My Sunday Photo – Selfie and About Me

A Selfie with me and Boo taken this summer.

I don’t do a selfie 🙂

About Me

I’ve had some new readers lately, probably because of Blogtober, so I thought I’d do a little piece about me.

The photo above is a selfie taken of me in my wheelchair with Boo posing behind me. (I always think it’s good to add something pretty to a photo of me.) I’m really not normally a selfie person so you won’t see many.

Boo is my 12 year old daughter, she’s one of five. I have a 31 yr old son and a 30 yr old daughter from a previous marriage. Their Dad left us when they were quite young, and by the time they were Boo’s age he was living in another country.

The other three share the same Dad as Boo. Star is 14 years old and has a few medical issues. The youngest is my Little Man who is 9 years old. (As you may have gathered I don’t use their real names.)

I started this blog in 2011 as a follow on from my baby blog (Baby Number 5) which I started when the Little Man was born.

Now, most people could write a book about their life, well I could write about four. So I will try and condense a few things.

Quick Facts

I have five kids, as I’ve already said and they go, Boy, girl, girl, girl, Boy. Both my boys were born by C-section, the girls were all natural births. Apart from my first born they were all born either on their due dates or slightly before. Apart from my first born they were all born in the summer. Their hair colour is ombre, the eldest’s hair is so dark it’s almost black, then they go lighter in colour as they get younger down to my youngest who is blonde (but getting a little darker as he gets older.)

I got married young and had my first two young. I started work at 16 and only had maternity leave until my second was born then I went back to work when she was three years old. I worked full time until they were almost teens and I also worked part time for my degree which I received when I was thirty. I landed a fabulous job at Birmingham University which I had to give up for personal reasons . Since then all work I have done has been done from home.

Why am I in a wheelchair?

I was fine for most of my life, then suddenly, on New Years Day 2016 I was taken to hospital after becoming paralysed. I’d woken up with pins and needles which wouldn’t go away and ended up spending two weeks in hospital. They gave me intravenous steroids and several medicataions and taught me how to walk again. It was so hard, I learnt a new respect for toddlers, getting your brain to move your feet and hold up your body is an amazing thing that we take for granted.

I also learned how to pull myself up steps and get up and down from sitting. They also had to prove I could make a cup of tea and piece of toast before allowing me to go home.

I had every test under the sun including an MRI and a lumbar puncture. Eventually the only thing they found was that my body had attacked itself and damaged my spinal cord. It was termed auto-immune and I was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis. I was told I would be better within eight weeks. It seemed like a lifetime.

Diagnosis number two

A year later and few more tests involving long needles and electric shocks as well as bloods and I was diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome with Progressive Enchephamyelitis with Rigidity and Myclonus. (PERM for short.) The condition is so rare that it affects less than one in a million people world wide. There is no cure and they are still working on treatments.

The prognosis is an average of three years of life (I’m currently approaching four) but the statistics have not been updated for years and were based on subjects who had other conditions including cancer. I do not have cancer.

Last Words

I’m not sure if you’ve got this far, like I said, this is just a snippet of my story. When I started this blog I was healthy and enjoying a life of fun and activity with my three ‘littlies’ as I called them. Now, my life is so different and my chidlren are growing up so quick. Sometimes I wonder where life has gone.

I also feel robbed. Because of my condition, I can’t continue with a ‘normal’ life. There is so much I want to do that I can’t and my independance has been ripped away, literally overnight.

However, no matter how low I get (And I’m pretty low at the moment) I know that I’ve done well in my life despite it’s ups and downs. I’m happy that I had my children and they really are my life. I’m not dissapointed that I haven’t travelled the world or found fame and fortune. The most treasure you can ever have is what you hold in your heart. My children are my fortune.

And Boo, is a lovely addition to any selfie, even if I do say so myself 🙂

BLOGTOBER 2019 POSTS

• Blotgober Day 1 – All You Need is Love
• Blogtober Day 2 – Coppafeel – Breast Cancer Awareness.
• Blogtober Day 3 – Out of Spoons (a poem)
• Blogtober Day 4 – Smile
• Blogtober Day 5 – Autumn Fashion
• Blogtober Day 6 -Baking
• Blogtober Day 7 – missed
• Blogtober Day 8 – The School Run
• Blogtober Day 9 – Avon Give Away
• Blogtober Day 10 – What I’m watching (or have watched) Lately
• Blogtober Day 11 – Blogtober
• Blogtober Day 12 – 6 Reflections on Autumn
• Blogtober Day 13 – Impractical Jokers
• Blogotber Day 14 – Weekly Meal Planning
• Blogtober Day 15 – Everybody Hurts Sometimes
• Blogtober Day 16 –The Horrible Craft Book
• Blogtober Day 17 – missed
• Blogtober Day 18 – Word of the Week – Worry
• Blogtober Day 19 – Christmas Crochet Along
• Blogtober Day 20 – My Sunday Photo – About Me