Vote!

So I am getting really sick at looking at my scale in the corner of my room
You know that I threw one scale in to the lake
But there was another one lurking in my house
And somehow it found a home in my bedroom
For a while there I was weighing every day
And it was driving me as mad as a box frogs
So I stopped weighing
And now feel strong enough to get rid of it for good
Here's where you come in
I have a few different options of how to dispose of it
I could throw it in to the lake again
Throw it in to the sea
Run it over with my car
Or smash it with a hammer
My Mum thinks I should give it to a charity shop
But I want to do something symbolic
What do you think?
Which option do you like the sound of?
Or maybe you have another idea
Vote now!
The lines will be open until 9am tomorrow morning
Please don't vote after that time as your vote won't be counted
But you may still be charged

Vote 1 for scale in the lake
Vote 2 for scale in the sea
Vote 3 for running it over with my car
Vote 4 for smashing scale with hammer

Good luck!!

Sea view vet

Honey had her follow up appointment with the vet today

We bundled Leaand Honey in to the car first thing this morning and set off

I was hoping we could take the buster collar off today

As she is so awkward with it on

Constantly banging in to things

And generally being quite uncomfortable

We arrived at the vet

And I was glad to see that it was the same vet we saw on Monday

We headed in to the surgery

And I lifted Honey up on to the table

No mean feat given that she weighs 16kg

Straight away the vet said there was a massive improvement 

The swelling and redness have gone right down

She is opening her eye now

And she is in better form all around

To be on the safe side

The vet told us to keep the collar on for another week

When we will return for another follow up appointment

She also gave me another five days of tablets

I left the vet happy that Honey is on the mend

And €90 lighter

I don't mind the cost though

I'd pay anything to get Honey well and healthy

Here are some photos from today.....

This morning on her favourite chair

Scratching her little ears

In the vets with my sister

This is the animal scales
I was tempted to stand on it
But resisted

Not forgetting Lea who has been so patient this week

Shout out!

Honey continues to improve every day
Yesterday morning when I opened the utility room door
She bounded out to greet me
And even went for a little walk
My Dad came down yesterday afternoon
And Honey was so delighted to see him
And her eye looks much better
The swelling has gone right down
The redness is gone
And you can actually see her eye now

But then I got a real fright
As when I looked at her
It looked like her eye was bleeding profusely
It was literally dripping from her eye
I wiped it with a cotton ball
And it wasn't blood
It was a black tar like substance
I was very concerned
So I rang my vet
Who said that this is normal
And it's all part of the healing process
I was so relieved
My Mum says that it is the 'poison' and the 'badness' coming out of her eye
I think she is right

After that I kept a close eye on Honey
Wiping her eye every so often
The buster collar is driving her bananas
But hopefully it can come off tomorrow
She has been thoroughly spoiled the last few days
Everyone has been so worried about
Because she is a big part of this family
And an important part
I for one would be lost without her

In other news
My ED behaviours have improved some
I'm not purging as much
But it is still there
Being the bane of my life that it always is
My Dad commented yesterday
That I look like I have lost more weight
I don't know if I have
As I have stopped weighing myself
I had to stop
It was becoming obsessive
I feel quite comfortable in my skin at the moment
I don't love my body
But I don't hate it either
I swing between being able to accept it
And absolutely hating
It can change from to the other depending on my mood

One thing that has really helped this week
Is the fact that my meds are being dispensed daily
Now I have no opportunity to mess around with them
And I feel more stable and grounded
More clear headed
I really needed to get back on track
And I am

I guess the last few weeks were a learning curve
I learned that a slip doesn't have to turn in to a relapse
That not doing everything perfect it ok
I've learned that recovery is a roller coaster
That it's ok to make mistakes
Everyone does
And that is where I learn

I met my friend this morning for a walk
We had a great chat
Compared Christmases
She also has addiction issues and an ED
So it's great  to be able to talk so someone who gets it
My family is great
But they don't really get it

So it is now 2015
My goals are to continue to not smoke
To save a bit of money every week
To do part of the Camino before the year is out
And to keep on top of my recovery

By the way
This is a shout out
A girl called Beatrice emailed me yesterday
I am so sorry Beatrice
But I deleted your email by mistake
Could you send it again
As I really want to reply to you

