Over the weekend Sarah rented two movies from Blockbuster for us to watch. They were Stardust and Eastern Promises, both of which I liked a lot.
On Saturday, we watched Stardust directed by Matthew Vaughn, and stared an ensemble cast including Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Charlie Cox, Sienna Miller, Rupert Everett, Ricky Gervais, Nathaniel Parker, Peter O'Toole, David Kelly, and Mark Heap. Plus, it’s narrated is by Sir Ian McKellen. It is based on the novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Charles Vess and originally published by DC Comics.
Stardust is about Tristan Thorn who is an 18 year old young man in love with the prettiest girl, Victoria in a small English town. And he’s desperate to bring her a newly fallen star by her birthday b/c that’s the only way she’ll agree to marry him. So, Tristan sets off to find the star, and there’s a twist when he does find it. Soon he’s off on a brilliant magical adventure, and discovers Victoria is not what she seems to be… Neil Gaiman is SO one of my fav authors and I’m DEFINITELY going to check out the novel b/c Stardust is just a well good family film, unlike many other boring family typical films, and I really enjoyed it. Highly recommended to watch w/ your family. *** THREE 1/2 STARS ***
Furthermore, on Sunday Sarah, me, and my two carers watched Eastern Promises directed by David Cronenberg, which stars Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts. Eastern Promises is about the interactions of a British midwife with the Russian mafia in London. It was yes very violent, but felt very realistic; and Viggo’s performance was fantastic, he really embraced that role, as he does on every role he takes. In addition, writer for Dirty Pretty Things, Steven Knight, wrote the screenplay too. Overall, Eastern Promises was a well brilliant film that was superbly filmed and acted, and is a very highly recommended as long as you’re not eating or by yourself in the dark (and definitely not with anyone under the age of 18). *** FOUR 1/2 STARS ***
Also, later on in the evening on Sunday, we (Sarah, Sana, Sufian, me, and my two carers) went to go see the new Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I thought it was quite a good film and I had a very fun time with my siblings b/c we hardly all go out together. And it has some well cool special effects, despite having a few bits that were annoying, but all in all a great film. Really recommended. *** FOUR STARS ***
Tuesday 27 May 2008
Friday 23 May 2008
My Granddad is Amazing
On Saturday my granddad had a massive brain hemorrhage to all of our great horror. It all started while Mama was in Pakistan a few before they were coming home, and she was crossing the w/ granddad when this idiot on a motorbike came and ran him down... That XXXX - XXXX! This is very shocking b/c the motorbike was quite a good distance away went he decided to cross and is about 86 (so he's not not going to walking fast making him hard to see from far and not going to suddenly run into the street), and the driver could've gone in front or behind, but instead decided to go through him! Thankfully, he only had lots of cuts and bruises, and was able to whack the teenage the teenage driver with his walking stick a few good times before he ran off...
Anyway, he seemed fine afterwards when all last week he was having a great deal of trouble walking and suddenly last Friday his blood pressure went excessively high (more worrying since he's Diabetic). By time Saturday morning came around, my granddad couldn't move his entire left side, so we quickly called GP, and once he arrived said my granddad had paralysis on left side (and was a bit too late), and called the ambulance to go to the A&E. Luckily, the paramedics agreed to take him to another, much better, much new A&E than the one I had to go to. Within two hours, he was being operated on by neurosurgeons. It took over four hours, and was largely successful. Thankfully, by Monday he was conscious, and relatively alert. But, he's really amazing, very strong willed and hopefully everything will work out for the best. Now we are waiting for him to make a full recovery before he comes home.
Anyway, he seemed fine afterwards when all last week he was having a great deal of trouble walking and suddenly last Friday his blood pressure went excessively high (more worrying since he's Diabetic). By time Saturday morning came around, my granddad couldn't move his entire left side, so we quickly called GP, and once he arrived said my granddad had paralysis on left side (and was a bit too late), and called the ambulance to go to the A&E. Luckily, the paramedics agreed to take him to another, much better, much new A&E than the one I had to go to. Within two hours, he was being operated on by neurosurgeons. It took over four hours, and was largely successful. Thankfully, by Monday he was conscious, and relatively alert. But, he's really amazing, very strong willed and hopefully everything will work out for the best. Now we are waiting for him to make a full recovery before he comes home.
