Rest Day

Today is another rest day on the A - Z Challenge

So I thought I would take the opportunity to write a personal post about what's going on for me and my family

Next Friday my Mum is having surgery in Dublin

A few weeks ago 

She saw a consultant 

And the surgery date is next week

It's surgery on her foot

Her toes to be precise 

You see, for as long as we can remember 

Mum has had a wonky toe

Her big toe is kind of growing the wrong way 

And is almost as a right angle to the rest of her toes 

Her toe had been a source of fun over the years 

Especially during the summer when her feet are out 

I would show you a picture 

But I don't want to scare you

But if you look up 'Hammer Toe' on Google 

You will surely find some pics 

Anyway

Up until recently 

Mums funny toe hasn't given her any trouble 

Apart from the way it looks 

Which never has really bothered her 

But now 

She gets pain in her foot and up her leg 

So we finally managed to get her to go to the doctor 

Who promptly referred her to a consultant in Dublin

Who told Mum it was one of the worst cases he has seen

He immediately booked her in for surgery 

It's sounds like a small and simple procedure 

But it is in fact complicated 

Both the big toe and the toe next to it will broken 

Straightened 

And pins will be inserted to keep the toes in place 

All done under general anaesthetic of course

Mum will be in quite a bit of pain following the procedure 

And will be off her feet for a couple of months

So needless to say 

We will be looking after her for that period of time 

My sister and I live  here 

So we will be doing the bulk of the work

But we have another sister and brother who will hopefully help too

We have already done out a roster for cooking and cleaning etc

But I'm sure there are some things that we haven't even thought of yet

We'll get through it 

Albeit with a few sibling arguments and tiffs

The other thing is 

That recently I have become aware of my own big toe 

As it seems to be heading in the same direction as Mums

Which is a worry 

But I guess I don't need to worry about it just yet 

But I definitely won't let it go as bad as my Mums

Whose foot is now quite deformed 

My Dad is also going to see a consultant in Dublin next month 

It's his hands 

Over the years the muscle in his hands has wasted away 

And he now has very little power or strength in them

He can't close buttons 

Open jars 

His hands are quite disabled now 

It was hard to get him to go to the doctor 

But he finally did recently 

And was referred to the consultant 

I really hope they can do something to help his hands 

As soon they will be completely useless if something isn't done

It's worrying 

Both my parents having separate health issues

I guess it's a reminder that they are not getting any younger

It's scary to think that they are getting older

I'm not ready for it 

Even though I'm 34 

I feel like I am still growing up

I need them 

I still need my parents 

It's scary 

It feels like the rug is being pulled from under us 

And all of a sudden 

They are old 

I guess we are never ready to lose our parents 

And I don't think that will happen for a long time 

But it's something that will happen

Whether we are ready or not 

Having said all that 

I was wondering about you 

Do you still have your parents?

Or have you lost either parent?

Are your parents getting older and having health problems?

How do you feel about it?

Are you worried about them?

T is for Tea!

