Merry Christmas Everyone ☃

Today is the day we've all been waiting for!! Everyone loves Christmas and not many people grow out of it which I think is great.

Anyway it's CHRISTMAS EVERYONE. One of my favorite times of year. This isn't exactly going to be a long post because it's Christmas day and I'm sure you're all more interested in your presents than reading this so I won't keep you for long.

I want to wish all you lovely people out there a happy Christmas and I hope you enjoy this wonderful day. A huge merry Christmas to all my wonderful family and friends who have stood by my side this year and supported me. I would not have gotten through this year without you all here and I honestly can't wait for next year. One of the reasons today is so special for me and so many other ill people is that we made another Christmas, were still here spending time with our loved ones and there's nothing I or anyone else loves more. The thought that I made it buzzes through my ears and the fact I'm so lucky to be enjoying another Christmas!

Have a lovely lovely Christmas and I hope you get all the things you asked for and enjoy these lovely couple of days with your family and friends. 

All my love

Love, Erika

General Life and Health

I haven't blogged since the 9th of December, so much for doing them regularly!

If you're friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Instagram you'll know that I've been quite sick the past 2 weeks, I had a infection, then a cold then last Sunday I managed to bag myself the dreaded sickness bug that is going around at the moment. It hasn't exactly been the best two weeks and I've only managed 2 days at work which is crap, but it means I should be better for Christmas which is a bonus but then again since Wednesday i think I've caught a cold or something AGAIN as my glands are up again and I have a sore throat. Oh I love this time of year when all the sickness is around!

I've had a really busy weekend for once, I saw my friends Devon and Georgie who I haven't seen in a long time and we had a lovely catch up, I got my nails done all ready for Christmas and I got my eyebrows done too because they were in serious need of a tidy up.

Christmas has come around so quick, I can't believe. I've done all my Christmas shopping and it's all wrapped and ready to go which is a bonus because shopping at last minute is too stressful for me and I definitely know my Mum finds it stressful too, so at least one of us is ready?

There's really not much to write about at all because I've spent the last 2 weeks in bed, so yeah. Exciting stuff!

Thank you for reading this rather short blog.

Love, Erika

Christmas ☃

I don't know about anyone else but I LOVE Christmas, it has to be my favorite time of year. I love the festivity and everyone's always happy at this time of year. Some present's have arrived and some haven't, but today I received a present I had ordered and when I opened it, it definitely did not look anything like it did online and now I'm rather confused on what to do with it. Why does that have to happen and I can't exactly keep it till Christmas because the return time will be up. Poo you online shopping. Apart from stupid things like that happening, buying Christmas presents and wrapping them is my favorite part and I struggle to not tell people what I have got them. I've done most of my shopping now and all that is left to do is wrap them and label them and wait for the 25th to give them their presents. LONG. One thing that pretty much poos on my Christmas parade EVERY single year without fail is advent calendars, I dislike milk chocolate on it's own to a very strong level, I can eat Malteasers, I can eat strawberries dipped in chocolate, I can eat chocolate with nuts in, anything else but chocolate on it's own. So this year, I got a Malteasers advent calendar so I could have MALTEASERS, YES MALTEASERS that I like very much, every day, for the next month. But when I opened the first door, it was plain old milk flipping chocolate. I was not impressed and I have not eaten a single chocolate from my calendar. Now, I don't know if it's just me but surely if you're gonna sell a MALTEASERS advent calendar, it's got to have MALTEASERS in it. But apparently not, and I have poopy milk chocolate that tastes awful (in my opinion).

I've been feeling pretty rough lately and my glands have been badly inflamed so I assumed I had tonsillitis. I managed to get a Doctors appointment yesterday and they told me i had a "mild infection" and it would soon go. They prescribed me antibiotics, but told me not to take them unless it got worse? Yes, a doctor told me, that i shouldn't take antibiotics now, I should wait for it to get worse. Um hello? No I don't think so, and I will be taking them today until it goes because I do not want to risk it getting worse and causing more problems when it could have been prevented in the first place. They also prescribed me the OxyNorm that I was told to take when I had a headache/migraine by GOSH which is a bonus so hopefully they will work but currently I'm on a small dose and if it doesn't work we can increase the dosage. 

Nothing much to blog about at all but I really fancied doing a blog so that's what happened really. As always, thank you for taking the time to read my blog even though I've probably talked a load of crap in this one especially.

Love, Erika

This whole 'blogging' regularly is definitely not my thing.

Not much has happened at all since I last blogged except work, having my first pay day which was pretty exciting, Bath and the hospital and the rest of my time has spent sleeping. Oh how fun.

Today I had my PH clinic which was at Bristol Children's Hospital this time. It was supposed to be my last appointment with GOSH as I now should be in the process of being transferred to Hammersmith because of my age, and that is where adult PH clinics are. Anyway, only me and Dad went today as it wasn't such a big appointment and when I found out it was my last I was absolutely gutted as Mum wasn't there and I knew she would want to be there. I managed to get them to let me have one last appointment with them in February. After my appointment in February I will never step foot in GOSH for a PH clinic again. It makes me so upset as they've been with me since day one, but life goes on and I can't stop it. But I definitely will miss all my consultants, doctors and nurses and it's a change that I have to accept and get used to. CAN I JUST PUT OUT THERE THAT I HATE CHANGE, 

Bristol appointments are never the same as GOSH as I don't do all the same tests because they don't have the equipment and it doesn't take as long due to fact I only do 2 tests instead of 5. My appointment was fine, everything is ok and there's no change since last time which is good. They also told me I could have my ears pierced now, finally, so I will definitely be going to get that done very soon. There isn't really much to tell at all but they did manage to answer a few questions we had about what other painkillers i could take as Ibuprofen and Paracetamol are crap and co-codamol makes me ill. (They told me I could have Oxymoron, so fingers crossed it will help with my headaches and pain when I get it). And when my sleep study will be done. I'm not going to go into detail about the sleep study just yet but it is an upcoming test I will be doing which will mean going into hospital overnight, hopefully locally. But when I've actually done the test or possibly before I will do a blog on it. At the end of my appointment I made my consultants, doctors and nurses take a selfie with me for safe keeping with my new selfie stick I recently purchased. What has my life come to? (Theres always one that has to mess up a photo i.e Dad and Avyette).

From right to left we have: Shahin who is my consultant from GOSH, myself, Avyette who is my nurse from GOSH, Dr Tulloh my doctor at Bristol and in the front my Dad.

Thank you for reading lovelies and just to let you know in, it's 20 days till Christmas!

Love, Erika

POOF

I haven't blogged in ages but I've been quite busy with my apprentice and I haven't exactly been healthy so I've had no energy at all to blog. So here is my really late blog but I am trying my hardest. I try to write little bits during the week so I don't have loads to write when it comes to actual finishing a blog.

Poof is my new favorite word. If you know me well you'll know that I go through stages of having favorite words and sayings for months on end, and these ones have been the most recent in the past few years; 'shitty shitty' excuse my language, fabulous, oh hunny, bubs and probably a few more that I can't remember but if you do, please feel free to tell me as I like being reminded of these things.

