Hey guys! I did meet the lemurs today and amazing it was! Will post some pics after this.
I had my "general medicine" appointment yesterday and saw the lady Dr I saw first time and a student. I also took my friend in with me because I keep forgetting stuff and I thought I might be a bit braver if she was there. Gave her permission to say stuff like she did with me too.
She's as shocked as me about yesterday. I feel like it was a complete waste of time and for the first time seeing these guys I felt like I'd been completely fobbed off. Before I go off on one I DO understand that general medicine have completely run out of ideas and this is why I'm being referred. I understand they have tested me a LOT (how could I forget?!) and that they do want me to see a specialist.
However.... She barely listened when I was telling her stuff. I told her about fainting now (I might have exaggerated this, but it needed doing!), about how painful the headaches are and where they effect me, how badly sensitive I am to lights and change in lighting, how crazy my appetite is, the upset stomachs, the super mental psychological stuff, and how very worried I am about my job and how important it is to me.
She went to speak to the consultant and came back with they want me to repeat my prolactin and thyroid bloods coz they hadn't been done since I started seeing them (fair enough but felt like this was kind of a token gesture!) and that she would try to get in touch with endocrine. Try?! Oh and they want to see me again in THREE months!
I started getting panicky and trying to fight my corner and I just felt like she shot me down. Basically saying they've done all they can and it's now endocrine's turn. Yeah, i get that, but it needs to be NOW!
I just don't understand how they're really not that worried when I really did tell them everything that's been happening and just how bad it is. Even Michelle, who can be a loud moose, didn't know what to say and came out really surprised.
i was so shocked and quite honestly outraged that we stormed to phlebotomy and I was being SO stubborn I said i had to have the tests done NOW so they would get the results really quickly and we had to hope that they came back absolutely insane! I've never wanted test results to come back badly, but I really hope these do so that they will bloody well do something about them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope this is making sense....
Oh i didn't even get to asking if they could treat my symptoms because her view was that basically I just have to put up with everything until I see the specialist. Well don't make me wait so long!
And breathe...
I did make it to the zoo today and we had a really good time. I was so bloody ill tho! I had to make everyone go really, painfully slowly, and sit down a lot
We only got round the beginning bit of the zoo before i had to go to meet the keeper for my experience!
The lady was so lovely! She was around my age, loves her animals and has worked in loads of sections of the zoo, and she even volunteered for a year first. And, the best bit, it was just me!! there can be up to 4 people on the experience, but it was just me! Which meant I had 12 ring-tailed lemurs and 4 brown lemurs all to myself! We had LOADS of food and she really only fed ones that really pestered her.
We had to cross on to lemur island by a pontoon
We got about 3 feet away and 3 lemurs jumped on and one jumped on to my shoulder - where it stayed for the whole time! It was really funny coz we got to the bit where they do the experience and I had the one on my shoulder, one pulling on my arm, and 2 with their heads in the food bucket! I was trying to feed them and the keeper said to try and sit down on the logs. It's hard enough to keep my balance as it is at the moment, never mind with a lemur on my shoulder and all the other ones lol. I didn't fall on my ar*e though I did keep the one on my shoulder
Their favourite is banana so that came first and I got absolutely covered in it! In my hair, on my face, all down the shoulders and pants of the overalls they'd given me lol. You can see in the pics how it got increasingly worse lol!
Then I got to feed them grapes and there was a particularly shy one that was sitting to my left and whenever it wanted something I felt a tiny tug on my jacket sleeve *melts* Other times I'd pick stuff out of the bucket and the one on my shoulder and the one on my knee would put their hands on mine and open my fingers to try and get it first! The one on my knee held my hand and fingers quite a lot. SO sweet!! They are really gentle though and would take things with their hands really quite politely. Even when they took it with their mouths they were very gentle.
I wasn't allowed to stroke or 'pet' them, but they were climbing all over me anyway and the one on my shoulder kept cuddling in to my face
I did have to stop myself giving one a playful stroke or cuddle though. It's so difficult when you're used to handling animals!
The girl was really nice and we hit it off pretty nicely and talked a lot through the whole thing. She asked about my pets, my job, and I told her about Sweden and stuff. She really put me at ease and I didn't feel like I was the only one there - if that makes sense? She took some really good pictures too! I'll post some after this
John met us at the zoo and I feel a bit bad that I didn't spend much time with him. But I was so bloody ill, I mean really bad, and it was really hard to be excited about the animals, keep upright, keep walking, and talk to people. And because me and the 4 friends who came (fake brother & sister, who bought me the lemur experience, and Michelle) are all so comfortable together we just chat away and weave in and out and pair off and stuff. I tried to explain it to Michelle and say that I wasn't ignoring him, but the only people I could give attention to were the ones talking to me, because that's literally all I had spare. You know? And, tbh, he did try but he didn't say too much. I tried to make a conscious effort to walk by him and bring him in to conversations, but, yeah, it was hard enough keeping me going! He did stay with them the whole time I was with the lemurs - prob over an hour in all! And he hasn't complained or anything. And when we got in the car to go home Tim was like "I really like John" So that made me feel better. I know they'll have been really good with him anyway
Gawd, enough of my waffling!! I'll post the pics.
And well done for getting thru this
Oh and food was a bit up and down today coz I've felt so nauseous and had a really bad tummy
