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Could you superglue the velcro to the coat Marian? That way it shouldn't pull off the fabric when you pull it apart. Griff is it you who has several different mobility scooters? I test drove one yesterday which I liked but am umming and ahhing over which one to get and whether or not getting one is a good idea. I do not want to get lazy and dependant on a scooter, what I want is to be able to get out more than I have been doing but use the scooter to access places where I can then get off it and do some walking, what I'm finding is even with a blue badge there are still some places where car parking is a fair walk to and from the place where I want to walk which means I end up either not bothering or having to cut short the fun/nice part of the walk because I need to be aware of my limitations for the walk back to the car. I haven't been shopping to Cardiff in almost a year now because I simply cannot deal with all the walking and standing in the huge shopping malls - I spend more time sitting on the benches waiting for other people to go in the shops than I do shopping or browsing myself.

No no paint Suzeanna but its down to the metal and now they are again burning rubbish in the garden ffs its gale force winds and drizzle here smoke billowing everyfeckingwhere and it stinks!

Suzeanna I feel your pain Owen included some extra "gifts" for me so to add to my other "pressie" I now also have a snotty sinusy cold to go with it ah well just hoping that it will have started to feck orf by next week when I have my scan. Sodding builders nextdoor have scratched the side of my car - though we can't prove it was them but its the side next to their skip and a line of vertical scratches down the passenger door & side of the car that were not there the day before and my car has not moved off the drive in over a week.

My Xmas morning started with Sal attacking Baddie again thankfully no damage done to either dog but thats it now never again will I let her in the same room with Baddie unmuzzled. Peace restored again with them split up.

Peace reigns here this evening, after almost 2 years we have Baddie and Sal in the same room at the same time, off lead and unmuzzled we still have the babygate up and we will split them up when theres food around but at least we can have them in the same room at the same time now

Well I've had an early "pressie" and possibly an explanation for why I've been in so much pain the past week .... *sigh* oh well I've also got some superydoopery pills that allegedly make it feck right off if needed ... flipping heck I'm going to rattle with all these ruddy pills lol hopefully the pain might decide to feck orf for a bit as well *fingers crossed* Turkey is all cooked, ham is roasting in the oven, mil & Sal due to arrive imminently.

Happy Christmas Marion x I am struggling at the moment - whatever the cause of my pelvic & back pain its getting worse and I am barely managing to get any sleep I cannot find a comfortable position at all. Much as I really really don't want to take the codine I've had enough so tonight I'm going to take one and head off to bed as soon as I feel it start to work in the hopes that I can fall asleep before whateverthefeckitis realises I'm laying down. Day to day I am having to do stuff in bits and bobs as soon as I feel a twinge I need to stop whatever I'm doing and sit down for 5 - 10 mins how the feck I'm going to manage the Xmas shop tonight and then cooking the Turkey & Ham tomorrow and Xmas dinner the day after I do not know. I've made it as simple as possible this year as much as I didn't want to I've bought prepeeled and chopped veg including ready peeled potatoes & frozen roasties, and much to Nicks disappointment for the first time in 35 years I will NOT be making my Xmas gravy I'll still use the veg water and will add some of the turkey juices etc. but it won't be the same The visitors are going to have to understand that I WILL probably end up staying up VERY late with a light on and/or end up getting up in the middle of the night and putting a light on if I cannot sleep, just hope me moving about won't set off the dogs which in turn will wake up Owen.... *sigh* Thankfully my scan has come through superfast and I'll be having that on the 7th Jan so should have some ruddy answers as to wtf is going on and wtf can be done about it. I've been doing loads and loads of reading up on fibroids and apparently they can get worse with perimenopause which might explain things since until the past 8 weeks or so I've never had anything like this before or it could be they have just been silently growing happily but have now reached a size where they are displacing organs or pressing on nerves either way once I know then I can start to consider options.... though it seems a hysterectomy may now be unavoidable if it is fibroids

I will go back if it gets any worse promise lol but shes already made the referral and I don't really want to hasten it this close to Xmas especially now that I've finished work until the New Year so will be staying close to home and can take things easy. Apparently fibroids come in all kinds of different types and locations, I've got stuff to take to control flooding which could even stop the period so I'm not too worried about that anymore (provided it works lol) and the pain killers I have are definitely working and I have codine to top it up if needed but I'm only using them after the pain starts and then they take a little time to kick in and what I can't seem to do is predict what the heck might "anger" whatever it is thats causing the pain. I suspect that I've probably had them a long time and never known but they have reached a point now where they are pressing on various nerves.