My apprentice that I started just over three weeks ago in business administration is going really well. There's not much to tell at the moment but I'm really enjoying myself and I think it was definitely the right decision. I do miss all the staff at Commonweal and my friends, especially my first aiders. But I honestly do think it was the right decision and I know that if I do ever want to go back, I can. But so far, so good. I have more energy now, and I'm not so drained after work. I also don't have the stress of exams and learning loads of new things, so I'm pretty healthy at the moment too. Minus my cold that I seemed to catch but it's gone now so fingers crossed I don't get one near Christmas time.

It's Christmas in 30 days and I can't wait to by presents for everyone and wrap them up. I haven't started any of my Christmas shopping but oh well there's loads of time. I love Christmas, Christmas songs, the atmosphere, the jolliness, I JUST LOVE IT.

I had some friends over on Saturday who I haven't seen in ages and it was so so lovely too just see everyone, have a catch up and have a good time together. We managed to have a laugh and a joke and it went so quickly. It was really nice to do something with my weekend instead of spending it sick or sleeping.

As for hospital, my next appointment is at the beginning of December, so not to close to Christmas thankfully. Not much to write about at the moment as nothing exciting is happening so this one is rather boring, however I will be doing 'blogmas' so I need to start preparing for those or I won't do anything!! Ooops.

Thank you for reading the most boringest blog ever.

Love, Erika

Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month

Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension is a very serious but rare medical condition and I seem to have been one of the lucky ones who was picked out to have it. It's an incurable and progressive disease. Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PH for short) is where the Pulmonary Arteries are much thicker than a healthy persons arteries therefore my heart has to work much harder to pump blood to my lungs. Because of this my heart works less effectively than your own or a healthy persons. 

Below is a picture that shows you the difference between a 'normal' person's heart, and a person with PH. The second image of the first figure which is of the heart and lungs is what my insides look like, and in the second figure my arteries are the 3rd image described as 'severe PH', (PAH - just means Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension).

There are two types of PH, secondary and primary. I suffer from primary pulmonary hypertension (PH) as this disease is not caused by another disease and has developed without a known cause. However PH can also develop as result of other diseases too and this is called secondary pulmonary hypertension (PH). 

Because this disease is so rare, I don't know anyone my age that suffers with the same disease. I have a couple of friends that do have PH, but they are not around my age. Age isn't really a huge deal but it definitely would of helped me if I knew someone who was doing there GCSE's with this stupid illness like I was or something along those lines. We still get on and have a fabaroonie time when we're together and I've learnt to deal with the fact that I probably wont find someone my age but life goes on.

Stacie, a very good friend of mine who I have known for a rather long time, suffers from secondary PH due to two holes in her heart. She was diagnosed at 11 in 2001, in 2012 at the age of 21 she was put on the list after 11 months of waiting to go on it and now Stacie is 23, still fighting and waiting for a heart and double lung transplant (which I hope she get's very soon). Stacie also writes a blog where you can keep up to date with her fabulous life, so at the end of this blog post I will attach a link to her blog 'Life Is Worth The Fight'.

Kat, suffers from secondary PH too due to systemic sclerosis, which is a variety of schleroderma. Schleroderma is a rare disease of the blood vessels, the immune system and the connective tissues. The body produces too much collagen and then the collagen binds the body together. Kat has recently returned from the US after receiving a stem cell transplant. Kat also has her own wesbite called 'Katrina's Future', where she fundraises and makes people aware of schleroderma, so like Stacie's I will attach a link to Kat's website.

Because PH can make you tired and lethargic it makes it more difficult to do 'normal' everyday things. The symptoms i suffer from due to PH are: breathlessness (mainly), dizziness, feeling faint, chest pain (particularly during exercise), migraines (mainly) and tiredness (mainly). We have to avoid lifting heavy things, bending and over stretching. We may need to use extra pillows to raise our head to make it easier to breathe. We may need to wear lighter, baggier clothes as sometimes just putting them on is a task. Towel drying yourself and washing your hair can sometimes be a killer with all the movement so others may need to do it for us or we made need to just sit for a while so that we can 'air dry'.  Sometimes we may need to use a wheelchair when out and about as well as carrying spare medication in the car with us. 

All of the above applies to me, and it's pretty poopy at times but you learn to get on with it, as it's life now or for some people it's always been that way and no one can change it. But there are many different treatments available for pulmonary hypertension (PH). These treatments can improve the symptoms of PH and therefore improve quality of life. Some can slow the progression of PH and can also help reverse damage to the heart and lungs. Here you can read about the types of treatment there are available to us PH sufferers - http://www.phassociation.uk.com/treatment_for_ph/

Now, last but not least fundraising, the fun bit. Fundraising for PH goes towards improving the lives of people with PH and raising awareness of the condition. Through the pha UK website you can fundraise and you are also able to choose how you would like them to spend the funds you have raised. This includes:

• Helping to raise awareness of PH
• Research into improving treatment and finding a cure for PH
• Educational literature and DVDs for PHA UK members and medical professionals
• Financial grants for people with PH to help them purchase medical equipment
• Family weekends
• PHA UK conference.

You can learn more about fundraising for PH through the pha UK website (pulmonary hypertension association UK) here - http://www.phassociation.uk.com/get_involved/fund_raising.php.

PH is a horrible disease and I wish I didn't have it, but I seemed to have pulled the short straw in life and there's nothing I can do about it. I hope for a cure to be found one day, or for a better treatment option that can make me live forever (or at least to a decent age, maybe 60s/70s maybe even 80s or is that too cheeky?) But for now, it's me, my epo and my tablets. 

Thank-you for reading and I hope I've made all you lovely readers aware of this horrible, stinking, stupid disease that myself and so many others suffer from. 

Love, Erika

Stacies blog - http://stacie-lifeisworththefight.blogspot.co.uk/

Katrina's website - http://www.katrinasfuture.org/

pha UK website - http://www.phassociation.uk.com/

I want to live so badly so why is life not letting me?

Life has changed so much and it's nights like these I lay down and actually realise all the things that I miss. Life for most of us changes through the years and sometimes even months and weeks but I can't help but notice sometimes that I may have drawn the short straw at life.

I miss having nothing to worry about. I feel like within the past 3 years I've become an adult that I shouldn't have to be right now. For example, I barely stay at friends houses because its so much drama to sort out. And another is that I rarely ever am well enough or have the energy to go out, and when I get invited out most pals usually forget I can't actually do all the walking and the long days. 

I miss the days when I'd go round my best friend Chloe's house and stay for like 4/5 days straight in half term, when I was only supposed to be staying a day. Being stupid with her, running around, eating a months supply of candy in one night, waking up to scrambled egg on toast or cheese on toast, playing just dance like we hadn't a care in the world (and in one aspect we didn't, I didn't, not like I do now), having food fights, and doing one another's makeup. It's not like that no more, and however much I want it to be like that again, it won't be, ever again. Those days seem to have gone as quick as they came. 

