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mumofthreedevils
Mum of three.
X graphic designer turned mum. When the need to go back out to work arrived, I became a Clinical Support Worker completely by accident. I was a support worker for 9 years and was actually awarded Clinical Support Worker of the Year 2011 at my trust.
I have just completed a 2 year University course as a Trainee Nursing Associate and now I am one of the countries first registered Nurse Associates. I am also a Paediatric based Nurse Associate which makes me quite rare. I have been married for 25 years.
6 days ago, I aggravated an old knee injury. I thought I had done some real damage and I could barely walk without crutches. Getting out of the bedroom in the mornings was agony.
I managed to see a Dr who had a good look at the knee. The ligaments all appeared in tact and the knee was stable. As it was already a diagnosed injury, and Orthos have already said that until it stops me from walking they won’t do anything, it was decided not to jump on any new imaging. The Dr increased my pain relief for a couple of weeks in the hope that the knee would settled back down.
I am so, so, SO pleased to say that after a couple of days on crutches, some deep muscle massaging and the new pain relief, I am now walking with no real issues. I am still very conscious that the knee may ‘go out’ on me at any time, but for the most part, I am practically back to where I was before the incident last week.
I can even walk in the sandals I want to wear for the Xmas party tomorrow night….. but I don’t think I will be cutting a rug on the dance floor very much!!
Such a relief. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time. There’s so much going on with the rest of the family at the moment and I start a new job next week.
Is it something we’ve done or is fate trying to tell us something? Let me explain.
Ian started a new job nearly nine weeks ago. Nothing major, just a move to a different team within his existing company. A good move with lots of potential to move forward in his career. 4 days later all his current problems started and he’s been signed off ever since!!
Marjorie has landed a new job that starts in January. January requires her to do lots of training and exams which she cannot miss if she is to continue with the job. Then, after two years of waiting, she finally gets a call about the operation she’s been waiting for on her foot!! She has a consultation next week. How much are we going to bet they want to schedule a surgery in January?
Back to today and feeling a bit cursed when it comes to new jobs. I did not need this right now!!
Back in February 2016 I became acutely aware of a problem with my right knee when a Baker Cyst I didn’t even know I had, ruptured on my way across the carpark after work one evening. At the time, I could barely put my foot to the floor and it was absolute agony. It took a couple of months to fully recover and I was left with meniscal tears and residual cysts that the Orthopaedic surgeons said they couldn’t do anything with as an arthroscopy could potentially make things worse.
So! For almost the last 6 years, I have lived with a knee that kind of works, is uncomfortable at times, but is manageable. I have noticed that over the last 12 months, it has got a little worse, but calling the Dr was not an option due to Covid blah blah blah. I thought it would just have to wait.
Anyway, waiting is no longer an option. As I was re-arranging things in my living room yesterday, something went pop in my knee. I wasn’t even doing anything strenuous. I was sat in my office chair and as I twisted and bent down to pick something up I suddenly felt like I was being stabbed in the knee. When I tried to walk it was agony. After moving around for a while the pain eased off to point where I could hobble but if I sat down for any length of time I had to go through all that pain to be mobile again. I topped up on pain killers and went to be in the hope that it would ease off over night, but when I woke up this morning, the pain was actually worse and I literally had to hold onto walls and furniture to make it to the toilet. I can only assume that one of those residual cysts has been growing over the last year and decided to rupture yesterday. I have to go through excruciating pain to mobilise each time I have to get up. I can’t bend my knee beyond 90 degrees and I can’t fully straighten it.
I’ve just made an appointment to have a chat with one of my GP’s. I have no idea what the next step will be. As it’s a pre-existing condition, can they refer me direct to an Orthopaedic surgeon or do I have to go through the excruciatingly slow process of seeing muscular skeletal first before any decisions can be made?
It’s now a waiting game. My next job is to dig out some old crutches so that I can actually get on with that little thing call life. The bad news is, those crutches are buried in a cupboard behind a big sofa in the hallway with a whacking great Xmas tree in front of it!!
This couldn’t have happened at a worse time. I am supposed to be taking Dharma to Coventry on Monday to see a close friend and do some Xmas shopping. I’m supposed to be going to Milton Keynes on Wednesday with Dharma again, and hopefully Mum, to finalise the Xmas shopping. I have my old works Xmas do on Thursday evening. I may be going out for some drinks with the old work colleagues next Saturday. I have a family Xmas dinner at the pub over the road Next Sunday. Then I am supposed to be starting my new job on Monday the 13th!!
