a single pharmacy open in Lincoln. Nice. So we headed home and I took some Naproxen I brought back from the US.

I tried to get comfortable in bed and immediately put myself in pain when I tried to get into my usual sleeping position (knees slightly bent). I still had my knee brace from 1998 when I had surgery on my right knee, so I had Tim get it out for me and I stuck in on my left knee. I was asleep, finally, by 7AM. I woke up around 10 to go to the loo and with the knee brace the steps were a piece of cake. When I woke up again around 3PM I took off the brace (since the hospital told me I did’t need one) and I was in a ton of pain going down the steps. I think I will be asking my GP for a brace on Monday. While the one I had worked, it wasn’t designed for the left side so all the fastenings are on the wrong side.

So I’m pretty immobile for the weekend until I can get in with my GP on Monday. I’m going to go back upstairs now and get into bed. I have my laptop and my kindle, both with BBC iPlayer and LoveFilm to keep me company.

Oh, and PS to my American friends – My trip to A&E didn’t cost me a cent. I’ll only have to pay for my prescription, but I pre-pay for those (unlimited prescriptions for about £12/mo) so I won’t even have to hand over any cash when I pick it up, either.

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*111 is a service in the UK that replaced NHS Direct. Basically, you can ring 111 when your GP office is closed for advice and they will help you determine if you need to go to A&E, an after hours GP, or wait until the morning when your GP office is open. For more information: http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/Emergencyandurgentcareservices/Pages/NHS-111.aspx

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The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog. If you are reading this through an e-mail subscription, you might need to go directly to my blog to view videos and images.]

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

I was reading the thread on We Survived Bush about MissM’s photo, and this gem of a comment about life in Europe popped up:

Have u been to Europe? If u consider greater quality of life living in places that are old, outdated, everything is compact and not to many modern conveniences, I guess maybe u should move there. Sorry, I like my new house, granite counter tops, having a new car every couple of yrs, etc..

And I can’t help but laugh. I think she watched Lord of the Rings and thinks we all live in dirt huts and dig holes to go to the bathroom. Or maybe she watched a film that takes place in East Germany in the 1960s. Or does she think we all live in massive, sprawling estates like Downton Abbey or in a castle like Hogwarts? I mean, seriously? Define modern conveniences. I have running water in my house, I have electricity. I have a phone line and I have a TV. I have a washing machine (that’s a combo with a dryer) and an electric shower. I also live in an 1840s farm house, but there are plenty of new builds popping up all over the place.

I also happen to have a coal-burning fire place and a coke-burning stove, but that’s also because I live in an 1840s farmhouse and we actually LIKE having a coal fire (don’t talk to me about the stove).

You can have central heating if you want, you can have dish washers, satellite TV, video gaming systems (we have a Wii), computers (writing this on my netbook, which is next to the desktop and I can see my husband’s laptop bag, too), mobile phones – sorry, cell phones…even iphones if you want ’em.

We have more brands of cars than are available in North America and hey – modern cars like Jaguar, Audi, Volvo, and Volkswagen are all made in Europe. All that AND a decent public transportation system. From my house, I can get to Germany in about 5 hours via public transit from London. Unless you live near the Canadian or Mexican border, can YOU get to a foreign country by train in 5 hours? Or drive through 5 countries in one day?

All that AND healthcare. The rest of the European Union will be much the same.

Tell me again how Europe doesn’t have modern conveniences?

Another comment I frequently see states that we have long waiting lists in England and they don’t want this happening in the US. Below is my reply.

The “waiting lists” here are no different than waiting in the US for your insurance to approve a specialist (which as I remember, can take months), but if you are faced with a life-threatening emergency, you will be put at the top of the queue. I needed non life-threatening emergency surgery in 2010. I was send to A&E (that’s the UK term for ER) by the after hours GP I went to see and stayed in the hospital for 3 days waiting for an open slot for surgery because I *could* wait. If it was life-or-death, they would have rolled me into surgery at 2 in the morning. The longest I personally have had to wait for an appointment has been one month, and I chalk that down just to availability as I received the appointment within one week of being told I needed it.

