Last night, Ellenya and I noticed that our tiny turtles' shells were getting softer :S. They have been recovering from shell rot, and so have been dry docking (which means that they were living on a towel in a roller-box under their special lights, and weren't allowed to get wet). Because they haven't been in their tank much, they hadn't been getting their calcium from the calcium block that is in their water. Ellenya and Kecap took them back to the vet today. They are going to be ok - they need calcium suppliments to harden them up though. I love those little guys - I hate it when they get sick/soft! It makes me worry!
Also today, Ellenya, Kecapmanis and I went shopping. I was really glad to get out of the house (even if it was in my wheelchair) to see some different scenery! lol. We went to this awesome discount store that sold all brand-named stuff for really cheap! I got the most amazing handbag for like a third of the normal price, and another plain handbag (which was some flash brand apparently - I've never heard of it, lol! I usually shop at Target coz I can't afford brands! Lol). It was really cheap at about a quarter of the usual price. I got lots of undies and bras, too! lol! After we went to that shop, we went to Lincraft, and I got some really nice glitter oven-bake polymer clay. I am planning to make some jewellery and some flowers and stuff out of it. Then we went and had lunch. I had Chinese food! =D On the way home, we went to get some earthworms for my axolotls. We ended up going to three different shops. Is there an earthworm shortage or something? lol!
When we got home, I was so exhausted that I just fell asleep and didn't wake up until late afternoon. When I woke up, Ellenya and I played with some Bend-and-Bake polymer clay that I got a while ago. We made dolls of our Puzzle Pirates characters. I also tried to make an orchid. I am wanting to make a small group of orchids to show at the orchid show. I always enter some of my art in the art section of the competition, and I have never not won a first or a second in the last about five years that I have been doing it! I like getting the chance to show off my artwork. There is a craft section in the competition too - I'm not sure whether clay work is art or craft. I guess it is probably art, coz it's sort of sculpture - but they have odd rules.
Anywayz, I fed my axolotls some earthworms tonight. Artemis LOVED them! From the first sniff, she went psycho, chasing the worm and snatching it! I dropped one and she chased it and tried to get it. I was worried she would try to eat it off the ground and accidentally eat gravel, so I tried to stop her by gently putting my hand in her way. She got mad at me not letting her chase her treasure, and tried to grind past me! I was worried she might have hurt herself, but she seems ok. I'm glad that I finally found a food she really likes. She isn't a liver or a meal worm fanatic (altho she does eat them, just not very enthusiastically). Almond wasn't as fond of the earthworm. I don't think he liked how much it wriggled! I eventually convinced him to eat half of one, but he wanted meal worms after it. I worry about not feeding almond enough, because when he is hungry, he becomes bitey towards his tankmate, my baby Artemis! He eats a lot lot lot more than Artemis does, but then, he is twice the size and rippling with muscles (she is growing and getting more muscly too, I have noticed). I love my axolotls!
Anywayz, it is getting late, so I think it might be my bed time. Nighty night!
~Adrielle =)
It's been a while since I have written in this blog. Since last time I posted, I've rediscovered the fun of sewing cross stitches! (There are some more pictures of the sea shell ones I did last week here). This week, I am sewing a mouse!
Anyways, I have also had some health annoyances this week (other than ME/CFS for a change!) Since I was 11 years old, I have had this ligament problem throughout my entire body where my ligaments are too long/loose to hold my bones properly. Roughly every 2-3 months (sometimes more often), I dislocate bones. So far I have clicked out knees, fingers, wrists, toes, a shoulder, and hand bones. It's not usually that bad, coz my joints are so loose they can... er...relocate easily. But it hurts and swells and I go all shaky afterwards.
Occasionally, though, the dislocation causes more than just some soft tissue damage (the worst time, I ended up with the bone in my knee fracturing down the middle :s I was on crutches for around eight weeks; other times the joints just won't stop swelling and I need anti-inflammatory tablets to make them go normal-sized again; and once my thumb just went so stiff after it clicked out that I couldn't move it properly for weeks!) My worst fear when I was younger (and still a bit now) was a bone going out and me not being able to put it back in again. Now, I am kinda scared of getting arthritis from all the dislocations as well!
Once my wrist went out when I was hanging onto a railing. It was facing the wrong way and I couldn't let go of the railing with my hand. My fingers were just clenched tight, and wouldn't let go! It seemed like it took ages for me to force the arm bones to line back up with the hand, but it probably was les than a minute. As soon as it was back in place, I could move my fingers again and let go of the railing. It was scary! Lol! A few times I couldn't get my knee back in straight away, but I've learnt that forcing my leg straight is the key. I've also learnt that the longer a bone is out, the more it hurts after it goes back in, and the longer it takes to get better (apart from the fact that it is absolutely unbearable to have ur bone in the wrong place relative to your other bones! That feeling is pretty indescribable).