Suzeanna you can buy Vegetable Glycerin at Boots and use that for sore throats and coughs either dilute with a little water and drink plain or add some honey & lemon its about £1.30 for a large bottle. Its my office xmas lunch today and my last day in "work" until the new year. Last night I'd organised an event for our clients which was part work and part party which went down really well, as we have a very diverse membership I'd arranged for a completely vegetarian halal buffet from the best Indian cafe in Cardiff and my line manager had asked her friend to come and teach us some Bollywood dancing which was great fun although it turned out the instructor was actually a Bollywood aerobics instructor so it was rather a strenuous work out - even I joined in a bit albeit mainly sitting down as I'd had to take several different types of pain killers just to be able to attend. Once Xmas is over I'm going to head back to the Dr there is virtually nothing I can do including just sitting on my bum doing feck all that isn't in some way triggering acute pain which then takes ages to subside & I don't understand why if it is fibroids or cysts that I'm not getting some respite mid cycle at least I now have pain killers that do help even if I am rather worried about getting dependent on them.

Delighted to report I am still medication and pain free slept most of the night through as well. I am still feeling very tired but I suspect that probably is a touch of anemia combined with the poor sleep etc over the past week or so, fingers crossed a couple of naps and some decent sleep and I'll be all back to normal. If this does flare up again in a couple of weeks I will give serious thought to going private though.

Thanks everyone - *fingers crossed* I have yet to take any pain killers at all today I last took naprosyn and another dose of codine at midnight so they should all have been out of my system for a while now. I didn't sleep too bad though I could only lay flat on my back and I woke twice in the night however unlike the past few nights when I did wake I needed a wee (I know tmi lol) and I went straight back to sleep I am keeping my fingers tightly crossed that perhaps it WAS a kidney stone after all - GP thinks fibroids or cysts but outside chance of a kidney stone - only time will tell.

Joining you in the rough club Griff - my apologies for being very quiet at the moment but its been an awful 10 days or so and not getting any flipping better have managed to avoid a&e which Robs been threatening me with more than once and instead took myself off to the GP Friday after the pain became unbearable and nothing I took or did made any difference to it. Have had an emergency gyne referral but that can still take several months to come through apparently and had a load of blood tests for anemia and kidney function etc. plus came home with 5 different boxes of pain killers (thank goodness for free prescriptions in Wales). Had hoped that if this was a gyne issue as she suspects then it would have gone away for a couple of weeks before starting again however the pain has not only not gone away or subsided but instead has gotten even worse, have given in and taken a muscle relaxant, the naprosyn and then the codine and finally the pain has subsided to bearable (but still there). Luckily I'm not in work until Wednesday because I couldn't even think about working at the moment and the codine has made me very muzzy headed and sleepy plus I do NOT want to be taking it every day, so if this continues I'm going to have to go back to the GP and try and figure out just what on earth is going on.

Best of luck today Marion ((hugs)) Hope that your Dr will listen to you and sort you out before Xmas Griff ((hugs)) The PCO in my left eye seems to be getting worse every day and is starting to really annoy me the optician said the hospital waiting list is even longer now than they were last year particularly for surgery. She said it was starting in the right eye too - if that deteriorates at the same rate I'm going to be a bit buggered.

We were woken this morning by the phone ringing at 7:45 - Rob was up but dozing on the sofa I was still in bed in deep sleep needless to say I came awake in panic thinking something must be wrong with either Nick or the MIL - it was a sodding marketing call from Tesco advertising their Xmas delivery slots!!! I've just voiced my displeasure on their facebook page along with loads of others some of whom were called at 7:30 a.m. It wasn't even a call to say book now they are going fast - it was a "reminder" the slots will be available on the 26th! Marion I got shouted at like that in Chicago after I kept setting the metal detector off - they actually made me take my bra off in full view of everyone in the queue as thats what was causing it, then they just flung it back at me when I went through without it all clear - I was livid! No idea why it set it off either it wasn't underwired and didn't set the alarms off at any of the other airports just that one. The worst experience I had was on our honeymoon we were flying back from Ostend and the security woman singled me out - she was really really aggressive, she gave me a full pat down in front of everyone, her hands went absolutely everywhere groping and pinching I felt at the time she was touching me highly inappropriately but was too intimidated to argue about it, once she'd finished that she screamed at me to empty my handbag - which I did again in full view of everyone else - she then proceeded to open packs of sanitary towels and tampons and hold them up asking what they were etc. she only gave up on me when another of the security people intervened because the queue wasn't moving. It was a dreadful experience which left me quite shaken up.

