Tag Archives: health

Choking Cough, and McFlurries!

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16 April 2013:

Choke, choke, choke, that’s what I have had to put up with during the night. I don’t know what’s causing it, it’s like my body wants to kill me in my sleep. As each hour went by, I was rudely woken up by a choking cough, it was happening every two hours and in the end I gave up trying to sleep because it was starting to annoy me.

Anyway, with a long day ahead, I stayed up and watched television. I had nothing else to do, I couldn’t play the guitar because it was 4am and I don’t think the neighbors would appreciate it, and I couldn’t do writing either because my mind was all over the place due to my medication.

17 April 2013:

So, it turns out that I went on a downer after writing that last paragraph. I don’t know what came over me, it was like someone took over my body. I ended up spending all yesterday wrapped up in bed, I couldn’t be bothered facing the world. While I was in bed, I constantly thought silly things, blaming myself for things that weren’t my fault. I even wrote a three page document about how I feel, I haven’t read it back yet, but I do know I had a few swear words in it. I know I shouldn’t blame myself, but I always worry, and I guess loneliness is getting the better of me.

Anyway, on to today. The day started out with a walk to McDonalds to get some McFlurries, I was in need of a real sugar boost. While I was walking down, I thought I would text Cassie (sister) to see if she was at home, she was home, so I decided to pick up the McFlurries first, and then I will walk over to Cassie’s to eat them.

When I picked up the McFlurries, I put them down on the table to peel off the Monopoly stickers. As I pulled all four stickers off, I found that I had won a free big Mac meal and I also won a free cheeseburger, it has been a long time since I had won anything and I was surprised my luck was changing, but even though I won, I couldn’t eat that kind of food anyway because I can’t swallow it.

So, to be brief, I arrived at Cassie’s and I sat down with my McFlurries & a cup of tea. While I was eating, I spotted Amber (niece) was eying up my ice-cream, so being the good uncle that I am, I decided to share it with her. This was a hilarious task because I was shaking like a leaf and the ice-cream was going all over Ambers face. Once she had the first taste of the ice-cream, she went nuts for more, all I could hear was Amber saying yum, yum, yum. After a couple of spoonfuls, I decided to let Cassie feed her some of the spare McFlurry I had. She didn’t have all of it, but I think Amber had other ideas about that because she loved it. When she got to half way, we decided to stop because the chances are, she will throw it up later, and that’s one thing we didn’t want to happen.

Amber-Sucking-my-Knuckle-17-April-2013

Amber Sucking My Knuckle

Once Amber was finished with the ice-cream, she wanted to suck on my knuckle because she is teething. When she was gumming on my knuckle, I could feel the full force of her gums on my knuckle. I didn’t mind because she is teething, but she certainly has a good chomp on those gums.

After thirty minutes went by, I decided to head home. I was starting to get hungry and I needed some painkillers. As I walked home, I was enjoying the peace, all the kids were in school, and for some reason there wasn’t many people about, which made it extra peaceful.

So, to be brief, I got home and started writing the blog. I haven’t done much of the blog recently, it isn’t like I haven’t had the time, I think my depression has been causing me some issues this week, but I think it will pass soon. I did have some good news today, I had my first revenue payment from my publisher, okay it wasn’t much, but it was a start. I have been writing for over two years, it is about time I had some sort of payment after all this time.

Anyhow, on that positive note, I must sign off. I am starting to feel very tired, and I need to find something to eat, even though after four McFlurries earlier, I am starting to feel a bit sick.

Until tomorrow,

Marc.

Bad Thigh, and SIM Saga

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So, today started out really relaxed, I got up and made myself a bowl of cornflakes with Rice Krispies, and then I sat on the sofa with my iPad and watched television.
After I had my breakfast, I got myself washed and changed because we were going out shopping today in the local town centre. As I was getting changed, I was debating whether to wear normal trousers or shorts, the sun was shining and I thought why not wear shorts, it won’t be that cold today (wasn’t I wrong).

