Catheter update and a few crafty want to do’s for this year!!

OK so I know the title probably isn’t the biggest draw, and it’s rather long!!  As you know,  from my new years posts, I don’t make resolutions or set goals so that couldn’t be the  title!! I thought however that as I’ve got a number of crafts I’d like to either master, try or continue with I thought that you might be interested to see what I’m hoping to get done with it this year.

I haven’t really done anything since Christmas.  This week, because everyone has gone back to work and school, has been designated by me as a rest week.  I suck at pacing, but I know when I’m exhausted both mentally and physically and need a break and Christmas has pushed me into that space.  What with sensory overloads, family around every day (which I have loved, it’s just tiring) and not being able to put my feet up most of the day I’ve started to really struggle.  Therefore I haven’t got anything planned this week, I need to go into town as I’ve not been in all over Christmas but apart from that I’m going to rest and try and feel a bit more human before my next round of hospital appointments and any new treatments start.  That however means that blogging wise I haven’t got much to say.  So I decided that as I’m 2 weeks into my second catheter and 4 weeks overall I would fill you in on that too.   I have had a rather down couple of weeks blog wise, my posts haven’t been getting very many views at all and I found out that a number of friends haven’t even been reading them.  This has left me rather upset, I know people are busy and I know they have their own lives etc but I hoped that out of everyone my friends would be reading.  I know that it shouldn’t but it had me questioning, again, whether to continue.  However I have had some really positive comments from other people, some who I know well and some who I only know through social media but it’s these comments that have kept me going.  I hope you continue to enjoy my posts, and I hope that the friends who do read it will continue to read too.

Anyway enough moping, I’ll start with my catheter. 4 weeks in total into this and I’m finding that overall it’s so much better for me.  I went out all day to my friends last week, no emergency kit and I didn’t even need her help to empty my bag.  It’s great as at here house she has a stairlift which I can use and find it so much better for me.  I have found that when I’m out it’s far easier for me to get a bottle of water to drink, then when it’s empty I sit on the loo and empty my catheter bag into that and then pour that away.  This is better for me for a number of reasons, but not least because it’s easy and cleaner and I can do it discretely and without the risk of falling over etc!!   Can you imagine the alternative, me standing on one leg with my other leg on the toilet??  I can……..it involves me on the floor after falling over with urine all over me and the room etc, not nice in any way for me or anyone having to rescue me!!  Normally mum helps me to empty my bag when it needs doing, this is for a number of reasons too but it’s easier with my wonky hands and bending being so painful and near impossible for me to now do.  Now I won’t pretend that it’s been all easy and plain sailing, as you know over Christmas my catheter needed changing because it slipped and it took two nurses over two days, I can’t even remember how many catheters to do and wasn’t fun.  It’s not nice having it, where it is an annoyance in itself, it catches on clothes and I haven’t been able to get off the leg bags yet and onto just a flip-flo valve.  I have built up but I have found that some of the IBS symptoms that I’ve been having haven’t actually been all that, instead a number of them have been bladder spasms.  That has made it hard as I’ve got up to the 2 to 2 1/2 hour shut offs, but then get really bad pain and have to switch it back on.  I then have to empty the bag usually within 10 minutes!!  I have to say that the company managing my prescriptions have been great, but the nurses (being already so overworked and understaffed) haven’t really been there for me for advice and guidance.  I had the first two visits, then nothing apart from when my catheter slipped when they were good and came out to me the same day.  But I’m working it all out as I go along.  I am definitely going to ask for the supra-pubic one, long term it will be far better for me, I’m even hoping to get them to move it all forward as I don’t want to have to wait from March to have it done (March is when I go back to have the discussion in how I’ve got on with this one and say if I still want the supra-pubic).  So I think that as far as catheter’s go there isn’t much else to say!!  If you have any questions or want to know more, please leave me a comment and I will do my best to answer you.

Onto a nicer subject, my crafts!!  I have a number of things I would like to do this year (or in the future if I can’t manage them this year), some are new crafts and some are perfecting or doing things with crafts I already do.  So these are what I want to do………..

1. I want to start donating some of the little toys I knit (usually from kits from magazines) to charities, I haven’t decided how to do this yet but I want to do it somehow.  I will either take them to one or more of my hospitals when I’m in for one of my many appointments and give to them to either sell or give to children when they aren’t feeling well etc, or I will take them to a children’s home or something.  But I know that most of them my niece is too old for now (she will still get some if she wants them) and my friends children like them occasionally but they too get overloaded with all of them.
2. I want to start sewing more again, both embroidery and also sewing with my machine or hand sewing clothes for dollies and maybe get more confident.  Sewing is difficult for me, I can’t feel the needle in my hands and so have to do it on sight because of my carpel tunnel and tendinitis.  Both of which also make it painful to do. But as long as I only do a bit at a time and rest for ages between I really want to start doing it again.  At the end I’ll show you a small embroidery I’ve been doing that I got in a magazine, it’s still early days but I am enjoying at least being able to do a bit of it (my hands can’t say the same though, but they never do).
3. I want to learn more and perfect wire weaving.  I have tried some basics but I really want to get to the stage where, if I can afford it, I can start using sterling silver wire and make myself some things with it.  I have some books and DVD’s on it and a good few spools of wire too.  This will be good for me because I can use it in a number of different ways, it’s also not too fiddly and fine (or doesn’t have to be) so should be OK for my crappy hands to manage.  I can adapt how I do it, just like I’ve had to with everything else I do.
4. I want to get more confident with my knitting, I want to get better at sewing up my pieces and also I want to teach myself to knit off pattern (if that makes sense).  I am a confident knitter, with a pattern.  I have taught people to knit and to read patterns and have adapted patterns too.  But I want to be able to knit small pieces, especially for my nieces dolls, that I don’t need a pattern for. I might then be able to do the same for adult clothes, but I thought I’d start smaller.
5. I would like to perfect and do much much more needle felting, I loved the bits I’ve done but would like to do some 3d ones.  This one mum and I taught ourselves a few years ago.  We loved it, but haven’t had the time or skill to do more.
6. I want to get much better at my metal stamping.  This is a hard one as I’m sure that I won’t be able to achieve much of this.  I love doing it but it is really hard.  I can only do a couple of pieces at a time and only on really good days.  I want to extend this and cut my own pieces out of metal.  However I usually start this and then POTS or pain or everything start getting worse to a point that I have to stop.  So we will see if this will be able to carry on or if I will have to do the unthinkable (for me) and sell all my bits on 😦
7. Then, when and if I have time, I would like to learn some totally new crafts.  I would like to learn, tatting, pyrography, traditional lace making, wet felting, darning, some new jewellery making techniques like beading (properly) and chain maille, setting into resin, origami and 3d origami, 3d pen printing and I will probably come up with loads more I’m sure before the year is out.  That’s what usually happens anyway!!!

So let’s see how many I achieve. As I said I’ve started a small embroidery, what do you think??  I’ll post a finished one when I’ve done too!!

This is what it should look like 

So far…..

So have you any crafts, or any goals that you want to achieve (as I say mine aren’t goals, I don’t mind how many I achieve or don’t and I don’t mind adding to or taking ones off)?? Have you got any other things you want to achieve this year?
Let me know.

Hopefully I’ll post lots more crafty things this year!!