Mum's Birthday
On 9 May it was Mum's 50th birthday, and we had a surprise party for her. Went really well, considering how many times it nearly went wrong. On the day of, we sent mum and dad out and told dad to bring her home at seven to give her two best friends time to get over to ours with the food, decorations etc. Unfortunately, at around 6:30pm, dad called and said they were coming home because mama needed the loo and refused to go anywhere but home. We panicked and tried getting decorations up etc. Somehow we made it in time. She came in just as Sarah was lighting the sparklers she'd bought for mum's birthday cupcakes. The wax on the sparklers kept dripping on the cupcakes so she had to get them all and put them in a glass and light them like that. Mama came in and looked shocked when we all shouted SURPRISE. While she chatted with her friends about how shocked she was, Sarah tried to light the candles that said "49" because the shop had run out of 0s, and she didn't want to make mum 51. While she was leaning down she hadn't realised that the sparklers had caught fire in a big way and were burning near her hair. She glanced down, did a double take and shrieked. Everyone started shouting at once, while she blew on them frantically. They wouldn't go out so she spat on them (haha sexy!) which did the trick.
We all had a really good meal and took pictures. I looked good if I say so myself. I wore a black shirt and Luxe jeans with a really nice silver tie from Topshop.
Overall it was a really good evening and mum had a really nice time.
We got mama this: http://www.johnlewis.com/230172060/Product.aspx
Photos of party coming soon.
We all had a really good meal and took pictures. I looked good if I say so myself. I wore a black shirt and Luxe jeans with a really nice silver tie from Topshop.
Overall it was a really good evening and mum had a really nice time.
We got mama this: http://www.johnlewis.com/230172060/Product.aspx
Photos of party coming soon.
Voting is Wicked
London voted on 1 May for Mayor of London, and for the first time in my life I voted too for my local council member and London Mayor. It was so bloody exciting, and the first step to me becoming a productive and efficient global citizen. Sadly though, London elected Boris Johnson as Mayor: so, let's all pray that in four years London is left in tact...
Mum's Holiday
On 25 March - 28 April, Mum went back to Pakistan to visit her dad, my granddad (my only remaining grand parent). She really needed this trip, and was good for her. Also, she brought my granddad back w/ her as well to stay w/ us again b/c he wasn't that well, and was over there since last June just to take of a few things. Anyway, it's just nice having him here.
Sharon & John Visit
On 20 April - 27 April, Sharon & John who are my really good friends from America came to visit me. Sharon is Kim's (who came to visit last July) mum, and a lovely woman. John is a very clever and nice man. On Sunday we had a really lunch with them at home which was wonderful, with lots of laughing. On the following Friday night, me, Sarah, Sharon and John went out to an amazingly good seafood restaurant in Wanstead which was wonderful because of the company, but also because of the restaurant. The food was really nice, and it was a very enjoyable evening with the four of us together. Lots of catching up with each other, sharing funny stories, and lots more laughter. I wasn't even done with the starter when the main course came, both of which I ended up taking home with me. On the next Saturday, they came over to our house for a very lush brunch, which involved pate, eclairs, strawberries, a selection of bread and cheeses, quiche, and fizzy lemonade. It was brilliant. They also brought loads of really thoughtful, lovely gifts for me and my family, which was not necessary but very, very much appreciated. I really hope they can come back soon. Photos below:
Photos of Sharon + John w/ Sarah & Me at Seafood Restaurant on 25 April =
Photos of Sharon + John w/ Sarah & Me at Seafood Restaurant on 25 April =
Comedy Night at the Royal Albert Hall
On 9 April, me and Sarah went to the Royal Albert Hall for a comedy night. Proceeds went to the Teenage Cancer Trust. Unfortunately, my wheelchair broke down, so Sarah had to push me in manually, which was much faster than I usually go (only b/c my wheelchair hasn't been working lately not b/c of her driving, just wait until I get a new wheelchair... HA HA HA). Luckily we got in just as it was starting. It started well with Mr. Noel Fielding warming us up. The next act was bizarre. Noel came back and made us laugh loads, the next act (the guy who plays "Johnny Two Hats" in the first series of the Boosh), was hilarious. I remember Razorlight doing an acoustic performance at some point, which was very well received. Noel kept us laughing throughout. At the very end Julian came on with the Boosh Band. We were lucky enough to witness the first Boosh Band gig, which was amazing. At the end of it all, I wanted to go on all night. It was incredibly funny and hugely entertaining. Everyone (above 18) should definitely see Noel Fielding perform stand up live once in their life. I really he hope he comes out with a stand up DVD at some point.
To Hell and Back. Literally.
Hi guys,
I am sorry that I haven't updated my blog in a very long while, but it's due to quite difficult circumstances. I was really sick and I ended up in hospital for about 15 days, which was a much more horrible experience than it needed to be.