As a family we just seem to be a bit cursed at the moment when it comes to new jobs!! Only time will tell how this one will go, but I think it’s safe to say that something needs to be done about the knee now.
After the hot headed decisions of the last couple of days I am now sorted. Got a TV bench. Had a good sort out. I am now happy and calm and enjoying my movies.
I’ve been enjoying my annual leave before I start my new job on the 13th. Yesterday was a bit of a pamper day. I got my hair cut and I actually got my nails done for the first time EVER!
Anyway, I did a little bit of shopping with Marjorie and we met Dharma after Uni for some dinner. Dharma needed to pop into the big Tesco on Cardington road for a few bits and pieces so we decided to do that on our way home.
We got to Tesco at around 17:30 and didn’t expect to be in there for more than 15 minutes but fate had other plans. We were having a little nose around and Marjorie pointed out a Smart TV they had on sale. It was a Sharp, so a good brand, and it was 70 inches! It was also at a price that was too good to miss so I messaged Ian. We decided to go for it and I collared two lovely young men working in the electrical section to help me get it through customer services and out to the drop off point at the front of the shop.
A hurried call to my Dad to get him to bring his large car over to help get it home was the next step. There was no way it was going to fit into my little Viva and probably wouldn’t have fit into Dharma’s Corsa, however, turns out it wouldn’t fit in my Dad’s Tiguan either!! A few minutes of panic before I called a friend with access to a pretty large car. He was an absolute hero and drove all the way from Rushden to help us out. We left Tesco just after 19:00!
The TV was delivered home safe and sound. Now we needed to unbox and put it all together and this is where the saga took another turn!!
I REALLY SHOULD REMEMBER TO THINK THINGS THROUGH A BIT MORE IN FUTURE!!
I thought it would be a case of swapping the old TV out, which is sat on top of a couple of Billy book cases, for the new TV. However, the feet on the new TV are too wide!! Major panic and a bit of furniture moving and we now have two book cases in front of two book cases with the TV on top!
TEMPORARILIY!!
The whole setup is seriously triggering me!
My DVD’s and Bluray’s are a mess and the whole unit sticks out WAY too far. It’s a mess.
So! What to do? I’m waiting for my Dad to get in from golf in the hope that he will drive me over to Ikea in MK to pick up a TV Bench I’ve found. If all goes to plan, it’s actually going to look quite stunning when it’s all in place and I can start to enjoy my movies cinema style!
Watch this space.
New Year resolution…. No more snap decision when it comes to buying expensive things!!
I haven’t written anything in over a month now. It a bit of a pattern that’s developed with my blog. I can be quite prolific in the early months of the year, but start to tail off in the summer, and then by Xmas there’s virtually nothing.
This year looks to be going in the same direction, however, I have been quiet for other reasons. As you will know from my previous blog, I applied for, and got a new job! This happened a bit out of the blue. I never intended to even look for another job and it kind of fell into my lap at just the right time.
Yesterday was my last shift on the ward. After almost 14 years, in a job that I never expected to be doing, I said my final goodbyes to an absolutely amazing team of people. There have been ups and there have been downs with everything in between, but it has never been dull! The changes in the service over those 14 years has been phenomenal. I have seen colleagues come and go…… and sometimes come back again! I have colleagues from the cleaners, CSW’s, nurses and Doctors who I have known for the whole of that time. They have all become a second family to me and I am really going to miss them.
I am going on to pastures new with a new team in community. I have been lucky enough to do a little bit of work with them already as they visited the ward with some recent patients, so chances are I’ll still be seeing my old colleagues from time to time!! I’m still very nervous about starting on the 13th Dec but at the same time I’m quite excited for the change. So next year is going to be very different.
There are other changes happening too. My middles daughter, Marji, starts a new job of her own in January. She is going to train as a call handler for the 111 service. Again, a job that just seem to land in her lap after one evening when she arrived home from another difficult shift at work and almost in tears. We were talking about her looking for a new job and I pulled up the NHS jobs website and there it was! She is also a bit nervous and very excited and I’m sure she’ll be amazing. She’s a naturally calm person. I think that once she gets over the initial ‘answering’ calls and gets going, she’ll be amazing!!
Dharma , my youngest, continues to work her way through Uni and is still trying to pass her driving test. She had her first test last Thursday which she failed. Bless her, there is a HUGE backlog of people wanting to take driving tests after lockdown and she can’t find a test in Bedford where she has learnt to drive. Her first test was in Kettering and her next test is in Bletchley…. in May! unless she can get a cancellation in Bedford. The added pressure of an unknown area is going to be hard during a test. It’s hard enough when you’re a qualified driver! I really feel for her. She’s a brilliant little driver and she just wants to get going on her own.
