Still here

Apologies, all, for the lack of posts recently. I'm still here, but have been a bit busy trying to catch up with my OU studies whilst also writing my submission for the Postgrad Certificate Memoir Writing module I recently finished. In the end I did three short-ish pieces for the submission, which I'm reasonably happy with, but it's the tutor/marker that has to like them so I'm hoping she does. I did the commentary - self-critique of the pieces and process of writing them - on Wednesday, and although I wasn't brilliantly happy with it I decided that it'd do and I put the submission in this afternoon. It feels good to have got it done and out of the way, and it feels good to have confirmed with Newcastle University English Department that I'm going to go on and complete my PGCert this academic year ... and go onto the MA in October! I still have to finish my undergrad degree of course, but I've only got a very small amount of that left to do - one proper assignment; one small, reflective assignment; and the extended essay. I'm at the thinking stage of the proper assignment, with ideas floating around my head, so I should hopefully get it done in the next week.

OU studies have been delayed during this past week and bit not only because of the PGC submission, but also becasue I haven't been feeling too grand. My lungs aren't behaving very well and when I went to the ward last week for my portacath flush, J (Charge Nurse) offered to find a bed for me :o( I was tight and wheezy, but not awful so said I'd prefer not to have to stay if I could avoid it. He said okay, but also to email him when I think I need a bed reserving, which neither of us think will be too long :o( I'm wondering if part of it is due to a rise in pollen as I've been sneezing a bit and my eyes have been itchy, though I'm sure it's also just part of the pattern of things. It seems to be a fairly slow decline as I'm still not at the 'really struggling, but somehow managing' stage, despite having been slipping for ten days or so. It can stay slow for the moment, because I've got things I want to do, like go to my friend's graduation on 8th April... Hmm, I wonder if I'll last two weeks...I hope so, but I also hope that I'll still be well enough to enjoy the graduation, despite being on the slip... Hmmm.......

I've been very POTSy today as well as the lungs not playing properly. I had an awful night's sleep last night with the most horrendous, stabbing headache that somehow throbbed at the same time as being stabbing. It kept waking me up, and it sometimes felt like my head was literally going to split in half. It intermittently continued through the morning and early afternoon, and although it abated later in the day I've still been feeling fairly rubbish and completely wiped out. The wiped-out-ness has most likely been contributing to the POTSiness, and I've been good for nothing other than sofa surfing. The only thing I've done today is take my submission to the university (as I said before), and I only did that today because I didn't want it hanging over me through the weekend when Monday's the cut-off date and there's no saying whether Monday will be any better.

I'm off to bed now and hoping for a much better night.