Another weekend, another location with Casper. This weekend we are in Northumberland. It’s actually Saturday at the time of writing this week’s blog. But by the time you will be reading this, it will be Sunday. I’m writing it a day early as we are planning on heading to Holy Island tomorrow.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Holy Island is an island off the Northumberland coastline. It is connected to the mainland via a tidal causeway. So tomorrow we are on a strict timetable schedule. We are hoping to get on the island, do a walk, and get back onto the mainland before the tide comes in. Otherwise, we will be stuck on the island until 9 pm.
Today, we’ve had a lovely walk up and around Dunstanburgh Castle. It was a short, easy, flat walk. I’m currently still suffering from my sciatica. It has improved from last weekend. It’s less painful but it still hurts. Climbing mountains is still off the radar. I can climb uphill in not too much pain, but I wouldn’t be able to get down. For some reason, it hurts a lot more going downhill compared to walking on the flat/uphill. I cannot wait till I can walk pain-free again!
The worst is on a night at the minute. I can’t move my body in certain directions when I’m lying down. I screamed in pain last night when I tried moving from my back onto my right-hand side. Not sure why it’s now worse laying down. Last week I was fine laying down.
Update On My Shingles
It’s been almost 3 months, my shingles are finally healing. I still have a rash, but it’s only very faint. I stopped my Amitriptyline this week. So far the pain hasn’t returned, so I’m hoping it stays that way, and I no longer need the medication. You have to wait a few days for the Amitriptyline to get out of your body, before you know if you still need it or not.
The only problem I am having is I cannot sleep at night! The Amitriptyline was knocking me out every night. On the other hand, I’m waking up not feeling hungover anymore, which is nice. It’s one of them medications you love for one thing but hate for another! I know my sleep will improve, as my body gets used to not having the Amitriptyline anymore.
Update On The Wolf
Things with the wolf have been going really well. This afternoon I’m feeling exhausted but I do think that’s due to the fact of how little sleep I’ve had all week, because of the stopping of the Amitriptyline. I just have to be careful the next days, try and get a little bit more rest, catch up on sleep, not let my body get stressed out from it, and hopefully, the wolf will carry on staying happy.
However, despite feeling pretty well at the minute, my blood test results are rather interesting. My Neutrophil count is too high. It’s never too high! It’s normally too low. A too high Neutrophil count often indicates an infection. I don’t feel as though I have an infection. Unless it’s my sciatica causing a high Neutrophil count? Or my ankle which is still very bruised and sore causing it? But surely they wouldn’t cause high Neutrophils, would it? I’m just grateful my ankle doesn’t hurt to walk on! I couldn’t cope with the pain from that and my sciatica.
My potassium levels are also low again. I did wonder about this. Every time they go low, I do tend to get a lot of cramps in my legs and feet. I’ve been suffering a lot in the last few weeks.
My kidney reading is all out too, but that is normal. My kidneys haven’t been right for years. Luckily, even though they are not functioning at their best, they haven’t got any worst.
Gastro Issues
My stomach hasn’t been at its best this week. A little change in acidic levels in my diet, always sends my stomach inflamed. So frustrating! Since I have been feeling so tired all week, I’ve been drinking a little extra coffee. This then left my stomach feeling ever so sore. When I say a little extra coffee, I only mean adding 2 tsp of coffee instead of 1 tsp into my cup of coffee at breakfast. So it wasn’t like I was drinking 4 extra cups of coffee a day. Luckily, I always have some extra Ranitidine in my drug box. I took it for 2 nights and it seemed to heal it for now.
Anyways, that’s it from me this week. We parked up for the night in a beautiful spot with cows and baby calves as neighbours.
I know a few people this week have messaged me about my travels and how they can go about following me.
The best place is on my Instagram: instagram.com/livingwiththew0lf
Alex and I have our own YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheAdventurousPair
I write my blogs/walking guides all on this website.
I hope all that helps. Any questions, please do feel free to ask.
Until next week,
Goodbye for now.
Emma
xox