In summer I went out with a bunch of friends and what I thought we went out to do, didn't happen and plans changed which meant I had to go home because I couldn't do the walking. This isn't a "Oh I wish my friends weren't so careless to forget" because they really aren't at all and I'm so glad they invited me out because even though I'm sick and not 'normal' they still included me. It's more of a, "I wish I didn't have to go home and could carry on like them all, I wish I was normal and not sick". Before, I could of easily stayed out with them, walked to Lydiard, got pizza and all the other stuff but now I can't do that, for a number of reasons and it's absolutely gutting some days. 

I just want to some days be able to get up and go, not plan things, go out and stay out for as long as possible and just be a teenager. But it's pretty much impossible and now I spend most of my days in bed, sleeping, and rolling about with achy bones. 

I didn't ask for this sickness in my life, and I don't want it in my life but I have to put up with it. It's never going to leave me, it's always going to be there and there's nothing I can do about it. I have such a desperation to live, to get better, and to live my life just how I want it and to do all these amazing things. I want this so bad, just to one day to be better, for a cure to be found, to know I'm not going to die at a young age. I want to live so badly and life just doesn't want to let me do that.

Love, Erika

2nd November means one thing...

ITS ONLY 53 SLEEPS AND 52 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS.

I've been feeling rather groggy and un-motivated lately. I have no energy and I would loveeeeee to be a hedgehog so I could go and hibernate. I hope I've got that right, that hedgehog's hibernate? Ahhhhh the joys of getting an E in Science. Anyway, I've been feeling rather poopy this week and everything seems to be getting on top of me and rather too much.

Daniel's birthday was great and we had a few lovely meals with his family, he enjoyed all of his present's and I'm so glad I could be a part of his 18th. Some people will probably question why I'm so grateful of being able to be part of it, but I am, so so so grateful. I love birthdays, I love giving other people presents and watching them opening them. I love seeing people so happy and excited on their birthday. And particularly with Dan's birthday, was the fact that I could share such a special moment in most people's life, turning 18, with him. Also the fact that I may not make it to my 18th but I've still been there for his, and that fills me with so much joy. (Not that I might be dead for mine, that I was there for Dan's 18th, just in case anyone thinks otherwise.) I hope that makes sense. 

I've had a boring half term, and I haven't exactly done anything amazing. We did some baking on Monday, making gingerbread men and lemon drizzle fairy cakes. On Tuesday me and my brother spent the whole day in bed playing Mario Kart Wii. We had a laugh and just slobbed about all day. My Grandma has been down from Brighton since Wednesday and I always love seeing her and spending time with her when she's down. I don't get to see her often which is rubbish so when I do see her we always manage to have a laugh and do loads of things! When I say loads of things, I mainly mean shopping. 

I've spent this half term getting myself ready for the next few weeks that lay ahead of me. For once it's not actually anything to do with the hospital as I usual use that line for something major with the hospital. I have a few more things to sort out and then at some point next week there WILL be a blog post about 'My First Day'. But, my first day doing what? Hehe.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my blog

Erika X

Teen awards

THE TEEN AWARDS WAS AMAZINGGGGG. Except from feeling pretty dodgy all day we had such a lovely day.

It was in London, at the Wembley Arena and we left at 10:30. Gillian (Esme's Mum) drove us their, while myself, Esme and my Mum were being fabulous passengers. Gillian had already paid and booked the car park and when we arrived to the green car park, we had no idea what we were doing. We ended up reversing out of the barriers where you collect your ticket and waited for a car parking assistant. He then told us that there was a camera that scanned our number plate on the car and produced the ticket. When we finally got parked, we headed to the arena, with the wheelchair which had no one in. How embarrassing.

Outside the arena there were crowds and crowds of people screaming as cars drove in with all the celebrities and guests. We walked past the red carpet which was exiting but there was no one on it when we walked past. Sod's law really. As we got to the North West entrance we showed our tickets and got our bags checked, all the usual malarkey. We found a place to park the wheelchair and keep the oxygen which surprisingly went very very very smoothly. 

After 'parking' the wheelchair we went to find toilets but every single women's toilets were packed and there was a huge que outside. In the end we decided to go into the men's toilets which had no one in but then there was poo all over the toilets so we decided not to. Even though it would've been so much quicker, I don't really want to have wee on a toilet covered in poo. We queued up for the toilet which actually went really quick to be honest and obviously went to the toilet. After that we went to the merchandise stall, which was all the way on the other side from where we were sat but we had an hour till it started so that was fine. Me and Esme both bough a teen awards band as they were pretty funky and they are definitely my favorite things to collect from concerts and shows.

We grabbed a drink from one of the food place things. The girls that were serving us took the caps of our bottles for the reason that we could chuck them at the performers. Yes, that was their reasoning and all the food places were told to do the same. After being told this me and Esme decided to point out the fact that surely the bottle would do more damage since once we had drunk our drink we could chuck that too. NOT that we would but come on, where's the logic in that?

Anyway, we went to find out seats that were in the stalls up high but we were the very first row, of the second or third stall so we were really close and had a brilliant view. Gareth Malone, who formed the Milatry Wives choir, was there at the very beginning, and got us to sing part of a song for the Children in Need 2014 song. Ooooo how exciting. After, Greg James played some music and went live on Radio 1 where we all had to scream. It was ridiculously loud and my ears were bleeding when we came out after.

I can't little bit that happened through the entire show because there was so so much that happened, but there were so so so many people we saw. Ariana Grande, The Vamps, Rixton, Ella Henderson and Labrinth performed. But we then saw a whole bunch of people who spoke on stage and received awards: Nick Grimshaw and Rita Ora (presented the show), Little Mix, Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas, Fearne Cotton, Dan Howell and Phil Lester, Zoe Sugg (Zoella), Alfie Deyes (Pointless Blog), Tom Daley, Cheryl Cole, Jack Whitehall, Rizzle Kicks, Shaun Mendes, Scott Mills and Chris (not particularly sure on his last name so I'll leave it as just Chris), Ashley and Pudsey (the dog) and Joey Essex. There probably were a few more that I've missed but there was so many it really is hard to remember them all let alone this many!! 

We had such an amazing afternoon and we will definitely be going next year. Thank you to Gillian for driving us and getting us the tickets, thankyou Esme for letting me come, and thanks to Mum for providing me with money. Hehe. Love them all lots.

Thankyou for reading.

Erika X

Weekend, prize giving and my nutty first aiders x

This weekend has been such a different weekend to my usual ones. I actually saw my friends and went out instead of sitting at home and staying in bed. It was tiring but I had a lovely time.

Friday me and Sophie babysat and we caught up as we haven't seen one another in ages. On Saturday we had a rather strange morning and ended up getting out of bed at 12 which probably wasn't the best of ideas. We went out at 12:45 and I went to get my eyebrows done, Mwahahaha I absolutely love them and I've waited so long to get the. Done. I was so happy but I will never ever ever ever ever have threading done again. It was so painful. I do not advise anyone to have this done but each to their own and FairPlay if you do have threading because I cried all the way through it. 