In the early hours of the 26th Feb, I was getting very short of breath and getting severe chest pains on the right side. I called my GP in the morning and asked him to get me an ambulance to the specialist respiratory hospital in S. Kensington. When he called the hospital they said there were no beds there, so instead the ambulance took me to the local general hospital, which is a complete disgrace. We got there around 1pm. They took me to the A&E (aka ER). We waited for four hours for the doctor to come. He decided they needed to draw blood. Because my veins are so thin, they tend to collapse and then roll if the needle is lucky enough to even find it on the first try. Which is fun. Really fun. So when my mum told this to the nurse and asked how experienced she was, the nurse got pissed off and defensive and accused mum of undermining her. After the doctor took my blood, we waiting until 11pm in the A&E before they took us up to the ward.
At 7am the next morning the nurse comes and wakes me up for a full towel bath, which was horrible and awkward, insisting that the doctors don't like untidy patience. To be frank, I was a hell of a lot tidier than her. We waited in this small room with two carers and my mum until Thurs morning when they transferred me to the respiratory ward. Amazingly it was an open ward. At that point, the hell began. Because it was an open ward with 40 elderly patients coughing and sneezing and breathing their germs all over the place. In my condition, and with my immune system, you can imagine how terrible it was. On my left, was a patient with TB, and on the right there was a patient who spent much of his night going:
CRAHWAWHAHWAHA3y595edshfs <-- Imagine that as the sound of an elderly man farting and snoring at the same time. Well. You can imagine.
The patient on the left kept screaming "DOCTOOOORR" all night.
Within three hours of being in the open ward, I started vomiting uncontrollably. To make matters worse the Diarrhea began. The doctors tried to tell me I brought them home. I was like no I bloody well didn't you liars. It was pretty severe.
Thursday afternoon, the doctors added even more antibiotics to what I was already taking (in addition to the three courses I took before for a chest infection). This served to make the diarrhea worse. The doctors and nurses were absolutely horrible. They would come stick needles in my arteries to test blood gases, tried to get it from my wrists, which was very painful; as well as taking blood from veins. The breathing got worse, the diarrhea got worse. On Thursday afternoon, when I was alone, one of the doctors came and said they would need to put a trache into my throat. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a tube that goes into your throat to help you breathe. My understanding of it was that it was a painful procedure, and life-changing as well. I figured it would send my quality of life down the toilet. He asked how I felt about the trache. And I told him I don't need that, and that it would be the very last thing that I would want. I told them there is no reason for me to use it, as there were plenty of safer alternatives that they hadn't even tried yet. They just said, we'll see.
By Friday I was fed up beyond belief. They started me on a full face ventilator. On Friday night, one of the ICU doctors came and said my condition had deteriorated and that I should be in the ICU.
They transferred me on Saturday with my parents, Once we got there, these bitches in the ICU wouldn't let anyone in, even though I am dependent on my parents or carers to take care of my basic needs (i.e. moving etc). When they transferred me from the stretcher to the bed the head was raised too high, which meant I couldn't breathe. It was a pulsating bed to prevent pressure sores. I kept asking them to call my dad but they ignored me and instead put a full face ventilator on me, through which it's very hard to understand anything I say. I hardly have any mobility so I rely on my ability to speak to allow me to be safe and comfortable. You can imagine how difficult this was. This stupid nurse kept saying "it's okay!" and I wanted to tell her to shut up and get my dad so he could lay me down properly so I could breathe.
They finally let him in, but tried to insist that he couldn't stay overnight. Considering how poorly looked after I was without him, this was a problem.
When my mum came on Sunday, they wouldn't let her in at first.
Meanwhile the care company and my family were desperately trying to get me transferred to the specialist hospital in South Kensington. Sarah spent Saturday by my bedside, because dad got really sick with severe diarrhea himself, and mum had spent the whole day with me and was exhausted. On Saturday, my nurse Jarek (who was actually really good) looked after me along with Sarah. All the other nurses and doctors were stressing me out by refusing to tell me anything. Because of the full face mask, I got a really painful pressure sore on my nose... I've still got the scar. It also made my mouth really crusty and blocked up so that I would need a little suction thing every half an hour (like at the dentist). At around 2am, I shouted at Sarah that I needed suction. She jumped up and tried to understand but couldn't. I got more and more frustrated, and stressed. Jarek stood right next to Sarah and couldn't understand either. It went like this:
Me (muffled): SUCTION. SUCTION.
Sarah: I can't understand you darling, say it again!