Anyways, the night before last, I went out for dinner and ended up at the stage where I was so tired with ME/CFS that I couldn't sit up anymore. I really wanted to stay and try to look all normal - so I was kinda leaning oddly and holding my head up with my hand. Then I dislocated a bone in my hand - it just kinda collapsed and went click! Luckily it went straight back in again. Then my teeth mysteriously started chattering, lol - I guess probably from shock or something. Anyway, my hand was pretty sore, and I couldn't sit up anymore, so I ended up going out to the car park and sleeping on the back seat of the car. The temperature was below zero degrees celcius- it was cold! Lol - all the windows were fogged up by the time I woke up.
Then, yesterday at lunchtime, I dislocated my left knee. It was being evil all night and was stabbing me with pain. I couldn't sleep, which is especially bad when you have ME/CFS to begin with. I've noticed that since I got ME/CFS, I am a lot more likely to dislocate bones when I am really tired than I am when I am having a "good day" - Just to add icing to the cake on bad days! lol!
Over the years, on the numerous times I have had to go to doctors, physios, the hospital, x-ray pplz and a knee surgeon, I have been told that I have "a ligament disorder". However, I have never actually been officially diagnosed with anything specific. I have decided that next time I go to my doctor (which is later this month) I am so not leaving her office until she tells me why I am like this. No one else keeps clicking their bones out! It's just not normal :S and it hurts! lol. I want to know why I am the way I am.
~Adrielle =)
P.S.
I updated my website a few days ago, and added some more pictures to my DeviantART gallery too!
I got my new iPad this week!!! It is so awesome! It has a hot pink case and I can use Twitter on it instead of having to sit up with my PC when I am dead tired! I am still trying to figure out how to blog from it though - and heavy-duty screen protector to protect it from my clumsiness. I can lie in bed and play with it, answer my emails, and go on lol! It keeps saying that it has an error when I try...
Anyways, this week I have been having the worst ME/CFS week I have had in a very very long time. Two days ago, I honestly thought I was going to die or something. I couldn't walk down the hallway! My legs just kept bending by themselves and wouldn't cooperate. Eventually, I got back to my bed, and then I couldn't move. I wanted to lift my hand, but it just wouldn't! It was scary as!
I was all alone and panicking, so I think I ended up spamming my poor Twitter friends with my panickiness (later that night when I had recovered enough to tweet). I was scared that I was going to get worse and become bedridden and not be able to do anything any more. Luckily, my awesome Twitter friends (who also have ME/CFS) calmed me down and reassured me. They made me see that even if I did get worse for a while, it didn't mean I wouldn't get better again.
They also made me realise that the worsening of my symptoms was probably just because of my recent interrupted sleep. I have been getting a lot of hay fever and asthma and not being able to sleep at night because of it. The night before last, I took some antihistamine that was meant to make me drowsy, and it worked! I had a much better night sleep, and yesterday I wasn't nearly as zombie like!
Last night I woke up several times with asthma again (even though I took more of that antihistamine last night lol) and today I am suffering the consequences. I got to go out for lunch (which was the best lunch ever!!! We went to an Indian restaurant), but I had to sleep all afternoon once we got home.I found it very hard to get out of bed and come out to the lounge room this evening (although my legs let me walk today, so I am a million times better than that other day! lol).
I am going to the doctor tomorrow, so I will talk to her about it. I think I might need a stronger asthma preventer or something. I went to this other doctor that isn't my normal one, and he took me off my normal medication and put me on something else. I have since switched back to my original medication because the other thing he gave me just wasn't working - but I blame the change for stuffing up my usually well controlled asthma :P. That other doctor just didn't understand.
I am also planning to talk to my normal doctor about passiflora - a friend suggested it would help me to sleep. I am allergic to a lot of herbal remedies though, so I don't want to take anything without checking first, lol. I also want to talk to her about my ME/CFS in general, as well as my bad patch. I want to ask how I go about getting government assistance for getting a mobility scooter, so that on good days I can go places by myself (I cant walk around much at all, and I would like to go places without having to be pushed in a wheelchair by members of my family).
In other news, I am getting worried about not keeping up with my coursework for my animation course. The original goals that I set myself are falling by the wayside since I went on holidays (I just haven't had the focus to complete my assignment since we got back; annoying brain fog!). Hopefully once I am sleeping better, I will be okay, and back to at least the way I was (if not better).
