Recovering and a New Rat...

You would have thought that I would have been used to the whole routine and general irksome nature of my condition right? Yeah, I'm kind of feeling that feeling you get when you look and feel like someone has sat on you, all your muscles in your chest, back and the upper part of your stomach feel like they're being tightened with an elastic band to the point where they hurt. A lot. In fact right now, all the muscles in my ribs, collarbones and back are at the point of screaming in pain. It's messed up, I know. Its weird, I go through the actual attack completely fine, a bit of pain here and there but that's about all, then nearly 2 weeks of the adrenaline wearing off and feeling as though someone parked a rather large lorry on my head. Until you have lived with a condition like asthma, I don't think you can ever really understand just how much it can drain every ounce of strength from you.

So, here I am, lying in bed, trying to keep my eyes open because I am, yet again completely exhausted and, I will admit, struggling a bit. But one thing I always forget (and I have done it since I was very small) is that when something is hurting or you feel completely like someone knocked the stuffing from you, your body is probably trying to tell you something that you would do well to take heed of. And right now that message seems to be "Slow down." or "Stop completely. Even if it is for a little while, just lie there, snuggle in to the duvet and do NOTHING... stick a film on the little TV to stare at by all means, but nothing more strenuous than that." Not something an active person like me likes to hear. I like doing things and moving around and going about my day in any way I see fit so having that kind of restriction on me is kind of a drain. Maybe, I ought to find a way of keeping myself both in bed and stimulated so that I can get the best of both worlds on this. Although my laptop, tablet, iPod and phone seem to be my best distraction methods right now.

Since Virgil died so suddenly on Tuesday (Becky found that he'd just dropped suddenly from the stress of the noisy people upstairs) Dante, Becky's rat, was feeling a little lonely so Becky got a surprise as an early Easter present. A little black and white baby Dumbo rat who we've named Sparda. Sparda was a shy little thing at first but hes quite the little baby. He loves to cuddle on the sofa with us and earlier I managed to groom him gently with a soft toothbrush. He's a handsome little fellow as well and has these adorable big eyes and ears! Dante seems to like his new little charge and happily grooms him and makes sure he's alright. I even caught Sparda (who follows Dante everywhere) lying on Dante's back and snuggling in to him. I've never really been that big on rats, but I do love keeping them. They're intelligent and intuitive little things and they are such little characters. Although no rat will ever compare to my little lady Lightning. She was a little dear and when she passed on, I was quite sad but I knew it was for the best really, she was about a year old when I got her and had had a rather rough time of it. It comforts me to know that she didn't suffer for all the time she was with me.

Of course, I do keep my guinea pigs and I do adore them so. Luckily Kadaj has stopped his one pig crusade to strip his poor cagemate down and remove what makes him our fuzzy lump! Poor Gizmo was starting to look like a mixture of a battered sausage and a skinny-pig. Poor little chap was a bit confused as to where his fuzziness was suddenly going and Becky caught Kadaj in the act (which make him look like he had some kind of ginger mustache! After speaking to a vet, Becky was assured that this kind of behavior is common in cavies (its known as barbering) and is something that would pass. Lucky for poor little Gizzy, his fur is coming back and he hasn't lost his sweet gentle nature.

Since getting Sparda, I have been besotted with him, hes so much smaller than Dante, probably just a bit bigger than Nero (who is doing very well, he had a bit of a shout and a scream on Friday but he soon calmed himself down) and in all, we have 7 nice, happy and friendly pets in our home. Yes that is quite the menagerie of rodents but to be honest, they really do give me something to enjoy, from cute things who love to snuggle to inquisitive and playful rats who seem to enjoy human interaction. They all eat well and are regularly cleaned, groomed and given every bit of loving care that they really do deserve.

I also made the decision to report what happened last week to WMAS complaints team. What happened last week was shameful and what was worse? It was avoidable had correct practices been adhered to and I'd been given the appropriate level of care that I should have had. I have been getting nightmares recently about what could have happened and those scenarios really opened my eyes up and made me look at the situation properly. It has left me a bit unsteady and a bit unsure about whether I should be allowed to make these decisions. Do I know my health enough? Do I know my signs? That kind of thing. Its hard not to think about it, but the reality is that nearly a week ago, there was almost not a Wendy to be writing this blog today. The results could have been so much more tragic and we could have been looking at a funeral being planned, instead of a good day out to meet a friend from Twitter.

That is something that really does frighten us, we were so unaware of what was happening and why it happened. I want answers. I want to make sure that the person who could have done so much more and didn't is held accountable for this. Some could argue that it could cost them their job, but if they can let something like this happen, then why on earth are they allowed to do it in the first place?! It's a scary process, I had to do it before when similar happened (but not to the same extent) and I noticed that they seemed to close ranks and defend the last person I reported, although an apology letter was sent in due course. I dread to think what would happen should the A+E in Redditch close, the work they do is vital and life saving and had it not been for them, I wouldn't be here now. Which is some serious food for thought.

Loves
Wendy xx