New feline addition to the family!

A house does not feel complete without a cat, at least not for me. Don't get me wrong, I love our dog but somehow you need a cat around - even if they do ignore you half the time - to make the house feel like a home. Therefore in June this year, I managed to persuade the family (or perhaps coerce is a better word) to go on a hunt for a new kitten!

Everything moved very quickly and by the 11th of June, we bought home a 12 week old, silver tabby kitten. It took a while to name her, we went through a plethora of names ranging from Merlot and Kit Kat to Mia, Willow and Luna. Finally we settled on the name Millie (which has now turned into Millicent when she is naughty) but suits her to a tea.

I knew getting a kitten would be expensive but I hadn't quite realised how much! You have to factor in the price of the cat itself (especially if they aren't a rescue cat, which Millie isn't)  plus food, litter, toys, scratching post, vet bills including vaccinations, worming, chipping and any illnesses - not to mention anything they break when running around the house. Its also important that the new member of the family fits into the rest of the house. When looking for a cat, we decided our main criteria was that they would be Independent, calm, playful and loving. However, we ended up with a needy, crazy, playful and feisty little minx. I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Now she is growing, she is calming down however atleast once daily something snaps and she goes completely nut job crazy running from room to room (good luck catching her) and even climbing up the curtains for entertainment. She enjoys a good swinging ball (get your mind out the gutter!) and anything that makes cat and bird noises. So far her favourite toy is a mouse type creature dangling from a fishing rod contraption - it keeps both us and her amused and requires less effort from us! We are looking forward to letting her out the house where she can run off her energy, come back for cuddles and unfortunately (but definitely going to happen) can bring us lots of living (and probably not so living) presents.

Her and our spaniel have an interesting relationship. At first Millie was very wary and skittish around Sophie, however things have changed. She now enjoys jumping both around and on top of her, in addition to taunting her by jumping on top of her cage and dangling a paw between the bars. Its a very funny thing to watch - although I'm not sure Sophie feels the same.

My phone and camera are slowly filling up with hilarious and cute photographs of our little monster so to end this blog post, I thought I would share a few of them with you all.

Hannah 

❤

12 Day Post Operation Update

Hello Lovelies,

Today marks 12 days since my operation *woo throws confetti* so I thought I would update you all on my progress.

Since I came out of hospital my painkillers have been radically reduced, I am now just taking paracetamol and Ibuprofen. Im fine with that because Im not feeling/being sick anymore and my pain is well controlled on them. My surgeon told me, that I would hate him for the first two weeks after my operation. Sure enough, the first week I did tell him I hated him (I mean, not really - but pain wise he was not my favourite person) ,however around the middle of this second week, my pain has been much more controlled and at times I have even forgotten about it!

I have come to the conclusion that recovery is bloody hard and incredibly frustrating. You might be sat there thinking 'but Hannah all you have to do is lay in bed and watch tv, or read' - unfortunately not darling. I could lay in bed all day but it's only going to give me bed sores (omg you have no idea how painful this can be). I have been getting up, getting dressed and trying to do little things around the house/ playing way too many computer games. Since I have been told that I cannot bend or twist until my physio-therapy starts 4 weeks post op, life is frustrating. Mostly its the small things which are the most challenging - picking up anything from the floor, moving anything heavy, bending to put something in the dishwasher, putting on jeans etc. Its definitely helpful to have someone on hand, just incase, especially when you have a dog and a kitten like me.

For the last 3/4 days I have also been trying to go for (very) short walks, gradually challenging myself to go a little bit further each day. Its a weird feeling that is hard to describe. Im not in too much pain when I walk, but it feels like my bones and nerves have been scrambled. They don't belong to me anymore and I'm trying to reclaim them. Its also very frustrating because I love walking and there's nothing wrong with my legs, it just feels difficult and unnatural - not to mention I am so tired! At the moment, I am getting a full 8-9 hours sleep at night, plus an hour or two after lunch because even doing the mundane makes me feel exhausted.

One thing that I am struggling with is back spasms. Me and my back have a weird relationship, even before the surgery. Its weirdly sensitive to touch and I've always suffered with back spasms - even to the extent where my physio-therapist used to need to place a towel over my back when pressing down on my vertebra. However since my surgery, its been worse, especially when I try to sleep or if anyone touches it.  I think this is due to my nerves and muscles being moved slightly causing them to expand and contract, however its hard to tell how much is just me and how much resulted directly from the surgery.

I don't know if its worked yet. Things feel different, thats for sure and my usual pain isn't there but that isn't surprising since I haven't been able to do much and I am on a decent dose of pain relief. Its also very difficult at the moment to distinguish between general back/hip pain and my op pain so only time will tell on that one!

