When shall we three meet again? The not quite NT, not quite weightloss thread ......

[moosemama]

We were full up ladies, so we finally have our very own weightloss-ish thread!

I know. I did point out to ds that he was being conned. I am livid about it though. And of course he will get home having eaten nothing but sugar today and be uncontrollable.

I recommend staying in bed for the next fortnight. Write to school and pretend you have gone to Timbuktu for a family wedding. Get dh to fill the freezer before Monday. Close the curtains. Tell the children you are camping at home.
And top up on cocodamol.

Seriously though, do you not feel like climbing onto the roof and screaming 'give me a break!!'?

In other news, one of my new guiders (one meeting down) is moving into the city with a new job and not coming back. And there seems to be a cookie war brewing over selling rights in town. And I still haven't got a job. And my muscles are starting to really hurt after yesterday.

I feel like screaming something alright!

Actually I have been a bit pathetic today. Sobbed all over my mum after trying so hard to keep up the 'it's all fine and I can manage on my own' front. I am so cross with myself, because at the end of the day I just have to get on with it, no other options available. Poor old mum then went home, only to be sobbed on all over again by my little sister (who is still here after catching the vile virus, she was only coming for a couple of days - bet she wishes she hadn't bothered now).

Blimey, I had no idea the guides were so territorial, sounds like some sort of mafia cookie turf war!

The right job will turn up - it did for dh, it just took a while.

He's just arrived home after his last day at his old job. He did pop to the pub for a quick drink on the way home and is in good spirits after speaking to his new boss and finding out that they've listened to his advice so well that they've been knocking walls down today to better accommodate the team for when he starts next week! Brand new, eco-building that they've just moved into and dh has them restructuring - literally - before he's even started. It's given him a big mood lift, because he is so nervous about starting next week. He's so bloody good at his job, but doesn't truly believe it himself, even though he's been told over and over by people who are in the know.

Xrays a waste of time, as expected. They just repeated two of the three angles they did last time, which obviously wasn't going to show anything, because if there'd been an obvious fracture on any of them it would have shown on the two-week fractures as well.

The radiologist was lovely though, said it looks odd and obviously swollen and obviously isn't right, spent ages poring over the xrays but couldn't see anything at all, not even where the lump is. She said I need a referral to a specialist orthopod and that that's what the GP should have done in the first place. She did say that some sprains do just take a long time to heal, but that by 7/8 weeks it should be considerably better and improving daily. She's put on the forms to the GP 'further orthopedic investigation required'.

Dh and I asked what she thought it might be and if no fracture, does that mean it's soft tissue/ligament/tendon and she said it could still be something 'bony' but nothing obvious, so would need a specialist assessment. I mentioned my mum's orthopedic consultant, who does both private stuff (which is how mum has seen him, as he's replaced her hip and knee and done two ops on her hammer toe) and also works for that hospital and she said we absolutely should go and see him, as he is lovely and she couldn't recommend anyone more highly. Apparently, he cares so much about his patients that he often gives up his own time to come in at the weekend and supervise people's xrays.

So, Mum's booked me a private appointment to see him. It's £150 for an initial assessment and we can't afford to pay privately for any xrays or treatment, so we're going to see what he thinks and then take his advice back to the GP and ask to be referred directly to him on the NHS at the local hospital. Unfortunately, he's on holiday this week, so it's not until Monday 9th October and my Mum is then on holiday for 10 days after that.

No quick solution though, which is what I expected, but still disappointing and frustrating.

Foot looked normal-ish, if still swollen and slightly purple at xray appointment. No sooner did we get back t mum's then it decided to swell up and go dark purple with black toes again. Also have some interesting crops of purpura type spotty bruising appearing all over the place on the top of my foot. Have no clue what that means, best guess would be that something is causing it to bleed intermittently?

Get thee back to a&e, moose, if it's still swollen. Just cry all over them. You can't wait another week, however good he is. Wait until it's good and swollen and then turn up and say you are worried that you have internal bleeding and the swelling is cutting your circulation off.

Honestly.

Do it now whilst dh is there - don't wait until next week when you are on your own.

At least the radiographer was sensible, if no actual help on the x ray front...

Radiologist said if I went to A&E they would give me a rollocking for still using crutches this long after the initial injury. I already know how useless they are and what's going on with my foot is so odd, it really does need to be seen by a specialist now.