Once I got changed, I went downstairs to put my coat on and to get my bag ready. Anyhow, with all that done, it was time to head out and get in the car. Dad was giving us a lift because myself & mother cannot walk that far, and I also had pain in my ankle, which meant I needed extra help.
After a short journey, we were in the town centre and it was time to take a relaxed walk around the market. The local market is always busy, this is normal for our market because everyone is trying to get a bargain, and you would be surprised how much money you can save by shopping on local markets, especially for fruit and veg.
So, to be brief, mum got all the stuff she needed from the market and it was time for a Costa Coffee, which is in the local Tesco supermarket, you will know the one I mean because I have mentioned the shop in a previous blog.
Anyhow, we walked into Costa Coffee and sat in our usual seats. When our drinks came, I just sat back in my seat and guzzled two drinks, one hot chocolate and one tea, they didn’t even touch the sides, I was very thirsty, and I don’t know why I was, but oh well, everyone has to drink.
While I was waiting for everyone to finish their drinks, I sat and thought about some of the stories I am writing, and I was also texting K about me being in Costa Coffee.

Skipping ahead to the walk around the shop. As we were walking around the shop, I could feel a numbness shooting up my right leg, and with every step I took the pain was gradually getting worse. When the pain got to much for me, I had to leave my card with mum and find a seat outside to rest my legs.
So, with that said, I went outside and sat on a bench. While I was sitting on the bench, I felt a ping in my right thigh, this was a blood vessel bursting, and from that point my thigh was in so much pain. When this happens it hurts madly, but all I can do is take painkillers to numb the pain. This happens regally, I have scars all over my ankles, and I also have some scars on my shins.
Anyway, after ten minutes, they all emerged from the shop and we jumped into a taxi to go home. I was so glad to be going home because I had many pains and I was also very hungry, I could eat a horse, ironically we were at Tesco, but I don’t think I could eat their burgers.
So, finally we were home. Mum said she would make lunch for me because I was in no fit state to make anything, she suggested scrabbled eggs, which I didn’t turn down because I love scrambled eggs.

After I filled my stomach, it was time to catch up with a few things, and try to sort the SIM card situation again. That’s right I am still having problems with my phone service, as I mentioned yesterday, they admitted that there is nothing wrong with my current SIM card or phone, all tests came back perfect, which means the error is with them. When I called them today, the person I was dealing with said that a new SIM card will not change the situation, but here is the funny part, he sent out a second SIM card and gave me another £5 credit on my account. Can you see the logic in that? I honestly think they know that there is a problem with my account and they are just trying to drag it out, if they’re dragging out, then I don’t see why they are doing it because I am free to leave on Friday with no extra charge, they must think I am joking, but they will find out the hard way I guess.
Anyway, I am going to skip ahead to the evening because I haven’t done anything else in the afternoon, apart from holding my leg in pain and moan like a baby, which would bore you to death if did that, so I will resist the urge to say what is on my mind.
During the evening, I spent a good few hours writing today’s blog, I had nothing else to do because the writing I had planned needs to be done another day. I won’t explain my writing projects, but in time you will understand what I mean.

So, with that said, it is time to sign off, I won’t leave you with any jokes or quotes because I haven’t had any time to look.

Until tomorrow,

Marc.

MilkyStones, and Overwhelmed

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I didn’t know how start today’s blog, it has been the same old day really. The day started out with a walk to the post office to send off my iPhone 4S, such a heartbreaking moment, that iPhone has been a lifeline to me over the years, how sad does that sound? I had no choice, but to get rid of it, it was way out of its warranty and I wasn’t going to risk it breaking down on me, and it also had no insurance which made it more risky.

When I arrived at the post office, there was the obvious two mile queue with people waiting. I always hate it when it is like this because you end up standing there for ages, and by the time you get to the front of the queue you forget what you were there for!
After thirty minutes had passed, I was finally at the front of the queue. While the woman was processing my package, she noticed that the postage had to be reduced by 50% because I had a prepaid packet, this meant the company I was sending it to had contracts in place with the royal mail that reduced the costs for the consumers who send packages to them. So, instead of me paying £6 in postage, I ended up only paying £3, you can’t turn your nose up at that!

