Update and Apology

Morning everybody,

Before I start I really want to apologise for being absent for so long, I'm very disappointed in myself for not making more time for blogging but family and personal life problems have been difficult to cope with. Simon is struggling with a few things and I'm trying to support him whilst working on our relationship, dealing with the huge amount of essays and a presentation at uni, as per also trying to manage my health. So, in effect, I'm not trying to give excuses just explain why I've been gone for so long, and I'm genuinely very sorry. 

Anyway, on to the crux of the matter, I would like to give everybody an update on, well everything basically because so much has gone on since my last post! In terms of university things are going pretty good actually out of the 3 assessments we have completed this year I (and my group for one of the assessments) managed to get firsts in two of them which is absolutely amazing and well done to everyone else who submitted them all! I'm helping out friends with uni work and trying to work together, a study busy kinda set up and that's pretty fun too to be honest, I've always thought that teaching others is one of the best ways to consolidate your own learning so as I'm helping others I'm learning myself. 

We have just managed to finish our first semester of year 2, despite having 5500 words to write for essays over Christmas I am definitely looking forward to the break because we don't go back to uni until late January 2018! Actually, speaking of essays once I've finished this post I'll be starting another essay which I'm hoping to finish on Wednesday night or Thursday, probably Thursday because I'll get some absolute quiet with Simon and everybody else being out of the house and I tend to focus better when I'm alone; total loner me ha!

Oh Christmas as well!!!!! I'm crazy for Christmas it's the most wonderful time of the year (ha see what I did there) and I've had everybody's presents bought and wrapped since October so definitely ready to go now, as you can see from the picture as well we have got our christmas tree up and decorated and spent a lovely night a few weeks ago watching Home Alone. Oh also it was my birthday on the 14th of December and I turned 22! one of my oldest and most lovely friends managed to get Taylor Swift's 22 song stuck in my head ha, thanks Leanne, I can't wait to meet up with her tomorrow we never get enough time to see one another being so busy. I was totally spoiled for my birthday and Simon had booked us a weekend away in a log cabin with a hot tub... pretty amazing and I'd never been in a hot tub, by the end of the weekend I didn't want to leave the hot tub either, a nice glass of wine in your hand and bubbles was absolutely perfect! The picture to the right is the view we woke up to on Sunday and it was absolutely beautiful. Honestly, though, essays or not I am so excited for Christmas this year, I'm hoping to get up a post soon as possible, probably Thursday evening all about Christmas traditions in the Savage/Simpson home. 

 

Things with my health are kind of progressing weirdly, random things are going on in my body and it feels like an uphill battle to get some support. If you can remember I told you guys that doctors were wanting to put me on Liraglutide or Saxenda/Victoza as it might also be known, I did a whole post on it and what my concerns about it are, obviously there is a black box warning on the drug as it can cause different kinds of cancer or pancreatitis, this was a massive worry despite people telling me otherwise because there is a clear history of cancer in my family anyway, my mam, grandma, and great grandma have all had a kind of cancer, my cancer levels are raises slightly anyway so in my opinion, to put me on a drug for weight loss that I might not react to and the average weight loss for a normal person is alb every 3 weeks, this would be too risky a decision for me. So, yesterday when I attended my RVI appointment I basically putty foot down and refused that option for treatment, as impossible as it might be I would rather use my last breath to try and improve my health in terms of lifestyle changes rather than do it via a dangerous, in my opinion, drug. 

At the RVI yesterday the doctor has told me that I need an emergency gynaecology appointment because I've had issues with bleeding between periods and one major issue involving a lot of pain and bleeding, the doctor seems quite worried about that. I'm not too worried about it to be honest mainly because I have always had issues with my periods, and especially with endometriosis and PCOS, sometimes weird things can happen but at least it's best to get things sorted, I remember having a phone call with my GP surgery about the bleeding between periods and I had explained all my issues and the doctor on the other end of the phone told me and I do quote "oh it will be nothing" which is an alarming response from a GP but I have to admit my surgery is absolutely appalling. It's in this instance that I'm more thankful for my consultants and specialists at the RVI, they do such amazing work and I'm happy to be one of their patients to be honest. 

Oh I am also being referred to a sleep apnoea clinic... Apparently I snore haha! That'll be interesting to say the least :)

To be honest that's all I have been up to recently it's been pretty hectic trying to get ready for Christmas and going away and essays, presentations, health issues, family arguments and a whole lot of other stuff!!! Still I'm overjoyed to be back and absolutely can't wait to get bak to blogging regularly!