All my life 

I've been a confirmed tea drinker

Even as a baby 

I used to take hot, sweet tea in my bottle 

I was very attached to my bottle of tea

And having spoken to my Mum about it this morning

She tells me that I used my bottle of tea as a comfort up until the age of four

I can remember hiding said bottle when people came over 

Since then 

Tea has been a source of warmth and comfort to me

That first cup in the morning is heaven 

And when I smoked

A cuppa and a cigarette could put the world to right 

I can't lie 

I miss that feeling 

A hot steaming cup of tea

And a Carrolls cigarette 

Anything could be solved over it

I've never been a coffee drinker

Most of my family are coffee drinkers 

But I've never developed a taste for it

I wish I liked coffee

As it looks very sophisticated 

And I'd love to go in to a coffee shop and order a long black

But no

I am a dedicated tea drinker

And nothing else will do

It wasn't until I developed my ED 

That my tea drinking got out of hand 

If tea drinking can get out of hand

Now I must drink 10- 15 cups a day 

Depending on what I am doing 

If I am at home 

I will make one cup after another 

And drink it like it is going out of fashion

I also have particular cups that I drink out of 

I'm very picky about my cups 

The need to be narrow 

Quite tall 

Preferably with a nice design

I don't like cups with an internal colour 

I like them to be white on the inside

I have my favourite cups

And no other cups will do

When I gave up smoking 

It took me quite a while to get used to having a cup of tea without a smoke 

It just wasn't the same 

But as they say 

You can make or break a habit in 21 days

And eventually 

Like everything 

I got used to it

Oh

And the tea has to be Barry's 

I don't use sugar that much anymore 

And use 4 sweeteners instead

Right 

I'm off to make another cuppa

See you on the next post....

Are you a tea or coffee drinker?

S is for Summer!

Summer is fast approaching 

And as you know

I have a few things in the pipeline 

There is the possibility of a job

And also a course I could do 

Which is over a year long

IT and communications 

Two days a week

This week

I got a call from the manager of the holiday centre where I applied to work 

She asked me if I was still interested in work

And told me to pop in yesterday morning to have a chat

So I did 

She showed me around the building

Which can cater up to 60 people at a time

The living areas 

The dining room 

The office 

Then we sat down so she could tell me in depth about the job

She asked about my situation

I told her that I am on a disability benefit 

And because the job is only a summer job

I am keen to hold on to that payment

She totally understood that 

She asked me why I am on disability 

So I explained that I am recovering from an eating disorder 

I had no problem telling her that 

But then she became concerned that the job might be too much for me

She told me that the job is not only physically demanding 

But also very emotionally demanding

You see the holiday centre is run by a charity 

Whose aim is to give people a holiday who generally can't afford on

It's not free 

But it is at a reduced cost

So a lot of the people staying are vulnerable 

Or have difficult circumstances 

Different situation may arise 

And I would need to be very switched on to deal with them

The manager explained that the person she hires needs to have a lot of cop on and common sense 

A jack of all trades were the words she used

I told her that I would be available to work the 20 hours a week I am allowed work 

She said she would have to bring thdt information back to the board members to discuss 

And said she would get back to me next week

I  know that a lot of you think that I should take the full time work 

And I would love to

But I worry that it would be too much for me 

And I might cave under the pressure 

Plus I wouldn't have the time to look after my dogs 

Horse riding 

Writing 

Blogging 

Meetings 

And appointments 

If I could work the 20 hours 

That would work perfectly 

But I don't know if it will happen

Then there is the course 

I went to talk on it yesterday 

And I have an interview for it on Monday

The course is two days a week

For 16 months

So it suits me really well 

If I got the 20 hours work 

Then I could probably squeeze the course in too

My other option is not to work at all and do the course 

The course work includes work experience 

So I would get some work over the next year

Anyway 

 I will wait for the manager to get back to me about the job

And I will go ahead and do the interview for the course 

But right now 

I am leaning towards doing the course

Even though it is a bit of a dilemma 

It's great to have options

It's great to be well enough to do these things

I feel like things are starting to come together for me

That my life is coming together 

And that is nothing short of amazing

I'd love to know what you think though

Your views and opinions 

So don't be shy 

Get in touch.... 

R is for Recovery!

Recovery is an obvious choice for the letter R

But it's also an important one 

The main thing about recovery 

Is that it's about progress not perfection

And I am so glad for that 

Because I certainly have not perfected recovery 

Who has?