After I finished at the Post Office, I needed to pick up some shopping from Tesco, lucky for they are both in the same building, as you walk out of one, you are in they other.
I only needed to get some yogurts, somehow I ran out, I don’t know how it happened, well okay, I do, but I have been really hungry lately. As I reached the yogurts, I noticed that they didn’t have any of the usual ones I buy, which wasn’t good because I had to buy different ones, and the only smooth yogurts they had were Milky Bar. These were no good to me because they contain a high fat content, the last time I had loads of these, I ended up in hospital with gallstones, and believe me, it isn’t a walk in the park because it is like going through childbirth for weeks.

So, with that said, I had no choice, but to buy these yogurts, it will only be until tomorrow, and I am sure it will be okay (wasn’t I wrong).
Anyhow, with shopping in hand, all I needed to do was to walk home. I normally love these short walk, but I hate them when my ankle and knees ache, it always feels like someone is sticking needles in me or kicking me really hard.
After a short, but lengthy time elapsed walk, I was finally home. I could finally stick my feet up, and have something to eat.

As I mentioned earlier, I brought some Milky Bar yogurts. After I ate four of the yogurts, it started to give me pain across my side and gallbladder. I honestly regret buying these yogurts because this happens every time and I get massive spasms through abdomen. These symptoms are normal for someone with a gallbladder that cannot process high volumes of fat, or a gallbladder that contains gallstones. Over the years I have had many issues with my gallbladder, and I remember one occasion when I was hospitalized because it made me paralyzed. Some people may disbelieve that, but you won’t know how it feels until you go through the same problem.
Anyway, to be brief, I am regretting eating those yogurts. They have caused me many pains all day, and yes I know it was self-inflicted, but I had no other choice, if you want to blame anyone, then blame Tesco for not stocking my usual wildlife yogurts … Okay, okay, I can’t blame Tesco, to be honest I wasn’t thinking straight, if I took more time to think it over, I would have found a more suitable solution.

So, putting the pain aside, I have had a surprising day. While I was doing a web search on my book, I found that my books were now listed on a big UK retailers digital download store, this was a massive surprise to me because I didn’t think they were good enough to be listed on well-known retailer websites, maybe they will surprise me more by stocking the paperback editions of my books, who knows?

The other news I wanted to talk about, was how much I am honored by the outstanding responses I have received since I made my eating disorder story public in UK national media. I was meant to mention this some time ago, but after the story went public, I was inundated with positive messages of support, it blew me away because I didn’t think anyone would care about the story. Well, anyway, to be brief. The story has gone a long way, not only for me, but for suffers and those who have lost loved ones through the disorder. I receive many messages a day, either offering support or from suffers wanting advice, and that is from both genders of many ages. I have even had messages from families who have lost loved ones, and they offer nothing, but support. I have full respect for each person that messages me, and no matter how bad I feel, I still go out of my way to give them a personal reply.
So, I want to thank each person who has contacted me over the last year, it has been a lifeline to me over the last year, and I hope I will carry on inspiring each person that messages me.

Anyhow, on to the rest of my day. I can certainly say after today’s news, it has left me feeling overwhelmed, it may seem weird, but this keeps me thinking positive because I am helping the world in my own “little way.”

So, on that good note, it is time for me to sign off. I hope you all have a wonderful day, and may your dreams be long & peaceful.

Until tomorrow,

Marc.

My Story Goals

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Today has certainly been a mixed bag of tricks, energy has started to creep back up and I have finally put more thought into doing an updated story about my eating disorder.

If you didn’t know, I had my eating disorder story published last year, it had some success, and it certainly helped me slowly recover. I will be the first to admit that I haven’t fully recovered from my eating disorder, but I have to look at the positives, during this year I have published four books and gained much respect from people that were inspired by my courage to carry on and to fight.
The reason for publishing my story was to highlight my struggles and to help other people see that an eating disorder isn’t isolated to females.

When it comes to doing an updated story, I want to highlight that I still struggle, but I have also progressed in my life. As I said before, I have published four books, it has given me a new focus in my life. My weight has gone up by two stone, I am now four pounds away from nine stone, which is a huge achievement for me.
The response to my story was outstanding, so many people were leaving me good luck messages and positive words to inspire me through my struggles, of course there were a few negative comments, but that didn’t phase me because I know that you will get bad comments no matter what it is.
I was surprised by some of the positive comments because many people said they wanted to give me a hug, which was really nice to see that there are nice people out there.
Anyhow, I hope that an updated story will come to light soon, but I will have to wait and see what happens, I can’t expect miracles over night.

