» Complaining

I see your complaints, and think I have just the cure.
Now, look at this picture.




What were you going to complain about again?
(Fri 3rd Sep 2010, 18:49, More)

» Beautiful Moments, Part Two

With a little bit of luck...
First off, a little backstory.

My cousin is one of the strongest people I know. Brought up in a military family, she spent her younger childhood moving around the world every couple of years, and as happens with military children she was sent to boarding school with her elder sister, where they had horsehair mattresses and were bullied a lot by the other girls.

She met her first husband at uni, and they were together for four or five years before they got married. He was a wonderful guy, and we were all elated for her. A few months after the wedding, he contracted terminal cancer - he had Crohn's disease, and apparently there's an associated cancer that occurs in a very tiny percentage of Crohn's sufferers that is incredibly hard to treat.

He died about a year after they were married, and it devastated my cousin. She was widowed in her very early thirties.

After a few years, she started dating again, and found a lovely new guy. If I remember rightly, he proposed after about a year, and they had a really pretty ceremony, with her two little nieces running around with some of her friends' kids.

Not long after, they started trying to have kids, to no avail. It turns out that in an operation my cousin had when she was very young to remove an appendix about to burst, one of her ovaries was removed at the same time, and this left it very very difficult for her to conceive. They started on IVF, hoping it would help, but the drugs made her extremely ill, though we didn't know it at the time. It was later told to us that at any point during the treatment she could have become extremely ill and needed urgent admittal to hospital. It was unsuccessful, so she had a second round, but using embryos from the first round that had been frozen. Again, it didn't take.

Hence the third round. All the frozen embryos had been used, so she needed the drugs so they could harvest more eggs. She stayed in hospital during that, and became violently ill following implantation. She was in hospital for two or three weeks, unable to move or walk, on what pain meds they could give her taking into account the fact that she may be pregnant, though that barely scratched the surface. She's home now, and has been for a week, and is starting to be able to walk again.

Just before she left hospital, she had her first scan, and two embryos had taken.

Her next scan is today. If we're extremely lucky, there will be a heartbeat on the monitor. Maybe even two. And if there is, I think she will be the happiest she's ever been, and rightly so. That would be a truly beautiful moment.




UPDATE: Two heartbeats. Mum and I were in tears of joy reading the message. Champagne time. ^______^
(Fri 6th Aug 2010, 11:13, More)

» Good Advice

Just in case you ever encounter a Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
or go paddling on a spontaneous visit to the beach, make sure you /always/ know where your towel is.
(Tue 25th May 2010, 18:27, More)

» Sticking it to The Man

Student Finance England
Anyone who knows anyone who's had to apply for student finance through them will understand what I mean when I say I'd almost rather go without student loan than deal with them.

Apologies for lateness, I've been on hold to their call centre for the past week.
(Thu 17th Jun 2010, 16:07, More)

» Good Advice

While reading the comments on PostSecret a year or so ago
I came across one with a piece of advice I've taken to heart.

"Suicide is a permanent answer to a temporary problem."

I've kept it in mind for over a year now, and it's helped me and my friends plenty.


Long time lurker, first time poster, go easy please.
(Tue 25th May 2010, 18:15, More)