My recovery from drugs started as long as ten years ago

I've had many slips and relapses since then

And now have about a year of continuous recovery

Since my last relapse early last year

My recovery from my ED started two years ago

After I came out of treatment for the umpteenth time

But again 

It most definitely has not been a straight road 

There have been an awful lot of bumps in the road for me

And some might argue that I am not in recovery at all 

As I still purge 

Albeit a whole lot less than I was two years ago 

But bulimia still raises its ugly head from time to time 

The thing is 

That I am doing my level best 

To stay sane

And improve my physical and mental health 

I'm striving for a better life 

For me and my family 

It's taken me a long time to get to the ponit where I wanted to recover

In the midst of the illness

Recovery seems nigh on impossible 

It wasn't something that I wanted to explore 

And I deliberately avoided anything to do with recovery 

But there came a point 

Where I was just not willing to lose any more of my life to my addiction/ED

Where the negatives drastically outweighed the positives

I wasn't living 

I was hanging on by my finger nails to life 

But now 

I am so glad I managed to pull myself out of the rabbit hole 

And am even sorry that I didn't do it years ago 

It seems that as quickly as things can tank

They can also turn around just as quickly 

I can categorically tell you 

That there is life after ED and addiction

I know that recovery can seem so far away

And sometimes it is 

But it starts with the first step

That first leap of faith 

That is the most difficult part

But once you get going 

I promise you 

There will be no stopping you

Baby steps all the way

As I always say

Baby steps soon add up to be great strides 

And breaking it down in to small bite size chunks is much more manageable

As well as improving health and mental health

As well as weight restoration and all the health benefits that come with that 

Recovery also opens up new opportunities

I've done so many things in recovery

That I would never have had the confidence or the courage to do in the midst of my illness

I went on my first date 

I joined classes 

I started going to meetings again

I began horse riding

Which has quickly turned in to a passion

I've done interviews for different publications 

So many wonderful things can happen 

If you can just open your mind 

And your heart 

And take that first step away from the illness

In my ED

It was like being in a prison 

With meagre food portions 

And a punishing exercise routine 

There is nothing enjoyable about living with an ED 

Even the benefits it promises 

Weight loss 

Never works out 

As the goal posts always shift

Today is a good day

This morning I am going in to see the manager of the holiday centre 

Remember the job I applied for?

She rang me yesterday 

And asked me to go in for a chat 

So that is exciting 

I'm really hoping something comes of it

And this afternoon 

I am starting my course 

IT and communications 

I don't know if I'll be able to do it all

But I will give it a go 

And see how I get on 

I still want to leave time for horse riding

The dogs 

blogging 

And my appointments of course 

As these things are the foundation of my recovery 

I have faith though 

That it will all work out the way it's supposed to 

And that's the lovely thing about recovery 

Things seem to all of a sudden fall in to place 

One day everything is up in the air 

And the next it's all slotting together like a jigsaw puzzle

In other news 

I went horse riding yesterday 

Myself and one of the lads are being entered in a competition 

A dressage show 

On May 1st

It's basically a routine with the horse 

Walking 

Trotting

Following a course 

We went through it twice yesterday

If you remember last week

Star was no co operating with me 

He was very reluctant to trot 

So I was given a whip yesterday 

Just to give him a little tap to start off

And lo and behold 

He began to trot when I tapped him

We are rough diamonds myself and Star

But we are slowly but surely forming a little bond 

And finding out way 

At one point when we were trotting 

Star began to go really fast 

Cantering 

It was amazing!

I loved it!

So much fun!

I just wish I could do it more often 

I feel on such a high after riding 

And the time always goes way too quickly 

And this 

The horse riding 

Is only possible by my being somewhat well

I wouldn't be able for it if I was underweight and struggling 

I wouldn't trade all the things in my life for a skinny body 

No way 

Maybe it's that in getting older 

I turn 35 this year 

And I guess I was bound to grow up at some stage 

And an ED is so life and soul draining 

That the older you get 

The sicker you get 

And the harder it is to find recovery 

I know I'm blessed 

I have an amazing family behind me 

Super duper professionals 

Who as a team

Have helped me massively 

And pancreatitis aside 

I've come out of my ED relatively unscathed 

Also economic factors 

I have a secure comfortable place to live 

I don't really have to worry about money 

And those things are massive

So all in all

Recovery is worth 

A hundred times over 

I just wish I could give you a little piece of the happiness I have found 

It's finally happening for me

I am recovering.....

Q is for Quirky!

