Doing Life in Lavender

Hello again! It's the last day of November! I don't have even a proper entry for my photo challenge today. It's a picture rather than a photo but I thought I'd take the opportunity on the last day of November to properly introduce you all to my new Instagram! And this is my new logo for it, created for me by Michael! (Thank you!) I've been blown away recently by the Purple community I have found on Instagram and thought that instead of my personal Instagram being a constant spam of blog updates I'd create a page specifically to give you blog updates, and where I can also give you updates on what is going on with my epilepsy, get a bit more real and go a bit more in-depth rather than sugar-coating it for social media. If that isn't what you want filling up your feed, that's fine. I get that. However, if you fancy blog updates and real-life epilepsy talk, please go follow Doing Life in Lavender on Instagram! 

  Hello again! This is a very recent photo that means a lot to me personally. This is the selfie I took just before pushing the button to publish my very first 2 blogs! This is something I would never have done if I had lived my life without epilepsy. I wouldn't have a lifetime of stories to tell! This blog has even just in the last few months been a really cathartic experience as I've been able to throw all my feelings on a page!  That's been really helpful for me and hearing people's responses to my stories has been unbelievably humbling and at times really moving. My epilepsy is something I have never struggled with sharing with people who needed to know around me, but I never dreamed of having the courage to share this part of my life with anyone in the world who happens upon it. It took me till I was about 16 or so when I started realising I wasn't the only person in the world with epilepsy, and raising awareness for epilepsy became something important to me. N...

Hello again! This is a card I was sent from some incredibly lovely people at my church, the last time I was in hospital. I am so blessed to be able to say that this isn't unusual when I'm hospital-bound. Each card of encouragement, support or assurance of prayer for me is something I treasure. I've kept every single one! When I'm feeling rubbish or am in hospital, it is such an encouragement to know I have a church family praying for me. Cards like this remind me I'm not alone. I not only have the support of my church family who prays for me, but I also have the almighty God of the universe holding me in his hand, and that's who we pray to!  Whether it's cards, visits in hospital or prayer, I know I am incredibly blessed to have my church family helping me through.    

  Hello again! This year, due to Covid-19, my work had to put on hold the plans it had for Purple Day in March. Therefore all our purple celebrations are happening now, in November, during Epilepsy Awareness Month. The picture above is my personal attempt at something we are encouraging people to do which is bring a bit more purple joy into the world with Purple Doodles. Despite being told there was no theme, every doodle on the piece of paper above has some kind of meaning. It is all based on my childhood, hence the princess crowns, flowers and friendship bracelets. However, there are also lots of nods to my epilepsy in there! There are teardrops, representative of my crying during seizures. There is me asleep, which is a nod to the fatigue and exhaustion seizures can give me. There is a brain, due to the fact that epilepsy is a neurological condition. There is also a very poor attempt at drawing an EEG (although I have been told it looks like a peacocks feathers by multiple peopl...

  Hello again! This is the corner of my room when I keep and organise all my medications! As you can see it's quite extensive! This is because my epilepsy has been termed pharmaco-resistant meaning that it doesn't respond well to drugs. Therefore, there are 5 medications I take on a regular basis. Then there are the medications I take to combat the side effects of the first 5. And then after that is the medication which I only take in case of an emergency (i.e. my rescue medication, anti-sickness). This looks like a bigger part of my life than it feels. Even though taking these medications has a massive impact on my health, I have grown very used to it. I can't remember a time when I wasn't taking tablets, though the medication regime changes as my consultant continues to try and improve control over my seizures. But because I am so used to it now, all I do is make sure I fill a pill pot every evening at the end of my day. I then have an alarm set to remind me to take t...

  Hello again! This is me doing possibly one of the scariest things I have ever done. This is me on the balcony of a cathedral in Basel, Switzerland. After climbing a spiral staircase and some steps that were barely there anymore I made it here. And then I went back down after taking a photo to prove I had done it! This was a terrifying and triggering experience for me. I know that heights are a trigger for me. They have been since I fell off a sofa when I was very little. So it's no surprise that I became really twitchy halfway up, but unlike the Castle in Ukraine, there was no option to turn back around! When I got to the top, I was clinging to the walls for dear life in the hope that I managed to get back to the ground before I had a full convulsive seizure, which I just about did! And felt much better once my feet were back on solid ground! I learned that day to avoid my triggers rather than try and push them to the limits. I could feel how close I was to a convulsive seizure a...

Hello again! I've got no idea why I'm dragging up these photos! I've spent years trying to bury them into nothingness at the bottom of my Facebook page but unfortunately, it works perfectly for what I'm trying to say. I've talked a lot about various different triggers of mine throughout this photo challenge. One I haven't spoken about much is sleep deprivation. If my brain doesn't get enough sleep I start seizing. I was always the boring kid at sleepovers past about 9 o'clock because I needed to sleep. This photo is the result of a prank that I can now admit how funny it was (even if it took a few years!), at a friend's sleepover where I was the only person asleep! I had to be that kid though. Even now, if I have too many nights of poor sleep together, it'll trigger seizures for me. Now my meds have things more under control, so my twitching will just get worse, but if I didn't get enough good sleep, that used to trigger a full cluster of sei...