13 on the 13th (and a new Pope)

Well, Frank visited yesterday – 13 seizures in one day. Things had been going better but I think I have caught something, as apparently I was burning up to the touch, but felt freezing. Was quite funny looking back having “words” with Bert over duvet ownership! I was adamant that I wanted it, when I genuinely needed cooling down. Oh the joys of epilepsy and a fever!

I must admit, as a lapsed (and when I say lapsed, I mean REALLY lapsed) Catholic, I saw something last night I though I would never see in my lifetime. I have seen 4 Popes elected by the Conclave of Cardinals. Pope John Paul I, Pope John Paul II (who I had the pleasure of actually seeing in The Vatican when I was 16. He laid his hands on my head and I was really moved by it), Pope Benedict XVI, and now Pope Francis I. I was living in Malta when both Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II were elected by the Conclave, and it was a HUGE deal. I must admit, I was quite sad when he passed as even though he lays hands on so many people, he had laid his hands on MY head.

I never really though much about Pope Benedict XVI, but am actually looking forwards to what Pope Francis I can bring to the Catholic Church. Some of his thoughts go totally against my personal beliefs, but hey, were would we be in this world if everyone agreed?

He is happy for single Catholic mothers to have their babies baptised into the faith, a bold step for a Cardinal. He eschews all the pomp and circumstance for a simpler, more modest life and encourages his faithful to do the same. Although against gay marriage, he says that gay people should be treated with respect (thank YOU! – I am pretty sure Jesus would have done the same!). Should be an interesting few years to see what he can do with the mess the Church is in. Sorry about that, didn’t mean to go off on a religious tangent there!

Well, one of my “new” Uncles has arrived on the Isle of Man – I was supposed to go and meet them last night off the boat but was in no fit state, so Lizzy went with my Mum. Can’t wait to meet him and his wife today. Am beyond excited. Well, that is after the more mudane shopping etc that has to be done. I might feel like **** but I am going to get out and get some fresh air.

Cathy is doing really well. I have found a really lovely guy who has been holding my hand via email and she is a little under weight, so we have broken all the rules, and she has had a feed and not brought it back up (known in the snake keeping community as a regurge) and seems quite a happy little girl. I am going to up her feeding schedule from once every 7 days to once ever 5 days. She fed 6 days after her last feed before she came to me, and wolfed it down, so I want to get her to every 5 days asap, that is for sure!

Joshua, Lizzie and Myles have all had a hold of her now (before she was fed, as you have to leave them 48 hours to digest their dinner) so just for a laugh, here is a picture of Joshua looking at Cathy – think he would kill me if he knew I was doing this!

Yes, my delightful 20 year old son giving Cathy the eye! (and yes, that is a Latin tattoo around my wrist)

So, onwards and upwards to the day – I am so excited about meeting my Uncle (after shopping and a supervised bath as I genuinely look like I have been dragged through a hedge backwards. Twice).

Hope everyone has a great day,

Sarah

I could merrily strangle Frank…

Frank Fitzgerald that is, my body when it goes into it’s alter ego when I am having a seizure. Most of yesterday’s plans had to be modified.

First up, as the fits hit about 2pm, Cathy is going to have to wait for her meal today. I didn’t wake up properly until about 6pm from them and it was only to have a lovely meal the children had done for Bert and I, but we still watched The Hunger Games (think Battle Royale on acid, then you will get my drift).

Lizzie was on her own with me when I had the seizures, and once I started head banging the wall, she leaped in with my midazolam and that was it, Frank disappeared, no more fits. She did regale me with a funny story of how she tried to lug me round the bed to get me comfy, but truth be told, as long as my head is on a pillow, I have what the kids lovingly refer to as my “stinky Beth bear” (a little teddy that Bert bought me when I was in hospital last June and who wears a wedding dress/nightie that Bert made her, and the duvet, I am fine. She did a fantastic job, and wrote the time and type of fits down for Bert to put on my chart when he came home which was literally 5 minutes later as he had been dropping my Mum at work.

I did change Cathy’s water (duh, can’t leave any kind of snake without fresh water for over 24 hours) and Myles asked if he could watch as he hasn’t even seen her properly yet. Well, Madame didn’t disappoint. I put my hand in to get her water dish (I have had advice not to just top it up as a lot of them like to relieve themselves in their water and we wouldn’t see it). Realizing she was in tip top form, I gave Myles a shout as Bert had collected her a lovely flat rock to sit on, and Lizzie had given me 2 HUGE pieces of flint so we sterilized them to go into her vivarium yesterday by boiling them and then baking them in the oven to 120 celcius to rid them of any bacteria. I will point out that Bert got some stones for his fish tank too – that is the bargain for me having Cathy – he is getting a large 480 litre fish tank for the living room for compatible plecs and sharks, with a stone background.

So, water dish disinfected and refilled, Myles came up to see Cathy. I had popped her in her RUB so I could get her dirty substrate out and put her new “toys” in her vivarium so as I was popping her in, Myles came to have a stroke of her. He was really surprised as she didn’t feel how he expected her to at all. He wanted to take a picture of her so may I present his offering (of my iPhone, which doesn’t do macro shots too well!)