Q is a bit of a tricky letter

I decided to go with quirky

As it was one of only a few I could think of

I like quirky

Quirky clothes 

Quirky hair

Quirky colours

I especially love quirky people

And I am a bit on the quirky side myself

I can remember growing up

I desperate to belong 

To find people like me

A place where I didn't stick out like a sore thumb

As a teenager 

I experimented with lots of different styles

Preppy

Sporty 

Hippy

Gothic

Prim and proper 

But I never felt I quite belonged to any of them 

I really had no clue who I was 

What I was about 

And what people I wanted to be around

For me 

Clothes are a big part of my identity 

It was only really in my late twenties 

That I found a style I liked

And felt comfortable in

I wear a lot of jeans, hoodies and trainers

But I like quirky ones

Surf type wear 

That relaxed 

Laid back 

And comfortable in style 

I love to meet people who are a little bit different 

People who March to the beat of their own drum

I'm attracted to people who I can be myself around 

As there really aren't many out there 

That's why I get on with my sister so well

She is quirky to the point of being eccentric 

And I love that about her 

She is also bat shit crazy

I know she won't mind me saying that

As I am too

I swear 

Some of the conversations we have are hilarious 

And I've been threatening to put a go-pro camera in the car to capture some of our funnier moments 

A sense of humour is so important I think 

Especially in the darker times 

My family have quite a dark sense of humour 

And it has got us through many of the tougher times 

Without it

I would have gone completely off the wall long ago

Remember in school

When being different or quirky was a bad thing?

It seems like the end of the world when you don't fit in

But as an adult 

It's endearing and interesting to be quirky or different 

Who wants to be like the crowd anyway.....?

P is for Peace!

I'm going to write about peace 

In the context of peace of mind

At meetings 

A lot of talk centres around achieving peace of mind 

As an addict

And as someone who suffers with mental health issues

I have experienced very little peace of mind in my life 

Plus the fact that I am a worrier means my head is rarely quiet

For as long as I can remember 

The has a constant chatter

A running commentary going on in my head

Most of which is negative and repetitive and generally pretty destructive 

Then add an ED in to the mix

Which is also like another voice in your head

And it becomes very difficult to achieve peace of mind 

I am constantly thinking 

Constantly switched on

And am generally thinking about something that did happen 

Or something that is going to happen 

Very rarely am I in the present 

On the moment 

I am almost always in another tense 

I do strive for peace of mind though

And I do get moments of it 

Those moments are sheer bliss 

When the internal chatter stops

And my head is quiet

You can't buy that kind peace 

 To me 

Peace means not worrying about the past 

Letting the past be 

And not beating myself up about it 

It means not projecting in to the future 

Not wishing my life away 

Peace means being happy to live in the present 

To deal with things as they happen 

To live life on life's terms

It means accepting my situation

The good and the bad 

And making the most of it 

Peace means integrity 

Doing the next right thing 

Even when no one is watching 

It means living a life that I can be proud of 

Peace means being present 

Mindful 

Doing the best I can with what I have 

It means laying my head down at night 

Knowing I lived the best life I could have today 

I guess peace is similar to happiness

It's not a constant thing 

But we do get moments of it 

And those moments are priceless

What does peace mean to you?

O is for Orca!

Yes

A total change of direction here 

For as long as I can remember

I have been fascinated by whales

All animals really

But especially whales

It started when I did a project on them in primary school

And the fascination has never left me

There is something so magical about them 

Their sheer size alone is mind boggling

Last night on BBC

There was a documentary on about zoos

Presented by Liz Bonin

That asked the questions

Should we keep animals in captivity?

What are the costs and the benefits?

I wasn't going to watch said documentary

As in the trailer 

It said there were some upsetting scenes

And nothing upsets me more than seeing animals in distress 

I decided to watch it though

As even though it is really upsetting 

I want to be aware of what is happening 

The documentary itself was brilliant

It asked some really tough questions 

About why we keep animals in captivity

Their habitat in captivity 

Their behaviour in captivity as opposed to the wild 

Apparently an elephants life span is cut in half in captivity

They also experience other problems such as obesity 

Rotten teeth 

And foot problems 

All because they have been kept in the wrong sort of conditions 

The documentary also questions about extinction

In the case of the northern white rhino

There are none left in the wild at all

And only five exist in captivity

So

Is it better to keep a species in captivity to keep it alive?