Saturday evening Paige came over, and my 'Auntie' Sara and 'Uncle' Andy and 'cousin' Marcie came over as well, and we all sat and had a curry while Mike and Andy plastered hehe. We had a lovely evening full of laughter as well as such a nice curry. Me and Paige went to the shop and bought lots of sweets and drinks and pigged out all night while we were looking at Halloween costumes. 

It was just so nice to see my friends that I haven't seen in so long because of health and college. We had a laugh and a catch up and i thoroughly enjoyed myself although I've been paying for doing so much as I'm absolutely knackered and haven't managed it into school due to Mum not being able to wake up. Oops.

A few weeks backs I received a letter telling me I was receiving an award from my school, for my year 11 school year 2013-2014. The evening was to be on the 15th of October at 7:00pm, so we thought but it started at 7:30 and we all ended up waiting around for what felt like 4 million years. My Mum and Dad came with me, and my Auntie and Uncle were there too as my cousin was getting an award as well. The prize giving evening went on for about 2 hours all together and some of my friends got awards too; Megan, Natalie and Georgie. Georgie was unable to come but Megan and Natalie looked absolutely gorgeous and it was so lovely to see them get recognized for all the effort they put into year 11 and getting such good grades. My cousin got an award as well and I'm so proud of him, he's done so well for himself, and his grades were brilliant. There isn't anyone more prouder than me.

The award I received was for endeavor which is trying hard to attempt to achieve or achieve a goal. I was absolutely petrified going up, I felt sick, I had a migraine and I was shaking like there was no tomorrow. My head teacher said some lovely words, and to be honest I can't really remember much as I was so overwhelmed; but as I was stood there I didn't have a clue where to look. I looked at my Mum and she was crying, so I looked at my Dad and he was also crying, I then looked at Megan and she was crying, I skipped my cousin because I knew he'd just do something stupid and I'd end up laughing my head off, so I ended up just staring at the floor because if I see them crying, I'll cry, and then I'd look like a plank. Mr Defter said a certain few things that I actually can still remember. He said; I always lived for the moment, it was a relief that I still made it to this day (being prize giving evening), managing to overcome obstacles most wouldn't, and described me as outspoken, opinionated, hormonal, common teenager, loud, kind and some others but I can't remember. This was also down to the help of my two first aiders; Ali and Jo. I got presented with an envelope which had a gift card in and a trophy with my name on it which I get to keep for a year. I had a few photos with friends, teachers and family and over all it was a lovely evening. 

If you've never met Ali and Jo, they're the funniest people on the planet and I suggest you meet them (but please don't stalk them). These two nutters are my first aiders at school, and they're pretty much family. Ali has known me from day one, and has been my rock in school since I got sick. She's like a Step-Aunt really, she always knows what to say, and she's absolutely bonkers and always has me giggling. Jo, recently joined about a year or so ago I think, and she's like a Step-Aunt too haha. We get on really and she's always making me tea and giving me biscuits. I know I can always count on them if I ever need anything (especially tea or a blanket). Even though life is pretty poopy some days they always manage to have me giggling and put me back in my place, reminding myself of why I'm still here fighting. I honestly wouldn't of gotten through school without them and I will never be able to thank them enough for everything they've done for me. I love them so much and one day I'll do a whole blog dedicated to them because they are just fabulous.

Anyway, I haven't blogged for ages as I've just had no energy and when I've gone to blog it kept crashing so I've been going back and forth too it for about 4 days now, adding bits on. I'm going to the teen awards at Wembley tomorrow with my friend Esme so I'll probably do a blog on that later in the week. But until then, laters taters.

I need to cut down the chav talk but oh well.

Thankyou for reading.

Erika X

Ahhhhh so many exciting things happening☁

Soooo it's not exactly the 1st of October but it's close enough to say hello now. (This post is short and sweet my loves).

October is looking to be a fabulous month, so far it's been amazing, and there are so many more things to come that I'm looking forward too. I don't want to go into too much detail, and a couple of things that will be happening are going to be kept secret until they happen. Hehe.

Firstly I had an amazing check up and I'm on top of the world about it, no need for a lung transplant for the time being and my heart function as got better again, who wouldn't be happy?

Near the end of the month it's Daniel's birthday and I love birthdays, seeing people

open their presents and buying people present's gives me so much joy, I love it. It's Dan's 18th and he doesn't really enjoy birthdays but he's definitely looking forward to being 18. 

We then have Halloween at the very end of the month, fancy dress, sweets, party, what more could you want? I'll be seeing all my friends that I haven't seen since we went our separate ways at the end of school which I'm really looking forward to, and the dressing up is my favorite bit. Lol such a big kid. Any way, not much to write on this one, but at least it's more frequent that my last blog.

Over and out peoples and thanks for reading.

Erika X

Just keep swimming.

I've had a pretty crap past few days to be honest, and I'm not one to talk about how I'm feeling but it's been pretty crap, upsetting, hard and draining.

Since starting Sixth Form I've been suffering with headaches and sickness every day and I have no clue why, Stacie had her third false alarm which I'm 50/50 about, I had a little wound from the Doctors and it didn't stop bleeding and I also had my check up at Great Ormond Street this week.

I wanted year 12 & 13 to be a fresh start for me; no day's off, doing well, having fun, actually being able to go in and not being sick. But it hasn't gone that way at all. I've had numerous days in bed, consisting of sleeping, crying and fidgeting, and some days being sent home from Sixth form and ending up in bed, with a hot water bottle and Fudgey. I'm finding it really hard at the moment, and life just doesn't want to go my way at the moment at all.

On to Stacie, my fellow 'sick buddy' as we like to call one another and 'Erika's blogging friend' as some of my friends call her. Yep I'm glad Stacie got to meet my friends who so kindly named her 'Erika's blogging friend'.

Stacie has patiently been waiting for her heart and lung transplant for nearly 2 and a half years. One half of me craps myself and thinks omg that could of been Stacie who died and half of me thinks but it could of been so good for her. I honestly don't know what I'd of done if it was her call but we'll soon find out hopefully. Other than that, Stacie is holding up well for everything she's been through these past few weeks and she is such an inspiration too myself and so many other people. I luff her ♡.

On Tuesday I went to the Doctors for a small procedure, where I had a local anesthetic and weirdly that was the easiest bit! I was told to leave it for a couple of days and that it would bleed a little bit. Now, because of the medication I'm on I expected it to bleed a little longer as my blood is much thinner than most people's, but I definitely did not expect to bleed as much as I did. It wasn't even that bad on Tuesday night but when I woke I was covered in blood. I went to A&E Wednesday as it was still bleeding at lunch time, I was there from 12:30 till 3:00 which was bloody ridiculous!! They glued the wound hole for me, bandaged me up and off I went to catch the 4:30 train to London ready for my check up Thursday. There was no sign of any blood, so I thought it had stopped, then while we (myself, Mum, Dan, Jools and Kate) were out for dinner it started bleeding again and off I went to A&E in London at UCH (University College Hospital) at 10:30 at night. How fabulous, not. Anyway, it got to 11:30 and I couldn't stand to wait any longer so we left as I had an early appointment for a scan in the morning and decided that my Doctors could take a look at it.

