Friday 17 October 2014

The Big 2.3, Toby's Birthday & PreOp

Hi everyone,

So since my last fairly long update I have been kept very busy!
Mainly by my Kickstarter project, which I explained previously. In one of the most stressful 30 days of my life I have managed to raise an amazing £4,000 to help further my new business, Chroma Stationery. The response has been so great and I am overwhelmed with the kindness of friends, family and complete strangers.
The past few weeks have been hugely stressful and an unexpected emotional rollercoatser. One day I was worried sick that I wouldn't meet my target or that I had offended people, having sleepless nights. The next day I would receive amazing feedback, a generous pledge or a high profile share and my mood would be lifted. Kickstarter has taught me many things, good and bad but it has made me realise the huge kindness and generosity of people out there. I have had lovely emails and insanely high donations from people I have never met or old family friends. Each pledge no matter how big or small meant the absolute world. Some wonderful friends even thew an event to raise the profile of my Kickstarter campaign and bring in some money. If anyone still fancies pledging some money, the project will still be live until October 20th! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/110560545/chroma-stationery





Some of my recent notebooks!

The stress of the experience has taken its toll though and I feel like I need a weeks holiday! The support of some of my amazing friends and brothers has been incredible and a special thanks to my Mum and Dad for their huge, huge support throughout the whole process.

This month also happened to be my 23rd birthday! Or the big 2 3 as I came to reference it. I had such a lovely day, spending it shopping with my Mum and generally chilling out! That evening I went out for a curry with some friends, all 26 of them! The contrast from my birthday last year was huge and I loved being surrounded by my favourite people in the world. The end of September also marked Toby's 1st birthday, an exciting day for everyone, as you can image. I even sung Happy Birthday to the very bemused looked dog.

I have also managed to officially lose 2 and half stone!! Something I have worked so hard at. For years I have tried and failed to shed the extra pounds, largely but not entirely down to being poorly and on/off steroid treatments. Being able to finally start to be happy with how I look and wear the clothes I want to wear is a novelty I am yet to get over.

But back to some Crohn's news for you all! Yesterday I headed for the local hospital for an appointment with my Stoma nurse. I have been having issues with the skin around Margaret becoming really sore. Due to my lengthy allergy list and sensitive skin I'm not surprised the skin is starting to have enough of being covered up with a big adhesive "flange" (eww). It has ended up turning an angry red colour, covered with little red spots some of which bleed, which isn't very pleasant. Last week after putting up with it for a while and treating it myself I decided enough was enough and called for an appointment. Luckily the stoma nurses know what they're doing and sent me home with a new type of bag, different wipes and powder to dry the area. Lets hope it starts to feel better soon!

I then had my pre-op for the colonoscopy I am having next week. Normally you don't need a pre-op before a colonoscopy as they don't really sedate you, however, due to past experiences I am being pretty much knocked out. The sedation required means I had to trot along to an appointment, where they measure things like your blood pressure, weight and height as well as swab your nose and throat for any infections... lovely! The waiting room at this place was pretty grim and depressing. After filling out a lengthy form (something I of course enjoyed) I headed in to see the nurse. She looked vaguely familiar but the amount of time I have spent in that place thats not really surprising! Turns out she remembered me too, from treating me on the hospital ward nearly two years ago - due to my youth compared to the other patients apparently. After ten minutes in there I was declared fit for "surgery" and sent packing ready for next week.

I will of course, update you all over the next with how they colonoscopy goes!

Love,
Gabi xxx




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