round the mulberry bush

Tomorrow we are getting a new edition to the family. A 12 month old girl cat called Tinkerbell Me and the piggies are well excited. Rumple not so much..he is “not really a pet person”. However he has been completely outvoted, and a girl cat was what I really wanted for my birthday. will be nice to have another female around the house!

We went over to the sanctuary place to see her today. She is very pretty, really friendly and seems to have taken a shine to the piggies already. The lady who’s sanctuary it is was really nice too.  She takes in cats, dogs and rabbits that nobody else wants and nurses them back to health if theyre poorly and finds them new homes. She had 7 kittens in the front room when we were there (they were  so cute) and also a rabbit that has seizures..poor old thing.

We went to the petshop afterwards and bought lots of lovely pink cat stuff including a diamante pink collar.

I really am spoilt excited

Well considering that I have thought my placement was going to be dire, i have actually loved it. I’ve had a brilliant week. It’s really nice seeing the clients every day and I think I am beginning to build up a bit of a rapport with some of them. The groups have been really good aswell, and I love the ethos of the place. Really service user led, and very recovery orientated. Happy marge!

I found out something really interesting today. Some years ago when my dad was in his twenties, he was prescribed some antibiotics. He had a really bad reaction to them and my nan and grandad found him wandering round the house effing and blinding and being really aggressive. He is a mild mannered man, so it was really out of character and scared them to death. He was trying to climb out of windows and generally behaving in a bizarre manner.  When he was in the ambulance, he tried to escape from the little windows in there and was really agitated.To cut a long story short, he ended up in our local mental health unit whereby they were all for sectioning him. He stayed for a couple of days. Apparently, it was just by luck that one of the doctors knew of the rare side effects of the tablets he was on, and spotted that he wasn’t having a psychotic episode. He stayed for a day or so and when the tablets were out of his system, all was well.

Made me really think about what would have happened if that doctor hadn’t have realised what was going on. Likely he would have been sectioned, and that would have set his life on a whole different course.

I was talking about this kind of stuff to a third year student on my placement (who incidentally is lovely and brilliant). We were saying about the fact that what we do as mental health professionals can change somebodies life forever. Sometimes for the better and sometimes not.

I have just realised that I have repeated during the last post much of what was written in the one prior.

Thanks to all you lovelies who left messages on my comeback post. I didn’t realise you would even have noticed a lack of my witterings. So that was nice

Getting ready for placement again. It starts Tuesday. It’s in a day hospital. I hope I like it, but my first impressions are that it perhaps won’t be my cup of tea.I think working with people in the acute phase of their illness is much more my niche. Saying that though, I have dreaded all of my placements for one reason or another and loved them all.

I have handed in my essay, so I don’t have that to worry about. The presentation is out of the way. We did ours on anorexia nervosa. I really enjoyed it. Although I hardly slept the night before. Once i got up there and started talking, it was actually quite fun in a weird kind of way. the relief afterwards was immense.

One more day off and then the juggling that comes with placement, getting the boys sorted, running a house etc. It’s ll going to be worth it though. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. Just this placement and then third year!!!

.since I last blogged. Lots has happened since the beginning of this module. I have been really really busy.I got a message from Cellar Door this eve though which reminded me that I have missed blogworld.

Stuff from the last 2 months:

1. I have managed to track down my half brother and sister. We had the same Dad. It was all doen through genes/friends reunited and facebook. Pure chance and luck really. I have been speaking to my brother over the past few weeks, on a daily basis through facebook..it’s lovely. We have really clicked. My half sister is a bit more wary, and only contacted me the other day. I doubt we will have a close relationship, but it’s nice to know who she is and what she looks like etc.

2. Uni has been outrageous. Apparently our cohort is officially the worst ever and the tutors are pissed off. People are always late, not arsed, falling asleep, disrespectful etc and it came to a head the other day which resulted in a big row during a lecture and one of my african colleagues said that she felt there was a racist issue going on. It is a bit shit because I think I work really hard and show commitment etc and I know that I am not racist.

3.I have lots of coursework to do. We’ve got a presentation a week Monday. We’re doing ours on anorexia nervosa.

4. now that I am thinking about what has happened, I can’t even think. Just busy busy business.

5. I have applied to swap from the diploma to the degree for my last year. Hope I get accepted.

6. My next placement starts at the end of this month. It’s an acute day hospital. I hope it’s not too dull. I have  a feeling it may be. At least I will get to see the same clients for 3 months or so which will be nice.

7. We did our breakaway update today. It was very good, but I am knackered, so I am going to drink some wine and do bugger all now for the rest of the evening:)

First day back at Uni today. It was good and I enjoyed it….reasons being..

1.I got to see my lovely friends again. We have had no time to catch up since Christmas except on Facebook and thats all pretend. Especially Miss. P who is one of my favourite people

2. The module looks interesting…therapeutic interventions and recovery.

3. Our module leader seems pretty good. Not a patch on the last one who we all love, cause he is cool and ace, and he bought a snake to school.

4. I don’t have to look as smart every day.

5. We get to choose our own group for the presentations in May. This pleases me cause some of the people in my group are dobbins and nobbers.

