20 December 2009

Update: the crap, the annoying and something silly to end on

Hello there my pretties, a little housekeeping for you, starting with the crap news, moving on to some annoying (for me) stuff and ending with something ridiculously silly, cos we like the silly!

As I said the other day, since our return from Dunedin life has thrown me rather a curve ball that is taking a while to adjust to. The day before we left for Dunedin I noticed some numbness and tingling in my toes and bottom (classy chick that I am), but determined that nothing was going to spoil my little brother's wedding I put all thoughts of it aside and had a fabulous weekend - just fabulous. I love weddings!  However by our return Sunday night the problem reached from below my hips to the tips of my toes, so Monday I saw my GP who was suitably flummoxed (Things You Don't Want Your Doctor To Say: "Hmmmm, you're a puzzle") and referred me to a neurologist at Auckland Hospital. The appointment wasn't until Wednesday, and having put off thinking about it over the weekend I decided it was damn well time I had a good old fashioned hypochondriac panic, so late Monday night The Eccentric English Boyfriend drove me to A&E, where they also looked suitably puzzled and slightly worried (Things You Don't Want Your Doctor To Do: look worried).

The doctor told me later that my symptoms and the pace with which they were spreading lead her to believe I could have a fast-growing tumour on my spine, so the MRI machine was fired up in the middle of the night (it takes an hour for it to warm up, did you know that?) the staff were called in and I spent and hour and a half having my spine and brain scanned.

The MRI luckily showed no tumour, unluckily what it did show were lesions on my spine and my brain indicative of Multiple Sclerosis. I guess you can imagine the news fairly knocked me for six, I spent a lot of that night crying.  I was sent home with steroids and instructions to keep the neurologist appointment on Wednesday, which I did and he confirmed that the most likely diagnosis is MS. There is apparently the smallest possibility that in fact it is simply a one-off occurrence, but that's pretty unlikely. MS being the very nebulous disease that it is what happens from here is an unknown. I can expect this episode to last anything from weeks to months, with the possibility of some residual permanent effects, and then I could have another episode within months, years, never - there really is no way of telling, or of telling how another episode will present itself. Despite the bizarreness of not being able to feel my feet, I still have full mobility, albeit in a slightly clumsy manner. I do get very very tired so quickly though, which I think may be the most debilitating thing.

So, crap news quite frankly. However, this is not a death sentence, nor indeed a sentence to disability - I have now heard many stories of people who have MS and live long healthy lives with very few problems and I'm going to be one of them dammit! I have two gorgeous children, an Eccentric English Boyfriend who has been an absolute rock and a world full of pretties still to explore, and I have no intention of letting this stop me!The pretties will continue (in fact I happen to know that a certain Eccentric English Santa, even before this happened, had listened to my not-too-subtle hints and my Christmas present this year is a computer of the lap variety, suitable for blogging from even if I'm laid up!).

For those of you wanting to know more here is a link to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of NZ website - I will be contacting them this week and starting to educate myself about what lies ahead.

Right, everybody take a deep breath, smile, say "Louboutins" to yourselves a few times over, that's the crappy stuff out of the way.

Next, the slightly annoying, but mostly for me.  You will have noticed there's been a distinct lack of posts containing my own pictures of late - that would be because my camera has decided to throw a wee tantrum and is refusing to talk to any of our computers. Whether this is the cord, the camera or the SD card I haven't yet gotten round to investigating - rest assured I will look into it and photos of my nails and my hauls will resume. In the meantime I do have some older photos on my computer, so you could end up with some posts that go something along the lines of "this is a polish that I wore, and it's pretty and stuff", since I'm not very good at labelling my photos!

And, to end, some silly. The hilarious Nixxy from Nixxy's Nails sent me this the other day, and it put a smile on my face. Let's face it, if you're a Christmas elf and your days are spent cajoling snotty nosed screaming children on and off Santa's lap, you're going to want to look pretty while you're doing it:



Plus if all else fails you can 'accidentally' skewer the little darlings with your stiletto. The Fantasy Elf Knee High boot is US$59.99 from LaLaLingerie.com. I'm guessing there is an outfit to go with it, but given it's a lingerie site that sells 'costumes' I haven't looked - yet!

As I said my pretties, the prettiness will continue, so keep watching this space as I fully intend normal service to resume now. Well, maybe after some dinner ...

Love
Selina

10 comments:

  1. Oh crap, Selina that's awful :/ I know several people with it and they deal. It's not the end of the world for them - in fact it makes them appreciate things more. Sounds like you've got your chin well and truly up - and you know we're all only a click away when you want someone to grumble to if things get tough :) *Hugs*

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  2. Okay, the outfit those boots go with are part of some really *weird* fetish/fantasy!

    I'm really sorry to hear about your news, that is crappy. Wishing you all the very best. x

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  3. Oh man! First of all, heck yeah, that would have got me freaked when the doctor didn't know what it could be - I'm glad you went on and had it checked further that very day. I hope they've made you something more comfortable with the meds? Must have been quite the stunner. I'm so glad you've got your "EEB" being a rock for you!
    And those shoes! O_o I can just imagine the outfit those go with, but they are luscious.

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  4. Balls to the crappy news. But I admire your positivity.

    Those boots are utterly ludicrous, yet brilliant. Wonder what Nixxy was doing checking out some naughty dressing-up-like-an-elf site...

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  5. So sorry that you've had such crappy news but from your blog posts you truly sound like you have the wit and humour to deal with life's curve balls. I hope you manage to keep smiling through. :-)

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  6. so sorry to hear the news, lets make this a one off, so we can go crazy shopping in hong kong! :) meanwhile take a good rest and get well soon!

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  7. Damn I'm sorry. They expect the same thing for me; if you don't mind me asking - since I've never actually got to speak to anyone about it, what were the symptoms ?

    Without a doubt you'll be one of the folks who don't have the horror stories that only exist on the internet.

    Quite frankly the only real "cure" is shopping so let your hubby know from one Brit to another, you need full control over the family money :P

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  8. Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry to read this, and can only imagine how frightened you must have been/must still be. I will add my "I know of people who have it and who lead perfectly normal lives" to the other reassuances: as you say, crappy, crappy news, but I'm glad to hear you're getting lots of support, and you can rely on that from your loyal readers too. I totally think this kind of news calls for Louboutins, though :)

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  9. This is definately a curveball. I couldn't imagine, no matter how I try, how this must feel for you. You sound like you are confident and strong - how are you holding up now? Some few weeks later? I imagine talking about it with your children would be hard so it's great you have great support with your EEB and this outlet via blogging. Knowledge is power too, so learning everything you can about MS is def in your favour! Just don't google horror stories. God Bless. xx

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  10. What devastating news. I'm so sorry but I know you'll get through this crap with a wonderful sense of humor. I have neuropathy in my feet so I know somewhat out numbness and pain. I can imagine how this would have knocked you for a loop. Hysterics are allowed but I know that you have children and have to be brave for them. Thank God for those children and the EEB. I'll be praying for you. This isn't a death sentence but it probably feels like it right now. Many hugs for you. Wish I could give you a big hug in person. I can picture you struting around in those boots. You'll be kicking this diagnosis in the ass. Where does Nixxy find these things? God bless you.

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