Lastly, I drew some more pictures. I drew one for Kecapmanis to use as a forum avatar =). She has her brand new black and bronze karkinos that she won on Puzzle Pirates standing proudly beside her in the picture. She liked it, so I am happy!
~Adrielle =)
Well on Wednesday, Jollyrob and Ellenya were both sick, so we didn't get to go out for lunch. Kecap and I went to the chemist, the electrical store, and the supermarket though, so I got to go out at least. I was really glad that we got to go to the electrical store because I got a new cooling pad for my laptop! It is a really flash one; it's really big, has an ergonomic adjustable angle thingy on the bottom, and has a shelf at the front to stop the laptop from sliding around! =D It is also quieter than my old one. I am very pleased with it!
Today Jollyrob and Ellenya had to go to the doctor... which happens to be next door to a bakery, so we had to have lunch there! Apparently, they are so sick that Kecap and Jollyrob won't be going away for the weekend =(.
Tonight I tried some new drawing techniques, and came up with this! I'm not sure about the shadowy outline, but I like the picture overall.
~Adrielle =)
Today was a pretty uneventful day. I woke up after 11am (which is so weird! I usually wake up before 9am, often before 8am!) I guess my house was just nice and quiet, so I could snooze. It was all quiet and relaxing all day, really.
Kecapmanis got a monkey familiar on Puzzle Pirates today. She named it Monyet, and let me wear it to get a portrait in-game! I am jealous that she has a monkey! They are so cute! I want one! lol
Anyway, in real life, I need a new cooling pad for my laptop. Mine is dying! It makes odd noises and keeps cutting out. I have to keep tapping it to make it work! I am hoping to buy a new one tomorrow - because it is pay day. Hopefully I will feel up to going out (and maybe we can go out for lunch too if I use my wheelchair for the trip to get the cooling pad!)
Lastly, in my uneventful day, I drew a picture of a pirate! (As usual, I couldn't stop at one version of it. The other versions can be seen in my gallery - here.)
~Adrielle =)
Today, Ellenya and I went out to lunch and to the movies =D. It was fun! We had lunch at La Porchetta. Their service was unusually bad... I guess maybe it was because it is a public holiday today, and there were different staff on than usual. It took them over 20 minutes to take our order (they eventually came over because Ellenya was pulling glarey faces at them). When the food finally came, they had made a mistake with mine. I ended up with something tomatoey (I am kinda intolerant/allergic or something to tomatoes - I can't eat anything with a lot of tomatoes, especially if they are uncooked :S). Anyway, they fixed their mistake, and eventually brought me what I had asked for. I was starving by the time it came - luckily because it was a monster serving! I could only eat about half of it! :S I always feel guilty wasting food, but seriously - there was no way I could get through that much. It was really nice though!
After lunch, Ellenya and I headed next door to the cinema. We were really glad that we had pre-bought our tickets. The line was down the stairs and out the door! We took the lift up, and sat upstairs for a while before buying drinks and snacks. The line for tickets seemed to go on forever! The movie we saw was Shrek Forever After. It so CAN NOT be the last Shrek film they make! =( =( =( It was awesome in 3D. It would be amazing to work on something like that one day.
When we got home, I fell asleep for a few hours, then went and sat in the lounge for a while. Ellenya fed my axolotls for me (I am really grateful for that because I was really tired). Artemis refused to eat (she has been picky this week - I'm not sure why). Almond is always hungry... last night he decided my knuckle looked tasty. They are such cuties!
Later tonight, I drew a picture of my friend Sinistergoat from Puzzle Pirates =D. I ended up having about eight different versions of it! Now I am looking for someone or something to draw next (once again - if anyone has any suggestions, tweet them to me! The link is in the sidebar of this blog =D).
Anyway, one day this week I hope to get to the Indian restaurant in my town. I found out that they do lunches, and their food looks and sounds so awesome! I love food, lol =D
~Adrielle =)
Yesterday, I drew a portrait of my Puzzle Pirate, Adrielle. I like the new style of cartoony art I have discovered! It is relatively easy to create, and I like the way it looks, lol! I might make some more free forum avatars for my Puzzle Pirate friends later on (tomorrow, not tonight).
Anyway, today we went to the forest for a barbecue. It was nice - we roasted marshmallows on the fire and everything! =D The only bad thing was that I was having a bad ME/CFS day, and I was so sick by the time I got home, I slept until dinner time! I then got up and had dinner - but then I was so sick I had to go back to bed again. That was a few hours ago. I still don't feel good, but I can get up and type now, so that's a big improvement! =D Now I am half-playing Puzzle Pirates, and half-watching Poirot on T.V.
~Adrielle =)