I am not waiting for a GP referral though. The xray report won't even be back at my GPs for a week. I have to ring up on Monday and ask for a GP letter to take with me to the private orthopod appointment, not sure if they'll insist on seeing me for that though and wouldn't surprise me at all if they charge for the letter.

It's so annoying that he's on holiday next week, as you can usually book an appointment within 24 hours. If I hadn't waited for the useless second lot of xrays I could have seen him by now.

Oh bless you. Is there no one else in the same department that you could see this week? And then transfer care to him when he's back?

Would the rollocking be worth it to get someone to look at it properly?

I don't think they'd take me seriously enough to take a proper look at it though. I just keep getting the 'some sprains take a long time to heal' line, even though this pain is nothing to do with the sprain, is in a different location and has got worse and worse since I started trying to weightbear the week before last.

I don't trust anyone else to look at it. Everyone recommends this particular orthopod, no-one has a bad word to say about him.

I have just been reading about RSD/CRPS Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, which are one and the same thing and seem to fit my weird symptoms. Basically it's an over-reaction of the sympathetic nervous system (the bit that panics and sends blood and pain signals when you have an acute injury). It's supposed to switch itself off within hours of an injury but in some cases fails to do so and gives all the weird symptoms I've been having, such as sudden colour and heat changes, permanent pain, swelling, rashes etc. The first line treatment is physical therapy and trying to return to normal movement/function despite the pain. Which got me thinking maybe I should just try to walk through the pain, but as dh says, what if there is some damage in there that's not visible on xray and I make it worse? If the ortho guy doesn't come up with any other suggestions/answers though I will ask him about it.

Dd has the vomiting virus. She threw up at the dinner table last night, necessitating an evacuation of the kitchen and everyone's dinner getting put in the bin. She was then sick in the night and again this morning.

Ds2 is refusing to eat, as he says he feels too sick, as well.

I got up for the toilet in the night (have the period from hell, as predicted following my pg scare) couldn't touch the floor with my foot it was so painful, so used both crutches, managed to get up and downstairs to the bathroom, but got back into the bedroom and fell over dh's slippers, banging my bad foot in the process. Spent the rest of the night awake and in lots of pain.

So, all in all not a good weekend.

Dh is about to abandon me and the kids as well to go shopping for a new suit and shirts and new stationery for his new job start tomorrow.

I'm feeling ridiculously sorry for myself today.

Pm me your address, lovely. Let me send you a card. As long as you can promise to collect the post without concussion...

You have had one pisser of a month. One absolute pisser.

When is half term? I bet it's a month away.

can you keep them all home tomorrow and watch tv?

Aw that's a kind thought madwoman, thank you, but you don't need to, the thought is enough.

Ds1 reckons he's well enough to go back to school tomorrow - he's managed scrambled eggs on toast today and no more vomit since Thursday evening. Ds2 hasn't been sick, but is white as a sheet with big black rings under his eyes, a banging headache and has only eaten a piece of dry toast all day. Dd is proper poorly, bless her. She drinks sips of water, then brings back foam a couple of minutes later. She had a good long sleep this afternoon though, then lay on me for a couple of hours, before taking up residence in the rocking chair with the back lowered and her favourite pillow, blanket and bunny for company.

Dh had a text from his new boss telling him not to bother going in until 10 tomorrow, so he can take ds1 to school and Mum has offered to collect him. Am planning to choose a film for the other two to watch and then to put all three of us down for a long nap in the afternoon.

It's my own fault my foot's worse. I started to doubt myself and hobbled about without crutches trying to bear more and more weight yesterday. I'm an idiot, because I do know that it was after going down to one crutch and starting to weight bear that the pain and swelling increased. I have been much more careful today, lying on the sofa with it raised and using both crutches - not that I had much choice really.

Feeling a bit nervous that I am the only one who seems to have escaped the bug. Furiously hand washing at every opportunity at the moment!

Dare I ask how many are at home today?! Hope dh is enjoying his first day!

My friend started her job in the city today as well - her 13yo called me at 7.30 to ask how to turn off a smoke alarm. it's been a busy morning...

7.30 am, obv... All I could hear was the smoke alarm and poor kid saying 'can I ask you a question?' First morning she's been on her own - normally her mum brings her breakfast in bed. steep learning curve!

Ds2 and dd home today. Ds2 is not too bad, having restricted his eating habits before actually being sick. He's just a bit pale and tired with a headache.