We are both absolutely thrilled as she has what looks like a smiley face on her head (Myles noticed it first) and she had a good old taste of the air around him too. I asked him if he would like  hold, but he said he was happy just to give her a stroke for now. He was more than confident doing that, so I don’t want to push him at all. Oh, and please excuse my nightie in the background and be grateful I cropped my head out of the picture too!

So, with help off the forum I signed up to, we have identified her as a possible strawberry snow morph (colour). I don’t know whether or not to be thrilled or bloody annoyed to be honest. I thought I was getting a plain snow which, if you are into genetics is a double trait, whereas a strawberry snow is a selectively bred reptile, and can come with all the problems that are associated with selectively bred anythings. Fingers crossed she is just a snow.

One thing is for sure and that is that she needs feeding up, so with advice and help, I am upping her feeding schedule from one pinkie every 7 days to one every 5 until she sits properly on the chart where she should for her age and length. Although she is still in the “healthy” range, she is on the very low end of the scale and unlike dogs or cats, she can’t tap against the glass asking for more food!

I have made a lovely friend on the forum I signed up to, and he has been fantastic this week – no problem or question to trivial for him to answer as we have exchanged email addresses. It was him suggesting that I move her home round  a little bit given how settled and inquisitive she is this week.

I have to admit, I laughed at Bert when he told me that she was watching TV, but last night, as we settled down, sure as eggs is eggs, her head popped out of her favourite hide and we have worked out she can see half of the TV screen and there she was, either watching the shadows the TV threw or the actual TV. The glow from the laptop screen has alerted her again, and she is watching me type (quite disconcerting to say the least – I am SURE she knows I am talking about her!)

Anyway, I hope Frank doesn’t pay a visit today, and on that note shall bid the adieu

Sarah

It was 5.30am yesterday, so just a little 5.15am post today!

Well, today is D Day. Actually, I was just thinking how that came to be used in our vernacular. I use it quite often, and genuinely mean no disrespect to those that fought. I think I should reign it in a little thinking about it.

Today, I can go and get Catherine Earnshaw (already shortened to Cathy). The shop sent me her feeding and shedding records last night, and the last time I visited her, they got me to rub some kitchen paper on my hands and face so they could put it in a sealed bag and give it to her 24 hours after she had fed and apparently she has chosen to digest on said crumpled piece of paper half in and half out of a loo roll instead of her coconut shell where she would normally digest.

I have to wait until 12pm to go and get her but that is no problem as we have a few jobs that we need to do first. You know, just the normal thing like sending elephant’s feet in the post (eew, eew and thrice eew – I hasten to add they are from when it was legal to do s0). Fortunately, we are also going to get Myles a new phone so he can keep in touch with Sophie as his contract is nearly up and a new pair of jeans. Also brain bleach for me for the elephant’s feet.

Oh, Sophie sounds like a total darling. She sent me a friend request on Facebook last night and we had a little natter via PM and she is a total doll. I told her that when she is ready, to come and see us and apparently she had been not dreading coming to meet us, but nervous and I had taken that away in one message. She is coming to see us this weekend. She has told me she is shy until she gets to know people but by the way we were nattering via PM, I think she might be over the shy bit already with me. I am so looking forwards to seeing her.

Bloody Frank paid a visit yesterday when we were round at my Mum’s house sorting the bloody feet out. All I remember is being really tired and asking if I could put my head down and next thing I remember is Bert waking me up. Apparently I had had a series of simple partial seizures, followed by 4 complex partial seizures. And do I remember any of them? Nope! I was actually quite surprised at the amount of people who do have epilepsy in the public eye.

So, today is going to consist of embracing some form of personal hygiene, getting rid of the bloody feet (I have made Bert keep them in the car – over my dead body were they coming in the house), popping into town to get Myles some jeans and a couple of other bits and bobs,  and finally, after a whole 5 days that seemed like 5 months wait – getting Cathy and bringing her home. Oh ffs, here I go with the Wuthering Heights quotes agian! I suppose I have asked for it calling her Catherine Earnshaw.

I joined a very welcoming and informative forum on corn snakes and they have told me that although she is going to need a week to settle in, it is perfectly permissible to take some photographs of her when I am putting her in her new home as long as the flash on my camera is off – yay for buying bridge!

So, with what is possibly the weirdest list of things to do today (post elephant’s feet and get snake), I shall say farewell.

Sarah

Just a little 5.30am post..

Ok, seeings as how I have been showing off a little with my new found ability to both add links and put pictures in a post, this is just going to be a plain old boring one, a quick catch up on what has been going on.

The carbamazapine is building up in my system at an alarming rate, so much so that typing is not the easiest (due to a slight case of double vision) so thank you safari for you in line spell check!

Myles has his first official girlfriend! It is “FaceBook” official, and she put it up, not him. I have to say, she is stunningly gorgeous – he has done so well there. He is going to bring her round to meet us in the next couple of weeks – I can’t wait as she sounds like a lovely young lady.