The thing you have to remember about the British society is that as a whole we tend to like to complain more than praise things. But I can tell you firsthand that the NHS works. My husband still has his father alive thanks to the NHS and his family has never had to worry about where the money was coming from to pay the bills from his kidney transplant. My husband’s best mate had his leg amputated due to an accident over 20 years ago, and he has to go to a special hospital to have a new leg fitted every two years or so and he never has to worry about not being able to feed his family because he has to have a stay n the hospital and a new leg so frequently.

I’m a housewife and an immigrant and I receive the same level of care as anyone else….and I’ve even contributed to the cost of the NHS as the NHS is partially funded through VAT (sales tax).

It’s such a relief to know that when my husband and I decide we are ready to start our family that we do no need to worry about the costs of giving birth or being able to afford doctors if there are complications during the pregnancy. So many of my friends in the US give birth and then are faced with thousands of dollars in hospital bills.

And birth control? FREE. No matter if you are a visitor, immigrant, or citizen.

Th NHS might not be perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot better than my options ever were when I lived in the US, including when I had HMO care through my job at a bank. Even with monthly premiums of over $300, I still had to pay loads out of pocket for a spinal tap to determine if I had MS (I don’t, thankfully), not to mention the follow-up care and subsequent ER visit when the pain relievers didn’t work!

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The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog. If you are reading this through an e-mail subscription, you might need to go directly to my blog to view videos and images.]

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

This is MissM:

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Once again, her photo is in the media. My guess is because of the upcoming election in the US.

Most recently it’s been on the “We Survived Bush, you Will Survive Obama” page on Facebook and then re-shared on the “Democrats Abroad” page as well as 4,500 other facebook users. nearly 30k have “liked” the photo (as of the time I’m writing this) and it has over 3,500 comments.

…and yet….out of that 30k, has anyone looked at the watermark on that image and gone to the URL? http://giveneyestosee.com/blog. It’s not even that hard to remember while you open up a new tab on facebook. I’ve also re-posted the links in the comments MULTIPLE times, as well as links to M’s interview with CNN and my previous posts about Miss M (each word is a separate link).

If EACH of those 30k….hell, if Half of the 30k donated a dollar to M’s fund, she would be able to completely pay off her medical bill debt.

Has anyone donated anything? Nope. Has anyone bothered to look at her online shop to purchase ANY of the gorgeous items she has there?

Nope.

And really, how sad is that? How sad is it that we as a modern society can feel the need to look at an image of a person in need, share it with our friends, and not bother to look into the full story? Or those who decide to JUDGE Miss M based on…nothing. I mean, I’m not going to quote comments on here, but some were downright hateful and made reference to things that simply were not true…some even called this image a lie or photoshopped and had claimed they had seen “this girl holding up other signs” (in which case, those must have been photoshopped).

I’ve been trying to comment every page or so with a link back to M’s blog, facebook page, or shop. Will anyone click on it? Will people get off their high horses long enough to actually do something to help out a fellow American in need? Hell, I bet my British friends have contributed more to M’s cause than ALL those people liking this photo put together.

Ways to Help
I am NOT asking you to donate money to aid Miss M, but if you’re in the market for some jewellery, please visit her site or Etsy shop. Christmas is coming, and I can vouch that her pieces are stunning. I myself own two trees of life and snowman earrings, my mom has a custom bracelet, and my mother-in-law received a nestlace (bird’s nest pendant) that Miss M personalized with an un-heard of SEVEN birthstone pearls for her children and children-in-laws. I also have many one of a kind pieces Miss M has gifted to me over the years, including some lovely purple earrings I wear all the time and a red and gold beaded bookmark.

If you do want to donate, you can do so via both PayPal and GoFundMe.