Me: SUCTION
Sarah (half asleep, half panicking): Sexing?
Me: ...
Jarek: ...
Then it clicked, and she understood. "Suction?" "YES!!"
Also catheters are sooo horribly and undignified. I hope I never need to go through that again, no guy should ever have to go through that.
At some point. a doctor came and said they needed more blood. He kept poking me, but no joy. So he goes, okay we'll just draw it from your groin. I was quite resigned to this, and wanted to get it over with. He stuck the needle in a few times, but still no luck. That was really fun, trust me. As he was trying to find the vein, he was commenting on how difficult my veins were. I was trying to be casual about the whole thing, and before I could stop myself I said, "Yeah, I'm very hard...." I then panicked and finished it off with "...to draw blood from." (This is even funnier considering he was trying to take blood from my groin and was feeling around my groin find a good vein to get blood from when I said that! ;-0 But, in my defense I was SO tired and was out of it b/c my blood oxygen level was dropping rapidly hourly...)
After Sarah stayed with me on Saturday night, my mum told the nurses that I can only have a maximum of 750mls of feed via my peg (a tube through my stomach that feeds me special milk all night to make sure I get enough calories), because any more will make me ill. Sunday night they very rudely and aggressively kicked my dad out of the hospital saying I would be fine without him. Sure enough they gave me a full 1200+ ml feed that night which sent the diarrhea into overdrive. Luckily the vomiting stopped after a bit. Jarek was the one to find out that I had had too much feed because my stomach was bloated. He had to get the excess feed out. As he was doing that, another senior nurse yelled at him... I'm not sure why. When my mum found out she blew her top.
The night they kicked my dad out, was really truly awful. I got stuck with this rude Chinese nurse, who insisted on keeping some windows open. She also insisted on giving me a towel bath with cold water, and wouldn't understand what I was saying. I was freezing cold that whole night and no one could understand me through the mask.
On Thursday, after eleven days of torture, they finally transferred me to the specialist hospital. I stayed over the weekend, where I received much better treatment from the specialist hospital, and went home on Tuesday, 11 March. I was very happy to go home especially after my ordeal at the first hospital. Thankfully, I'm doing much better. Slowly but surely, I am recovering.
I am sorry that I haven't updated my blog in a very long while, but it's due to quite difficult circumstances. I was really sick and I ended up in hospital for about 15 days, which was a much more horrible experience than it needed to be.
In the early hours of the 26th Feb, I was getting very short of breath and getting severe chest pains on the right side. I called my GP in the morning and asked him to get me an ambulance to the specialist respiratory hospital in S. Kensington. When he called the hospital they said there were no beds there, so instead the ambulance took me to the local general hospital, which is a complete disgrace. We got there around 1pm. They took me to the A&E (aka ER). We waited for four hours for the doctor to come. He decided they needed to draw blood. Because my veins are so thin, they tend to collapse and then roll if the needle is lucky enough to even find it on the first try. Which is fun. Really fun. So when my mum told this to the nurse and asked how experienced she was, the nurse got pissed off and defensive and accused mum of undermining her. After the doctor took my blood, we waiting until 11pm in the A&E before they took us up to the ward.
At 7am the next morning the nurse comes and wakes me up for a full towel bath, which was horrible and awkward, insisting that the doctors don't like untidy patience. To be frank, I was a hell of a lot tidier than her. We waited in this small room with two carers and my mum until Thurs morning when they transferred me to the respiratory ward. Amazingly it was an open ward. At that point, the hell began. Because it was an open ward with 40 elderly patients coughing and sneezing and breathing their germs all over the place. In my condition, and with my immune system, you can imagine how terrible it was. On my left, was a patient with TB, and on the right there was a patient who spent much of his night going:
CRAHWAWHAHWAHA3y595edshfs <-- Imagine that as the sound of an elderly man farting and snoring at the same time. Well. You can imagine.
The patient on the left kept screaming "DOCTOOOORR" all night.
Within three hours of being in the open ward, I started vomiting uncontrollably. To make matters worse the Diarrhea began. The doctors tried to tell me I brought them home. I was like no I bloody well didn't you liars. It was pretty severe.
