It's been a bit hectic here for the last few days. On sunday afternoon my brother his wife, their almost 3 year old son and 5 month old daughter came to stay. They are very unorganised so soon had stuff all over the place.

I got to see and hold my niece for the first time and she didn't cry until she got hungry and couldn't find any milk. Usually babies cry as soon as I get hold of them, i reckon they realise my body quite literally falls apart and so don't feel safe. She didn't mind though even when my shoulder did dislocate.

My youngest dog had a great time licking fingers and faces and my niece spent alot of time watching her and smiling and laughing whenever she got licked

On monday we went to the nearest town which only has 2 wheelchair accessible shops and then went to the pub my mum works at so she could show off the grandkids. The pub has a couple of steps up to it but they do have a ramp so it is (sort of) accessible. Theirs a disabled toilet which was nice and clean but their were a couple of issues with it. Their wasn't a mirror and their wasn't an alarm cord. When I first couldn't see and alarm cord I figured i must not be looking high enough because often they're tied up out of the way so if you fall they aren't any use at all but no it wasn't tied up because their wasn't one.

Me and mum went home then so i could have a nap whilst my brother and his family visited my grandparents. Then we went to the local pub for a meal. Theirs steps up to that pub and not much room for a wheelchair once someones dragged your wheelchair up the steps and their isn't a disabled toilet but their is at least a grab rail in the ladies toilet.

Of course I'd done way too much on Monday so knew i would be a wreck on tuesday and should stay in bed all day to recover. I don't see my brothers family very often though so i weren't going to miss out on what little time I knew I'd have with them. So I took extra morphine in the morning (shhh don't tell my doctor) and then I could actually get out of bed.

We went to an indoor play area which my nephew thought was great. Some of the kids started bullying him but his grandma sorted them out. Not sure what she did or said but they looked a bit scared and left my nephew alone after that! I should really have gone into the disabled toilet and taken photos to feed Benefit Scrounging Scum obsession with them but I'd forgotten to charge my phone so couldn't take photos with a dead phone. I didn't go into the toilet so can't even report on it.

My niece thought my fingers were fascinating. She was grabbing them and pulling them in all sorts of directions that she's probably never seen fingers go before. She was quite good at putting my fingers back in joint too!

They set off this afternoon to go down to Liverpool where they'll stay overnight with my brothers wifes parents and then they'll get the ferry in the morning. I loved seeing them and wish they could've stayed longer but I'm exhausted! I'd love to have kids some day but don't think I will because they're just so tiring

Family...again...

No not my dad this time. He's gone back to Ireland so no more insensitive comments from him or tickling my feet making me dislocate for probably another few years.

On Thursday it was my stepdads birthday and we went out for a meal. He didn't know that my mum organised a surprise party for last night. So after going out on Thursday night my pelvis was rather annoyed but I thought I'd just stay in bed as much as I possibly could on Friday so I could go to the party. The party was at the same pub that we went to for the meal. My joints particularly my pelvis still weren't good on friday night but I were intending on going to the party anyway because I knew it would be fun and I won't be going anywhere for the next few days so would have time to recover. I didn't get to go to the party though, I weren't invited. Why weren't I invited? Because my mum would have to drive if I went instead of them walking home and she wanted to drink. I weren't all that surprised this time because something similar happened at christmas.

It looked like my mum would be alone at christmas because I were planning on going to stay with my boyfriend and my stepdad was told he would be away working for a few weeks. So I felt guilty that she'd be alone and decided to stay at home and go to stay with my boyfriend just after christmas. As it turned out my stepdad was home at christmas and his son came and stayed for a coupe of days too. On christmas eve the went down to the pub without me but I were ok with that I thought I'd get to go the next day.

Christmas day morning we had a glass of champagne each (it goes well with morphine) then opened our presents. Or rather everyone opened their own presents except for me, my dogs opened my presents! I were then looking forward to going to the pub and were going to have a baileys when I got there. I don't usually drink because morphine and alcohol together isn't really a good idea but I feel ok after drinking the champagne so figured one baileys wouldn't kill me. I were rather annoyed when they all decided to go to the pub without me just because they all wanted to drink. So being able to have alcoholic drinks at the pub was more important than spending time with me on christmas day. You would have thought that my mum would've been happy to drive so I didn't miss out and then she could've drunk as much as she wanted once we were home but no they thought it better to just leave me at home all alone for hours whilst they went out and had a good time. I may get my revenge though, if it looks like my stepdad will be away next christmas I'll go and stay with my boyfriend and leave her all alone for christmas and be able to not feel the slightest bit guilty!

Family aren't they great

Today my dad might be visiting. I don't see him often because he lives in Ireland, actually hadn't seen him for over 2 years until he visited last Wednesday. We used to be very close and whilst my mum seemed unsure as to whether their was anything wrong with me when I were a kid my dad always seemed to believe me. Then the wicked witch of the west came along. I have a diagnosis now so you would think that would mean I would be believed by everyone but no she seems to have brainwashed my dad into thinking theirs nothing wrong with me. I don't really know how he can believe that I'd give up cycling which I loved just to fake being disabled and some days only crawl out of bed to go the toilet making sure I keep myself well dehydrated so I don't need to go to the toilet as much because moving hurts too much. How he can think I'd spend the money I've been saving up for years which I were saving up to buy a good road bike but have now had to spend it on a power chair, does he really think my life's fun and easy??

Last time I went to Ireland to visit him I checked and double checked that a wheelchair was arranged for me to borrow at both airports flying both ways. I then explained I could (can't now but could then) walk up the steps onto the plane but couldn't walk down steps and asked whether that would be a problem and could they carry me off. I suspected it may be a problem because of health and safety but were told no it wasn't a problem they could carry me off. So I went on the day and were impressed that their was a wheelchair there waiting for me. They did almost forget to put me on the flight! The assistant said he'd be back when it was time to board and then dissappeared and then apparently completetly forgot about me! I had to have a 'praise the lord I'm cured' moment, thats what I call it when I get out of a wheelchair and walk a little way, some people really do seem to think it's a miracle others just glare at me like I'm faking it. Anyway after hobbling over to the nearest member of staff who seemed not to have notice me sat in the wheelchair in plain sight I were hurriedly put on the plane. The flight was fine and when I got to Ireland their was a nice hunk there with a wheelchair right at the bottom of the steps for me and as soon as the other passengers had got off I were carried off.
All was fine on the way back too until I got to Teeside airport where I were told they couldn't carry me off because of health and safety! Now remember I had arranged this, had checked and double checked that me being carried off wasn't a problem. It wasn't until the (Irish) pilot came through and said he'd carry me off that they decided they were being a bit silly and would carry me off afterall. So that put me off flying and with not driving it would be difficut for me to go over there on the ferry and would mean hours in a car then being seasick on the ferry and then hours more in an old rattly landrover because my dad lives on the west coast of Ireland