Thursday morning, myself, my Mum and Dan went to GOSH after staying in the Western House (accommodation across the street from GOSH), I had an MRI, Lung function test, 6 minute walk test, chest X-Ray, echo and the usual; height, weight, blood pressure and clinic appointment. When I went for my clinic appointment (where I get my results and speak to my consultant) they basically told me that my heart function is even better and that I do not, I repeat, DO NOT need a lung transplant for the time being. This is music to my ears because before I was having to think about whether I wanted to go on the list or not because I wasn't that well and my heart function wasn't as good.

So yeah, this has been what's happening these past couple of weeks, and I've finally had some good news which I'm ecstatic about. I've realized I need to start blogging more and that I should probably change my age to 16 on my blog, whoops!

Thank you for reading✿ 

Erika X

Stacie's blog - http://stacie-lifeisworththefight.blogspot.co.uk/

Make-A-Wish☆

Since I've been ill I've had such wonderful opportunities in life, and in this blog I hope to tell you all about them as well as I can and in as much detail before it bores you. I hope you all enjoy reading about my experiences as much as I did being a part of it.

Some of you may know that I've been doing my room up, with the Family Fund and Molly Olly funding it. Now, I absolutely despise the thought of being seen as a 'Charity' because I'm not and it took me a long time to realize that these people were here to help and not treat me as a charity. When I first became sick I was referred to Make-A-Wish and I never told anyone, it was really hard for me to face the fact I was terminally ill and I did not want everyone asking me about it, or treating me like a charity because a charity helped me. I thought when I told people that they would see me different which is why I never told anyone. This is the first time most people will be hearing about my experience with Make-A-Wish and most of them are probably going to be shocked to think I never told them, or that I have kept it a secret for so long but it was something I had to do to protect myself. I also saw it as an opportunity to finally have my own secret, my own little something that no one new about because EVERYONE new I was in hospital, ALL the staff at school new I was sick as well as most of the pupils and it was the only thing I knew nobody else would have to know, the bit of life that I could keep to myself as most of my life was out there now, my whole story except this little chapter of it.

With Make-A-Wish we went through a long process of seeing if I met the criteria of 'fighting a life threatening condition', then after that I had Make-A-Wish volunteers come to my house to ask me what my hobbies were, my favorite TV programs, my favorite book, character, CD, DVD etc etc. When I had my wish I was 14 so I was really indecisive and couldn't make up my mind so I practically just said a load of crap and said the first thing that came to my head. And no, it wasn't a smart thing to do. I don't regret my wish but I definitely wish I had thought of something better. It took absolutely ages to finalize but as soon as it was I was absolutely buzzing, we went on the 19th September 2012 which was back in the day when I was a brown haired girl.

I chose to go to the Waterloo Road set up in Scotland with my Mum and Dad. We caught a flight to Scotland and I was absolutely petrified because it was the first time flying since being ill and the hospital always make a big deal about it so I though I was going to die on it, haha. Anyway, we got taken by taxi from the airport to the hotel where we were staying but because of confidentiality I can't tell you where; but it was a pretty place, with beautiful views and the hotel was very very beautiful. We stayed over night and the next day we got picked up and taken to the set. I had a look around, got given a badge and was given my own dressing room next to Audrey (Georgie Glen). She was so lovely, and made me feel so welcome. I was told to put a 'Waterloo Road' uniform on and as I was getting ready I noticed that Tom Clarkson (Jason Done) was next door to me to, so I had to go get a picture and an autograph. He was my favorite and I love him but then he went and died and I've never cried so much at a television show. I was taken downstairs into the canteen and I met the cast and sat and had lunch with them. IT WAS SO AMAZING AND I JUST DIDN'T SPEAK AND I DON'T KNOW WHY BUT I WISH I DID AND WASN'T SUCH A TIT AND BE A SHY LOSER.

We had a really good lunch and even my Dad got involved which was quite embarrassing. He was speaking to Kevin (Tommy Knight) about the 'Sarah Jane Adventures), haha. They were all really nice and made me feel really welcome, they signed a script I was given and treated me like I was one of their own! After lunch I went and met some more of the cast and started practicing a run through for the scene that I was going to be in, it was all very scary and I was petrified. All I had to do was walk out the front of the building and laugh at the Headteacher and a teacher kissing. Not that hard but I was shaking and nearly in tears but when I got into it I was fine, like a pro me. I ran off a few times to grab photos with cast members, whoops but oh well. It was actually really stressful being an extra and it wasn't even like I did it every day. Talking about my Wish makes me feel so happy, I don't regret it not one little bit. I'm glad I went, and I'm so happy I had the chance to go. It fills me with such joy that even when times are pretty crap, and life is also pretty crap there's people that want to help you have a little life and that's what they did. I felt like I was a crazy person being associated with Make-A-Wish and I'm not sure why but now I realize I wasn't, I was normal to them, and even thought I had never met the people I had the pleasure of meeting, they couldn't of been nicer to me. I had such a wonderful experience and I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm so happy I went. They also gave me lots of goodies, which were signed and a DVD and I also have a badge and all the lovely things, but the pictures will always be my favorite. Oh yeah, and old Mr Budgen (Philip Martin Brown), was away the day I went up and I was gutted so I have a lovely picture of me with his dressing room door, oh how sheek. 

So that was in 2012, and here we are 2 years on. Wish wise, I'm not allowed another one BUT there are other charity's out there. Earlier this year I was referred to the 'Rainbow Trust' which is a children's charity which provides emotional and practical support to families that have a child with a life threatening or terminal illness. I was given a Family Support Worker and she referred me to the Family Fund and Molly Olly. The Family Fund give grants to families who are raising a disabled or seriously ill child or young person, and then Molly Olly give support to children and their families who need additional help including emotional and financial support. Unfortunately I fit into both of those categories but they're here to help. I was accepted by both charities and they offered their help to me. 

With the help of both charities I decided I was going to have my room done up, new paint, wallpaper, new wardrobes, new bed, new everything basically and a completely new theme. Before, my Mum and Dad did my room up for me when I first got sick and it was Pink. I had a single bed, mismatching wardrobes and yeah. Over the year's; I've not grown out of Pink because I still love it and it's definitely still my favorite colour, but I wanted to change it to a more sophisticated look, so I went for Black and White. I wanted and needed a double bed with storage underneath. I spend a lot of time in my room, and I wanted somewhere classy and somewhere I could literally just go and chill out in. As I said a minute ago, a lot of my time is spent in my room because I get tired, and I get migraines and all that so I escape to my bedroom. I also like to escape here because I forget about all my problems, and I forget about being ill and it's my little escapee hut let's say. Molly Olly and the Family Fund were happy to provide the financial support for this to be done, and without them I wouldn't have my new room and my escapee hut. I also have Edwin, Mike, my Dad, my Mum and my boyfriend to thank for all the fabulous work and help they've put in. Edwin wallpapered for me, Mike and Dad have put up furniture, Daniel helped paint and Mum helped me choose furniture, and helped paint and helped do the nitty gritty bits hehe. I couldn't of done it without any of their help either and I love them all so much for everything. 