Thursday afternoon, the doctors added even more antibiotics to what I was already taking (in addition to the three courses I took before for a chest infection). This served to make the diarrhea worse. The doctors and nurses were absolutely horrible. They would come stick needles in my arteries to test blood gases, tried to get it from my wrists, which was very painful; as well as taking blood from veins. The breathing got worse, the diarrhea got worse. On Thursday afternoon, when I was alone, one of the doctors came and said they would need to put a trache into my throat. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a tube that goes into your throat to help you breathe. My understanding of it was that it was a painful procedure, and life-changing as well. I figured it would send my quality of life down the toilet. He asked how I felt about the trache. And I told him I don't need that, and that it would be the very last thing that I would want. I told them there is no reason for me to use it, as there were plenty of safer alternatives that they hadn't even tried yet. They just said, we'll see.
By Friday I was fed up beyond belief. They started me on a full face ventilator. On Friday night, one of the ICU doctors came and said my condition had deteriorated and that I should be in the ICU.
They transferred me on Saturday with my parents, Once we got there, these bitches in the ICU wouldn't let anyone in, even though I am dependent on my parents or carers to take care of my basic needs (i.e. moving etc). When they transferred me from the stretcher to the bed the head was raised too high, which meant I couldn't breathe. It was a pulsating bed to prevent pressure sores. I kept asking them to call my dad but they ignored me and instead put a full face ventilator on me, through which it's very hard to understand anything I say. I hardly have any mobility so I rely on my ability to speak to allow me to be safe and comfortable. You can imagine how difficult this was. This stupid nurse kept saying "it's okay!" and I wanted to tell her to shut up and get my dad so he could lay me down properly so I could breathe.
They finally let him in, but tried to insist that he couldn't stay overnight. Considering how poorly looked after I was without him, this was a problem.
When my mum came on Sunday, they wouldn't let her in at first.
Meanwhile the care company and my family were desperately trying to get me transferred to the specialist hospital in South Kensington. Sarah spent Saturday by my bedside, because dad got really sick with severe diarrhea himself, and mum had spent the whole day with me and was exhausted. On Saturday, my nurse Jarek (who was actually really good) looked after me along with Sarah. All the other nurses and doctors were stressing me out by refusing to tell me anything. Because of the full face mask, I got a really painful pressure sore on my nose... I've still got the scar. It also made my mouth really crusty and blocked up so that I would need a little suction thing every half an hour (like at the dentist). At around 2am, I shouted at Sarah that I needed suction. She jumped up and tried to understand but couldn't. I got more and more frustrated, and stressed. Jarek stood right next to Sarah and couldn't understand either. It went like this:
Me (muffled): SUCTION. SUCTION.
Sarah: I can't understand you darling, say it again!
Me: SUCTION
Sarah (half asleep, half panicking): Sexing?
Me: ...
Jarek: ...
Then it clicked, and she understood. "Suction?" "YES!!"
Also catheters are sooo horribly and undignified. I hope I never need to go through that again, no guy should ever have to go through that.
At some point. a doctor came and said they needed more blood. He kept poking me, but no joy. So he goes, okay we'll just draw it from your groin. I was quite resigned to this, and wanted to get it over with. He stuck the needle in a few times, but still no luck. That was really fun, trust me. As he was trying to find the vein, he was commenting on how difficult my veins were. I was trying to be casual about the whole thing, and before I could stop myself I said, "Yeah, I'm very hard...." I then panicked and finished it off with "...to draw blood from." (This is even funnier considering he was trying to take blood from my groin and was feeling around my groin find a good vein to get blood from when I said that! ;-0 But, in my defense I was SO tired and was out of it b/c my blood oxygen level was dropping rapidly hourly...)
After Sarah stayed with me on Saturday night, my mum told the nurses that I can only have a maximum of 750mls of feed via my peg (a tube through my stomach that feeds me special milk all night to make sure I get enough calories), because any more will make me ill. Sunday night they very rudely and aggressively kicked my dad out of the hospital saying I would be fine without him. Sure enough they gave me a full 1200+ ml feed that night which sent the diarrhea into overdrive. Luckily the vomiting stopped after a bit. Jarek was the one to find out that I had had too much feed because my stomach was bloated. He had to get the excess feed out. As he was doing that, another senior nurse yelled at him... I'm not sure why. When my mum found out she blew her top.
The night they kicked my dad out, was really truly awful. I got stuck with this rude Chinese nurse, who insisted on keeping some windows open. She also insisted on giving me a towel bath with cold water, and wouldn't understand what I was saying. I was freezing cold that whole night and no one could understand me through the mask.
On Thursday, after eleven days of torture, they finally transferred me to the specialist hospital. I stayed over the weekend, where I received much better treatment from the specialist hospital, and went home on Tuesday, 11 March. I was very happy to go home especially after my ordeal at the first hospital. Thankfully, I'm doing much better. Slowly but surely, I am recovering.
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