Last night we decided to change my dressing. I am pleased that I have been left with a fairly small scar, which for the most part is healing nicely. Unfortunately it is seeping at the very bottom and this part has not healed like the rest so I am going to get a professional's opinion on this and fingers crossed it is not infected - just taking slightly longer to heal.

Thats about all for now, please feel free to message/post any questions or comments you have about anything!

Hannah

❤

What Is Not Said Before Surgery

Hello,

Today I wanted to chat about what I didn't know, or had to find out myself before having my spinal fusion surgery.

• The first thing, that is very specific to my surgery, (Spinal Fusion L5 S1) is that I didn't know it involved a bone graft until around a week before! Its really important to know the ins and the outs of what is being done so there are no surprises. 

• Secondly (and this is leading on from the one above) try and find out everything you can about the procedure itself. I was told specifically for mine that there were several ways of doing a spinal fusion. One where they operated from the front and one from my back and because I am female, the back was the best option. However, after doing more research myself, I found there were several different ways of operating from the back and It was not until the day of my surgery that I managed to ask what procedure he was doing and what sort of scar I would be left with. Thankfully It was the most common procedure with one scar down the centre of my lower back. 

  

  Image of my back post surgery - Op site and Epidural site

• Before this I have never had an operation or any type of invasive treatment. I am one of those people who avoids hospitals/doctors, even the dentists at all costs. So every time Im worried about anything, I will ask 'Is this going to hurt?' - just to prepare myself. I asked this question for the following things - a cannula being placed in my hand and taken out plus liquids being put through it, epidural being removed and my catheter being removed. I was always told no and they were right, none of these were pleasant but none drastically hurt either. 

• One thing I didn't know was surgical socks are a thing. If you don't know what these are they are a pair of white stockings (I did ask the nurse if they came in pink because I'm cool like that - they don't unfortunately!) and you have to wear them for 4-6 weeks/until your mobile. You will learn to hate them. In addition to this, whilst in hospital I wore leg compression pumps (for DVT too) which, can you believe it, were even more uncomfortable than the stockings! 

• I have been asked this question so many times 'Was it awful having a bed bath?' The answer is no. I was so out of it and felt so awful that being cleaned felt nice and I wasn't in the least bit bothered about being naked. Obviously it was a female nurse and she's seen it all before so who cares?

• This one I find very amusing and is specific to spinal surgery. I joked a lot beforehand with friends that I would be taller after the operation - guess what? Im now an inch taller - it is possible!

• This one is slightly more serious and personal but one thing not mentioned to me before surgery is about Post operative depression. This can happen to anyone, no matter what kind of procedure they have been through and can happen for different reasons. For me, it was more about the emotional stress of choosing to have the operation, then having it, then feeling incredibly sick with medication. Once the realisation that i'd made my choice and now had months of recovery ahead had settled in, this also made me feel very low because I questioned whether I had made the right choice. I am also one of those fairly independent people who can't sit in bed all day and need to get out the house. Plus being very used to doing things for myself, therefore, when you suddenly have others do everything for you and you can't move very far, it feels awful. It would have definitely helped to know that I would feel this way. To be told that its okay not to be okay or to be reminded that you don't have to be brave all the time or thats its okay if you can't stand up the first time you try. Or even to be told it gets better - because it does. 

On that note, I will leave it there!

Hannah

 ❤

Sun, Sea, Santorini

Hello! 

So today I wanted to write about something slightly more cheerful than my surgery and that is my recent trip to Greece including a day trip to Santorini!

Back at the end of May/beginning of June both, my mother and myself set off on a trip to Greece. We both have a love affair with Greece, Crete in particular and I can't explain why apart from the fact it is a stunning place with such raw history and amazing memories. The highlight of this holiday was our trip to Santorini and that is what this blog post is going to focus on.

Santorini has always been somewhere I wanted to visit but there were several aspects stopping me. Firstly the cost; as it is such a beautiful and popular destination, nothing is cheap. Secondly I felt it could be claustrophobic - I need my space whether its laying on a sun-bed or looking around the shops. Therefore because of these drawbacks or worries I jumped at a chance of visiting the island for a day to give myself an idea of what it was like before spending the money on a full holiday there.

The day began very early with a coach pickup as the sun started to rise. As we were staying in Elounda it took several hours to get to the main ferry port in Crete. We chose to do a group excursion with SeaJets to have the benefit of a coach, minimal stress and a slightly cheaper trip.

Once in Santorini, our first stop was Oia. This is on the north side of the island and is a beautiful old settlement. As you can see from the photographs below, it really is a beautiful place. 

As it is build into the side of a cliff, every building is very packed together. We were very lucky on the day we visited because there were no cruise ships in port, however It was still extremely busy and hot to walk down the small paved alleys but it was worth it for these views. 