On the subject of Myles’ girlfriend, bless her, she thought that she had upset Myles last weekend. They were all at another friends’ house discussing what they were getting their Mums for Mothering Sunday (for us, it is this Sunday).

Now I know what I am getting – I asked Myles and Lottie to pick a film for me and we would watch it together downstairs (this might sound odd, but I spend most of my spare time in bed as it is safest for me), so he was telling Sophie (his new girlfriend) this. I don’t want cards or flowers, the fact that they want to spend time with me is enough. Then Myles made an off the cuff remark that he would just get his real Mum a card and shove it in the post (she lives in another country to us). Well, poor Sophie thought she had upset Myles. This is all Myles relaying the story to me yesterday morning by the way.

She thought she had upset him and bless him, he started laughing (I did tell him he was a tinkerbell for doing that!). He explained that he had practically no relationship with his real Mum and that he and I are very close. I was a *tad* confused as to why poor Sophie would make not the mistake, but not understand the set up. Apparently, although Myles calls me Sarah to my face, when he is out of the house, he and all his friends call me Mum, i.e. he says that he had better call Mum and Dad just to let us know what is going on – you get the idea.

Considering his poor relationship with his real Mum, I actually take is as a compliment that he calls me Sarah, as he has explained to me that he has NO happy memories with her.

He does, however, have bragging rights now. He is the only one of his friends whose “parents” are married. ALL of his friends have to choose between where they go home to at night – it really does make me sad. It does, however, make Myles rather smug in a good way!

Myles and I have what we call our “deep and meaningfuls” – our huge conversations that go on for hours. When I first started back in a relationship with his Dad, he dropped a bombshell on me. He told me that if he could have picked a girlfriend for his Dad, he would have picked me. I am not going to lie, I might have leaked some tears at that one – it was such an unexpected and beautiful thing to say for a young man who was 12 at the time. Gah! I can’t believe he is going to be 16 this year! He loves hearing stories about his Dad when he was younger, and I love telling them too! I think like any child or young adult, they forget that their parents had a life before they came along, so he loves plugging the gaps. I actually have known his Mum too since we were both 13. I didn’t like her then, and certainly don’t like her now but never bad mouth her to any of our children. Bert is the only person that gets any feedback on how I am feeling about how she treats Myles.

I asked him if he wanted to get his Mum a Mother’s Day card, and as we were going to town, he just asked me to pick one up for her. He was very specific that it wasn’t to be too over the top, just something simple and not slushy. So, at the grand price of 89p – one bought and put in the post.

So, today. I have a pile of washing I want to pop away, I have a pampering session and then Bert and I are going shopping, THEN I can come home and call the breeder to see if Cathy is happy and I can pick her up tomorrow!

Sarah

Last Sunday afternoon’s wheel in Douglas, because I can’t sleep

Well, it looks like the new drugs might have kicked in a little earlier than I could have dreamed for – I had a visit off Frank last night, but they were nowhere near as violent as they have been, and I came round a lot easier. Downside is, I can’t sleep and seem to have got a little confidence to post some more of my pictures up, so, for your perusal, a selection of pictures I took last Sunday. They were taken up Marine Drive and Douglas Head in the Isle of Man.

Taken on a Fujifilm FinePix S4400, run through Aviary and TitleFx, as per usual.

This is as far South as you can go by car on Marine Drive now, looking towards Keristal and Port Soderick.

You can see the remnants of a landslide we had recently – given how wet February was I was surprised it wasn’t worse.

Proper view of the landslide.

Quick peek North towards the Marine Drive archway at Douglas Head

This is the rock formation it its original rotation. Up Douglas Head and Marine Drive there is mainly slate, granite and limestone. It gives the most stunning natural patterns and formations is quite breathtaking.

Not particularly interesting, but it was to me.

Steps up to a long gone farm house.

Again, the rocks in their original orientation – no messing round from me on this front at all – nature did it all for me.

And that is 3 strikes for nature…

The top of the original Victorian archway to Marine Drive – I have cropped out all the road works and speed signs as I thought they spoiled it.

Sir William Hillary – founder of the RNLI.

I have enjoyed putting these up, it is Wednesday now isn’t it? 2 more sleeps to getting Cathy!! I am ridiculously excited about her arrival! I keep looking at her home, all ready for her and not with her in it. She had better chow down today or I will be having words with her when she gets home!

Lizzie had her ears pierced for the 3rd time yesterday, and now Myles wants his done, so guess were we are going when he goes on study leave – oh yeah, to get his left ear lobe done.

Joshua has got a new job – he starts today and I am thrilled. I think it is exactly what he needs. Even with everything that has been going on, it wasn’t his fault he was made redundant – cutbacks have that nasty side effect. So, he has got a job in a garage and I am over the moon for him.

Ok, not going to lie – I bought a Mac magazine yesterday and I am dying to read it so I shall bid thee adieu for now,

Sarah