testing ... c*** cockcock ....

I've actually been on leave this week but having the bartholins, all the trouble with the builders nextdoor and environmental health etc. so far I'd been more stressed and wound up than if I'd been working, so I was rather looking forward to quiet day today - the only 1 I was likely to have...... instead I get a frantic phone call from my best mate who was with her fella in hospital (he's very very poorly) to say her 93yr old mum with dementia had rung her to say he boiler was leaking and her house was totally flooded and she was very distressed. So I rushed over there couldn't find a stop c*** anywhere, so emptied the over flowing buckets, mopped up the flood and waited for Rob to get back from Cardiff so he could come over and play hunt the stop c*** with me lol Eventually Rob arrived along with my mates brother and between them they got the water turned off. Bloody good thing really as I'd got down on the floor to look under the sink and had struggled to actually get back up again at one point I thought they'd have to rescue me as well lol

Ten thousand percent improved thanks Griff - AB's did the trick- a whole lot faster than I was expecting too thankfully, the relief was incredible just rang the Dr's and cancelled this mornings appointment

Back from Dr's got a double dose of AB's and an appointment with her 9am tomorrow - if the damn thing hasn't started to reduce or drain I'll be sent straight in to hospital for surgery *sigh* tbh thank goodness she didnt send me today they have just declared a major incident at the hospital due to a serious explosion in a Cardiff Steelworks!

You know forums and sharing things can be soooo handy, I'm in agony again with another Bartholins - off to Dr's at 11am couldn't remember the last time it flared up that resulted in a Dr's appointment but knew I'd posted about it ... a couple of clicks later and I know for a fact it was 1st April 2011. Hoping like hell this Dr will just do the same as my previous Dr and trust me I just want AB's - she can try and drain it if she wants, I'll even go to the minor injuries unit if they can do it but I am NOT going into Hosp or A&E.

Hmmm might be a temporary thing *fingers crossed*

Morning I had my hooves shod on Monday (what Rob calls going to the chiropodist) at the ladies foot party I go to every 6 weeks - I'm the youngest apart from the chiropodist the rest are all over 70 and we were talking about social media and online friendships (made a change from the usual sex and smut ) and I was asked whether I considered my online friends to be "real friends" so of course I said yes I did and I was asked how that could be possible with people I had never met, so of course I explained that I had in fact met rather a lot of my "online" friends over the years and that some of my internet friendships had now lasted close on 20 years! There was one lady who was quite dismissive that you could be friends with people you'd never met or spoken to in person so I asked her if she'd ever had penpals? Its was then the penny dropped for her, she had had a penpal since the war, they didn't meet up in person until they'd been writing to each other for about 30 years, since they were children, she considered her to be one of her closest friends - so I explained the internet is just the modern equivalent she'd never even thought about it like that before. After 10 years of The Refuge I am really grateful for all the very real friendships I have made with you all - heres to another 10 years!

Phebe (Owl) has asked me to let you know shes Ok but having trouble getting onto the refuge from her tablet - I'm trying to find a fix for her so hopefully she'll be back soon.

Bloody hell Sam what a shock that must have been - hope you aren't in too much pain ((hugs)) Suzeanna 2 weeks after we adopted Nog my father took a turn for the worse and died and Nog ended up back in kennels for a few days after barely 3 weeks with us, it wasn't ideal but he was fine and just delighted to be back home with us afterwards. To be honest if you are going to be home over Christmas to help a new dog settle in then the cruise in May shouldn't be an issue if he/she needs to go to kennels for a couple of weeks.

Soooo relieved for you Suzeanna