So, moving on to the rest of my day. As I said at the start it has been a mixed bag of tricks, the reason for using this term is simply because it has been a mix of emotions. Some of the things that happened I won’t mention because the stuff that has happened isn’t worth mentioning, after all I won’t be giving people the satisfaction of being named when they are complete idiots, and yes I don’t care if I called that person an idiot because that what he is! I am fed up of a certain person causing trouble for my family, when it comes to my mother & father I will defend them to the hill because I have utter respect for them, and I don’t care if they are right or wrong, they are my parents, so tough poo-poo!
Anyway, enough of the rant, it isn’t worth my valuable time, we all need to focus on here and now, rather than the past and people who bring you down.

Skipping ahead to the evening. Mum & Dad went out this evening to darts, which meant we have the house to ourselves and we could throw a wild party, scratch that idea, if we did I think mum would kill us, or hang us from the nearest lamp post, and no, I am not kidding!
So, with the house free and parents out the way, it was time to jam on the guitar and relax. I made Laura laugh tonight, she has been nagging me for a while to play twinkle, twinkle little star on the guitar, every time I refused to play it she would claim I couldn’t play it, so I thought screw it, I played it without looking at the chord sheet to refresh my mind. I said to her are you happy now? She replied well you didn’t have to play it. I thought, what? You have been nagging me for months and that’s all I get? Damn, she is hard to please sometimes. I must teach her how to play the guitar sometime because she has always wanted to learn and I have loads of time to give her to help.

The rest of the evening was spent singing along to music on my iPad, and don’t deny it Laura, you was singing!
So, on that music note, it is time for me to sign off, but before I do, I will leave you with this joke, and this time round it was a joke I made up.

Tesco buys restaurant chain Giraffe, they’re really sticking their neck out now!
Until tomorrow,

Marc.

Breaking Down Gallbladder

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Sunday is meant to be a day of rest, but for some reason that isn’t case today for me. Today has started as the previous day ended, and yes that does mean I am having sleeping problems again. Tonight’s sleeping problems have been caused by pains through my gallbladder and right shoulder, these symptoms are both related to an ongoing medical problem, I won’t bore you with all the details because it is too much information.
While I couldn’t sleep I decided to have a chat with my best friend Steve because I hadn’t spoken to him all day, we had to catch up, it wouldn’t be the same without our daily chats. As always we had a barrel of laughs, but unfortunately my pains got in the way, so I had to say my goodbyes and catch up with Steve tomorrow. After I put the phone down, I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea and some spaghetti to eat. Anyway to be brief, I had my food and got the pain partly under control, I wasn’t free from pain, but it was better than the pain I had.
I should try to get some sleep, well that’s if my body will let me, I feel tired in myself so I have a fighting that I will get some sleep.

Well, after eight hours sleep, I emerged from under my duvet seven hours later. Even though I woke up full of energy, I still had pains in my legs, knees and gallbladder. The problem with my gallbladder has been with me for years, and if you have followed me for a while, then you will know that I have had a lot of problems with it, one of the major problems it causes is spasms through the right side of my abdomen and shoulder.

Anyway, enough about my breaking down gallbladder, maybe I should get roadside assistance of something, yes I know that was a failed joke. I couldn’t let my gallbladder get in the way today because I was going around my sister’s (Cassie) place for dinner, and she also needed my help to fix Karl’s laptop.

I spent the rest of my morning helping Steve with a Mac OSX file sharing problem, you wouldn’t believe this, but both of us were getting frustrated and ready to chuck expensive computers out of the window. I don’t know why Apple say it is easy to share things between user accounts, it honestly isn’t that easy, in the end we decided to do it a different way by using Dropbox, this problem has bugged us both for three days, but thank goodness we have semi sorted it for now.