Murron, my eldest, continues to be an amazing Mum to my first official Grandson and Stepmum to another two little boys who are absolutely smitten with their new little brother.
Ian is finishing the year still signed off from work and this looks like it will be going into the new year. He’s been waiting for, and trying to expedite, an appointment with the Muscular Skeletal Service so that he can get scans and a referral to Orthopaedics. Even though the Dr’s have stated that this need to be done quite urgently considering the numbness that is creeping across his face, his appointment finally arrived this week and it’s in the middle of January!! Chances are that he will then have to wait countless more weeks for the scans and any kind of referral to the necessary people. I AM FUMING!!
Anyway, today is the start of my usual two weeks of Xmas preparation. I am now going to enjoy myself and put up some Xmas decs and have a tidy up before some friends come round later.
I only have time to write this today because I am now isolating, pending a result from a PCR Covid test. I finally got caught out. No-ones fault. Just a simple catch up with friends on Saturday who then had positive lateral flows on Sunday morning. They did the responsible thing and got PCR tests and informed me. I did a lateral flow myself this morning and headed into work and while I was getting changed I received a message to say that their PCR’s were positive. Work policy meant that I had to come home and get a PCR test myself and then isolate until I get the result. I will then have to do daily lateral flow tests for the next 10 days. I’m not expecting a positive result, but rules are rules, and as the last couple of days have proven, Covid is still very much out there and sneaking in wherever it can. Thankfully, tomorrow is a teams training day, so if I haven’t got my result back, I’m not missing out.
Anyway, my little Grandson JJ is doing really well. He’s absolutely gorgeous and Murron has taken to being a mum like a duck to water. I’ve been really impressed with her over the last few weeks.
Marjorie and Dharma are both plodding along with work and University. Marjorie is looking to spread her wings a bit but is in no rush to make any changes.
Ian has been, and continues to be a bit of a worry. He has been suffering over the last few weeks with excessive pain in his shoulders, hands and feet. He has been continuously going to the Dr and trying to get appointments with pain clinic and MSK. He suffers from Psoriatic Arthritis and Carpel tunnel and has had to have a few surgeries over the last few years and was worried that something else was going wrong and that he would need more surgery. Then he developed numbness in his hands and feet and after managing to get an appointment with one of the better Dr’s at our practice, he was sent for some emergency blood tests.
Today we found out that he has Diabetes. That has been a bit of a wake up call. He has a follow up on Wednesday when we should find out more information, but what it will most definitely mean is a HUGE change in his diet and exercise regime. Probably mine too!
I am heading for another big change myself. I blogged a little while ago that I have received an e-mail telling me about a job and that I was intrigued enough to actually apply for it. I got the job! On Friday, I officially handed my notice in at work and every time I think about it I feel physically sick! I am both extremely excited and exceptionally scared about the prospect of this new position.
The last couple of years has seen an exponential increase in eating disorders at work and this was something that sparked a bit of an interest for me. So when this Job advert was popped under my nose for a ‘Community Eating Disorders Intensive Home Treatment Mental Health Support Worker’, I couldn’t resist. I will be part of a brand new team. It’s so new, we don’t even have a base of operations yet! I have an awful lot of learning to do before I can actually go out and visit patients though. So, lots of changes ahead. some good, some bad, all scary.
Oh yes!! I finally got to see ‘The Last Duel’ at the weekend. It’s bloody brilliant and Adam is fantastic as always. He absolutely needs to do more costume drama because the look suits him. Now I have to wait until the end of November for ‘House of Gucci’
With ‘No Time to Die’ now finally out in the world, the question has gone back to just WHO will the next James Bond be?
The possibility of the next Bond being a woman inevitably raises it’s ugly head. It’s never going to happen and I for one, don’t think it should!
Barbara Broccoli, movie producer and daughter of Albert R. Broccoli who was responsible for securing backing for and kick starting the films inspired by the popular James Bond novels written by Ian Flemming, has always stated that ‘James Bond will never be female’, which is reassuring.
So!! let’s weigh in with some of my own thoughts. First things first. Bond has to be British!! So that immediately rules out Adam Driver. As much as I would LOVE to see him have a crack at Bond, it’s just not Adam and that kind of fame is not what Adam is after. It’s too much. He only just survived being Kylo Ren in the Star Wars movies……… except that Kylo Ren died…. but that’s not what I mean!! The Red carpets and all the attention made him very uncomfortable. The only good thing to come out of that experience was the ability to be able to do the kinds of films he actually ‘wants’ to do and be working constantly.
