One night turned into four days. Four long days. The problem is sorted (they hope) but a lot of the symptoms have not. I am now on four new medications and cocktails and have been let home.

They say these stomach problems may be a once off or a totally new stage in my life, one which I will have to get used to and look after. So one or the other. Got to love vagueness!! Of course I would love the former but am happy, or content, to settle with the latter.

Anyway at the moment it sort of feels like I sort of know what I'm doing, or supposed to be doing. A bit like going through a forest blindfolded and carving out a trail that I can follow.

Everything could be a LOT worse and four days on a transplant unit is a sobering reminder of that.

In the meantime I have the weekend to get used to a slightly altered medical routine, observing myself and observing my dog who has now developed a habit of fainting if he gets too excited. Interesting....

There is nothing like a entire night spent out of bed in pain to realise a 'stomach problem' really can only be avoided for so long. A trip to the hospital after college has resulted in me being kept in for tonight and potentially tomorrow while they work on treatments. Well actually, the treatment for the stomach is not that complicated or complex, it's just that they want to observe me over night. I'm not going to complain, if they have nice painkillers in that building which will result in a night's sleep, I will gladly be the first to sign up.

I also notice when I talk out loud to other people (and not just to myself) it's almost like I can pieces of a jigsaw fall slowly into place.

"So this pain came on last night?"
"Yes, and I never want to feel it again"
"Were you feeling ok yesterday?"
"No, I was a bit off yesterday....actually all weekend...actually I had bouts of pain on Friday too when I was in the library...oh no that was Thursday come to think of it"
"So you're nearly a week in this state?"
"Well not quite as bad as last night, but, yes, I guess"

Anyway, my ipod is charged so I am off for some rest and recuperation.

I got a new car. A second hand car but a new car to me. I then had a new radio cd ipod thing installed. It means when I put a cd in it actually plays and when I want to eject the cd it isn't swallowed forever. I also discovered the 'City' button on the car which is supposed to be used to make parking easy but it also aides taking corners in 5th gear at 40 m/ph. Good times.

I have been having a few problems with stomach pain lately of which I cannot figure out the cause. I'm blindfolding myself and picking tablets at random each day to see if they help (not really, but essentially that's the selection process) so far with minimal success. Luckily the pain and sickness aren't there the whole time (in fact thankfully a lot of the time it just comes and goes) but when it arrives it makes me really tired too. If ever there was a good time to get insomnia, this would potentially be it.

On other medically fronts, I'm still taking Roaccutane and that's going well so far. I'm still only on half dose and it seems to be working very, very well. I don't know if that's because skin issues are generally easier to treat the second time around? Because I really don't think I'm going to need a full dose in a couple of months, but time will tell.

It must be pointed out that I am extremely well aside from the aforementioned problem(s), and you can never be more thankful for that!

And despite it being January, I am already planning my summer! I am trying to strike the balance between suitably geeky activities and fun ones too. It's all about planning for the future while enjoying the present.

Can't beat good timing...

I took my first dose of Roaccutane today. And we've lost water on our road now. NO WATER!!!

About three years ago I went on Roaccutane to improve my skin. The drug is a working miracle. And it worked. Until this past August, I noticed my skin began getting bad again. I gave it four months before deciding it wasn't a 'phase'. I went back to my dermatologist today and he prescribed me some more. Yay. I think it's going to be another 180 or so days of treatment. He said that it's a harsh but brilliant drugs, and for nine out of ten people it works first time, but there's always that 3% of people who need a second round (not sure about his maths there but anyway...) and I fall into that 3%. With my history of medical minority lotteries I seem to win, this doesn't surprise me.

The drug is a strong one, and stops your body producing any oil at all. So the risk of side effects is long. And to even get a prescription for it, I had to pass a pregnancy test! And you *have* to go on the pill with it, it's pretty much a legal requirement. Too bad, I fell into a minority of suffering a dangerous side effect of that one too! (I swear they should just post my photo at the end of those warning leaflets and say 'go ask her' for the rare side effects). It also means I have to get my hair done this week before starting because your hair goes crazy dry on it too. Inevitably I will have lots of people offering their own solutions to their skin problems when I tell people I'm on this. Kind of a "what would you be wanting to be on that for? My auntie Josephine always swears by grapes before bed time for her skin" etc, etc. Akin to telling someone your drive took 6hours and they respond with, "did you know it's possible to walk and you'll still get there?"

But I digress. I am vain. I like my skin and my hair. And I'm impatient and this drug works. Or it's supposed to work. Fingers crossed!

FREEEZE

Most of the news at the moment is dedicated to the "big freeze" that's going on. My flight home from London was cancelled last week (I did manage to get home later) and when we arrived, what we saw was a scattering of frost. To be fair it has got a lot worse since, but nothing on the scale of the UK or anything, just a LOT of ice.

I was busy during the week saying how I felt Ireland really went to extremes by way of practically closing down due to the ice; I had all of two lectures this week with about 10 people showing up, and the rest were cancelled. It was only ice after all.

Of course, that is, until I went out to my car to get to college at which point I got left with an imprint of my phone on my ass in bruise form. Our driveway is on a slope/hill. I went to put my hand out to open my car door, and the next thing I knew I was thinking "Oh my, I am falling!". My feet left the ground, I was momentarily frozen mid air, and then "clump" "crash" "bang", I was down. I was stunned and unbelievably embarrassed. I popped up and looked across the road to make sure there was nobody gawping over (there wasn't, but you can never be too sure - I once saw a neighbour fall off a ladder and I can bet by the way he reacted he was sure nobody had seen).

If my fall had paralysed me, it wouldn't have mattered, I sprang up and ran back inside to gather my laughter. To add insult to (actual) injury, I was wearing a big black puffa-jacket, and no hat, so I probably looked like a female Mrs Blobby with wild hair going everywhere. My brother came thundering down the stairs thinking I was having a seizure (no joke), turns out my laugh is slightly abnormal.

Anyway I eventually went back for attempt two and managed to keep both my feet on the ground this time. Although I'm sure I looked like a mad person laughing to myself the whole time. Later that evening my bum cheek hip area was naturally rather sore and when I looked at it the mirror, a perfect black, purple rectangular outline could be seen where my bum went down, phone in back pocket. In fact, if it weren't for the jeans I'd been wearing when I fell, I'm pretty sure you'd be able make out the 'LG' logo such was my bang!

Keep safe out there!