We are now well into the
middle of my favourite times of the year, I am clearly not built for Summer
months as something always goes wrong medically & as I am a huge kid at
heart, Halloween & Christmas are what I look forward to the most.
I have to start this blog
out with some devastating news I never wanted to have to write about.... After
a two year battle & three weeks in hospital fighting pneumonia, our
beautiful nephew Jack passed away, aged just five. On the 27th October he took
his last breathe. It was peaceful & painless with his family around him, we
have his funeral coming up a week after next which will be themed with
superheroes just like he was. Life will never be the same without his
infectious laugh & beautiful brown eyes.
Things have been hard to
cope with both emotionally & physically the last month, losing Jack was
something we all expected, but never so soon & it still doesn't even feel
real. I had a lot of things planned from Halloween onwards & it's been
painful to want to enjoy them after life has been so unfair & a little
child lost his life. However, I know Jack would have wanted me to be the big
kid I am & have some fun, he even gave me (with a little help from his
mummy) his old feed bag to help me become more mobile with my St Mark's Solution
& it has been an absolute godsend so thank you so much angel....
Halloween has got to be a
close favourite of mine of the year, if not the favourite. It's very
hard to choose between that & Christmas...
This year I have totally
wanted to make the most of it so my sister & I, with Stefan in tow, went to
Dartmoor Zoo for Boo At The Zoo on the Saturday night before Halloween. I
dressed up as 'prisoner' Harley Quinn & my sister was of course, the Joker.
It was a very funny night being chased around a pitch black zoo by zombie staff
with nothing but a torch - I don't think Stef enjoyed it quite as much as us,
but he is a bit of a grown up compared to me!
The scary fun didn't stop
there as on actual Halloween which fell on the Monday, my sister took me to Bygones & Model Village with a pub lunch in between. That was cool as we hadn't been to
either of those places for years, and of course, I did a little dressing up for
the occasion. The looks I got were quite funny, but I did get lots of smiles,
and "nice to see someone's gone to the effort!" LOL!!
I had a couple days to
recoup & a hospital trip before I finally got to go on my birthday trip to
ZSL London Zoo to sleep at Lion Lodge. Lauren & Stefan got it for my
birthday back in July, but because of all the trouble going on with my tummy I
haven't been able to go on it. Finally the day had come where we set off at 4.30am on Thursday & arrived at the park just before
they opened at 10am.
We spent the day going
through the zoo & were extremely lucky to see all the new babies, two tiger
cubs, two gorillas, even a baby sloth! I loved the bat enclosure & the orb
spider display & fell in love with the tigers & pygmy hippos,
especially Thug. But the best was saved to last...
At 4pm we checked into our lodges & Lauren enjoyed a
glass of prosecco, whilst I had my apple juice. There we were sat with the
lions with just a pane of glass between us. Bannioo, the male, was curled up in
his cave but the ladies, Indi, Heidi & Rubi were curled up on the heat rock
right next to where we were staying - it was absolutely magical. The lodges
were stunning, so cosy & warm, it was like a dream. We went for our first
torchlight tour at 6pm around the zoo with our hosts Joy & Kerry & then had a lovely
dinner in the garden room with the other guests. Straight after, we had another
tour, and got to feed the pygmy hippos, the aardvarks & the porcupines. It
was awesome to see them out and about at night.
We finally got back to the
lodges round 10 to get our heads down but were woken by the lions quite frequently
(which we didn't mind at all) Lauren & I took it in turns waking each other
up every time we heard them, then my alarm went off for my morning med regime
& you could hear Bannioo being extremely vocal so Lauren bolted up right,
took a hot chocolate outside on the terrace & listened to them! It was the
perfect wake up call, we couldn't stop smiling. We headed off to breakfast,
which was lovely, before the keepers morning tour, their busiest time before
the zoo opens. We got too see some animals eating their own breakfast & the
places where they prepared it. As it came to an end we said our goodbyes &
went to set off for Whipsnade Zoo...
I had an accident as we
left, my bag literally exploded all over me, so my sister wheeled me too the
nearest disabled toilet & had to run to the gate where our luggage was
being stored to get me some fresh clothes. That did put a small dampener on the
day, I felt utterly gross & upset that it had happened but it's something I
am putting up with on a regular basis at the moment. Anyway, after a little cry
& a clean up, we were on our way & got to Whipsnade just before midday. Unfortunately the weather was less to be desired
as it started to piss it down, but that didn't put us off. I fell in love with
the hippo's, Lola particularly as she moved & looked up at me as I called
her name, we even got to see a gorgeous little baby elephant running around her
mum & auntie. It was epic & an experience I will certainly never
forget.
I am of course absolutely
exhausted now. I did nothing today but stay in my PJ's, clean my animals &
watch a movie. I was meant to have an early night but as you can see I am up
writing this to you guys as I think I'm still buzzing after London & looking forward to the morning as Stef &
I are travelling to the Birmingham NEC for the National Pet Show 2016! Another 5am start but it'll be well worth it!!
It'll
be the last trip to enjoy now for a good while I would imagine, nothing has
changed with my situation whatsoever. I am still irrigating, but nothing is
happening. I am still on St Marks Fluid, (hence why Jack's bag is a god send)
The next plan is to have a CT scan to see if the blockage as moved or got smaller
or ???? Then I have no idea... No fucking clue. There has been talks about getting London involved with a second opinion, and talks of IF
surgery is the ONLY option, it won't be done until AFTER Christmas.
I
just really wish I had a plan of what was happening rather than guessing every
week. The more accidents I have with Steve the more upset I get. I would love a
decent soak in the bath without a bag strapped to me & knowing my skin
isn't getting burnt underneath it. I would love a pint of water, a bit of fruit
& some green beans! I never thought I would say that but I am tired of
eating shit! I feel unhealthy & I feel very fugly! Yet I am here, & others
aren't, & other's are struggling more than myself. Two in particular who I
am thinking of on a daily basis. Life is so very unfair, I know it's cliché but
you just have to make the most of what you have & do the things you want. I
think this year in general has shown many people that & I for one can't
wait to see the back of it.
I will keep you posted
with more news, better get some shut eye now else I will fall asleep in front
of Supervet Noel!! I hope you like the pics . All the very best & much love
xxxxxxx
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