Hello, I am back!
I would firstly like to start this week’s blog with an apology for last week. I’m so sorry there was no blog to read! I had it in my head I would be able to find two hours of my Sunday to sit down and write the blog. But I also misunderstood how busy and stressful a house move can be. I quite quickly found out, writing a blog on a weekend of a house move was going to be almost impossible to do. For a good part of the day, I didn’t even have a sofa to sit down on, never mind time to write a blog. I was too busy shampooing carpets, unpacking boxes, cleaning walls, cleaning cupboards, and so on.
Here are some photos of the aftermath of my house move. Bruised legs, and a bruised knuckle from hitting my hand on the bay window. I also managed to slice my thumb open with scissors when oping boxes. Painful spot of a cut as you use your thumb for everything! I also do bruise very easily due to my steroids, hence why my legs did get so bad!
The Wolf
The house move went so well! In fact, it went better than I could have ever predicted! The wolf behaved himself for the whole entire move! Even a week later, he’s still pretty happy. I was doing everything my body should have hated me for! My body was stressed out from head to toe. Yet, the wolf didn’t fight back. I mean I’m not complaining, I just find it so odd! Every night I went to bed, I would lay there and think, I’ve done way too much today, I’m going to be paying for this tomorrow. But then I woke up the next day, I was fine. It’s so strange! What’s happened to the wolf?
Sinsues Still Doing So Well
My sinuses have been doing so well! It’s been over a month now not needing any decongestant. I can’t believe it! I can’t remember the last time I went for such a long period like this. I am congested through my nose, and can hardly breathe through my nose. But my sinuses are ok at the minute. They don’t hurt, nor do they feel inflamed, so I’m really happy!
My Stomach
My stomach is doing really well too at the minute. I’ve managed to find a happy balance with what I eat, the tablets I take, etc. I am still on a very strict diet, on a really high dose of stomach protector, and sleep on my giant cheese wedge. But the main thing is, what I am doing is working. I’m keeping the inflammation at bay, keeping my stomach happy. I know what I’m doing isn’t really a long time solution and I know the hospital is keen on getting me onto infusions and getting me off my steriods, which should help my stomach. I’ve got an appointment in a couple week’s time, so it be interesting to see what they say then. I’m hoping they are going to give me a date to start my infusions.
It’s really frustrating. I know the combination of medication I am on now is working well for me. Yes, I do suffer from joint pain, but other than that, I am feeling really well within myself. So it’s annoying my stomach isn’t well, and the steroids are harming my body. It worries me changing my meds, will my health deteriorate again? Will they be able to find a good enough replacement to replace the combination of meds I’m on now? So many questions with no answers. I know it’s all down to trial and error. But when it fails, it’s me that has to suffer. It’s my quality of life that goes down the drain. But I’m trying to keep positive. I’ve heard a lot of good promising things about biological infusions. So hopefully it will be good news for me. Just think one day, I might be able to enjoy an extra cup of coffee without worrying about it setting off my stomach, or enjoy some sun-dried tomatoes again. The pillow issue won’t ever change though, as that’s down to my hernia. But that’s ok, I can accept that for life. I just want to be able to enjoy more food again.
New Home
We’re both settled in nicely in our new home. Most of the boxes are now unpacked, apart from a few things in the study and spare bedroom, which I’m going to do today. We are both so happy, and love the house so much! It’s got everything we want in a house: big kitchen, big bathroom, downstairs toilet, porch, big driveway, garage, a good size garden, and really good size rooms. It’s even got a gym! However, there is a lot of work that needs doing to turn the house into a home. It’s very dated, but it’s all part of the fun! The only room we don’t need to do anything to is the bathroom as it’s all-new. In fact, it’s perfect! A large shower cubicle with a rainfall showerhead, a whirlpool bath, and lots of cupboards for storage. Yes, I’m one of these sad people who love’s storage space! It’s such a dreamy bathroom! Definitely one of the selling points of the house and not the 60s flowery stairs carpet that gets your eyes every time you look at it!
The Northern Lights In Yorkshire
On Friday night, my dream came true! I saw the Northern Lights dancing over Yorkshire! Something I’ve dreamt about for a long while. You might have remembered me talking about this a few months ago when the last strong solar flare hit and I was too ill to go out and see them. I was truly devastated!
Seeing them here isn’t quite the same experience as when I saw them via my naked eye dancing in Lapland above the Arctic Circle, or in Iceland at New Year. I knew that would be the case too. However, seeing them where I live, makes it just magical. There weren’t bright and visible to the naked eye like when you head up north. You often do need a powerful camera to capture them this far down south. However, that being said, you can sometimes see them faintly to the naked eye if the solar flare is strong enough and you are away from any light pollution including the moon. On Friday, I could only see them through my camera lens. But as an amateur photographer, capturing them on a camera feels just as good as seeing them with a naked eye. I even saw I faint bit of pink, which I’ve never seen before. I’ve only ever seen the green.
Here are some captures from Friday night. They’re not great, I still have a lot of learning to do! You have to have your camera on manual mode so you can play around with the shutter speed, ISO, aperture, and focus. It takes a lot of practice to find the right settings. Even when you think you have the right settings, it also depends on other factors i.e. on how fast the aurora is dancing, how strong the flare is, how much light pollution there is, etc. Basically, it takes a lot of patience, a lot of trial and error, a lot of practice. It’s about getting to know your camera, getting in tune with it. I’m still very new to my Canon R6, with still a lot to learn.
Anyways, that’s it from me this week. I’ve got to do a bit of wedding sorting to do today, along with unpacking the reminding boxes. We popped down to our wedding venue earlier this week. So much has changed in two years! For anyone new on here, we were meant to get married in 2020, but because of the pandemic, it didn’t happen. So now we’re getting married next month! I still cannot believe it’s next month! I am finally feeling quite excited about it all! I feel like everything is starting to come together. Everything is actually happening now and no maybe’s, like it was for most of 2021. New house, wedding going ahead next month, and then our honeymoon is all booked for May. They say things come in 3s, there certainly not wrong!
And if you wondering about Casper the friendly Camper, don’t worry next weekend we will be back on the road with him all being well!
Before I go, here’s a little reminder about my book. I’ve extended the reduced price until the end of this month, as many of you were wanted to buy it, but were gutted, as you were too skint to purchase it in January after Christmas. So make sure you don’t miss out on a great saving as it will be ending on the 28th of February!
How I tamed the Wolf: Living with Lupus is available to buy on Amazon on the Kindle or as a paperback.
Here is a direct link to my book:
Until next week,
Goodbye for now
Emma
xox
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