 I absolutely adore my room, and I can't thank everyone enough for their kindness and generosity; Family Fund, Molly Olly, Dan, Dad, Mum, Mike, Edwin and everyone else that donated clothes so that we could get extra money to buy all the fru fru like photo frames, storage boxes etc; friends, family, neighbours, work colleagues, and all the people I've never met at Zurich. We will definitely be doing more clothes collections soon and donating the money to all the charities that have helped me and my family on our crap journey. I love you all.

Here are the charity's website's that have been mentioned in my blog today so feel free to take a look and learn a little more about the amazing things they do!

• Rainbow Trust - http://www.rainbowtrust.org.uk/
• Molly Olly - http://www.mollyolly.co.uk/
• Family Fund - http://www.familyfund.org.uk/
• Make-A-Wish - http://www.make-a-wish.org.uk/

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I hope to blog very very soon!

Erika X

A fresh start...

So I've realized I should probably start blogging more because I'm only posting like once every 2 weeks. Mainly because I'm mostly sleeping and when I'm not sleeping I'm doing everything I should of been doing when I was sleeping, for example, tidying my room, doing coursework, spending time with my boyfriend and doing some house work around the house, and since I've started 6th form I've not done hardly any of those.

I've had a nasty cold for the past week and a half and it has taken it out of me. I'm struggling to sleep, always going from hot to cold and I've very rarely had energy to do the simplest of tasks like going to the bathroom. It has been awful and finally it's on it's way out which is very good as I simply can not go on with this any longer.

I started 6th form at Commonweal last Thursday and so far I'm really enjoying it. I'm studying Psychology and Sociology for 2 years there and hopefully some Teaching Assistant volunteering in between. I think that's what I want to do now so hopefully I can get somewhere with that. I've managed 5 whole days since being back which is such an achievement for me because before I was making 2-3 days a week which weren't all day. I'm so happy with how things are going with 6th form however it is draining me and every single day so far without fail I've fallen asleep and done no coursework. Whoops. Sixth form is a completely fresh start for most people and I also see it as a fresh start with myself too. I can start fresh with my attendance and my subjects and I have more motivation to do well because I passed my GCSE's which amazed pretty much everyone I know of I think. I came out with a B in English Language, a C in English Literature, C in Maths and a C in IT. I'm so proud of myself and I can't thank everyone enough for all their support and help. Especially my English teacher who also appointed herself to being my life coach. I've realised this blog is all over the place but oh well, I'm sure it'll be ok this once.

Sixth form is really weird and it's really different to school, most of us don't even know if we have to put our hand up in lesson or not? Or whether to call teachers by their first name or second name? And also the fact we can sit and eat and take hot drinks into class is still rather weird and I can't quite get used to it yet but it's still early days. There's a variety of people at sixth, and I never would've thought the people I hang around with would be the people I hang around with. I was definitely too quick to judge who I'd hang around with and become friends with but I absolutely love it. The whole year get on really well, even with new arrivals, everyone just enjoys each others company and gets along. There are definitely some people that I didn't think that would come to sixth form but have done and it's actually really nice to have such a wide variety of people and personalities. It's only the 2nd week in so I'm sure I'll come to moan about one thing or another soon.

My blogs definitely will not be as often as they were before but I will try my hardest to blog at least once or twice every 2-3 weeks, at least until everything is settled and balanced out and I stop being so tired.

Thank you for reading and I will definitely blog soon☺.

Erika X

☆'We make our own fairy-tales'☆

When I was younger I always wanted to be a Disney Princess, like most little girls, and I always dreamed of having a big white wedding, and a massive mansion for a home with my Husband and little girl and boy. I always dreamed of having a huge walk in wardrobe, with shoes and clothes in every little corner, like the Hannah Montanna one. I also dreamed of being Hannah Montanna/Miley. I think we all went through that stage, but I always thought I'd get there some day, not neccearily Hannah/Miley but my own self, like her, with all these fabulous things that she had and more. I also always had the dream of being a teacher, then a Nurse, then a Vet then be famous and not need a job, so yeah it kind of escalated quickly what I wanted to be and now I have no clue at all. I think we all know it was never going to happen but we never thought what did happen would.

When I got sick it was really hard for me to accept my new life; I had to become much maturer than I was at the time and now I seem to act like an adult which I hate sometimes. I find it hard to find some things enjoyable or funny when I should and unfortunately it's something I can't change. I have to be mature because if something goes wrong when I'm on my own, or out with my friends, I have to know what to do or I'm pretty much screwed to be honest.

When I was on the Iloprost which was through the Nebuliser I had more freedom than I do now; I was able to do more things, not because I was healthier but because I didn't have a line inside of me. I could swim, I could horse ride, dance, wear certain clothes, not have to be home at specific times, not need to take Oxygen with me wherever I went etc (I can't think of anything else which is quite major). Now that I have the Hickman Line I can't do any of these things because risk of infection and illness, or because my pump can't be banged about, or my medication needs to be changed. And because of all this, I've realized that I have to make my own fairy-tale or I'll get nowhere, not do anything and I'll end up letting my disease beat me. I know that maybe everything in life isn't what I want or how it was supposed to be and I can't change that, however much I want to I just can't, which is unfortunate but it's life now. Yeah, I do get upset about it and I wont deny that. Like everyone I have my good days and my bad days, my good weeks and my bad weeks. I had a passion for swimming, horse riding and dance and now I can't do any of those things anymore. I have to find alternatives which again is really hard because I now have problems with my feet which can't be fixed and it absolutely kills me, drains all the energy out of me, the fact I can't just text my friends one morning and say 'Lets go to town' because it all depends if my parent's are around to drive me, or if I'm feeling up to it, and all that malarkey and I tell you it is really hard to deal with sometimes but I have to make it work, or I have no fairy-tale, no life and I just won't let that happen.

It might not be the most ideal fairy-tale but it works I guess, and if I could change my fairy-tale I wouldn't (except me having a terminal disease, yeah I'd change that) because it's taught me so many lessons in life and I'm blessed to have such wonderful family around and such wonderful friends, because without my friends and family, I wouldn't of gotten through this, I wouldn't of had the strength to create my own fairy-tale and because of them I'm still here, fighting and I don't intend to stop, however hard my fairy-tale gets.

Erika X

Tonsillitis ☹

So, the past week I've had tonsillitis and it's not been very pleasant. I'll be glad to see it go.

Because of my disease I get tired easily when I do things, even just going to a friends house tires me out however I can usually stay awake till about 9-10 then go to bed. But with having tonsillitis as well as my disease I've been sleeping in the day for 2-3 hours as well as going to bed at 11ish. Since last Friday I've lost my appetite and have been sleeping all the time, I've also lost my appetite too from the pain I've been in. Thankfully the doctors prescribed me antibiotics and my course of them finishes tomorrow. After a whole week or having no energy to do anything and falling asleep all the time hopefully by Tuesday I can start to get back to my old normal self, well as normal as that can be.