Dd hasn't been sick since yesterday, but refuses to eat anything but dry toast (even turned her nose up at a digestive biscuit) and is really not right. She keeps getting a temp and going all floppy and also has an intermittently streaming nose. Noone else has been snotty or had a temp really, so she may well be fighting two bugs at once. She slept lying on me for two hours this afternoon.

Dh's morning wasn't great. He was set up by another manager to walk into a meeting room containing the CEO and much of the board. Fortunately, the other manager got a rollocking and came to apologise. The afternoon was much better, his first training session with his new team was well received and he's a happy bunny this evening.

I have decided not to go for the private appointment. Have thought about it a lot and arrived at the conclusion that it won't help in terms of getting any real help quicker. He is away this week and after I see him I would have to wait for his letter to go to my GP. In all likelihood he would recommend I be referred to him on the NHS for further tests and then I'd be back into NHS waiting lists but a week later than necessary. I am going to book another GP appointment with a different and more senior GP this week. Results won't be in from radiology, but I am going to be pushy and cry if necessary to get them to do something.

When I got up this morning I had had more of the odd purpura type spotty bruising appear on various bits of my foot for no apparent reason. Can't find anything on Google about that - very odd.

I feel for your friends dd - steep learning curve indeed. It must be a total shock to the system at the age of 13 if she's always been really looked after up to this point.

Hope your day continues better than it started.

Ha, it didn't. I had a cookie turf meeting but the school rang half way through to ask if I could come and get dd2 who had fallen over and hurt her wrist. she normally doesn't feel pain, really, so school were saying 'if she says it really hurts, it really hurts'. Fair enough. It just looked a bit bruised, no swelling, and she was moving it fine, so we just iced it, and she watched tv, but kept moaning, so dh took her to the emergency room for an x ray last night. They don't know either - she might have chipped a bit of bone of somewhere, but they need today's radiography team to review... So I currently have two children in plaster just in case. Same wrist. do I get anything for a matched pair?

How's dd today? Hopefully she's got to the pale and wan but not actively sick stage (and hope the nose was a weird side effect, rather than the next bug to stay at case moose)

Dd2 didn't get to bed until 11 after the hospital (we had to wait for her cast to dry and whatnot) so I've left her in bed this morning. She can make a grand entrance to school later. It means no boot camp, but dh is away tonight, and overtired dd2 is never much fun.

Did you make your second opinion appointment?

How weird about dh's new job. Who does stuff like that?!

Oh no, poor dd2! I can't believe you have two of them in plaster, let alone the same arm! Are they going to call you when they've reviewed the xrays.

Dd is a bit brighter today, still very snotty and going all floppy and pathetic every now and again, but at least she's stopped being sick.

Kept ds2 off again today and fed him normal food and he's been fine, so he's going back tomorrow.

Haven't booked my GP appointment yet, mainly because I can't get there. Mum said she was free for the the rest of the week, but every time I suggest a time, she has something in her diary and dh can't take me now he's started at the new place.

Dh called at lunchtime and has had a much better day today, so at least something's going right.

Seems really odd not seeing him from 7.30 am. He's been leaving at 9.00 am and coming home for lunch every day, plus being able to pop out for meetings and medical appointments etc as and when needed since ds2 was a baby. Before that he had his own business and worked from home, his previous job was really flexible and before that we worked together in the same office, so this is a bit of a culture shock for me.

I have news about my foot.

Just before bed last night I was doing the standard sprain-type foot/ankle exercises that they give you on a card at the hospital (toes up and down, left and right and figure of eight etc) and something went 'twang' along the outer edge of my foot/ankle, roughly where the worst pain has been. It was very rude-words-ouchy and did the whole swelling up and going red and hot thing, but I went to bed and tried to ignore it.

Awful night with dd, who now has a stinking full blown cough/cold virus, BUT, when I got out of bed this morning I realised I could partially weight bear. Not completely but none of the broken glass/stabbing pain, just sort of achy muscle type soreness. Have been using two crutches hobbling up and down the living room at regular intervals this morning, gradually reducing the weight on my arms and increasing the amount I'm taking on my foot and so far so good. It's very stiff and sore, but nothing like it was.

So, fingers crossed it was just a tendon or ligament that had got itself trapped in the wrong position and all the keeping it raised and rested this week has reduced the swelling enough for it to release when I was doing the ankle exercises.