Progress Report

Nurse Ruby here 

Reporting for duty

Today I have one patient 

Name: Honey

Age: 9

Species: Canine

Ailment: Eye infection

Honey presented with a very blood shot and swollen

It was so swollen 

I couldn't even see the pupil of the eye

And it was clear she was in a lot of pain

Honey was prescribed antibiotics, pain killers and anti inflammatory tablets

To be taken over the course of a week

She also has to wear a buster collar until the eye clears up

Honey was not in great form for the last few days

She spent a lot of time in her bed 

And the meds seem to be really taking it out of her

Today

I am delighted to report that she is in better form

She is up on her feet

She's eating

And she even barked at next doors dog

Meds are going well too

She is taking them without too much fuss

So I am optimistic that she will make a full recovery

On another note

I applied to be a foster mum to dogs that need it

I am so looking forward to this

I've wanted to do this for ages

I'll keep you updated

 

Here is Honey today

Poor little Honey

Honey is not much better today

In fact she is utterly miserable

And the fact she is wearing a buster collar is not helping matters

She keeps trying to scratch her sore eye

I really and truly feel sorry for her

Her eye is still very red and swollen

We felt so sorry for her last night

That we let her in to the living room

Usually they stay in the kitchen and utility room

We brought her bed in

And she lay between my sister and I

Getting up every so often

And snoring quietly

When I went to get them up this morning

Honey didn't move an inch

Usually she bounds out to greet me

She is really not herself

Then I had to give her the medication the vet gave us

She wouldn't take it on its own

So I wrapped the tablet in s bit of ham

But she still wouldn't take it

I went to the shops and bought some roast beef

Hoping that would tempt her

It took a while

But the meds eventually went down

I guess all I can do is keep an eye on her

And give her plenty of TLC

I'm hopeful that she will make a full recovery

And we will look after her as best we can

Honey

I don't know if I mentioned it or not
But Honey has been having an issue with her eye lately
At first we noticed there was a little cloud on her left eye
We brought her to the vet
But the vet wasn't sure what it is
So she prescribed drops
And told us to wait and see how she got on
It's didn't seem to be bothering Honey
Or effecting her eye sight
But even so
We kept a close eye on her

Then yesterday we were playing fetch in the kitchen
Honey was running around as usual
Having a great time
When all of a sudden
She let a little high pitched yelp out of her
She ran in to the corner behind the chair
And looked really sheepish
From then on
I kept a close eye on her
She seemed to be keeping her left eye tightly closed
And it was starting to weep
She stayed in behind the chair for ages
And was holding her head in a funny way
I was starting to get worried at this stage
And unfortunately it was a Sunday
So we had to wait until the following morning to bring her

This morning I got up early to check her
She was wiping her eye with her little paw
And she seemed to be in a lot of distress
I couldn't get a close look at her eye
As she had it closed very tightly
But I could see that it was red and swelling up
I bundled her and Lea in to the car
And off we set

I had to nip to the doctors first
That went fine
I am still on daily dispensing
Except on Saturday when I get a double dose
That is just fine with me
At least it will keep me out of trouble for now
I picked up my meds in the chemist
And then headed for the vet

We arrived at the vet at about 10am
They know us by this stage
So they greeted Honey warmly
While we were waiting
We weighed Honey
She has out on a little over Christmas
But haven't we all
Then we were called in to the surgery

I lifted Honey up on the table
And the vet took a look at her poor eye
She pulled back the eyelid to expose huge swelling in the white part of her eye
So much so you couldn't actually make out the pupil of her eye
I actually gasped when I saw it
As I didn't think it was that bad
And looking at it closely
I could see that the outside of her eye was all swollen and red too
Poor little Honey Bunny
I felt so sorry for her

By now Honey was not impressed with being poked at
And she began to growl at the vet
So we had to put a muzzle on her
The vet thought that her eye might be infected also
Because of the redness and the discharge
She prescribed pain killers
Antibiotics
And anti inflammatory tablets
And Honey also has to now wear a buster collar
You know the one that looks like a lampshade?
Honey is not happy about this
I think she feels pretty humiliated
So will keep a close eye on her this week
And she has to go back to the vet on Friday
Before we left
The vet gave Honey some injections to get her started

I collected the meds (which always cost a small fortune)
But I don't mind
Anything for my dogs
Their health is first and foremost in my mind
Honey banged and bumped her way back to the car
The poor little thing
I really feel for her

Now she is home
And she seems to be a bit brighter
She is eating
And walking around
And bullying Lea
So I am glad to see that she is coming back to herself
I truly hope that she makes a  full recovery
And goes back to being the Honey Bunny that I know and  love

Katie Hopkins: My Fat Story

Those of you who live in the UK and Ireland may be aware of Katie Hopkins
Hopkins first became known when she took part in the 2006 series of The Apprentice
Now she writes a column for the Sun newspaper
From the start she was controversial
Making comments about over weight people
She was also accused of classism
As she once said she judges her children's class mates by their first time
Saying she had no time for people with names like Tyler or Chardonnay
She seems to have courted the media over the years
Pushing peoples buttons just to get a reaction
She doesn't seem to be very popular with the public to say the least