6. I got 84% for my assignment, which I was well well pleased with. My highest mark since the beginning of the course.

It was like we hadn’t been away really. There’s something about Uni that makes us act like eejits it would seem. After having to be so professional and serious for 2 months solid…it took us about half an hour to revert to behaving like goons, and laughing lots at random stuff. The whitterers are still whittering on the back row, and ask questions about things that were clarified 974627294 hours ago…the know it alls are still knowing it all and the people that really piss me off by coming in very late and not apologising turned up very late. It would be odd if it were any different

I finished my placement yesterday. I didn’t want to leave atall, I have enjoyed it so much. Yesterday I went to a child protection conference regarding the lady who has been on my mini caseload. It was interesting and also there was a good outcome…it was decided that with maximum supPort, the baby will be at minimal risk. Therefore no need for child protection. Good stuff.

I got lots of lovely feedback from the team which was nice. One of the nurses also made me a really nice card that they all signed. I will miss them lots. Back to school on Monday, to a mountain of coursework I expect.

I am on another diet…I haven’t cheated atall and I’m on week three. My record for a diet is 5 weeks. I have lost half a stone which I am pleased about. Rumple said that he thinks if I get to my target weight, I deserve a whole new wardrobe. Brilliant. I agree. I haven’t mentioned the diet to my Mum cos whenever I have in the past, I get grilled about how much weight I have lost etc etc, and also it turns into some big competition whereby my Mum will also diet and it just gets tiresome. I also have avoided buying a new set of scales. I know that if  they are in thebathroom, I will weigh myself three times a day. So I am just secretly weighing where I see a set.

So thats all in the life of Marge at the moment. By the way, have you ever seen a naked mole rat? if not then look for it on google images…it truly is the most repugnant creature…I love it

I am coming to the end of my placement now. I leave next Friday. I don’t want to. I love it. It will be nice to be able to doss a bit more when I go back to Uni (until the heaps of coursework starts), but I will miss this place so much. I have now got my own mini case load of  5 people, and I am really enjoying myself.

It was a bit hairy and scary today. My mentor has a client who has anorexia nervosa. it is probable that she has an underlying personality disorder, but they are primarily trying to treat her eating disorder. She sent suicidal texts today to her family. She has a history of overdose. There was a real chance that she was at home and had attempted suicide, so before calling the police, my mentor arranged to meet her mum with the spare key and razzed over there.

It was nervewracking going in. Also very surreal. I was racking my brains to remember her address so that we could call an ambulance if needed and also panicking as to whether I remembered CPR, just incase. When we learnt CPR, we practised on a simulated doll and found it funny. This wan’t funny. It was very real.

She wasn’t there. It took the rest of the afternoon to track her down. She was very very distressed when they finally made contact, but less intent on dying than she had been. Very sad

I have had really good day today. Surprising really seeing as I have spent most of it going from one meeting to another.

First off was a meeting on the maternity ward regarding one of the teams clients who is due to give birth in 3 weeks. She was diagnosed with Schizophrenia about 10 years ago, and has some issues with anger and outbursts, although these seem to be always directed towards her mum and nobody else.

There have been big child protection meetings because the client was very honest and expressed worries that she might hurt the baby. These fears may well turn out to be groundless, but obviously social services have to deal with it very seriously. The social workers were really lovely and very sensitive with her, I liked them a lot.

This mornings meeting was to put a plan in place to manage any risks, provide appropriate support etc. I wasn’t that impressed. It was as if they were being asked to admit hannibal lecter to the ward. Well not quite, but there was a fair bit of presumption based on little knowledge of mental illness I felt. Despite being told the facts etc, they were still very prickly. As an aside, they also seemed really surprised to hear that this lady has been to university..whats all that about?? its a worry that if healthcare professionals hold these strange misconceptions then what chance do you have with joe bloggs??? then again, i do know that i really get on my soapbox about stigma, prejudice and exclusion…so i know i might have been ultra sensitive about it.

They said that they had very little idea about mental illness. It’s “not their speciality”….Fair enough, I am sure that by next year I will still have little understanding of obstetrics. However, given the number of women who are mentally unwell and have babies, or those that develop mental ill health during or after pregnancy, I was a bit shocked really.

Bit of an eye opener. What was very good though was that as I walked up the corridor, I went past the rooms with all those gorgeous tiny babies in. That was lovely. I think theres a really nice atmosphere on maternity wards.

I did another Risperdal Consta this afternoon. Thats 3 of those that I’ve done now, and another 2 “normal” depots. I don’t mind doing them whatsoever now… I never thought I would get over my fear of needles, so thats very cool.

There is only 2 weeks and 2 days left on this placement..I will miss it very much, I’m having a brilliant time and loving every minute

I went to drop some books off to Pippy this afternnon. Whilst I was there I jumped on the scales. I don’t have any here, so I haven’t weighed myself for a few months. I knew I had put on a few pounds but have had a bit of a shock. In the last couple of months I have gained 2 stone…2 STONE!!!!!!!!

what a pisser.

I have a shit relationship with food I know. During my therapy, my lovely lady said that she felt that I had big issues with compulsive overeating. I agreed with that and kind of knew what it was all about at the time. Food was my comforter, big time. However now that I have gained some resolve and closure on my issues, I still have an unhealthy relationship with food.

I need to eat healthily and do some more exercise. I know that……although I really find it the hardest thing to do. Near impossible.

I don’t judge my worth on how I look on the outside anymore, which I used to do a lot. Even when I was really slim in my late teens, I thought my body was disgusting. I now genuinely think that I am much much more than a figure, but I do want to lose weight, cos I feel uncomfortable being this size.

I was watching something the other day and Nancy Sorrell (mrs. vic reeves) had to say which she would rather lose….her intelligence, her figure or her sense of humour. She said that she would rather lose her intelligence. I wouldnt. Although dropping  a stone or two would be great.