Right, if we’re going for rugged hard nuts like Daniel Craig then three actors stand out of the crowd for me. Michael Fassbender, Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy.
My reasoning……..
1st, ….woof, woof and woof! 2nd, they all look stunning in a suit. 3rd, they have all got hard man roles already proven. 4th, they all appeal to both men and women. 5th, they all know how to seduce and smoulder, but they can also turn on the nasty when needed quite effectively.
Next we have a different class of actor choices in Richard Madden, Sam Heughan and Riz Ahmed.
Again. woof. woof and woof! These three all have the potential to be more suave, more ‘Roger Moore’ than ‘Daniel Craig’ but at the same time will be able to seriously kick butt when needed. Richard won a lot of hearts as The Bodyguard and this popularity could be harnessed for Bond. Sam Heughan is ripe for the picking. He has proven his acting chops in the TV series Outlander but has yet to find his feet in a successful film. Both Richard and Sam are Scottish, so they could be harking back to the days of Sean Connery. Riz Ahmed is currently proving to be a bit of an all rounder and if given the chance, could bring something completely new to the character of Bond.
I’ve seen other names being mentioned occasionally but one name that gets surprisingly mentioned occasionally is Tom Holland!!
There has been talk about making Bond a lot younger and at just 25 years old, Tom Holland would be a great choice. He’s adorable and already has leading man experience, however, I feel he is just a bit too young!! James Bond is a Royal Naval Reserve Commander and you don’t make that rank at just 25 years of age. Unless they are going to do a story that involves how James becomes 007 then I think Tom would be a very bad decision.
Anyway, after seeing ‘No Time to Die’ it remains to be seen if we’re even going to get a new Bond movie. I’me very interested to see where it’s going to go.
Last weekend I went to London again with 2 of my daughters. Marjorie and Dharma.
Marjorie is very familiar with getting out and about on her own and has tackled London and New York. It doesn’t phase her one little bit. However….. Dharma is a bit of a social butterfly and has never even stayed in a hotel on her own, never mind tackling the underground system in London.
We stayed at the Premier Inn in Beckton again. It’s perfect. It’s simple. Somewhere to crash at the end of a busy day. Somewhere to have a bath/shower each morning. It’s attached to a bar and restaurant. It has it’s own parking. It’s outside of the congestion zone. There is an Asda supermarket right over the road and it’s literally a 1 minute walk to the DLR into London City.
Anyway, the journey down went smoothly, even on the M25, but as we got into Beckton there was carnage as idiots blocked the roads and roundabouts outside the hotel, queuing for fuel over the road from the hotel. This wasn’t a one off either. On Sunday AND Monday mornings the car horns started at 05:30!!! As people blocked the roads up again trying to get to the petrol station.
Anyway, we secured the car but couldn’t check in to the hotel until later, so we headed to the DLR to start our weekend. Saturday was a planned shopping day so first stop was Camden. We had lunch and a good mooch around Camden Lock before heading back over to Oxford Street as the girls wanted to go to Primark of all places!! Yeah, let’s drag Mum into London JUST to go to Primark!! Anyway. they weren’t impressed and we ended up heading over to Leicester Square where Marjorie got to go to the Lego store. By this time, the streets of London were taking their toll on everyone’s feet and we decided to call it a day. We had dinner at Bella Italia in Leicester Square which Dharma loved and there was a fantastic selection of Gluten Free items for Marjorie so it was a win, win!
Sunday was a bit more of a tourist day. We headed over to Tower Hill and we took a Citycruise tour from Tower Hill to Westminster and back again. Ironically, it was the same boat me and the Hubster had a trip on a few weeks ago, with the same crew member doing some amusing commentary. However….. we struck lucky with this trip. On the way back to Tower Hill the crew got word that Tower Bridge would be opening for a tall ship to pass through as we were coming into the pier. So they slowed the boat so that we could watch the bridge going up and as it was going up they swung the boat round right underneath it! and then we watched the clipper go past.
It’s always amazing to see the bridge opening up but it was an absolute privilege to be able to see it from the viewpoint we had on the boat! We were very lucky.
After the boat trip we did something I have NEVER done and actually went into the Tower of London. To be honest, apart from the Crown Jewels (which were gobsmacking), I had no idea there was so much there. So much that we had to come away before we could finish seeing everything because the girls wanted to do some more shopping down Regents Street and it was already mid afternoon on a Sunday.