Over the last week I have seen her advertise her new show quite heavily on the Tv station TLC
It was called Katie Hopkins: My Fat Story
Basically it was a two part reality fly on the wall documentary
About Katie (40) wanting to prove a point about obesity
The point being that if you 'eat less and move more'
Then anyone can lose weight
Katie wanted to gain 3 - 4 stone over a 3 month period
In order to lose it all again
To show that anyone can lose weight if they put their mind to it

Katie started off standing 1.7m tall
And weighing in at 125 pounds
At one point she stood
In her underwear
In front of a football team
And asked them what they thought of her body
The general consensus was that she was too skinny
One even said she bordering on 'anorexic'
Katie is big in to exercise
And runs a lot
She is very active in general
And seems to have no inclination to gain extra weight
In her own words
She describes that she has a 'very functional' relationship with food
That it is fuel for energy and nothing more



So she set about her goal to gain an extra 3 - 4 stone
In the beginning she found it very hard to gain any weight at all
She increased her calories to 4000 a day
And after 2 weeks had gained nothing
How annoying I thought to myself (Not!)
So she increased her intake to 6000 calories a day
And cut out all exercise
She began to gain weight

Katie was being monitored by a doctor
Who was watching her weight
Her body fat
And her bloods
Before she started the challenge
For her height
Katie was medically underweight
But even so
She was advised that this challenge could be detrimental to her health
But Katie was very single minded
And was determined to prove her point

She seemed to have little or no sympathy for over weight people
Calling them 'lazy' and 'slobs'
She regularly went on a rant about how it was easy to lose weight
And she couldn't understand why so many people were now clinically obese
She couldn't seem to accept the fact that some people were more inclined to gain extra weight
Or that some have an emotional relationship with food
And could even be addicted to food
She seems to think that what is true for her
Is a universal truth
And is the same for everyone

A month in
And Katie begins to gain weight
We saw her standing in front of the mirror in her underwear
Professing how fat she had become
But to me she looked far from fat
She looked healthier in my opinion



Katie met many people through out making the documentary
She met a woman who has struggles with her weight her whole life
And who some years ago, had gastric bypass surgery on the NHS (UK health service)
Katie was angry that she a 'tax paying citizen' had to pay for this woman's surgery
When if she wasn't 'lazy '
Could have worked off the weight herself
Katie seemed to have no comprehension that some people genuinely needed medical help to fight the battle of the bulge
And she certainly had no sympathy or empathy for them
She also met some fat activists
And insulted them right to their faces
One of the activists became very upset
And said she was going to phone the police to report Katie's insults as a hate crime
Katie asked her if she wanted her to bring her the phone
As she probably couldn't make it that far
How brazen can you get

At the end of the 4 months
Katie had gained 3 stone
I thought she looked well
Not over weight
Just healthy and full figured
So then she set about losing the weight
And it did come off very quickly for her
She set up her own Fat Club
Where 4 members of the public joined her in her quest to lose weight by simply eating less and moving more
By the end of the 3 months
Katie was a healthy 136 pounds
And she seemed to be ok with that

This documentary was shown over two consecutive nights
I guess it was sort of like car crash tv
You know you shouldn't watch
But you can't quite help yourself
Sometimes the things she said sounded like someone who is eating disordered
At one point she was wearing an arm band that counts your steps
The daily goal was 10 000 steps
Katie's goal was to do 20 000
In a strange way
What she was doing was very obsessive
And she seemed to contradict herself a lot
At the end of the show
She seemed satisfied that she had made her point
But did admit that the weight issue was not quite as black and white as she thoughts
As a person
Katie is rude, patronizing, insulting, ignorant and single minded
I found myself wondering why do over weight people bother her so much
And why did she feel compelled to do this challenge
It's clear to me that she says and does things to get a reaction
And attention
She seems to have built her career on this
She's great to have on a chat show
As she will say lots of controversial things
And wind people up no end
She is what we call a 'shit stir' in this country
While I was watching the show
Two members of my family got up and left
As they found Katie 'intensely irritating'

I really feel for people that struggle to maintain a healthy weight
In my mind eating disorders and over eating are on the same spectrum
Eating to the point of obesity
Or starving yourself to the point of emaciation are similar
And I know only too well that I could easily be one of those people who weight 400 pounds

I don't think Katie Hopkin's show proved anything
I don't think it was helpful
Or insightful
Or even interesting
I think it was a vehicle to promote her own sick ideas and opinions
And I am fully aware that in writing this post
I am doing exactly what she wants
Giving her attention and exposure
So I will stop now
And never mention her again