Trying not to get carried away and do too much. I want to gradually build up the amount of weight and movement, so that I don't mess it up. Mum is away from next week, so I will be back on school run duty then and I need it to be better.

How are your dds doing with their matching arms? Did you have to go back after they'd reviewed dd2's xrays?

Oo, that sounds hopeful, then! You don't think there was a partial dislocation somewhere? It was definitely muscle twangy, not bone clicky?

Hospital still haven't called. Apparently they said to dh it would either be last night or this morning... So I'm guessing whatever they are doing isn't particularly urgent - that said, they reset dd1's after a week, lol. I guess they will call today.

It snowed for about six hours yesterday. it looks wild here, and the dogs were going crazy this morning, attacking each other and bundling each other over in the snow. (On the flipping leads. I'm like 'oi, do you mind?!') dh is away as well, so I'm knackered.

Hair cut this morning, and then I have an appointment with a career counsellor at the job centre. I went in there yesterday and wailed dramatically 'how do you get a job in this here town?' And they laughed and booked me an appointment. I didn't even know they were there. Of course, Sod's law said that as soon as I got home from town, I would have two calls in quick succession offering me interviews this week. They came out of the batch of applications I sent over the weekend in a strop. Identikit jobs doing what I did ten years ago because there was nothing else available (bank teller stuff). The same job that I was offered this time last year and turned down. Karma, huh? Well, I'll see what they say. Both interviews are tomorrow (one telephone, one face to face) so I have time to ponder what the career chick says today.

Mind that foot! No shredding!

There was a click, then a twang. Felt like the outer edge of my ankle suddenly crunched and clicked into place. Odd though, I would have thought the radiologist would have spotted a dislocation, although perhaps the angle wasn't right? I did read somewhere that dislocations of the small foot bones can be very hard to spot on xray, so maybe that's why.

Hoping dd2's arm turns out not to be broken and definitely hoping they don't need to mess her about and recast it.

I have also booked myself a haircut next Wednesday - first one since March! So fed up of feeling fat, frumpy and immobilised, time to sort my backside out methinks. Don't think hormones have helped my mood on top of everything else, but feel like I'm starting to wake up now. It helps that it's lovely autumn sunshine today after days of bucketing rain - oh and that I actually escaped for an hour to hand deliver ds1's secondary application form and have a quick coffee with Mum. Getting out, even just for that hour, made me realise what a bad effect being cooped up in the house for weeks days on end has had on my mental state.

I am on a mission now to try and improve myself at least a little before our weekend away at the end of November. If I can rein in my eating habits and be strict with calories for a while, maybe, just maybe I can drop a few pounds before then?

Lol at no shredding! ... and there I was planning a couple of BFBM circuits this afternoon.

Good luck with the career counsellor and glad you have got some interviews coming through, even if they aren't exactly what you want. At least you would be out and about, earning some money and spending time with actual adults, rather than stuck at home.

It isn't broken. But they want to keep the cast on for a week and take it off on Monday. I'm guessing they are just hedging their bets as she's an unknown quantity.

Career advisor was interesting, but I think reasonably helpful. She said she might be able to utilize contacts etc if there are positions I am interested in, so that I might make it through the first sift with an atypical cv - she wants me to make a list of 5 local employers that I am interested in, and she will make some enquiries. She kept banging on about the hidden job market. It's bloody well hidden, I tell you, so if she knows where to find the damn thing, I'm all ears.

She also said she doesn't understand my cv. This is not news to me. I barely understand it. so she wants me to put actual examples of experience (as in, for example 'searched library database for customers' instead of 'research and query assistance'. that's all v well, but there is no way I can do that for every aspect of every job. It works for 'library clerk' but not 'director of operations - airport'. We also discussed the rather haphazard nature of my employment history, so she might want to try a skills based cv instead of a standard one. Dh and I have pondered that many a time, but really, however you format the damn thing, it's going to be a bit of an explosion of random information.

She also said that I should look on the bank stuff as a 'survival' job if necessary, and she can still help me look for something else in the meantime. Weird old remit, but hey ho. She seems game. (She said she was also going to include me in their case conference with the manager. Lord knows what that actually means, but she seemed to think it was a good thing.)

She also said she didn't understand what PR or Media Communications means. I have a lightbulb moment that they call it 'Marketing', end of. Ohhhhhh. I thought that was just sales stuff. Apparently not. I have to do homework and go back next week.

This common language stuff is hard work!!