So, we racked it up as something to come back and do again when we have more time! I certainly think I need to bring the hubster for a look. Anyway, we headed over to Regents Street and spent WAY to much money in Hamleys.
I finally plucked up the courage to get a piece of movie memorabilia I’ve had my eye on for a while
We came out of Regents Street at Piccadilly Circus and couldn’t resist popping into the Picturehouse Central for a drink. The bar has had a bit of a face lift since I was last there and they’ve renewed the seating which was WAY to comfy. Netflix also had a Festival running and there were some costumes from Bridgerton there.
As we headed out of the bar to the top of the stairs, we literally ran into Ricky Gervais as he was being escorted down the stairs by his enterage!
We then walked back through to Leicester Square and we were thinking about Bella Italia again but at that time on a Sunday there was a long wait for a table so we decided to head back to the hotel and have dinner there instead. It was a great weekend but as is usual, there is never enough time to do everything you want to do in London. It’s also very hard on the body if you’re not used to it!
Anyway, it was a lovely weekend and I think Dharma really had a good time, even if it was a bit of an eye opener for her!
One of the last photos of the trip! I have NEVER noticed Canary Wharf from the station at Beckton before, but this sunset showed it off beautifully.
I have just watched a film that I thought I would never see again.
It’s from 1988 and I have never been able to find it on video or DVD or streaming services…….. until now.
It’s a wonderfully simple film. Funny, heart warming and quite emotional at the end. It had me crying back in 1988 and it had me crying again this afternoon.
The film is called ‘Hawks’.
It tells the story of two terminally ill patients in a hospital who yearn for relief from their predicament. With little or no friends, they form an uneasy alliance and plot an escape for one last wild time. They steal an ambulance and head for Amsterdam, bumping into two British girls in a bit of a predicament themselves.
It’s a film that really makes you want to pick life up by the balls and say fuck it! There is, unfortunately, a fairly predictable outcome which is the all too emotional part, but it is a real giggle getting there.
One of the British girls is played by Janet McTeer.
She plays Hazel, who is a very tall, lanky and clumsy girl, who has gotten herself into a bit of predicament which means that she and a friend are also heading for Amsterdam, where they bump into Timothy Dalton and Anthony Edwards.
Having a little flick through IMDB to see what else she’s done, I find that she is also in another one of my favourite films. She is Camilla Traynor, the mother of Will Traynor in ‘Me Before You’. I would never have recognised her if I hadn’t looked!
Anyway, I found the film via MGM on Prime. I highly recommend it.
My eldest daughter, Murron, was expecting our first grandchild with a due date of 30th August. However, babies never go to plan. It was a tense week and although she was getting uncomfortable after a couple of ‘sweeps’ by midwives, the little sod proved to be just too comfortable where he was.
Murron went into hospital last Saturday and after a couple of minor interventions to encourage labour, it all kicked off on Tuesday evening and little Jameson Jack Michael Wiley was born at 07:49 on the 8th September weighing 8 pound 5 ounces.
He is absolutely gorgeous and the spitting image of his mother as a baby!!
Now, it’s been a long week at work and because babies don’t come to plan, I didn’t book any time off work. To make things even more annoying, we have a house inspection on Monday so there’s a bit of sorting to be done around the house and in the garden. Dharma is in Coventry with her Dad today and Marjorie is working, so I was under orders NOT to go and see JJ without them. The plan was to concentrate on the house today and then all of us can go and see JJ tomorrow.
HOWEVER!!!…… I had a lovely surprise when I got home from work last night.
My first picture with my first Grandchild!
That wasn’t the only thing to happen this week.
A couple of weeks ago, a friend sent me a link to a job description and asked if I’d seen it because she thought it would be right up my street. I hadn’t been actively looking for another job so I hadn’t seen it. Out of interest, I went and had a look and my interest was definitely piqued. I spoke to a few colleagues at work, including my manager and everyone I spoke too were in agreement, I would be stupid not to give it a go and at least find out some more and get some interview experience. So I applied.
About an hour after I found out about JJ on Wednesday, I received an e-mail inviting me for an interview. It’s not until 21st September and I’m not going to say anything else about it until I know one way or another what I may or may not be doing.
Suffice to say, it’s going to be another tense couple of weeks. I’m going to do a little research around the job spec and I am going to bombard them with questions because I have lots of questions that need answering. I really love my current job, but it could be time for a change and a new challenge.
This will be only my 3rd job interview in over 20 years! It’s a bit scary!
So that’s it! Right, I’ve procrastinated all morning and now a really must go and get something done in the garden.
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