I cannot believe how long it has been since my last post - I think this is the cause of my going off track again on my new eating regime, well that is my excuse! I had been doing really well on IPD - lost 8lbs in 3 weeks (5 ahead of my 1lb a week target) but then I went away to Cornwall and put on the weight that I lost!!!! So trying in earnest to get back into it but will come to that in a bit.
Went to Cornwall for the Easter weekend, with my brother, his girfriend and their daughter. We had a lovely time - stayed in this stunning hotel called Watergate Bay. Beautiful location, beautiful surroundings and altogether gorgeous hotel. The only bad point that I will say about it was that considering our room was a Family Suite it was a little on the small side for Suite standards but apart from that a brilliant time was had. The weather wasnt that great but wasnt awful - we managed to get to the beach most days even if it was blasting a gale or peeing it down! Where it is located is where Echo Beach is filmed. The hotel's Beach Bar is the shop that Jason Donovan's characters owns but unfortunately it was almost completely destroyed in a freak storm a couple of weeks before and had only been open for 3 days after refurbishment!! So we couldnt go in there. Jamie Oliver's Fifteen is right next door to the hotel and we went for lunch on the Saturday - well it would have been rude not to!! It was lovely but I wouldn't say that I was over impressed, not a lot of selection from the menu and the service was a bit slow when you have an impatient 5 year old with you!!! We did the whole Newquay thing and generally mooched around for 5 days eating far too many cream teas :-) and drinking too much alcohol!! My niece had a great time in the swimming pool and the kids club and was hard to pull her out sometimes!
I would like to say that my dad is recovering well but I can't. He seems to be struggling at the moment. Don't get me wrong - considering he had a major heart op 7 weeks ago he is doing really really well but he has had a couple of setbacks. A few weeks back I had a dreaded phonecall from mum at work saying that she had had to call for an ambulance again because dad was having pains in his chest. I immediately burst into tears and left work (very understanding boss thank goodness) and met her at the hospital. They kept him in overnight to do tests but they couldn't find anything majorly wrong that would be causing it - he had a bit of fluid on his lungs still which could have been causing an infection. So they released him the next day with an Angina spray for if it happens again and thankfully so far it hasn't. The other problem that he is having is the leg that they removed the vein from for his bypass. He can hardly walk from the pain. At first they thought it might be a clot and immediately put him on bloody thinning injections and arranged for a scan but thankfully they have not found a clot. Since then he has had his post-op checkup at the Brompton and they advised that it could be caused by 1 of the drugs that he is having to take, so meanwhile still trying to get to the bottom of it all. He has aged so much since I last wrote - people have always commented on how young my dad seems but he is not looking it so much these days. I am scared that this is a downwards spiral but hope it straightens out soon.
My exercise had been going great guns until I had to have surgery on my elbow. After the op I had my arm in a cast for 2 weeks which caused a lot of angst! I had those 2 weeks off work as it just would not have been feesible to get my mum over everyday to help me dress etc!!! Don't know how people that have lost a limb cope - I have a lot for empathy for them now! Thankfully it is out of the cast now and I am back at work. It is still very painful probably more so since coming out of the cast but I am getting there - the hardest time is trying to sleep at night, when i turn onto it the pain wakes me up!! I have to go back to the consultant at the end of May for the post op check up so fingers crossed it is better by then.
Trying to book a holiday for the beginning of May but because we have such god awful weather here there are no deals to be had! I managed to get 10 nights All Inclusive 5* for £180 in Cyprus last year but nothing nearing even double that this year!!! I will keep slogging on though - the holiday companies know that they can charge the prices because we just aren't getting the weather here.
I will endeavour to update this blog on a more regular basis - I need to for my own sanity...it helps me keep in line I hope.