Our second stop of the day began at Firostefani. We took a 20 minute walk down some very pretty cobbled streets, very close to the edge of the caldera into the capital Fira. From here we could see the volcano and Thirassia Island. Our tour guide was full of information (I have never met someone who spoke so much in my entire life). Whilst I found the background information very interesting, we did end up ditching our group as we were barely left any free time to explore the place ourselves!

The capital of Fira itself is again gorgeous with plenty to do and see. As you can see from the photograph above, there is an old port which you can walk/ donkey ride/ take a cable car down to. There is also plenty (and I mean plenty!) of shops for my fellow shopaholics. In the end we only had time for a bit of shopping plus the best lunch I have ever had (pic below) however given more time there is plenty to do here!

Going on this day trip for me, really affirmed the fact that I want to come back here. There is something magical in the way this island was formed and there is undeniable beauty in the little cobbled streets with houses painted white adorned with bright blue shutters. I do recommend going on a day trip here however I would suggest doing your research and going yourself in a group because it can be very annoying to feel restricted to a tour all day. If you are going to do this I would also suggest, find out what cruise ships are in port and pick a day where there isn't any. 

Personally I do think one aspect of staying on the island (despite the high prices) is that once the tours and cruise ships have left for the day, you are left with just the people staying on the island and lets be honest, exploring in the daytime is very hot anyway! So Santorini.. I will be back. 

Ttfn. 

Hannah

xoxo 

Lumbar spinal fusion - Hospital Stay

I am now finally home! It may have only been 4 days in hospital but honestly it felt like much much longer. Through this post, I want to write a little on my operation and about my stay in hospital, what it was like and what anyone having the same operation can expect. For anyone new let me catch you up - I suffer from grade 2 spondylolithesis and have had a lumbar spinal fusion L5S1.

So firstly I went in on the Monday morning, my admission time was midday, however I could not eat after 7am or drink after 11am. Part of my morning also consisted of drinking a watery lemon concoction (slightly gross) which made sure I had enough energy until I went down. Once checked in to the hospital I was shown to my room and told I would be seen by my surgeon and anesthetist very soon. Sure enough it wasn't long before my surgeon came along, went through the procedure and told me I would be going down to theatre first ('ladies first' - how gentlemanly).  I was very relieved for this as waiting around is awful! I then had the anaesthetist come and check that I knew what I was having done  (ya know - just in case) and he ran through what would happen. I then changed into a very sexy backless hospital gown with some charming knickers that I can only discribe as looking like a plastic shower cap and lastly stocking which I have learnt to hate and off we went.

The walk to theatre was scary. There's no sugar coating that. I walked into the anaesthetists room and layed on the bed. A needle was placed into my hand whilst happy chit chat was made surrounding the topics of my life and the nurses travels. I was then told 'its time to go to sleep' and I don't remember anything else.

I woke up in the ICU around 3-4 hours later. I have little memory of this now however I can tell you the basics as I wrote notes on my phone at the time. I felt relieved that the operation was over (although in truth that was the easy part), the morphine was doing its lovely job of making me feel very happy and I felt comfortable - if a little sore. I was able to see my parents briefly however most of my time in the ICU was spent sleeping. On my second day post surgery I started to feel and be sick. Anyone who knows me, knows this is a phobia for me, I hate it and I will do anything to avoid it. Therefore when one of the nurses mentioned it could be due to the morphine, I stopped using it all together. Once I was 12 hours free of morphine and in a fair bit of pain the nurses were great in finding an alternative (unfortunately though this didn't help my sickness). Also on my second day, the physio came around and got me out of bed for the first time. All I remember from this was eye watering pain. The physio told me I could cry but I remember breathlessly saying 'that hurts even more!' I didn't manage to walk on that day only stand for a couple of seconds.

Day 3 was my last morning in the ICU before being moved to my own room back in the wards. What we hadn't realised before was my epidural was leaking and my spinal block was becoming ineffective. (Which was probably why I was in so much pain when I stopped using the morphine!) This led to my back becoming swollen with the epidural fluid however once the epidural was taken out, the fluid slowly leaked out too and my swelling went down. As I said before I do not remember much from the ICU apart from a lovely nurse called Loraine who gave me my morning wash, my first attempt standing and feeling very nauseous in general.

