London!

As most have you have probably already figured out, I am indeed back from London.

Stupid computer issues are still being annoying though, I tell you the company my computer comes from are the bane of my life. My computer is involved in my life so much, that to go without it for any period of time is hard, but its over a month now since I had a full working laptop urgh.

I rang to tell them it had a fault, it took them nearly a week to collect it, they then had it for over 2 weeks and another week to return it. I get it back today, unzip the case (It was sent off as laptop, charger and case, all with my name in large letters on it) To find only the computer no charger. What use is that!! By the way it was the cooling system that had gone. After 2 weeks of not hearing from the company I got my mum to ring them and their reply, yeah its back sitting here, well gee thanks, weren't you supposed to email/call? When asked why it had taken so long, they said because its an insurance job, payments had to be sorted. Ermm no, it was a warrenty job, nout about insurance. When I get the letter back today, it was sent to sony in Germany for repair as it was a manufacture fault. So the company didnt even do anything with it except ship it and return it and they still mess it up.

I paid extra when I got it to upgrade to a sony as they have a good rep, never again. Thats the cooling system and motherboard both gone in like 8 months on a top spec laptop. They send their appolgies and a free cleaning cloth (Like you get with cheap sunglasses) Anyone in the north west, if you get DSA, avoid Remtek at all possible costs!

So yeah, back to London. It was fun. It made me think a lot, but fun all the same.

Got into Euston station about 1, so I took mum out for a taste lunch in Prezzo, which does the most tasty Italian food. nom nom



We then took the short stroll from Euston to Kings Cross and booked into my mums hotel room, dumping half my stuff and all of her stuff there then straight back out to book me into my hotel (or hospital hehe.) My letter said I had to be there for 4, we got there about 4:30. The letter said ward B, which had a big sign on the door saying shut go to ward C. Went to ward C and they directed me straight into a room that resembled a fish tank. Full windows the length of the room. Full monitoring until next to the bed and a load of equipment such as resus trolley, and about 4 oxygen ports. (I was later to find it was a HDU room I was in)

Pretty uneventful to be honest. They said I would be on the early morning theatre list, but didnt end up going down till about 3. Under for about an hour. Pain was manageable, but when i came around it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I tried telling them, but the drugs where still in my system and I couldnt lift my arm to my neck to talk so I began to panic. They ran a few nebs and gave me more pain relief and it seemed to ease off.

Was discharged the next morning with a little bit of information. (See previous post)

Was pretty tired so didnt do very much, before putting my mum back on the train. I went to stay with a friend. we had a pretty laid back week, lots of munchies and films, which was ideal.



And of course drank lots of food coloring.


Went to Camden one day and drank lovely milkshakes in an American Dinner. I also managed to finally find a nice bag for the summer to carry all my junk around (I usually have a black Jack Skellington one, but black really dosnt look good in summer)I needed to to go across my body to distribute the weight, but big enough for things like alco gel, spare tubes, drink and most times my camera. (I dont leave the house without spare tubes and tissues and a drink)


We also had a day at the zoo. We saw Otters.


A gorgeous Galapagos tortoise.




I found Nemo!!


And dory! (Yes I love disney)


I found a pushmepullyou (Anyone who dosnt know what one of them is you need to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niKkURpdzIQ&feature=related (wont let me embed) but the 1967 version of Dr dolittle is the best one!! )



There were lots of bright colored birds

Including ones that used the same hair color as me :)


Lots of bright butterflies that would come and land on you.


Giraffes!


Tiny baby monkeys! (On the left on top of the log)


Pumba!! (there goes the Disney thing again hehe)


And the most gorgeous penguin! They were all being fed and he was following the keeper around. He wasnt interested in the food, he just wanted a cuddle hehe.


Ah it was great fun.
It was a really big step I think. When I first got told I had to have the trach, the thing that put me off the most (apart from the obvious) was not being able to jump on a train/bus to go visit or stay with friends. I had been used to going to visit people every couple of weeks and I didnt want to lose that. Well I was already down there so I stayed and took the train back on my own. Had to take a big case to carry my nebulizer in and all my other junk like medications and dressings. I didnt take my suction, I thought, if I need it, then im not well, so I can either jump a train home or go to a hospital there.

It was difficult sticking to my routines of nebulizers and dressing changes, but I did enough to survive on for the week.