I'm a big fan of getting out of the house. Hard when you can't walk though! Fingers crossed that it will start healing properly now x

Well it sounds like she might be a good contact. Hopefully her knowledge of the 'hidden job market' will pay off and you'll find the right job. It's the same over here these days, everything is sewn up between certain recruitment consultants, word of mouth and networking - you can't just apply for jobs from the paper or internet anymore, you have to know someone who knows someone, iykwim.

Glad dd's arm wasn't broken, although you know my views on how accurate A&E departments are with these things. I hope she's feeling better and it's all ok when the cast comes off.

I'm still cautiously weightbearing-ish and definitely have more movement in the ankle joint - which is lucky, because I have to go and b*llock the school again tomorrow. More crap with them not implementing statement and this time his teacher even bloody asking him if he feels he needs or wants the support! (Ironically it's the support the school/LEA forced into the statement after we'd finalised that she doesn't think he needs - organisational checklists etc.)

She's making it clear she doesn't believe his dx or that he needs any additional support - oh yes, he's excellent at organising himself, that's why he has lost endless items so far this term that weren't actually lost at all, he just couldn't find them where they should have been, iyswim and he has royally stuffed up his homework project because no-one supported him in making a note of what was expected and when. So of course it was me that had him sobbing about it this evening, not her and as long as she doesn't see it, she doesn't believe it.

Also yet another maths teacher has knocked his confidence in his abilities out of him - not bad - an all time record seeing as he's only actually done two full weeks of school so far this term. All that hard work by his lovely Y4 maths teacher to get him to believe in himself and his abilities and get the school to give him extra time etc, all down the pan because this teacher doesn't agree with it. She isn't giving him extra time for tests, then marks in red pen how many he gets wrong (including the ones he doesn't complete) on the bottom, rather than the ones he gets right, so all he sees is failure. Today he completed 16 out of 23 questions and only made one mistake, but she has marked him as 7 wrong because he didn't complete the last 6 questions. FFS! Aargh! He was sobbing and saying "I am rubbish at maths Mum" this evening and nothing I said would change his mind.

Urgh. Start of the year bumps, do you think? Or a sign of things to come?

Two interviews yesterday, one good, one not so. dd1 has her cast off (yay) but is peering at her arm in dismay, what with all the dark hair, shedding skin, and muscle wastage. dh took dd2's cast off as well. There's nowt wrong with it.

Just had a meeting re our adaptive winter programming - all going really well, and we were on tv last week after getting a woman with paraplegia up a mountain . All good pr.

Hope dh enjoyed his first week x

I've got a Jo-ob. I've got a Jo-ob. Only 20 hours a week and it's a blast from the past, but hey ho. I'm just hoping that the credit check comes back ok after our late mortgage payments. It would be über embarrassing for them to withdraw the offer now! and no evenings. And no weekends. So that will do nicely for the time being. No divorce looming!

Woo-hoo! Congratulations.

Sounds like things are on the up for you and yours this week then.

More crap from the school here, but am sick of fretting and ranting about it, so I won't bore you with the details.

Foot is knackered again. After completely non-weight bearing since I left the hospital last Saturday, then feeling like it was a bit better on Wednesday after the clicky business, I had to do the afternoon school run yesterday, on one crutch while pushing poorly dd in her pushchair. OMG it hurt like hell and then last night it did the whole massive swelling, turning red, burning and pain, plus producing a whole load more of the odd pinprick red spots in random locations. Haven't been able to put it to the floor at all again today and unfortunately had to do the school run this afternoon and dh is out tonight, so on my own for tea, bedtime etc. So, I'm back to sitting with it raised and using both crutches even in the house. It's definitely bearing weight that's the problem, every time I put full weight on it, even for a few seconds it kicks it right off again.

Tried to get a GP appointment to get moving on the ortho referral and was told they have no appointments until the week after next, when my Mum is away so I can't blooming well get to the surgery. I now have to call every morning at 8.30 am next week to try and get a cancellation slot.

Dh says if it swells again we are going straight ot A&E at the big hospital.

Dh has gone to the IT team social/meal tonight. Apparently they have one once a month. He has relaxed into his new job and is, dare I say it, enjoying going to work! His last company didn't do social stuff, mainly because they all hate each other!

Aw, and again, we like your dh. is it wrong to actually hope that it swells up again, for example, at the weekend, so that he can drive you there?
What a pita.