Susie's 2022 campaign

[tipperary]

Ouch to the cellulitis again, it really is a nasty f3cker to have. Good news re the prescription cost and the fact that the bandages can be got on it.
Take it easy and take care.

 

[snowbryneich]

That's a good plan too. I think my mum goes through so many because they stretch when her feet are swollen and when they are lose she's worried about tripping. Memory foam sound so comfy though.

It always surprises me that people don't know about the prescription certificate but i know because its where I work. They also do a three month one if you don't have a long term need and you can get the yearly one on direct debit - this is what i do because it renews automatically and I never have to remember about it. Between my asthma, migraines and back problems I have 10 items a month on prescription so it's so much cheaper.

I don't do slimming world now but i did think those meals were a godsend when you just want some thing easy. Some of them are really nice too.

 

[ladyfelsham]

That's a good plan too. I think my mum goes through so many because they stretch when her feet are swollen and when they are lose she's worried about tripping. Memory foam sound so comfy though.

Same on the swollen feet - i get these ones in a size bigger than i need - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MENS-SLI...var=522893283025&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

It always surprises me that people don't know about the prescription certificate but i know because its where I work.

I know, it felt like a big secret - a friend who works in the NHS told me about it. I guess I hadn't heard of it because I've been to the GP maybe 6 times in the last 8-10 years? So doing catchup bigtime now LOL. And it will save me hundreds of pounds in the short term, yaye! Plus i reach the dreaded 60 next year and then all prescriptions are free.

Done my last case study interview for the day, so just waiting for my SW pasta bolognese snack pot to cool down, mmm.

 

[riverbank]

You sound so positive coping with all this!

One thing I don't really understand is how some medical conditions give you free prescriptions (including other stuff) but some don't.

 

[ladyfelsham]

I don't understand it either Katherine, but I'm hugely relieved to find a solution as they now want to change the dressings every two days, and we'll have to get much more absorbent dressing pads, the ones they put on yesterday were sopping within two hours (ick, sorry about that!).

Definitely not on plan foodwise today - started with licorice allsorts for breakfast whoops!

 

[charlotte_k]

We both have the yearly cards too as I get 8 items a month and he gets 4. We’ve had them for years and it means you can get your prescriptions delivered if your local pharmacy do deliveries. I hope the new bandages make it more comfortable for you between changes x

 

[riverbank]

Hope you get some relief from wetness with the new bandages x

 

[ladyfelsham]

Trying to persuade the district nurses that I'm not very mobile - which is true - so they will come to the house to change the pads, because it's a major struggle to get ready and to go down to the surgery. I look at my diary each morning and breathe a sigh of relief when I don't have any appointments. Find out next week, fingers crossed!

Going to try and do one major achievement (MA) a day - today was two loads of laundry, washed and hung up on the airer, so I have a clean pair of slippers on, one dry pair and two drying - plus three more arriving on Friday - so that's me covered for a bit.

Had a huge bowl of Muesli, apricot yogurt and coconut milk for dinner and it was really lovely. Couldn't face anything savoury! My taste buds have really changed since all this illness stuff kicked off, strange eh?

Have a good night Team Fab xxx

 

[snowbryneich]

You sound so positive coping with all this!

One thing I don't really understand is how some medical conditions give you free prescriptions (including other stuff) but some don't.

In summary the original list of exempt conditions originated in the 60's when prescription charges were introduced and the criteria back then was to exempt conditions where the treatment was considered substitution therapy, hence diabetes, hyperthyroidism, addissons where the body doesn't produce something (insulin, thyroxine, adrenaline) it's not an exact science but that's how they were chosen and they've been updated just once since then when they added cancer. Obviously there are a lot of conditions that weren't known or prevalent in 1968 or even if they were there weren't as many treatments. There have been numerous campaigns to add more conditions but over 90% of prescriptions in England are exempt so it hasn't had much traction because of the level that are exempt. The reason why it includes everything and not just the thing for the condition is a lot of the conditions on will have one main medication ie insulin for diabetics but there can be a lot of complications caused by diabetes such as skin ulcers, dehydration, eye problems where the medication isn't obviously for diabetes but the underlying cause is that and if everything wasn't covered it would be down to either the gp or pharmacist to decide what was free which would be extra admin and has potential for inequalities to be introduced etc

Trying to persuade the district nurses that I'm not very mobile - which is true - so they will come to the house to change the pads, because it's a major struggle to get ready and to go down to the surgery. I look at my diary each morning and breathe a sigh of relief when I don't have any appointments. Find out next week, fingers crossed!

Going to try and do one major achievement (MA) a day - today was two loads of laundry, washed and hung up on the airer, so I have a clean pair of slippers on, one dry pair and two drying - plus three more arriving on Friday - so that's me covered for a bit.

Had a huge bowl of Muesli, apricot yogurt and coconut milk for dinner and it was really lovely. Couldn't face anything savoury! My taste buds have really changed since all this illness stuff kicked off, strange eh?

Have a good night Team Fab xxx

I love muesli and yoghurt - I have tried it will low carb granola and it is not the same. Fingers crossed the district nurses are cooperative and the new bandages are an improvement!

 

[ladyfelsham]

Morning all

Blue sky here for a change, and I slept pretty well thanks to Tramadol......the GP quipped the other day that he was turning me into a drug addict, I haven't taken anything strong for years.

