Thursday 2 October 2014

The last few months I have been...

When Gina told me yesterday that a mutual contact had asked if all was well with me, I realised how long it is since I last wrote a blog. Although I mainly 'do' Facebook these days I had thought I would try to write a monthly blog but I have failed. There are several reasons for this. Despite the possible evidence to to the contrary I have been going though a protracted blank phase of not being able to motivate myself to do anything. I have had an on-going problem of dizziness since last spring. An MRI scan could find nothing wrong, which is reassuring, but also no comfort when no remedy can be found. The ENT dept put it down to vestibular migraine - dizziness instead of / as well as a headache, but I'm not convinced as dizzy spells last days, even though they're not severe enough to stop me carry on with  daily tasks, I don't feel like doing a lot else.  Having read something on FB, it could be down to the iPad. The movement of the image on the screen apparently can effect some people, but I had mine a year before the trouble started.  I'm going to try to severely ration myself for a week or two to see if it helps. I've tried a food diary and stopped drinking red wine, but can't spot a trigger. A GP said it was down got me to try to figure it out. Sometimes I think it is tension, other times sinusitus. Of course the other factor is, having nothing else to think about. I'm trying to keep busy.. but. 
Now you know why I haven't been blogging, no one wants to read about someone's symptoms.  Anyway, since June I have been doing a lot of crocheting. This is productive, repetitive, creative, mindless and soothing.

I started with a couple of scarves. (Free pattern here)



and now I'm working on a blanket, 

it will be about 5 foot square when finished. I'm about three quarters way through. It is a ripple pattern. Here is a picture from a while back when I just got going on it. (For pattern see Attic24)



In July we had a bit of a crisis when Mungo went missing. Just in the peak of the hot weather he didn't come home for five nights.  I was so worried he'd got shut in someone's shed and would die of heat exhaustion.   I put out flyers and posters and rang every possible agency short of the FBI.  We were just contemplating picking up his bowls of dry food etc. but at 3.30am Mr T got up to visit the bathroom and heard this plaintive cry from the kitchen. There he was! He was very hungry, but otherwise fine. If only they could tell you where they'd been.


Meanwhile we have had our old conservatory replaced.  We had to find homes for all this 'junk'. We did get rid of some of it.
I'd mainly acquire a lot of the 'stuff' to camouflage a rather ugly, rotting lean-to, but grown rather fond of a lot of it. Not sure how it will fit into my lovely new pristine conservatory



We now have to decide what we're going to do with the inside.

On my creative side,  I'm treading water. I'm committed to creating a piece for Spectrum next February, but it has been dragging on.  I want to get it started, but here I am on the computer, and my brain is hurting. So bye for now, hope you are well and I'll try and catch up on your news too.
Hope you enjoying this wonderful weather too,  I had lunch in the garden today. It would be Mum's birthday, can't remember doing that before on the 2nd October.
Jill

9 comments:

Marigold Jam said...

I had only been thinking about you recently and wondering what had happened and whether you'd decided not to bother any more as we all do sometimes! So sorry to learn about your dizzyness that must be horrible especially if you can't discover wht is causing it? Do hope you will come up with the answer soon or that it will just disappear of its own accord. Thanks for the link to the crochet scarf - just what I've been trying to figure out to use up some of my stash of yarns. I'll definitely be giving it a go. Glad Mungo came back OK - that happened with Thomas once and I was distraught but he never said where he'd been either!

busybusybeejay said...

sorry about the dizziness.It must be awful.I love the scarves.Watch out with the blanket IT'S ADDICTIVE!!!13

ju-north said...

Sorry to hear this. It's awful when you can't find out the cause. Love your crocheting - at least you can be creative that way. I'm not into blogging at the moment - can't get motivated, although I like IG as it's quick to upload etc and doesn't need a lot of words. Hope you get it sorted soon Jill

Jee said...

My husband has had s similar dizziness for about 4 years. No-on can find a cause or suggest atreatment. It sometimes disappears for months but can be quite debilitating so I do sympathise.
Glad Mungo reappeared. One of cats once disappered for 8 weeks then reappeared very thin with sore paws. We think he got inside a delivery van then had to walk home when he found himself many miles from home. My blogging mojo seems have deserted me too.

LAC EMP 2020 said...

Oh Jill, I have missed you! I was going to e mail and check all was well with you. I'm glad Gina mentioned it as it is great to read your news but sorry to hear you've not been too good. If I ever have one of those dizzy turns I hate it so it must be horrible for it to go on for long periods. I hope the food diary or abstinance from the iPad and the red wine help pinpoint the culprit. No wonder the creative mojo has slowed down a bit but I can see from all that crochet that you can't keep a good woman down for long. xx

Gina said...

I feel I should add that although you've felt as though not much progress has been made on your Spectrum piece the end result is going to be beautiful!

Maggi said...

I do hope you manage to work out what is causing your dizziness (thought that was what the medical profession was supposed to do!). The crochet work is lovely.

Unknown said...

It's good too see you back blogging Jill.

Sorry to hear about the dizziness. I had one foll-blown episode of vertigo a few years ago and occasional twinges since. In my case I know this are down to head and neck tension - the one major episode I had was spending evenings and weekends hunched over books studying for a professional exam on top of my office job.

I'm mentioning because I wondered about a connection between the work you do, which might make you hunch your shoulders and spend too long bent over looking at small stitches and so on. This may well have been explored and rejected as a possible cause already but am mentioning just in case it might be helpful.

Emma said...

It's been great to see you in short bursts on fb but wonderful to have you back1 Many of us seem to have quietened down but I see lots are starting to come back. Sitting here too long is not good for my neck & shoulders so we must only allow ourselves short but regular visits to the computer. We will not give in totally to our sore bodies! I'm not sure if Yoga would help with dizziness but some of it's gentle breathing might. Good luck