Other links you might find useful:

Her Blog: http://giveneyestosee.com/blog

PhoenixFunds: http://PhoenixFunds.etsy.com

PhoenixFireDesigns on Etsy: http://PhoenixFireDesigns.etsy.com

PhoenixFire Designs: http://www.phoenixfiredesigns.com

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The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog.]

There’s been something weighing on my mind for the past several weeks and at fist I didn’t want to tell anyone — not even my family — but then Tim convinced me that I should tell my mom and his parents and then I branched out and told a few local friends who I thought could help me, I told one of my cousins, and I told a close friend who knows what it’s like to deal with this. I haven’t told any of my other close/best friends, for which I apologize. I should have come and told some of you sooner than now, but I just didn’t know how to word things and I didn’t want pity, and even with just the small group who know I’m already being given loads of (often conflicting!) advice.

When I went to the GP a few weeks back for the results of a blood test (done for unrelated reasons), my glucose level came back high. Dr Howard wanted me to do another Glucose tolerance test (the last one had been done in August 2010), so I had that the following Monday, and my results appointment with Dr Howard the following Friday.

My glucose level was 11.4. Under UK guidelines, I have diabetes (Type 2) (the cut off is above 11.1).

I had to wait over a week before I could see the diabetic nurse, and it was an AWFUL week. I didn’t know what to do and I spent the week cutting out as much junk from my diet as possible, and switching a lot of my habits around. I eliminated all white flour from my kitchen (my MIL got a huge bag of things), most of the white sugar (I left a little for guests who need sugar in their tea!), and anything else I knew was now on my “nono” list. I researched and picked up a few diabetic cookbooks and talked to my friends. A plan started to form.

On Monday, I saw the diabetic nurse. She confirmed that I was “barely” diabetic, with my Hb1ac level at just below 50 (which I understand is about 6.7%). If it was above 50, I would need medication, but as it’s just under, I’ve been advised to work on controlling my diet for the next two months when I’ll go back in again for another review. While it’s not possible to reverse diabetes or never have it again, it IS possible to eliminate actively having it provided I change my diet and stick to it.

I have decided to go low-carb and have eliminated bread from my diet. I now have lots of wholewheat wraps for my sandwiches and no longer have toast in the morning. I do my best to have breakfast every day – Weetabix, yoghurt with fruit, or an Atkins bar.

Baking is going to be the toughest thing to handle, but I’ve found low-carb flour (Carbalose and Carbquik) and I’ve also replaced my white self-rising flour with whole wheat self-rising flour.

I’ve also had to eliminate potatoes from my diet, which has been really rough!

So that’s where I’m at right now. My primary GP would like me to lose 2 stone (28lbs) in the next 6 months, but then he mentioned August to me, so who knows? I have managed to lose about 5 pounds so far in the two weeks since being diagnosed, so at least I’m on a good start.

Advice, products to get, and recipes are more than welcome, but if I start getting conflicting advice, whatever the GP and nurse say will always win.

The above will be cross-posted to my blog, facebook, and LJ. Anything appearing below this paragraph is specific to that page.

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The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog. If you are reading this through an e-mail subscription, you might need to go directly to my blog to view videos and images.]

This is MissM:

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Lately, Miss M has been gaining attention all over the internet for this photo (even though she posted it months back). And every time I read some of the comments, I can’t help but jump in and talk about Miss M, because she is my friend.

When I call her my friend, I mean it. She is my friend. She is not an “internet friend” (though we did meet via a community on LiveJournal years ago!). Miss M and I have met-up on several occasions. I have been to her house, I have met her fiancé, and I have fussed at her kitties. My husband, mother, and one of my cousins have also met her. We call each other on the phone (thank you Skype!), we text (when it’s working), and we keep in touch via email, facebook, and twitter when we’re not commenting on each other’s blogs. I helped her start up PhoenixFunds, and I continue to support her and search for help for her. Therefore, when I comment and say “Miss M is a friend of mine”, I really do mean friend. And yes, I know what the M stands for. No, I’m not going to tell you. While Miss M appreciates all the support she is given, she does not want her full legal name out there on the internet, and I respect that.