Or should we allow these beautiful animals to die out?

It's a tricky one

But back to whales 

The documentary spoke about the movie Black Fish

The film that focuses on the events that led up to the death of 40 year old Seaworld trainer Dawn Branchaeu in 2010

I haven't seen the movie

As I think it would send me over the edge and traumatise me for life

The name of the whale that killed Dawn Brancheau is called Tilikum

Dawn was rubbing Tilikum as part of a post show routine when the orca grabbed her by her left arm and hair

And dragged her to the bottom of the enclosure

Tilikum scalped her

Broke her bones 

Dismembered her

She drowned 

The third person to have been killed by Tilikum since his capture over 30 years ago

Seaworld declined to take part in the film Black Fish 

But they did agree to an interview for the BBC documentary last night 

We got to meet Tilikum

Who still resides in Sea World

The head vet there 

Argued that Dawn Brancheaus death was a tragic accident 

And not a deliberate attack on her life 

Let's rewind here a little 

So I can give you some history of Tilikum

Tilikum is the largest orca in captivity

Weighing in at 12, 500 pounds

And over 22 feet in length

Tilikum was captured near Iceland

In November 1983

Two years old

He was ripped away from his family and ocean home 

He was covered in lanolin

An oil extracted from sheeps wool which is applied to the orcas whole body to prepare them for a long transport without water

Tilikum has been bought and sold like a commodity since his capture

Held in small holding tanks 

All he could do was swim in small circles and float aimlessly at the surface of the water 

In the wild an orca can cover an area of up to 100 miles a day 

So you can see how disturbing it must be to the whale

In captivity 

Food was held from Tilikum as a training technique

He was forced to perform every hour on the hour 

8 times a day 

7 days a week

On February 21 1991 Sealand trainer Keltie Byrne fell in to a pool containing three orcas including Tilikum

She was pulled to the bottom of the enclosure 

Tossed around among the three orcas

And ultimately drowned 

She was the first of three people to have been killed due to Tilikums stress, confinement and frustration

After the death of Keltie 

Sealand closed its doors for good

And Tilikum was sold to Seaworld

Over the course of Tilikums life at there

He has been involved in multiple acts of aggression 

The stress of captivity also drives him to exhibit abnormal repetitive behaviour

Such as on metal gates and the concrete sides of his tank 

The stress of captivity also drove Tilikum to kill a young trainer called Daniel P Dukes in 1999

Following Dawns tragic death in 2010

Tilikum was kept in a tiny enclosure

After a year of isolation

He returned to performing 

Aggression towards humans by orcas is almost non existent in nature

But the constant stress of living in incompatible social groupings inside minuscule tAnks at Seaworld causes them to lash out

Posing a threat of danger to other whales and employees alike

Having researched this topic today 

And some of the information here was taken directly from Seaworld of Hurts website 

I feel a sense of despair for these animals 

It really upsets me 

In fact cruelty to animals upsets me a lot more than cruelty to people 

I asked myself today

What I can do to help these poor creatures 

And I guess by raising awareness here on my blog is at least something 

I find myself with little pity for those that Tilikum killed

I mean these are wild animals 

Being kept in unsatisfactory conditions 

I'm actually surprised that more people haven't been killed

So I guess we need to ask ourselves some difficult questions

In order to solve this problem 

In my opinion

Seaworld and similar places should be illegal 

No more than dancing bears

Donkey rides

And any other activity that exploits animals for money 

As humans 

We do not own this planet 

Animals have every right to life in the wild  

As it seems keeping them in captivity does not work 

With all that said 

I was wondering about you

What do you think about places like Seaworld?

Have you ever been?

And also what do you think about zoos?

I know a lot of you out there are animal lovers like me

So I am interested to hear what you think...