Thanks to all you guys who stayed with me and keep checking the blog regularly, I'm hoping to have exciting news soon as well as I may be arranging a call with someone from Rhythm, the company developing the drug Setmelanotide! So keep your eyes and ears open for that post coming soon hopefully :)

Have a wonderful day everybody!

Thanks for reading xxx

Long Awaited Return!

Hello lovelies!

Wow, it's been well over two years since my last post and SO SO SO much has happened and I can't wait to tell everybody!

First thing's first, I'm very sorry for the long break, my health deteriorated massively for a good while, it's far from being back to normal now but I've recently been slapped by motivation to get back to blogging.

I'll give you all an update about my life in general right now then get on to something more personal and important to me if that's alright! 

Well in 2015 just after I was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst I actually met a guy and we have been dating for 2 and a half years, his name is Simon we are now living together with my grandmother and although it is quite difficult and sometimes cramped we are very very happy. He's honestly the most amazing man I've ever met and looks after me better than I could've expected. On December 14th last year, which happens to be my birthday Simon got down on one knee and proposed, since then we have been very happily engaged for almost a year and are hoping to tie the knot around either the end of 2018 or 2019 depending on finances, although admittedly I have already bought my wedding dress, oh I wish I could show everybody it but it shall have to stay hidden until the big day. 

In September 2016 I started university on a social work degree at University of Sunderland, I was absolutely miserable for two months on the course and got very little support partly because I wasn't able to stand up for myself and tell the lecturers what I needed, however one day after discussing whether or not I should drop out or do social work part time Simon pushed me into the office of the programme leader of Sociology. I absolutely adore sociology and Simon knew I would be happier there, it was a struggle but after a while the leader decided I could change courses and managed to get caught up within a couple of weeks and since then I've been overjoyed studying a subject I adore, I finished this year with 6/12 assignments being first class and the rest very solid 2:1 grades. 

Other than that there have been many ups and downs, me and Simon have both lost friends, gained new ones, had many many new experiences both together and separately, we have tried to move out, been screwed over by our local council, lost that house and moved back in with family but all of it has been a good experience for really growing up and maturing. I've been learning to cook, learning to love myself, learning to go out and be unapologetically confident in who I am, I've seen the Rocky Horror Picture show LIVE (OMG WOW!!!!), I've done things I never thought I would in my entire life, and it's been a hell of a time!

We have attended appointments and the Centre for Life to find out about our fertility as a couple, I've learned a lot more about myself and about my medical conditions which has been very enlightening. 

So, with that update out of the way there's something very important I need to move on to if I may. When I was only a little sprout, about 5 or 6 I was diagnosed with a disease known as Pro-opiomelanocirtin Deficiency Disorder (POMC), which is a very serious and extremely rare condition that causes severe early onset obesity, my dad also has this condition and it affects us both very differently, I don't want to say too much about it as I will get to that soon.  Recently I've been learning a lot more about my condition that affects pretty much every single aspect of my life, I've been looking for treatments, trials and support for people with this and similar conditions, I've connected with some lovely people who have taught me quite a lot in a very short amount of time and one thing I have realised about this condition is that there is not, anywhere near enough information or awareness about this disease for the general public, schools or even in GPs surgeries. Thus, I'm making a major shift in the kind of blog this will be, I am going to be posting a lot more about this condition, my journey and others' journey living with this, I will hopefully be able to contact others and find out about how they live with it. I want to document everyday life of somebody who has POMC, how it affects them, what kind of support there is available. Should I be lucky enough to trial a drug that's being tested to manage it now I want to document the process of taking it honestly, without any faffing or fussing. People need to know the truth of such a condition as it is very serious, life-threatening and difficult to live with as I have found out first hand. I would appreciate it if these posts can be shared as the purpose of this blog now is to raise awareness of POMC even if it is just in a small way, every little helps after all. 

However, do not despair as I am fully planning on keeping the lifestyle aspect of the blog running and I have many more ideas for advice posts, support, general discussions and so on but the posts may be less frequent than before as university is going to get more heavy workloads particularly in years 2 and 3. Please bear with me if posts aren't coming as thick and fast as liked. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you all come back to read more!

P.S. I want to thank everybody who, in the two years that I was gone, continued to read and comment on and share my blog posts, you're wonderful people and you're the reason I came back to this blog instead of beginning a new one! I hope you're all having wonderful lives yourselves!!

Love,

Katy. xo