I have migrated!

I have moved my blog to Blogger and while I sort my domain out to redirect to this URL, it can be found at excitingholly.blogspot.com!

Please visit me here and follow me at my new home!

1. Some of the craftiness my Easter weekend consisted of!
2. Pennyfarthing necklace, which I love, but hardly ever actually wear!
3. Lillies on my aunt and uncle’s kitchen table.
4. My aunt and uncle’s elderly and very timid cat.
5. Tea and scones on Good Friday.
6. My new watch, which I wasn’t sure I liked at first, but which has grown on me A LOT!

My new watch
I bought this watch at a market last weekend and am now in love with it. It’s not a style I thought I’d like, since it’s kind of "sporty looking" and not very girly, but it’s grown on me a lot and I’ve worn it every day!
It’s like one of those "slap bracelets" that everyone had in their childhood, hahah, and the face pops out so you can change the colour of the strap. Even though I was ridiculously tempted to buy purple and pink and teal coloured bands, I was sensible and restrained and bought white and chocolate brown instead. I figured they’ll go with everything I wear. ;-)

My job
I feel a bit strange writing about work on here, since I always told myself I wouldn’t, in order to keep that part of my personal life truly private, but a few people have asked me if I am working at the moment, and what I am doing.
Yes, I have a job. No, it’s not a full-time teaching position, but it does involve children and it is relevant to education. It’s pretty full-on, and sometimes quite tiring, but overall I really enjoy it and feel very lucky that this opportunity came along at exactly the right time. :)

So those are my favourite things this week – what are yours?

P.S: Another thing I loved this week were all the comments on my last post. Although I was really sad to hear that so many of you had similar experiences with people saying horrible, inappropriate things to you, all the positive comments more than make up for it. I’m glad I am blogging about this part of my life. Thanks. :-)

Before I go any further, I would just like to say that BY FAR the vast majority of people I have talked to, both in person and online, have been awesome, and wouldn’t dream of saying anything so insensitive or tactless.

But. There are exceptions to every rule, and, unfortunately for me, some of these exceptions are people I know, and people I did not realise would be so…well…mean!

In the last month or so, I have had someone say to me "You used to be pretty…[until you gained weight]" and another suggest that perhaps my weight gain wasn’t a result of Prednisone at all, and that perhaps I’d just gotten fat of my own accord, and was using the steroids as an excuse.

Classy, right? I bet you can guess what my face looked like after hearing these comments. But, in case you can’t, my makeup-less and poorly-lit self has staged a reenactment…

"Whaaat!?" – "Booooo" – "Grrrrrrr!"

I wasn’t upset straight away, simply because I was thinking "Did you SERIOUSLY just say what I think you said!?" Yes. Yes they did. And to go from bad to worse, both of them knew WHY I have gained weight. They also know what sort of treatment I’m having and why, so it’s not as if they were oblivious.

After I thought about them a bit though, I was definitely upset. I mean, who wouldn’t be hurt by someone telling them "You are unattractive because you are overweight", especially when the reason for gaining this weight in the first place is not only something I have virtually no control over, but is also part of treatment for a relatively serious and stressful medical condition.

Anyway! Before this post turns into a massive rant, with accidental overtones of "People were mean! Please feel sorry for me!", I should move along to say that after talking to some people in my life who DO have their heads screwed on straight, I have gained some perspective.

I really believe that saying that kind of tactless, unkind thing to someone says a whole lot more about you than it does about the person it’s aimed at.

As much as I sometimes wish I was witty enough to think of a snarky reply, I’m glad I didn’t. It wouldn’t have helped and, knowing me, I would have felt bad later about having been rude back, even if it was "deserved".

With a bit of thought, and time, neither of these comments are as hurtful as they were. Although I HAVE gained weight and I DO feel unattractive as a result, I also know that this is temporary, and for a purpose. In a year or two, I will hopefully be back to my normal self, and, even more importantly than that, I will hopefully be in remission!

I will also have the added knowledge of who in my life is worth spending time with and emotional energy on, and who is better off being either avoided entirely, or relegated to the Casual Acquaintance box. As crap as it is to find that kind of thing out this way, over such a sensitive topic, I’d rather know than not know.

In the meantime, I’m going to try not to think too hard about what other people say about me. There are more important things to do with my life….like contemplate how much longer I can restrain myself from opening the dark chocolate and mint Easter egg currently sitting on my kitchen table! ;-)

1. Banana Choc Chip muffins! Om nom nom.
2. Went out for dinner on Saturday night. Could have ordered kidneys, but they did not sound tasty, so I didn’t, I just took a photo instead. :P
3. Poppy. She is posing – I am sure of it. :P
4. Pretty Easter-themed window in Ballantynes.
5. Went to Spotlight (huge craft shop) on Monday afternoon…this creepy looking dude was standing in the aisle. I’m not afraid of clowns but I still did not like him. He was weird.
6. I did, however, like these rabbit hats. A lot. Looking at this photo is making me wish I had bought one! :(

This Wednesday, I love Annah Stretton clothing. People outside of New Zealand probably won’t have heard of her, but I walked past her shop a couple of days ago and I think I am in love. All these dresses are ridiculously pretty, and when I saw that there was an official Pinterest account, I knew I had to share.

