A great way to start the year

I feel like my year in someways is only just beginning. I seemed to have completely missed January and February going by. This is due to the fact I  have spent the first part of 2011 going through another delightful relapse, Happy new Year to me.  It started the week before Christmas with some rather odd symptoms which I am putting down to the MS but who's to know.  I say it all started a week before Christmas but in hind sight I was struggling for the best part of December with fatigue and I hadn't really recognised it. I just had no oomph and there were quite a few evenings I would sit and think, I could really do with a day off tomorrow because I just don't feel quite right.  We were pretty hectic at work so I just soldiered on as you do.  One night during the week before Christmas I had a really restless night due to a strange pain in my right arm. It was the sort of pain you can get after having an injection and my arm was really itchy. In the morning I really expected to see I had a rash on my arm, but everything looked normal, it was ever so bizarre. My arm was still a little sore but that eased by the end of the day.

T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.. well not quite, it was Christmas eve and as per normal work was manic so I can't say I noticed any problems that day and I was all excited because I love Christmas and bar working one day I had the following week off, Yippee! So I rushed home, feeling pretty good but as the evening went on my right arm really didn't feel right.  When I went to bed that night I found it uncomfortable to lie on my arm, it was really sore in odd random patches.  On Christmas morning it was much the same but to add to that I felt the stirring of pins and needles starting. As Christmas day went on the pins and needles increased.  By the Monday not only were the pins and needles in full swing but I had developed weakness in both my arms and legs. I felt like if I'd tried to run my legs would just of given way and I couldn't use my knife and fork properly or even use a pen.  I was suppose to be working the Wednesday 8 till 8 but the way I was feeling I just knew I wasn't gong to be better by then so I called my manager and explained things to her and told her I let her know how things were at the end of the week.  The end of the week came and went, my symptoms showed no signs of improving so I was signed off work for a further week.   Oh I also got the delightful thing called LHermittes (see info page) which is an electric shock or buzzing sensation which happens when you  bend your neck which is rather annoying.

To sum it all up, I was having another annoying relapse, not the way I wanted to be ending 2010 and certainly not the way I wanted to start 2011.  So all in all I was off for about seven and a half weeks. Without boring you with all the finer details to summarise, ish, during this time I've had two lots of antibiotics for a urinary tract infection (UTI) which was the possible trigger of the relapse or at the very least  added to it and had a five day course of steroids which tasted awful (see info page) and didn't appear to make any difference to the relapse.  I ran out of both my sick and annual leave and this last week that I've been off will only be statutory sick pay which is so not good as its only about 70ish pounds.  So you could say I've been a wee bit on the stressed side. It has also hit me that I may be haven't been dealing with things as well as I thought, which is something I will talk about but not today.  Having this time off sick has really knocked my confidence and I keep doubting my abilities in my job etc.  All in all I've been feeling pretty rubbish generally.

Any hoo let us move on to happier things, for nearly the last two weeks I have been feeling a lot better but before I could return to work I had to be seen by occupational health. Thankfully I got to see them yesterday.  I was soooooooooooo nervous about this as I said before I seem to have lost a lot of my confidence in relation to work stuff.  Even though I feel fit and able to get back to work I was really worried they would say I couldn't go back yet.  Needless to say I was worrying over nothing, I saw the Dr who was absolutely lovely and she deemed me fit to return to work. Thank god because we are going to struggle next month because my pay is going to be significantly less  In between all my health troubles Hubby unfortunately hasn't had much work come in, seems to be a quiet month in the driving business but what he has done is got himself a job in pest control, yeah! predominantly bed bugs, yuck!  I'm digressing a bit but he has had two jobs bug busting this week (he's only working part time as he has gone back to college three days a week) which is fantastic as the pay is significantly more money then the driving. Well the main thing is we got more money coming in and I'm feeling much better apart from some odd tingling/vibration sensations that come and go and the very annoying L'Hermittes.

So "Hi ho, hi ho it's off to work I go" well tomorrow it will be. I've been making sure I've been getting up at my normal work time this week to test myself and see how I mange but I've not found it a problem thankfully.  Well I shall be reporting how it all goes. Wish me luck.