A review of 2018

It's definitely been a year of ups and downs, especially health wise.  I thought I'd look back through the blog and see what were the high (and low) bits of each month.  Thankful I kept my old blog archived, rather than just deleting it, or I'd never remember what happened when.

January - Not much happened, we did a low spend month, reduced our meat eating and stuffed more veggies in, we also got through a lot of store cupboard stuff, tins of pulses and the like.  I went for my first physio session for my Achilles Tendonitis.  

February - This was the month that husband was diagnosed with angina and heart disease, after being very unwell (chesty and very breathless) over Christmas/NY.  We started on a wartime rations-type diet to lose some weight, as husband was told by the cardiac specialist nurse that it would be best for him to lose around a stone.

March - It started snowing on 1 March, we ended up having the heaviest snowfall we'd had in years....the last heavy one being in 2010 when we moved down here.  It lasted for about 10 days, Betty (it was her first time seeing snow) loved it and spent ages playing in it.  Husband was told by the lung specialist he saw at hospital that he definitely doesn't have asthma - after being told for years by a succession of GPs that he does.

April - Husband's first stent fitting procedure was cancelled, then rearranged unexpectedly for 6 days later.  All went well, he had 2 stents fitted, but was told he needed a 3rd at a later date, with a bit more work needed to unblock the artery first before the stent was fitted.  We had loads of rain this month, it seemed like a neverending monsoon.  Towards the end of the month when it finally stopped raining, we put up a new fence in the front garden between us and the neighbours (and their noisy dogs who use their front garden as a giant toilet, making it stink in hot weather), and planted up a new cottage garden flower bed.

May - Loads of sunshine this month, some days it was really hot, too hot for me being fair skinned and prone to heat rash and burning easily.  We started going to husband's cardiac rehab exercise and information classes - he hated it to begin with but soon got into the swing of things and ended up really enjoying them.  And the talks given by the cardiac nurse were really informative and helpful.

June - Another hot month, even hotter than last month.  We went on holiday for a week in Devon - lovely holiday park, but blisteringly hot, both Betty and I suffered in the heat, far too hot for us to do anything.  My depression and anxiety resurfaced, had to give in and go to the GP for medication.

July - Husband had his 2nd stent procedure done, a more complicated one than in April, the artery was well and truly blocked so had to be drilled out first, with an actual drill bit - amazing what they can do nowadays.  He bled a lot (all over the hospital bed, he said it looked like someone had been murdered on his bed) and had chest pains following the procedure, so had to stay in on a heart monitor and lying down for a few more hours than the last time.  He was fine though.....until later on in the month when, following an echocardiogram, he was diagnosed with heart failure.  That was a big shock, although we've come to terms with it now.  And my mum collapsed on the stairs at home in the middle of the night and had to be rushed to hospital.  Turned out to be a severe kidney infection, but she's been very poorly with lots of things going on ever since.

August - Not a lot happened this month (for a change!) - no major health issues.  It was a busy month with garden produce - lots of it to gather in, process and freeze.

September - Mum's health being even more of a worry, she'd had a possible thrombosis in her leg, which was hugely swollen, and had begun projectile vomiting which is still (3 months on!) being investigated.  Saw husband's cardiologist, who said that as husband is doing so well, he doesn't need to see him routinely again, only if there's a problem.  So that's good.  However, the car broke down, costing a lot of money to repair and wiping out our savings.

October - My stress levels were through the roof, I had trouble with someone who reads my blog who was upsetting me so much that I chose to end my previous blog and try to set up a new private one for invited readers only...the technology defeated me though, but it doesn't matter.  We had another holiday in the same park we went to earlier in the year, took my sister with us.  It wasn't a total success, I couldn't relax and was very stressed all the time.

November - Had a surprise package of lovely things from blog reader Marlene of Poppy Patchwork, it cheered me up no end.  However, the car broke down again, and once again the RAC warranty people wouldn't pay out.  So well and truly brassic (for overseas readers, cockney rhyming slang term for having no money - boracic lint = skint) now.  At my annual diabetes review, I was told that my diabetes is not now being well controlled (not really a surprise to me) and have been prescribed an additional med to take.  

December - Tests showed mum doesn't have stomach cancer (one of the possible reasons for her vomiting), she does have a hiatus hernia, but the hospital thinks there is something else going on so she's having yet more tests.  She had a bad reaction to a new anti-vomiting drug she was prescribed though, another worry.  Other than that, Christmas was ok, husband is fine, my depression and anxiety are easing up now that the Winter solstice has arrived and the new year is almost here!

I'm not going to say that 2019 can't be any worse than this year, that would be tempting fate.  But I certainly hope it will be a good year, for all of us.

So wishing you all a very happy, healthy and exciting New Year xx