Skipping ahead to my sister’s house. I sat trying to fix Karl’s laptop, and after thirty minutes, I determined that the issue was with a website they were using, so I had to send an email to them to have the problem fixed.
After I finished messing about with the laptop, I sat playing with baby Amber (niece). She was sticking her tongue out and giving me big smiles, and she was also making baby talk noise at me, it was really cute and funny. I can’t believe she is ten weeks old already, she has grown up really fast, before I know it she will be Hannah’s age.

So, to be brief, the evening was here and we were back home from my sister’s house. I was really hungry, it felt like I hadn’t eaten anything all day. I was in need of some food because I was starting to lose energy.
I ended up having noodles, spaghetti and curry sauce that was heaven on a plate. I was completely stuffed and I was also ready to go pop!

On that note, I think it is time for bed, but before I do, I will leave you with this joke.

Q: Why did the calf cross the road?
A: To get to the udder side.

Until tomorrow,

Marc.

Late Start

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Today started out very late for me, I ended up sleeping in until 10am, this was really late for me, usually I am awake at 7am. I must have needed the lie in because I had no sleep the night before, I feel more refreshed and full of energy, which is fantastic for me.

The day started out very relaxed, I had a huge bowl of cornflakes and Cheerios for breakfast, this was something different for me because I hadn’t had Cheerios for years, the last time I remember having them was when I was very young.
After I finished breakfast, I sat with mum and watched Saturday Kitchen. Mum loves this show, we always have a joke with her saying if she made food like that for us that we would wonder if she was okay. My mum and dad are very old school, they believe in homemade cooking and just slop it on the plate, we are eating food not looking at it as they say. While we were watching Saturday Kitchen I had to laugh, James Martin made a tiny mistake calling a knife a folk, mum has been disputing this all morning, she says that he was using folk and not a knife, I beg to differ. Anyway, it doesn’t matter what I say because she fancies James Martin and that wins overall, I keep telling her to ring into the show for their question segment of the show, but she is too shy to ring in, knowing mum she will ring up and get star struck.

After an hour of being tortured with Saturday Kitchen, it was time to head out and get some shopping. I only wanted to get the essentials that I needed because I didn’t want to overspend and buy things I didn’t need.
As we were walking towards the shop, we spotted a tabby cat walking towards us. We stopped and waited for it to come closer, I put my hand down and gave it a stroke, it started purring and nuzzling against my hand for more strokes. This cat was lovely, it had zebra like stripes, but they were dark brown, really cute. I wish I could have a cat, but unfortunately due to living conditions and restrictions we are only allowed caged animals, e.g. Rabbits, birds and hamsters.
When we were walking away from the cat, it started following us which was funny. We were many steps ahead and the cat decided to trail along, s/he was being sneaky because every time we looked back it stopped, it was really funny.

When we got into the shop, Laura & David went off to the Post office because they needed to send a package. While they were doing that, I decided to entertain myself by looking at the kindles on display. As I was looking over all the kindles, I noticed that they were connected to the Internet. I thought this was a fantastic opportunity to get more people to look at my recent book publication (BloggyBook Winter Season 2013). So with that said, I loaded up my book on each kindle and just left them on display, you never know someone might see it and buy it, you don’t know until you try as they say.
Once I had finished playing about, I went across to the post office to see what they were doing, turns out they were still waiting in the queue to be served. I couldn’t believe how busy the post office was, the queue was coming out the door, I must have stood waiting for over thirty minutes just waiting for them.
While I was waiting I started to feel very low, it was like the energy had been sucked from my body. This has happened a lot recently, it has started to get concerning because it knocks me out and makes me seriously depressed. I have spoken to family members and my best friend Steve about the symptoms, they both have a feeling that I could be diabetic because I have many of the symptoms. I will have to get an appointment for the doctor on Monday just to be on the safe side, if it turns out I am, then it isn’t anything major because I can reevaluate my diet and change what I eat. The only that concerns me is that my diet is already limited due to bad swallowing, and all the foods I have are soft enough to swallow correctly, so I really don’t know how this will work out.