As a long-time friend of Miss M, I know what she’s been through. She’s not kidding when she said she tried all other avenues for assistance.

But here’s the sucky part for her. It’s not over. Sure, she had her surgery in October, but the thing with major surgery is it takes ages to get over. Heck, I only had minor surgery on my armpit and it knocked me down for months afterwards. Miss M had major surgery and is looking at at least a year to a full recovery. On top of the months she already was ill. So by the time next October rolls around, she will have been out of work for a year and a half. And while she’s in recovery, she needs to see her doctors. Her insurance costs $250/month. This is on top of having to pay for the part of her surgery that wasn’t covered by the insurance. She owes around $10,000 for the surgery, and for her ER visit before she was able to gain insurance. She’s in a bit of a catch-22 — if she doesn’t pay $250/mo for her insurance, she has to start paying out of pocket to see the doctors. If she doesn’t pay back on the $10k, it goes into collections and puts her farther into debt making it impossible to afford the $250, and if she pays out of pocket to see the doctors, that adds even more to the $10k, never mind the fact that the doctor will want some of that money up front. And if she misses a month of paying $250, she goes right back to the beginning in terms of her deductible, which means shelling out $1000 up front before it starts to cover things.

And then you hear the “advice” – cut out Starbucks, drive a less expensive car, get rid of satellite TV, get rid of your iPhone, etc etc….but the thing is….Miss M doesn’t have or do any of those. She’s not a Starbucks junkie, her car is an older model (which means it needs to be repaired more frequently, which costs money…see? Catch-22), she doesn’t have satellite TV, and she doesn’t have an iPhone. She has an iPod touch that her fiancé gave to her several years ago because it was given to him at work as a Christmas gift, and he knew she wanted one. Her mobile phone is not snazzy, but she can’t get rid of it because since she drives an older car that is prone to breaking down, she needs to be able to call for help when she needs it (catch-22 again). And honestly? Cutting out a $30 bill isn’t going to magic $10,000.

I also know for a fact that Miss M participates in as many points sites as possible and earns points she can cash in for other things, like meals out, Amazon gift cards, her Disney pass, etc. Nothing that this woman does is done for the hell of it, and if she has any “disposable income”, well, I know it goes towards supplies for her business, food for her cats, or other necessities (you know, clothing, toiletries, food…).

It hurts me when people on other websites that have picked up her photo and story make nasty comments about her. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, because if you’re reading this entry, you are probably a friend and have probably read my other posts about Miss M, but if you’ve googled for more information about her, I hope you’ve stumbled upon this.

Ways to Help
I am NOT asking you to donate money to aid Miss M, but if you’re in the market for some jewellery, please visit her site or Etsy shop. Valentine’s Day is coming, and I can vouch that her pieces are stunning. I myself own a tree of life and snowman earrings, my mom has a custom bracelet, and my mother-in-law received a nestlace (bird’s nest pendant) that Miss M personalized with an un-heard of SEVEN birthstone pearls for her children and children-in-laws. I also have many one of a kind pieces Miss M has gifted to me over the years, including some lovely purple earrings I wear all the time and a red and gold beaded bookmark.

If you do want to donate, you can do so via both PayPal and GoFundMe.

Other links you might find useful:

Her Blog: http://giveneyestosee.com/blog

PhoenixFunds: http://PhoenixFunds.etsy.com

PhoenixFireDesigns on Etsy: http://PhoenixFireDesigns.etsy.com

PhoenixFire Designs: http://www.phoenixfiredesigns.com

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The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog.]

Miss M has had some great news recently. She was approved for a pre-existing condition insurance policy which will help her pay for the bulk of her surgery, AND she has finally been given the all-clear for surgery and will be going in on October 5. She will have a long recovery after this, and so she still will be unable to work for quite some time. Miss M also still has to pay off $600 before the surgery, as well as maintain her insurance premium ($250/month), try to make some headway on her previous hospital bill (while her insurance covers the pre-existing condition, it will not cover previous medical care), and well, be able to live for the next few months.