Here are some of my favourites…

Please tell me it’s not just me who thinks these clothes are amazing?!

The best thing that happened this month was…

Going back to the clinic at the beginning of the month and finding out that the treatment seems to have started working. *woop woop*

My creatinine has gone down from 215 to 193. Creatinine indicates how well your kidneys are functioning, and, basically, the lower the number, the better! Mine isn’t ever going to be normal, but the fact it hasn’t gone up is awesome. Not getting worse = good.

It’s still too soon to say how successful this is going to be long-term, but I’m happy so far. :-)

Other pretty cool things..

• Tapering off my Prednisone dosage from 60mg to 40mg. It’s still a lot, but it’s less than it was!
• I now have medication to support my immune system, the plan being that I avoid catching every cold and bug going around!
• Aforementioned medication has also improved my skin. It’s still not completely back to normal, but it’s better!
• My general health is good enough that I can work almost full time. It’s tiring, but do-able.

 

The worst thing that happened this month was…

I’m still gaining weight. I suspect this might be listed as a "worst thing" every update. The amount that this bothers me, bothers me. I know it’s minor in comparison to everything else, but I want to be honest, and even though I’m a generally positive, optimistic person, this is something I’m struggling with.

It’s because this is a physical sign that something is wrong. I can’t see or feel what my kidneys are doing, but I can see and feel this, and it’s a daily reminder that I’m not "normal". I know I’ll be able to lose the weight again once I stop treatment, but this seems like a long way off.

40mg of Prednisone is still a big enough dose to cause me to continue to gain weight, though HOPEFULLY at a slightly lesser rate than before. We’ll see.

Other not very good things…

• I’m still tired quite a lot. My life at the moment pretty much consists of working (at quite a full-on job) and sleeping, with some exercise thrown in. Sadly, I seem to have missed out on the whole Massive Prednisone Energy Buzz some people get. Or perhaps I haven’t, and I’m just using it all up by working…who knows?
• I’ve had a few muscle aches/pain/cramps from decreasing the steroid dosage. At least I think that’s what they’re from. o.O

Something unexpected that happened to me this month…

Maybe this shouldn’t have been unexpected, since it’s common knowledge that there are a certain percentage of idiots in the world, but this month I encountered one of them, and they made some *less-than-helpful* comments about my illness/appearance.

I’m not going to go into detail about it, since quite honestly, I’m still annoyed, but once I’ve got my head around it and decided how to post about it, I will.

Other unexpected things…

•  None! The first one was quite enough, thankyouverymuch!

The craziest thing my body has done this month…

My hands are super shaky. I notice it mostly when I write, and sometimes I can hold my hands out in front of me and literally see them shaking! My handwriting used to be really neat, now…not so much! Oddly, I didn’t notice this when I was on a higher steroid dosage, but I definitely do now! Fortunately, like the other side effects, it won’t be permanent!

Other crazy things that have happened to me…

• The occasional "migrating eyebrow". To the middle of my face. Yeeeeahhhh….no thanks! I now stand in front of the makeup mirror every morning and night. Armed with tweezers. #strayhairsnotwelcome #senseofhumouressential

In other news, I recently found this photo on my cellphone. I took it during my last chemo treatment. Cutest IV ever. It has bows…and they’re even purple! I smiled. :)

Tune in again next month, folks, for the next installment of What On Earth Is Happening To Holly Now!

1. Poor old Knox Presbytarian Church didn’t survive the the earthquakes too well. :(
2. Across the road from Knox Church, a new building is sprouting up. Christchurch never looks the same two days in a row!
3. I love my new sunglasses case ridiculously much.
4. Sunset.
5. My view on my epic walk on Wednesday night! 1 hour and 40 minutes up and down hills!
6. I see the moon…

I have not been a very good blogger or photo-taker this week. FAIL. I have been working a lot though, which has made me pretty tired, so that’s my lame excuse, lol! :P

 Also, tune in tomorrow for the latest installment of Holly’s Epic Health Update – March Edition! :P

A very simple question for you all on a Sunday afternoon….what are your favourite salad ingredients?

I am bored with sandwiches and want something else healthy for lunch at work.

1. It didn’t take my furry friend very long to find a space to hang out on my bookshelf.
2. My snazzy silver flats are now no longer too uncomfortable to wear! Yay!
3. Cupcake Collection kiosk at the mall.
4. Pork wonton noodle soup…which looked a whole lot prettier before I stirred it.
5. Storage boxes make me ridiculously happy. They have bred since I took this photo. Now there are five.
6. Walking along my street in the dark.
7. Christchurch is kind of sparkly at night.
8. A birthday card for a friend.
   
9. Birthday flowers for aforementioned friend.