It was also a bit of a wakeup about just how different I am from last time I was there. Since I had started visiting a friend there, I always had breathing trouble due to my stenosis, but the main factor was the depression, I didnt want to do anything, but when we did do stuff, I was able to keep up. This time it was the other way around, I wanted to be out touring and seeing and doing things, but just could not keep up with everything. I used to love getting the tube as it was so quick and directed you straight to where you wanted. This time however, I dreaded it. Most the stations have escalators, which is ok, but a lot of stations and attractions in london involve stairs (my worst enemy). People would be virtually running up them and I was going as fast as I could, but still gasping. I do hate that feeling. I could never live in London, they all walk to fast.

But its a step in the right direction towards independence. And who knows, if they fix my airway maybe one day I will be able to run up the stairs with the londoners.

The wanderer returns

From the title, I'm sure you can all tell that I am back. =D

I had a good time, surprisingly after a rough start, but things did eventually begin to settle (as the weather got warmer oddly enough) and I am pretty much back to normal now. Still some possible infections, for which I need to run some swabs and I see my consultant Monday. So overall all good.

I was going to make a couple of updates while away. I bought internet credit as some places had wifi I could pay to use. However, after paying extortiant rates for it, the connections where really lame so I ended up using it mainly just to keep up with my emails. (South of France charged me €15 for 3 hours. Italy was €15 for 5 days. Frances didnt connect half the time and ran slower than dial up when it did. For the first 32 hours in Italy, I thought it wasnt working right as it lost connection every 4 minutes and was slow. However, I soon discovered we had a power cable running above our roof and the van was also made of metal and so would not let wifi signals through :/ After that I learned to charge my battery and go sit on the bench up the road a little.)

For the last 2 weeks, I have watched the grape vines grow.

Seen some wonderful sights.

Watch the sun gown down (countless times)

Admired the poppy fields.

Experienced True love in a holiday romance.

(Aint he handsome. And he looks like he is smiling at me. My torts have a down turned mouth but his makes him look happy. Oh and he came upto about my knee if I stood next to him, so rather a big fellow. Unfortunately my dad wouldnt let me steal him and take him home with us)

Visited St Tropez.

Where all the rich kids were showing off on Daddys boat.

Ate delicious Italian Ice cream in Simeone. (virtually every Ice cream shop, which is pretty much any road in Italy looks like this. But simone has to be the best. Its a little island style place on the edge of Lake Garda. And for a tiny town there are about 5 ice cream parlours plus resturants doing fancy sundays. The choice of flavors is immense, from the usual fruit one to Kinder, Bounty and Mars to more unusual flavors like haribo and bubblegum. A lot of shops trying to get your attention with free samples. nom nom)

Had nutella (Though not a jar this size =[ ) by the bucket load.

Realised the America isnt the only place that specialises in Fast food.

Had some quality time with my daddy.

Shared lots of Love

Eventually annoying my dad with the camera (I have some lovely close up shots of his nose)

Watched the sky change color (while discretely giving parentals alone time hehe (Yeah its still alone time, if i am a couple of feet away taking their photo)

Enjoyed opening the curtains to this every morning.

And closing the same curtains to this every night.

Spent an exhausting day in Venice.

Observed the locals (gondoliers)

And their boats (Gondolas)

Whatched Sinta Marks square transform from dry land, to having a strip of puddle down one side, to 10 minutes later only having one strip of path left.

At which point, we headed for the boat as we didnt want to have to wade through the square if it rose anymore. Oh and as I was having camera fun with the water and lights, we left late and so the gates where closed when we got back to the place we were staying. So I had to climb like a million stairs (literally) as we were on a mountainside hehe)

And then drove home, past all the snowy mountains. Its amazed me since I was very small, how that snow could exist. In the past we have taken mountain roads rather than the tunnel (They charge nearly £50 to go one way through the tunnel and the mountain roads are a lot prettier and more fun to drive. The year I passed my test it was great fun really using the gears on the car to climb narrow windy steep roads up the mountain. We often travel is shorts and t shirt as its cooler in the car (habit from pre air conditioning days). But its rare that the passes are open when we go in May. You get about 3/4 of the way up and then the road shuts as there is too much snow to drive past. We have, before today got out in shorts and had a snowball fight on the way hehe. its not cold up there, well unless you pick up the snow.)

And now I am back home with a mountain of washing and lots of photos to play with.
Though annoyingly, I have gotten home, been using my laptop the whole time I was away. Worked fine the first night I was home. Next morning put it on and its died a death. so it has to be sent off for repair (though its going to take a week before they can pick it up so I dont have much faith) that being said, updates maybe sporderic and not at my usual 3am posting time.

Oh and I am still deciding what to do with all my photos. Obviously I want to tweak some of them, but I still want to show them off. I may, use my other blog, that I have never posted on, to put my photos up, but I will update here, should I decide to do that. =]

Thanks for reading. And feel free to comment and such.