Anyway, to be brief, I got all the shopping I needed. We decided to be a taxi home because I couldn’t walk much further, my knee was pulling and I was struggling to walk again.
After we got home, I had to have something to eat. I was certainly feeling the lack of energy. Once I made my cups of tea, I finally sat down to have something to eat, it wasn’t anything special just a few yoghurt’s.

Skipping ahead to the evening. I spent most of my time sitting around on the laptop, so as you can guess it was an easy evening for me. So on that note, it is time for me to sign off, but before I do, I will leave you with this quote.

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
― Dr. Seuss

Until tomorrow,

Marc.

Sneezing Sickness

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Well, today started out with more aches and pains. I tried my best to get out of bed, but for the life of me, I really couldn’t get up. The pain in my back and legs were terrible, I felt really stiff (excuse the obvious crude pun), and with every move I made the pain would shoot across my body.
After ten minutes, I finally pulled myself together and sat up on the sofa. I couldn’t really decide what to do, one part of me was saying I can’t be bothered to move, but then other part of me was saying go grab a hot chocolate from Costa Coffee. I was in such a dilemma, do I resist the urge to have a smooth hot chocolate, or do I stay at home and be a lazy bugger? I bet you can guess the one I chose, and I am not ashamed to admit that a healthy addiction to Costa Coffee hot chocolate.

The walk to Costa Coffee was bitterly cold, my nose and ears felt like pins were being put through them. I was finding it hard to breathe because the air was freezing and it felt like I was breathing through a small straw, obviously I could breathe, if I couldn’t I wouldn’t be here writing this obviously, but it just felt like I couldn’t breathe.
When I arrived at Costa Coffee I sat down in our usual seats, and I waited for Laura’s partner (David) to bring the drinks over. I had my normal, two cups of hot chocolates with a load of sugar and David had a cup of tea. As I sat there looking over at the window, I just gazed across and watched the world go by as I slowly drank my boiling hot chocolate. The hot chocolate felt like I was drinking fire, with every mouthful I took I had to softly blow on my drink so that it would cool down enough to drink.

Once we finished our drinks, we made our way downstairs into to Tesco to pick up some shopping. I only wanted to buy a little bit of shopping to see me through until tomorrow. While we were going around the shop I felt my stomach fill with wind, the reason for this was that I hadn’t had anything to eat. As went down a couple of isles, I felt my stomach become more tense, I couldn’t hold it in, and suddenly I let out one of the loudest farts ever! I don’t know why people were giving me looks of disgust, it wasn’t like I could hold it in, I was going to explode if I didn’t let it out.
After we picked up all the shopping, we headed back home to finally rest and have something to eat.

When we got home I started to make a small breakfast, and I use that term loosely because it consisted of three mince beef and onion pasties, which I would later regret eating. After I ate breakfast, I decided to take it easy because cold was starting to get worse, and over doing it would make me feel even worse.

So, as you might have guessed, my day has consisted of sneezing, coughing, taking medication and farting. I know, I bet your thinking why did he highlight farting? Well, the simple answer is the ultimate truth. I have been farting all day, and before you ask, yes I did use the toilet, but it still didn’t stop them occurring throughout the day. If I carry on farting like I am, I think I will cause a hole in the ozone layer and NASA will have to put me on their radar so they know if I cause any more damage to the world.
Sneezing has been another thing annoying me all day, every five minutes I have sneezed, how can one person produce so much mucus? I have gone through three kitchen rolls already, and it is lucky that I am going back to Tesco tomorrow to pick up some more shopping, if I didn’t I would have to start using couch pillows to sneeze into.
After reading through that part, I bet most of you laughed and thought, Marc your one sick person. Keep in mind that my humor is lighthearted, but also wacky. I don’t intend to cause offense, but you either love me or hate me, either way, I still carry on being who I am regardless what anyone thinks, and if people don’t like it then that’s their problem not mine.

Anyway, as the evening came in, I sat and watched television. I couldn’t be bothered doing anything else, being this sick knocks it out of you and the energy levels just go to an ultimate low. The evening at most was relaxing, it was a welcome change from the normal daily grind.

So, on this final note, it is time for bed. Well, that’s if I don’t sneeze to death or pull my back in the meantime.

Until tomorrow,

Marc.