Good Friday 2011

I've had a rubbish week, the heat has really kicked the POTs up a gear and I am no longer sure that the florinef (steroid) is actually doing anything.

This morning I awoke to my eyelids and under my eyes so swollen I could barely see. I popped to the loo and looked in the mirror I looked like kermit the frog. There were just little tiny slits where my eyes should be. I had to go back to bed and wait an hour before I could see! So the florinef is making me retain fluid, I know because my weight is going up and down by as much as half a stone on a daily basis. I am struggling to get my shoes on and my hands are extremely puffy. All in all I look great! But unfortunately I think that's all it is doing.

Even with me retaining fluid I am still urinating at least twice an hour. I keep meaning to count the number of times I urinate in a day but I actually lose count. I am up at least 4 times in the night to urinate. I would love just one nights sleep that wasn't interrupted by pain or urinating or night sweats!

 I know I drink a lot I have always suffered with excessive thirst. I have been tested for diabetes more times than I have had hot dinners, its always negative. I drink between 3-6 litres a day, but I am still dehydrated, my fingers are wrinkled like I have had a long soak in the tub and the skin on my face also shows quite clearly that there is not enough fluid in my system. My mouth and eyes are always dry no matter how much fluid I ingest.

We are holding off increasing the florinef for a bit as I got so poorly one week after starting it. I am now around 28 days in and other than looking like the Pillsbury Dough Boy it doesn't feel like its done a lot . Initially I thought it had made a massive difference as I could bend forward without feeling dizzy, that's now come back. My night sweats seemed to have stopped, now that's come back. My heart stopped feeling like it would come out of my chest when I went up the stairs.........yep you guessed it!

So today is Good Friday a Bank Holiday in the UK and my parents are up in their caravan, hubs is day off and its nice weather. Ma and Pa came over for a visit and it was lovely to see them. I don't get to spend as much time with them as I would like. I can't really travel and my mum is also my sisters carer. We speak everyday on the phone at least twice a day, but its not the same as being together.

My parents took me out today to buy some plants for the garden. Hubs had prepared all the pots on Monday ready for them to be planted up, so the garden has looked a bit weird with rows of empty pots full of compost! It wasn't actually too busy at the shop and I managed to pick up some trailing lobelia, ( or labia as my husband calls them, its been a standing joke for years after he rang his mother up and told her he had been planting labia's. I only pointed out his mistake after I had text messaged everyone we knew! He's never lived it down. Even the neighbours tease him about it! An honest mistake but hilarious), some begonias as the slugs don't seem to like eating them. I also got some daisy like things - bright yellow, a lovely purple broom and some bright purple plants that I can't remember what they are called!

I like a lot of colour in the garden as we don't have a lawn. With us being near Exeter the soil is very heavy and clay like. The soil is bright red and with three dogs running about on a lawn everything would be stained bright red. Plus our garden is north facing so in the winter it gets very little sun so when we first moved in the back garden was like a bog. So we put in decking which is nice and easy to keep clean and the dogs don't bring any additional mess into the house.

This year I am not growing any vegetables as last year was so disappointing. The runner beans produced loads of flowers and then only a handful of beans, Mollie ate the strawberries and helped herself to the radishes! The caterpillars ate all my salad crops, we also had horrific amounts of black fly. I had never known a year like it for pests and that includes Mollie!

I don't have the energy this year for doing a lot of gardening and the garden looks so bare in the winter I wanted some plants that would provide some greenery throughout the year. So this year I have gone for lots of flowers and no colour scheme, just lots and lots of colour. Since getting the plants in the pots earlier on today and giving them a good soaking some have already come into flower and the lobelia (or labia) looks like its grown. I now just need to guard them against Frankie watering them and inadvertently killing them off! It maybe good for the tomatoes but the other plants just don't agree!

 I have been enjoying lying on the lounger in the sun, reading and chatting with the neighbours. So when those plants get going its going to be stunning!

Special thanks to Mum, Dad for taking me to get the plants and to Mum and hubs for planting it all up and making it look great.xx