This is the 2nd time I've had tonsillitis this year so I've decided that if I get it again I'm having them taken out because I really do not need the extra tiredness etc (as I get that already and having an infection on top makes it 10x worse) and I need as much energy as I can so if it's something that can be avoided then hopefully they'll take them out, but like anything with me we have to speak to Great Ormond Street first. I'll wait to speak to them at my next appointment which has just been confirmed for October the 2nd where I'll also be seeing the Lung Transplant team, due to my request of wanting to see them; only thing is I had questions and now I can't remember them. Oops.

Results day is in 4 days so fingers crossed.

Erika X

ComPETition time

I've had a pretty hectic past couple of weeks if I'm honest but I'm so excited about the fact that I've entered Fudge into the 'Cutest Pet August 2014 Competition'. Fudge is my pride and joy even tho he can be very misbehaved sometimes. He's practically my baby and I've missed him so much this week as we've been on holiday at Pontins in Brean Sands; but I'll touch on that later. I must admit, Fudge is rather spoilt but he has to be as I can't have children, he has to be my child. Fudge always comes in for cuddles after breakfast because he hates early mornings and loves a good lie in. He also likes to run off with all our underwear when Mum is trying to put the washing out. It's not funny but I'm sure Fudge would disagree if he was here. At the moment he is at my Grandparents in Brighton having a holiday with my Grandma, Grand-dad and their two dogs. Were collecting him tomorrow which I'm so happy about, yay.

*Please please please can you take a minute to VOTE for Fudge to win the competition, thankyou!!*

(link is below)
http://www.petvote.com/aug14/fudge-cowie

A week and 2 days ago was my birthday, I finally turnt 16, which to most isn't such a massive thing but to myself and my family it is; another year I've accomplished and got through my illness, another year that I've managed to keep well 80% of the time, and another year that I've been able to experience life more. I got diagnosed when I was 13 in 2011, so it's been 3 years now. Sometimes it feels like a really long time, but now while I'm writing this, it really doesn't seem like a long time. It feels like yesterday for goodness sake. I hate that. So yeah, it was my birthday and I turnt 16, woo hoo. I woke up at 6:40 in the morning and had to wait till 9:00am to get my presents and McDo's breakfast. I received a lovely bunch of presents from my Mum, Dad and brother. They were; a sparkly blue jumpsuit from Miss Guided, Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume, 2 Pandora ring and a Pandora charm bracelet, a Thomas Sabo charm bracelet, a Thomas Sabo charm and a Disney charm (which of course was Tinkerbell),  I also got a new camera, the Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 to be precise and it is FABULOUS. At lunch time, we went out for lunch with my Grandparents however I didn't feel that well because of the heat and the fact I had been up since 6:40am. We had a lovely lunch, took some pictures, had a giggle and I got given some money in a card from my Nan and Grand-dad. When we got home I hooked myself up to some oxygen as I felt faint and lightheaded and definitely did not feel great at all. Mia and Callum came round with some fabulous 1 & 6 balloons for me, I was so so happy, I've wanted them for ages and I'm so glad they got them for me, honestly I would have been fine with just the balloons because they amused me so much. Mia got me a new makeup brush and Paige got me a new top as well as the balloons that they bought together. The card Mia got me is my favorite out of all of the cards I've been given, it's Barbie and Barbie? I'm not sure who the other girl is but lets just say it's me and Mia in New York. As the day went on more family came over and I got more wonderful presents from everyone which I'm so grateful for. My birthday kind of carried on till Sunday, on Thursday I got a few presents from my Grandma and Grand-dad, perfume and eye make-up remover as well as a Chinese take-away which is my favorite. On Friday I received another present from my Mum and Brother which was a black and white canvas for my bedroom when it is finally done, it has so many old pictures on there as well as some new ones from prom and my last day of school. Saturday was my birthday party, it was fancy dress with no particular them and we were having a BBQ too. I spent the day at my Nan's house which them and my cousin's and my Aunty Kay (they came down especially hehe as we don't see them often). One of my oldest and dearest friend's came over, Chloe; to do my hair which took 1 hour and 15 minutes because my hair was too thick, and we were stressing and losing the will to live. We had a good old catch up and had a right old giggle, especially at the fact how disgusting we looked back in the day and how many photos we used to take, which I now look back on and think what the heck did we think we were doing. I got my fancy dress outfit on, which was Tinkerbell and had a wonderful evening; taking pictures, having pictures, having giggles, having catch up's, eating food, having fun and seeing all my friends have a wonderful time. I got so so so many card's and presents from bath bombs, to DVDs (the whole Tinkerbell series to be precise), a new watch, some rings, money, perfume and make-up. I had such a wonderful evening and I can't thank everyone enough for there generosity and the fact that nearly every single one of them made the effort to come in fancy dress. My birthday was an absolute banger and it was all down to my family and friends. Especially my Mum and Dad because without them my birthday and my birthday party wouldn't of been made possible.

This blog post is quite long so I'm gonna shorten it up now. Our family holiday at Pontins was great, it was a massive family holiday with 18 of us there, all my cousins, Aunties and Uncles and all extended family (i.e girlfriends and boyfriends). Lets just say, without Jess, I wouldn't of been able to cope with both the Dan's on my own. We collected so so so many tickets between us all, I had over 2,500, whoops. The boys played football, me and Jess shopped, we played ping pong, went to Weston-Super-Mare for the day, went out for lunch, got milkshakes, spent loads of money on rubbish we didn't need but oh well, had a MAHOOSIVE water fight, went to the arcade and generally just spent some well needed family time together. I've wanted one for ages and my Grand-dad made it happen, so I'd like to thank him for making it happen. And as per usual my Nanny and Grand-dad were absolutely hilarious and kept me going. While we were on holiday I bought a book called 'this star won't go out', it's about a girl called Esther who had cancer and unfortunately passed away, but now her story (journal) had been turnt into a book. I'm not that far into it, but I'm really enjoying it so far (enjoying probably isn't the right word but you know what I mean, I hope).

As always thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I hope you are all doing well.

Erika X

P.s if you'd like to vote for Fudge it would be a great help, here's the link:

 http://www.petvote.com/aug14/fudge-cowie

のTime flys

So my birthday has come around pretty quick and I have had no time to blog recently and neither will I have time this week. I'll do a better blog post at the end of the week when I have time but now I really don't. My birthday AND my birthday party was fabulous and I thank every single one of my friends and family for my gifts and for coming to my birthday party. I was so impressed that most people came in fancy dress and the ideas people came up with were amazing. I'll do a blog post about everything on Friday/Saturday and I shall include fabulous pictures of fabulous people.

Night night.

Erika X

1 day ✦

Everyone loves a picnic in the summer ☀.

