Category Archives: Olympia knitting and stitching show
Depression is a common condition that can develop either gradually or overnight. Many people who have depression feel low most of the time. But this condition has many symptoms, which can make it difficult to recognise.
Depression is not a sign of personal failure or an inability to cope. Try not to blame yourself or feel guilty. It may not seem like it, but help is available. It is important to remember that depression is common, and that it can usually be treated successfully. The first step to feeling better is finding appropriate help. There are both medical and non-medical approaches to managing depression.
When you have been diagnosed with cancer, you may feel very low at times. This may be at the time of diagnosis, or during or after treatment. For some people, their low mood may continue or get worse, and they may need professional help or treatment.
Sometimes, it can be difficult to know whether you’re depressed or not. It may be other people who notice symptoms and suggest that you might need help.
Depression is a common condition that affects around 1 in 10 people (10%). It can be triggered by a variety of difficult events, including a cancer diagnosis or having treatment for cancer. However, it can also happen by chance or be related to other events that have nothing to do with cancer.
Symptoms of depression include:
- having a very low mood most of the time
- feeling fatigued or lacking in energy
- getting no pleasure out of life or activities you usually enjoy
- crying a lot, or feeling unable to cry
- having difficulty concentrating or making decisions
- being unusually irritable or impatient
- waking up early, having difficulty sleeping, or sleeping more than usual
- feeling less affectionate or having a loss of sexual desire
- hallucinations or hearing voices (although this is rare).
These are just some of the symptoms of depression, but they will be different for each person. If you have other symptoms but think you may be depressed, talk to your doctor or nurse.
to be honest i don’t find the McMillian website particularly helpful, we had the welcome to your ‘tumour pack’ which was a lot of reading not much information.
lets address the symptoms of depression
- having a very low mood most of the time, if you’ve been told 15-18 months that will give you a low mood if you feel rubbish as well feeling
- fatigued or lacking in energy – brain tumour and swelling=
- tired getting no pleasure out of life or activities you usually enjoy, I’m not capable of doing activities i usually enjoy reading- no concentration, 3 out of 4 hems have to be unpicked. more cross stitch has to be unpicked than left in
- which is why I’ve taken up crochet, no expectations, all new. i like shopping, ebay and amazon have seen a lot of my money 🙂
- Crying a lot, or feeling unable to cry – loads of crying
- having difficulty concentrating or making decisions – hello brain tumour/swelling
- being unusually irritable or impatient-usual state of affairs for me also, side affects of medications waking up early, having difficulty sleeping, or sleeping more than usual – hello brain tumour/swelling feeling less affectionate or having a loss of sexual desire – lets face it when none of your clothes fit and you have chipmunk face you don’t feel very sexy.
- hallucinations or hearing voices (although this is rare). no hallucinations.i’m pretty sure I’m not depressed but of course i could be in denial.if you are at the knitting and stitching show 2nd March Olympia, say hello, i’ll be the the one in the wheel chair with the bored looking husband and badly hemmed jeans.
Because I am having a problem with bottom halves I have bought itch to stitch sequoia cargo trousers and liana jeans, then of course I had to go to eBay and buy some cheap fabric to make them up in, I have also bought some beautiful purple jersey fabric for a love notions candence dress, I am starting to feel better, every night I think tomorrow, I’ll finish those two tops cut out on my table, I’ll take the photos of my sewing room – I’m planning to go to the knitting and stitching show this year the same as normal.
For some reason we thought, oh radiotherapy has finished we won’t have hospital appointments all week, wrong. Because the last week of radiotherapy/chemo my bone marrow stopped making Platelets (clotting) I have some beautiful purple bruises, this meant blood tests Monday /Thursday (check platelets) platelet transfusions Tuesday/Friday, finally my platelet count has started coming up, tomorrow’s blood test should confirm whether or not my marrow is now working, as long as the platelets come up from last week (no transfusion) hopefully the blood tests will no longer be needed.
I’m also having a MRI tomorrow, this is to confirm whether the left side weakness I am experiencing is being caused by swelling, which we are sure that is. The oncologist has upped my dexamethasone (steroid) for a week, left side weakness is resolving its self, we managed to take Charlie for a walk on the seafront today.
I wrote the first part of this post a week ago. My left side weakness is getting worse,the results of the mri is inconclusive, today is the first day in about 2 weeks that I’ve woken up with my brain thinking about working, the dexamethazone has been taken back down to 4 mg, my ankles and knees are swollen, still having regular blood tests no transfusions, this way we know if they are my platelets and not transfused platelets.
I have plans, next week Simon and I are going to blue water for shopping, gbk and Krispy cream donuts then the following week the knitting and stitching show at Olympia. I can’t wait.
Mum and I went to Olympia again this year, we went by coach, because of an accident on A13 it took 5hrs to get there, luckily for us we took a packed lunch, the ladies sitting next to us weren’t as fortunate. The coach driver allowed us to stay until closing so we only missed out on about 30 minutes shopping.
This is just a quick post to show off my new stash.
From Bombay fabrics I bought this fabric
They are both clear cut from Fabric Freedom, I have an idea for a dress in the purple and probably a halter neck from the pink/orange.
from Fabric Galore
A Liberty tana lawn ‘baby rainbow pinks’
From Girl Charlee
This is a beautiful Cotton Rayon Spandex blend, I had read about Girl Charlee in various blogs and I must admit I had thought of them as being a bit expensive, some of their fabric is expensive but this was £5 a meter (at show) they were friendly and very helpful.
M Rosenberg and Son
it feels like a cotton Lawn, it has that silky feel to it, I already have this in red but I’m too scared to cut in to it, this is going to be my test version.
These three are all jersey fabric and to be honest if I hadn’t already fallen in love with the last two, I wouldn’t have bought anything from their stall. They seemed more interested in serving their regular customers, and even when I went back later on, with no other customers it was a struggle to get served.
I also bought two more patterns from Sewoverit
Unlike other years I have definite ideas about what I want to make with the fabric I bought.
This year we went to Olympia by coach, we were picked up on time, and after driving round half of Essex for an hour and half, we then spent an hour trying to get from Tower Hill to Olympia due to the road works.
Once at Olympia we went straight for cup of tea, as it was 12:00 it was time for lunch. After lunch we started over in one corner and methodically worked up and down the stalls, Mum was looking for wool and I was looking to spend my birthday money on fabric.
We had been told that the show was smaller than in previous years and that was correct, also this year the show is mostly fabric and wool, over the last few years it has gradually moved from cross stitch and paper craft to knitting and patchwork/dressmaking.
For the first couple of hours I held on to my money, not wanting to run out before I got to the end of the show. But once my purse was opened the money just flew out.
Most of the fabric I bought was cotton and one bit of stretch jersey,
I could have bought a whole load of this fabric in all colourways but I picked just these two, I have enough of the blue/grey for a Cheyenne shirt and the red/blue for a dress. I’m not sure about the mauve yet.
This is for another shirt, this might be a Granville or depending on how the Cheyenne goes maybe another one.
I thought maybe a a couple of dresses.
I wasn’t sure about the jersey, until I realised that the lady on the stall was wearing a dress made of the fabric and it looked pretty good.
I also bought a pattern.
I bought the sew over it vintage shirt dress, to be fair I haven’t been overly impressed with the dresses on the Internet but after looking at the it on the sew over it stall I might even buy the 1940s tea dress.
Bye for now