So, we’re asking for one last big push to help her get through the next few months. Please consider purchasing an item from her – handmade, one of a kind jewellery makes great holiday gifts – or making a donation. Also, if you could please pass on the links to her sites or my site, that would really be appreciated!

Her Website: http://giveneyestosee.com/blog

Blow-by-blow: http://giveneyestosee.com/blog/hysterectomy/

Donation Storefront: http://PhoenixFunds.etsy.com

Her Storefront: http://PhoenixFireDesigns.etsy.com

Her Website: http://www.phoenixfiredesigns.com

Direction Donations: http://tiny.cc/hysterectomy

http://www.gofundme.com/hysterectomy

After my post last week, we went away for the long weekend down to the South of England to visit Tim’s best mate, to go to Bath, and to spend a day in London. And of course, I came back with a cold. Last time we spent the long weekend with Nick, I came home with a cold. When we went to see BNL in Glasgow, I came home with a cold. When I went to visit J in Southamton, I came home with a cold. I even brought a cold back from our Austria trip. My music director commented on Thursday that I always seem to pick up colds easily and she wondered if I was okay. When I was living in the US (for 30 years of my life!) I think I had a cold maybe once or twice a year.

What changed?

Moving to another continent. No, seriously. Now, I’m not a scientist, so this is in the most basic terms, and probably horribly inaccurate, but — when you are born, you are practically immediately exposed to germs and bacteria. As you grow, you become immune to some of the germs that are local to you. And then you move. 30 years of immunity to NY/NJ/PA germs means NOTHING when it’s up against UK germs. Those UK germs will fight your immune system, and fight it hard. I know some ex-pat friends who told horror stories of spending their first few years constantly getting sick with colds. I thought they were exaggerating. Now I get it.

A friend of ours suggested that I start using local honey because he thought it might help me with building up an immunity to the pollen/germs/etc in Lincolnshire. And, I think it worked. The trouble is, I travel to other parts of the UK and then wind up with a cold or worse. Visiting the Southern part of England I even get digestive problems because the water is different than the water here.

So since Tuesday I have been battling this cold. I’ve gone through an entire box of tissues as well as 2 rolls of toilet paper with the constant nose blowing. I finally can breathe a bit, but my upper lip is rubbed raw from blowing my nose, and I still don’t have much of a voice. I’ve had to cancel on visiting Tim’s dad for Father’s Day and Tim’s grandad on his birthday because of this. I hope I get better soon!

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The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, or the RSS feed(s), please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users can comment directly on Facebook.]

Here’s an update on my friend, Miss M. She’s received the bill from the hospital for her ER stay, and including a 40% non-insurance discount, the total for that bill is over US$8,000. This means Miss M now needs to raise over US$10,000 before she can even schedule her surgery. The goalpost just jumped by over 375% (Tim says about 384%). Again, this doesn’t include ANY of the fees/charges involved with her eventual surgery or interim OB/GYN visits.

[photo above © M. Turner]

I know you’re probably getting sick of seeing me post about this, but M is one of my nearest and dearest. I won’t beg for you to help her, but new items have been added to PhoenixFunds, including some photographs I have submitted. Please take a look at either Miss M’s shop, PhoenixFunds, or her direct website. Again, if you are a crafter or artist and would like to donate an item to be sold for Miss M’s benefit, please contact me in the comments..

Her Website: http://giveneyestosee.com/blog

Blow-by-blow: http://giveneyestosee.com/blog/hysterectomy/

Donation Storefront: http://PhoenixFunds.etsy.com

Her Storefront: http://PhoenixFireDesigns.etsy.com

Her Website: http://www.phoenixfiredesigns.com

Please pass these links along, re-tweet them, put them on Facebook, write a blog entry about Miss M, pass along my blog links…anything we can do to “boost the signal” and to help get M the help she needs. Especially if you’ve got any crafty friends because we are in need of crafty items!

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The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, or the RSS feed(s), please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users can comment directly on Facebook.]