Myself, Dan, my Dad and our 4 dogs went to Shaw forest for a picnic. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the boys loved having a run about. We had lots of goodies to tuck into and the boys had a bowl of water too keep them going. It was quite quiet at Shaw so we were able to relax and just enjoy the weather. Boo decided to roll in fox poo which wasn't amusing at all and he absolutely stunk but apart from that and the boys being covered in mud, we had a fabulous afternoon.

Some of you that have me on Facebook would have seen my recent status about 'Health Care at Home' and my medication delivery. Needless to say, they are the worst company ever and have no idea how much I need my medication.

Last Thursday I was due a delivery off all my medication which comes in 3 massive boxes, between the 3 boxes I should have: white needles, green needles, sterile gloves, antiseptic wipes, epo, 50ml syringes, 20ml syringes, 10ml syringes, cartridges, smart sites, extensison lines, batteries, dressing packs, saline, alcohol solution, dressings, chlorapreps and sometimes some other bits and bobs when I need them. I should have a months supply of meds within the 3 boxes and nearer the end of the month my Mum does a stock check, where she counts up how many of each thing she has left and gives the figures to 'Health Care at Home'.

On Thursday, myself and Dan stayed in all day to wait for my delivery that never turnt up. Now that may not seem a big deal to much of you but it is to me, I could have spent that day enjoying myself and getting out there but I did not as I was expecting a delivery. Of course I don't mind staying in but when it doesn't turn up I do mind and it's a different story. Anyway, my Mum contacted them saying that my delivery of medication had not arrived in which they told us that it had not been put on the van. Oh how wonderful of them, not like I'm terminally ill and need my meds. My Mum reminded them of that too.
The manager of the company rang and said that she would get my meds to me the next day (Friday) before 12, this was decided because my Mum had appointments in the afternoon which she did not want to cancel unless she really needed to. She also said that when the delivery was just about to leave she would ring to let my Mum no so that she had an approximate time of delivery, that's what they called it anyway. My Mum didn't get that call till 6pm at night, my delivery turnt up at 8:30pm.
My Mum went through the box and not everything was there, well only the Epo and a couple of other bits and bobs. Mum emailed them saying that everything was not there and that it had only just turnt up, they said they would send another delivery on Monday after 6pm, again this time was decided so that someone was definitely in and that my Mum had done my meds by then so they wouldn't clash.
On Monday I was supposed to go to the dentist, leaving my home at 5 to 9 but they cancelled due to the Dentist being unwell. at 9:00am approximately a delivery man knocked the door with my meds and I signed for them, not knowing that they weren't supposed to be coming till 6. Mum came home and was fuming at the fact that they had delivered it at 9, luckily for them I was in, but if I was at the dentist what would have happened? My Mum said this to 'Health Care at Home' as well as the fact that everything requested and that wasn't in the previous delivery wasn't there.
My medication has to be made up each night by my Mum/Dad and it HAS to be in a sterile environment; all surfaces wiped down and scrubbed, sterile gloves and needles etc. However, 'Health Care at Home' do not seem to understand that. Mum had requested a box of small gloves, the usual ones which we have had for the past year and a half which are sterile, and they chucked un-sterile medium gloves into the box. UN-STERILE. ARE THESE PEOPLE OK.
What makes this situation worse is that she spoke to a lady at 'Health Care at Home' who said she would personally pack the delivery box so how could anything be wrong or missing? She explained this to them in which they replied saying "Delivery this morning was a back order, meaning one of previous deliveries had no stock for one of the items, so it automatically goes through our system to be delivered as soon as we got stock." and another email saying "**** raised order for you as you spoke to her. I've just checked the order and everything was as requested. About them purple gloves must have been picking error from warehouse.", but we were told **** was going to pack the delivery herself?
No one even informed myself or my parent's of the extra delivery at 9am. Anyway, we were expecting my usual delivery that was supposed to of arrived last Thursday to come yesterday evening at 6pm yet it did not turn up. Mum asked them why that was and they said that no one was in when it was delivered. Seems somebody's telling porkies as I was in all day, and all the family was in in the evening. The delivery was definitely not delivered, no one knocked the door and we were all in. Mum told them this and suddenly there story changed to "2 major accidents on M1 therefore driver lost 3 hours. Driver called our depot and advised about it and ETA given 1.30am, our depot advised to return as it being out of social hours." Now, I don't mind if there was an accident because that can't be helped BUT if they had just been honest and rang us to let us know it wouldn't be arriving then there would have been no more problems; however they didn't therefore there is more problems. After a while we were told the delivery that was supposed to come yesterday evening should be coming tonight after 6pm so we shall look forward to seeing what arrives, if anything. They are such a wonderful company.

Anyway, onto a better note, it's my birthday tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm so so so excited, I can't wait. I'm off our for lunch with my Grandparent's tomorrow and in the morning I THINK my Dad is bring me breakfast. Wahey. My birthday party is on Saturday too and I can't wait to see everyone's fancy dress. It's going to be fabulous yay.

1 FLIPPING DAYYYY.

Well 7 hours to be exact.Erika X

hm

I haven't posted in a while which is really bad but I've been so busy this week which is a very rare occasion for me. I've enjoyed this week so much even though it's meant I've slept quite a majority of the time that I've had to spend with Dan or my family.

I'm not really sure how to write this so it's going to be a bit like a list, I don't know if it's going to look right but I might as well try. On Monday Sophie came over to do my nails because they were atrocious, she did shellac on them for me and I'm in love with them. Tuesday I had my 6th form induction day, to be honest it was pretty boring but it's made me really excited for the future, especially September. In the afternoon Mia came over with Baby G, he's so adorable and cute. He sleeps like a turtle on your legs and he always seems to be asleep when I see him which I don't mind, but i'd actually like to see his eyes open sometime, but it's better than crying I suppose. Myself and Dan went to the stables in the evening with Dan's Mum Sharon and my Mum. Wednesday I met up with Mia, Paige and Hannah; we sat in Costa and had a lovely time with Baby G, until his nappy needed changing and we all crammed into a baby changing toilet for god know's what reason. On Thursday I finally got to spend time with Dan, we had tea with his Mum and I have no idea how she managed it but there was at least a 1/4 of tomato sauce all over her. In the evening we watched a film, and I fell asleep at about 9, Dan woke me up at 11, and then I went upstairs and went to bed at 11:30. Dan's used to me bailing out on him with films and TV series we watch, sometimes I manage to stay awake but it was just not possible. On Friday we had a nice chilled, relaxing day and I went to Hannah's in the evening with Mia and Paige for Pizza and board games. I cheated in nearly every game in cluedo and we stole answers from Mia in which she will only just find out by reading this, so sorry babe, it was kind of obvious though, we laughed for ages and couldn't stop but you still managed to not find out. Bless ya. I've had such a fabulous week and for once I've sort of managed to get through it. All though now I want to hibernate because of it and all the stress I'm under. 

On the upside it's my 16th birthday in 11 days, and i'm so excited, as well as for my birthday party too. They can't come quick enough. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm so excited.

Erika X