And all the interactions between drugs and herbals! I'm not allowed to take my beloved St Johns Wort any more, which had got me through many a stressful situation! . I thought overnight that my immune system could do with support and googled turmeric and garlic - but the blood thinner I'm on is affected by them bigtime, how annoying. Any other thoughts how I can boost my immune system? Need to find something as I could be on these things for life.

Also need your help with sourcing cheap but absorbent towels and maybe a single duvet or two?

Today my MAs will be dishes, getting more slippers dry and doing a couple of hours of case studies, if the old grey cells will focus for long enough.

Food today will be soup for lunch; and a SW meal of some description for laters, and then ginger nuts and tea, yum!

 

[MISSLSR]

Sorry I don't have any good suggestions for you, just wanted to pop on and say you are doing so well to stick to plan especially with all this illness going on.

Hopefully you manage to get the home visits sorted.

 

[riverbank]

Thanks Snow thats really interesting re prescription charges.

Susie I have bought cheapish duvets before from Argos if that helps? Hope you day is going well x

 

[ladyfelsham]

Thanks @Katherine12 that's great re Argos.

And yes today is going well thanks, managed to get some work done and submit a nice invoice . My lovely neighbour came and vacuumed for me, bless her, and now I'm just trying to get my head round what this latest lockdown means (I'm in the North East).

 

[ladyfelsham]

Very nice dinner - which usually means i didn't make it LOL - a Morrisons green leafy salad pot with olive oil dressing and feta, plus an SW mushroom risotto with the l/over feta, which is lovely - making me feel all nice and warm.

Half of each now, and save the l/overs for tomorrow lunch. I had bacon and cheese toasties for B so I'll have gone over my cheese allowance big time, but will try and not have any for the rest of the week.

Beginning to think that this ready meal approach might be the answer . Will see when it comes to WI time.

 

[snowbryneich]

I feel a little to blame for the bacon and cheese toasties - toasties are so simple but so great.

 

[ladyfelsham]

Snowy that's very good of you to take the blame LOL - but you didn't exactly stand over me with a loaded gun forcing me to eat them .

Well half the day has disappeared from sleeping - didn't get up until 1pm! As my MA I might clean out the fridge, there's some salad bags looking on the limp and watery side in there, and then I fancy muesli and yogurt with some apple sauce and cinnamon.

And for those of you who aren't fully convinced that I'm completely bonkers, let me help across that line - I am starting to believe in the idea of a sick house. A neighbour told me that the woman who sold me the cottage was in good health when she arrived, but really poorly when she left - but now she's all better again and has a part time job! I am a bit joking, i do know it's probably just all coincidence - but you do read about sick houses, don't you? At any rate, I've never liked this house, it was all about making it what i wanted and i now can't do that without a f/t job - so am going to do the bare minimum, sell London next year and buy a larger bungalow in the same area - there are some corner ones with a much better layout and huge kitchen that will suit me much better.

 

[ladyfelsham]

Progress on the leg front - they were in a pretty bad way when the nurse took off the dressings (I won't describe, suffice to say I nearly vommed), because they aren't being changed often enough.

So it looks like the district nurses will be coming to my home every day to change them - so they will actually have a chance to heal - and that makes me happy, particularly as I nearly lost my balance twice walking into the surgery. Also get a consultation with the head of the practice on Monday to review everything, make sure I'm on the right pain/other meds and develop a proper plan for managing the situation - eg, what happens if I get cellulitis again out of hours, etc.

Just need to rest this weekend, do a bit of work, a couple of housework MAs and we're up to speed.

 

[snowbryneich]

So it looks like the district nurses will be coming to my home every day to change them - so they will actually have a chance to heal - and that makes me happy, particularly as I nearly lost my balance twice walking into the surgery.

That's great news - if they are doing that and if they are coming to yours anyway and they need changing more often - they can come more than once a day so hopefully can really make progress on the healing.

It is odd that you and the other lady got ill. I would wonder if there was some sort of allergen in the walls or something as that can knock your immune system allowing other things - I have a friend online off another forum who had mold in the walls of her house and it trigger a condition called mcas where she kept having an anaphylactic response and it caused all sort of ongoing health issues and she became allergic to lots of things so I think homes can definitely have an effect like that, and wonder if there any underlying causes you can check for? And either way if you can move when you sell London why not have the house you want rather than one you settle for!

 

[ladyfelsham]

Allergens? Hadn't thought of that. Or it's just me inventing things because I don't want to stay here lol. The London tenants advised they are going to be moving end November, which is a shame, they've been great, but maybe this is my chance to rent and get it on the market at the same time. Wish i could just get it sold, quick and simple, I need the capital oop here in the north .

Lockdown Again Day 1 and it's grey and a bit cold. Legs are stiff but the cellulitis is less painful yaye so hopefully turning a corner there - and cross fingers the nurse/s come, then we can really start to make progress on healing!

Making inroads on the SW meals/soups - the chicken and sweetcorn chowder was lovely. Maybe pea and mint soup with toast for lunch, and chicken supreme tonight.

 

[ladyfelsham]

Woohoo the lovely nurse has just been, put loads of extra padding on so we might stay dry for a bit longer - and she confirmed they are coming every day until whenever .