Sean's Birthday - The Shard, Inamo Restaurant

It was really hard to choose what to do for Sean's birthday. It was going to be difficult to do anything that would match up to the one he'd planned for me. But I did my best and got researching online. As I mentioned we LOVE food, so I started looking at weird and whacky options for places to eat. I also wanted to arrange a bit of a surprise gathering of his friends in a restaurant (turned it it couldnt be a surprise in the end but we kept the location a secret). After what seemed like a painstaking few days streaming through restaurant after restaurant I came across a Japanese place up in the city that looked pretty cool. Its called INAMO, and is an 'interactive restaurant'. You basically have a computer screen image projected onto your dinner plate and you can choose your food on there, order drinks and ring a bell for service. You can even play battleships and ring a taxi if you want. The concept was awesome but they failed to execute it really. The service was shocking (despite the bell!) and everything just seemed really slow. It was great for the novelty and I'm glad we all did it but probably would go again. Sean seemed to like it and I think his friends did too.

Sean and friends in Inamo

cocktails

Tempura vegetables - yum

Sean and I in Inamo

I also took Sean to the Shard for a tour. Its pretty spectacular views up there and we had a beautifully sunny day so that made it even better. We had a photo taken at the top which we bought to put up at home.

Panoramics from the Shard

East Surrey Admission, Scones, and Pseudomonas

East Surrey Admissions

My admission to East Surrey came as a bit of a blow. I'd been really well for a few months and it came out of the blue. I hadn't had a cold or chest infection.. so I wasn't really sure what was going on. Our visit to A&E was much more sedate thankfully. With a bit of encouragement from Sean I went before it got too bad (I always put it off in the vein hope I'll miraculously recover), and am glad to say that it was a sensible thing to do. It meant I turned up conscious anyway ha ha. Believe it or not that's not always the case. I avoided having a piece of metal drilled into my shin this time - which is always a bit of a Brucey bonus. Thankfully they did the logical thing and whacked a central line in (not before butchering my arms with a dozen or so needles). Which I have to say was a godsend. I spent a few days on a clinical decision ward, where I seemingly was completely forgotten about. And it wasn't until Sean nagged them relentlessly that they actually realized and saw that I'd slipped through the net. That same afternoon I was moved to the chest ward - funny that!
I was there for a good few days, nothing had really changed, I was no worse but no better. But not being able to even get to the bathroom on your own for lack of the ability to breathe does become somewhat of a pain in the A after a while. Anywho it all came to a head in an almighty crash I had. They took their sweet time to get a doctor to me when I was telling them, so the inevitable happened and it became a drama when they couldn't get my breathing under control. Unfortunately this happened in the small hours of the morning. They called my parents and Sean to brief them on the situation - at which point I was blissfully unconscious and in respiratory arrest. Sean was told to come as soon as possible as I was basically half dead. Bless him when he arrived he just saw a load of nurses and doctors stood by the desk with their heads down looking very solemn, he said his heart literally sank and he thought he hadn't made it in time. I'm glad to say and as you can see - I did survive, its just they had had to intervene with intensive care doctors and ventilation. As always I'm very glad not to have remembered the event itself and am just relieved that this is becoming a less common occurrence for me. Though (without being morbid) I cant help wondering just how many more of these respiratory events and interventions my body can take? I think I've more than tripled the standard 9 lives of a cat already. It turned out I was growing pseudomonas, which hadn't been detected and so I wasn't on the necessary treatments for it. Anyway, after another week or so I managed to talk my way to getting a discharge home... and now it all seems but a distant memory :)  

I got kinda down during that admission. Sean and my parents were a massive support. But I felt kind of abandoned by everyone else. My friend Emma worked all day, then drove a goof 60 miles in the evening to see me. That really perked me up. She's always a star, and she brought scones and clotted cream - winning!! 

ouch!

Emma and Scones

My 28th Birthday and a list

This is my first blog of 2013, I can't believe its almost 7 months since I last posted!! So much to tell. Not sure I'll fit it into one blog though, that might become a bit of a laborious read.. I wouldn't be cruel enough to do that, not today anyway :)
So first things first.... erm... I should probably put a 'little' list of things I should have blogged about but haven't had the time to .. in small bite size chunks, just to keep you in the loop .. (bare with me, I'm working through my diary to jog my memory)

• Acupuncture : My  pain consultant offered me acupuncture as a form of pain relief, once a week. I've been having sessions now for about 6 months. It's been great, made a massive difference to me and has really helped me sleep. Effects arent as long lasting as hoped though. Back to the drawing board.
• Ralph's 6th Birthday - my boy is middle aged!
• Korean Restaurant - Went out with a bunch of friends to a Korean restaurant in New Malden. Was certainly an experience. Was awesome seeing the food being cooked at your table. I had my first taste of Kimchi, not sure I'll be eating it again - Though the fried egg in the middle was nice 
• My 28th Birthday - will actually write something properly on this because it was pretty cool.. keep reading and I'll update in a bit.
• East Surrey Admission - A two weeker, including a stay in ITU - nothing out of the ordinary for me but pretty unpleasant as you'd expect. 
• Barcelona Hen Weekend
• Sean's 28th Birthday 
• Endoscopy - definitely need to expand on what happened with that!!
• Ralph at the vets - wow - that got expensive!
• Great Aunts 90th birthday bash - Liverpool
• Croatia holidays
• Afternoon Tea in London with Tor
• Quilting lessons
• Hearing Tests

So I'll start with ...

My 28th Birthday..

It was my first birthday spent with Sean, and he spoilt me rotten. I was woken up by being covered in birthday balloons and to the sound of birthday banners being hung. I didn't feel  melancholic about this years birthday. I think I previously mentioned in a blog that on my 27th I suddenly had this realization that I was the wrong end of 20 and felt like I hadn't really achieved a lot. But this birthday wasn't really like that, I felt old for sure but felt a lot more positive about things. And having Sean there made things even better. He bought me a really beautiful necklace with matching earrings - I don't think I've taken it off since.We also went to Jamie Oliver's restaurant 'Fifteen' (you may remember it from when he did his first show with all the disadvantaged adolescents he took on to given them a skill). Well he's still doing the project even though we don't hear much about it these days. Food was pretty awesome. 

Then a couple of days later we went to a cooking lesson in the Jamie Oliver cookery school (Are you noticing a trend here). Sean and I are massive foodies - you may have noticed from our ever expanding waistlines. We learnt how to do some vegetarian curries and special Indian breads. It was yummy, but when the tutor tells you not to add too much chilli, she says it for a reason! - remember that. I thought my head was going to explode. 

At Jamie's Cooking class

We did it!