My last couple of days in my own room can be quite easily described as a mixture of 'I'm in pain' , 'I'm going to be sick' and 'I want to go home.' Being brutally honest I felt very lonely, I saw people only when I called for help, when someone gave me food or took my stats, my physio and the couple of hours my family came to visit. I had physio once daily (which can be fairly awkward when someone has to carry your pee!) However, I quickly learnt the best way to get out of bed and be slightly more mobile so they could take out my catheter and I could be slightly more independent (Minus the fact I had to say when I needed to pee as they wanted to measure it and the oh so charming question of 'have you opened your Bowls today?') By this point, around day 3/4, my medication started being reduced and I was in a lot of pain and struggling to both eat and sleep due to nausea and pain however I coped and if anything this made me more determined to get out of hospital and go home where I knew I would be more comfortable.

 I was told I would be in hospital 5 nights, it turned out to be 4 and for that I am thankful. Although I know I have a long way to go in terms of recovery, the worst is now over and I can see slight improvements every day.

So there it is in a nutshell. Please comment with any questions or anything in the comments below! My next post will be a little bit more in depth about the things they don't tell you before you have an operation as there are definitely a few things and hope someone finds them useful. 😊😊

Ttfn
Hannah
Xoxo

Deciding to have a Spinal Fusion (L5-S1)

Deciding to have any type of surgery is never easy. If you had told me even a year ago that I would have chosen this path, I would have said 'No way, is that ever going to happen.' In fact when it was mentioned previously by doctors as an option I said 'No. Not happening.. ever.' However.. somehow, not entirely sure when.. I changed my mind.

 I found myself seeking out a surgeon for advice after several years of physio-therapy (which didn't work) and further scans, which showed that my spondylolithesis was progressively getting worse. I went to the appointment very nervous. On the one hand, I was scared that I would be told surgery was not possible in my case, meaning I would have to live with this pain for the rest of my life (which considering I'm 22, that would suck) and on the other hand, I was worried that they would say 'yes lets do it' and I would both be relieved and then have to face the idea and risks of surgery. They did in fact say yes, and this leads me to now, a couple of days before I go into hospital.

For anyone who is wondering quite what spondylolithesis is, you can click the link or in basic terms, it is where the vertebra slips out of position usually in the lower spine. It can be both a birth defect and from Injury/trauma. A lot people don't know they have it as it never affects their day to day life. However being quite an active person - I love walking, hiking, swimming, dancing and so much more -  It did affect me. I found I was in so much pain and nobody quite knew why. After being properly diagnosed at 16, I tried physio-therapy for years thinking that it would help but it didn't. In fact everytime I did a lot of exercise, it felt worse. Eventually I was in pain on days where I had done absolutely nothing. I can't actually remember the last time I went for an hours walk and wasn't in pain or laid in bed at the end of the day actually feeling comfortable.

The main question I want to answer for anyone in the same position as I have been is - When should you say yes to surgery?
Everyone is different but overall if the condition is stopping you from living your life the way you want to and you have tried all the alternatives offered, then you should consider it. If your doctor/nurse/surgeon doesn't agree, get another opinion and then another one again. I almost wish I hadn't taken the first opinion I got because years later, I saw him again and he referred me to a specialist who asked me How in the world, I had been living with it for so long!? - my answer was, I didn't think I had a choice - but I do and I'm making it. I am in no way saying that it should be a fleeting decision made blindfolded but at the end of the day if you ask yourself - 'Can I do everything I want to, with how I am now?'  and the answer is no, then theres a big decision to make and only you can make it.

I hope this helps anyone out there and shares a bit about my thought process to come to this decision.

Ttfn

Hannah
xoxo

Travelling & Spondylolithesis

Hello there! 

So this blog has been a long time in the making! I’ve thought about writing one before but never took the steps to start it. However right now I am at a point in my life where i'm both incredibly scared and excited for whats around the corner. Just over a week ago, I graduated with a degree in Photography and in just under a week I will face spinal surgery to correct my Spondylolithesis. After I recover from that I hope to travel and find a job, therefore I want to share this journey with anyone and everyone who is interested. 

I want this blog to mainly share the best things about life - Travelling! Discovering new places, new worlds to explore. Hopefully offering some insight into the best places to see and the best time to go see them. However my main reason for starting this blog today is in a few days time, I am going to have an L5 S1 spinal fusion for my spondylolithesis. I have searched the internet far and wide reading people’s stories and experiences to gain knowledge and perspective and overall prepare myself for whats to come. However I struggled to find a case where the person was born with the condition and chose to have an elected surgery like myself rather than those that have had an accident and forced to have surgery in order to recover. Im hoping that by writing about my journey, it will help anyone else that potentially has to go make this decision and go down this path. 

I hope you join me on this journey and are as excited (and nervous) as I am to see whats around the corner. My next couple of posts will be on my recent trip to Greece and more in depth about my Spondylolithesis/ Spinal Fusion; what it is and how I've come to the decision of surgery. 

TTFN 

Hannah 

xoxo