Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Wednesday 29 October 2008

Kittens return and a rather rough few days.

Well....it has been a rather fraught couple of days here....

The kittens went down yesterday to the Vets to be neutered and micro chipped..I rang at 2 pm to make sure they were OK, and they were fine and in recovery...and all the nurses agreed they were SO cute!

I arranged to go and get them at 5 pm, spent the rest of the afternoon calming a very stroppy Compostgirl down and cleaning out hens.....and I sat down at my computer at 4 pm with a mug of tea to do some catch up emails, a bit of blogging, try and sort out an issue on a forum I frequent AND have a look at a bit more of my Forest School portfolio, before I went to collect the kittens.

My right eye felt a bit itchy, so I rubbed it , as you do when you get an eyelash in it or something...and I carried on working.

I went to my car at 4.45 pm to drive to get the kittens...Compostman commented that my eye looked rather sore and red...and by the time I got to the Vets it was REALLY hurting. The nice Veterinary nurses in my Vets said that it looked sore, too! I collected Tom and Tabitha, groggy and grumbling from their ops...( ah poor things..) and drove home.

I had to stop to move a fallen tree ( really!) which was blocking the whole road near to Compost Mansions...it was big, but old and dead so quite light BUT I was surprised I had the strength to heave it out of the way! I must be getting more fit and strong now BUT it made my eye throb...

I got home at 6 pm and I soon realised my eye was REALLY hurting, I was photo phobic and, on looking in the mirror, I had a bulge in the conjunctiva ( which was a nasty yellowy pink colour!) which meant I couldn't actually close my eyelid over the bulge....( ouch!) it all looked rather alarming, quite honestly. Various worried thoughts flitted through my mind, that's the trouble with having an Anatomy and Physiology qualification and being a First Aider...you have an idea of all the things it could be, and they tend to scare you a bit! (or a lot!)

Compostman took charge "WE ARE going to the Hospital NOW!" He knows me of old, I will delay and postphone and prevaricate like hell...rather than "make a fuss" even though we have had enough serious medical dramas with me that I REALLY ought to know better by now....

So..instead of sitting down at 6 pm to eat slow cooked local free range home grown sausage, apple and cider casserole, we were dashing to our local minor injuries unit...the nurse there was really good ( THANK YOU Jenny!) and rapidly arranged for an on call Opthalmologist Consultant to come in to Hereford A and E to see me....as the Eye A and E had already closed...

So then Compostman drove Compostgirl and I to Hereford where *I* went into A and E and *they* went searching in Hereford to find some supper for poor old Compostgirl as by this time it was her bedtime and she hadn't YET had her supper.. (I AM the original BAD MOTHER..I know I know!)

In the mean time *I* was being examined...The consultant was excellent and very nice ...I came away with some antibiotic ointment AND a script for steroid and antibiotic drops, with strict instructions as to what to do over the next few days depending on how I felt.

It rather looks like I may have shingles.......(!) ....I feel terrible, my eye hurts like hell, I ache all over...

BUT ..the trouble is, with CFS/ME...just going through an upset like the last few days would make me feel like that ....so..I really DO NOT know if I DO have Shingles..YET..........I really hope not!


Oh...and to all who have asked...the Kittens are fine! and were manic all last night ( mainly on top on me, so I didn't get much sleep!)

AND they disgraced themselves last night by pooing and weeing ( both of them!) on the bath mats....despite having perfectly good, accessable litter trays...so I am still pondering on why they did that...maybe they were just still stoned from the drugs they had?

Ho hum...I think we have just had a generally carp day at Compost Mansions..lets hope it was the start of an upturn in our life!

Some good vibes would be very gratefully recieved right now blog friends.........especially that I do NOT have shingles!!

11 comments:

  1. Sending you humongous ((((HUGS)))) and positive and loving vibes!! And because I have psychic cyber powers I am telling you now that you DO NOT have shingles... can you feel the power in my cyber psychic positive thinking!!! And now for my next specialty cyber hypnotism.... repeat after me.. I do not have shingles... I do not have shingles... I do not have shingles... and just for good measure.. I do not have shingles!!
    Seriously now... really do hope you feel better soon... maybe you need a wee bit of a rest and some me time for a day or two... this is your body telling you that you are overdoing it a bit lately and stressing too much.. Chill out... relax for a bit and I am sure you will be feeling a whole lot better very soon!
    Thinking of you!! love and hugs.. Jane xxx

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  2. These are the only shingles round these 'ere parts!

    As for the post-vet weeing and pooing on the bath mat, our two boys let everything flow freely after their little trip to the vet. We put it down as revenge...

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  3. Oh I do feel for you .. what a stressful day. I hope you are feeling better and in less pain,with all the drops & ointment for your eye. It seems that sometimes our bodies are very good at giving us a wake-up call that we're maybe overdoing things! Glad the kittens are ok .. my kittys have all done the 'pooing in the wrong place' thing after vet's trips, so I wouldn't worry too much.
    Hugs .. Willow xx

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  4. I hope you are feeling better. My sisters cat 'jasper' (the evil one), came back from the same op. Sat himself down on my BiL, an wee'd on him. As if you say, there you go, your a man, thanks for letting them do that to me! NOT! Skank!!!!

    Although our dog never did it. so it must be a cat thing, showing you that they are boss!

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  5. Blimey what a stressful old time of it your having. I hope your eye heals quickly and that its not shingles, but 'just one of those things' that is sent to try us. Get well soon compostwoman, and im glad the cats are ok....even if they have pooped and peed on your mat...whoops!

    Karen x

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  6. Oh, poor you - that doesn't sound much fun! Wishing you a very speedy recovery.

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  7. THANK you all for your lovely comments...I am really touched by them.

    I am feeling a bit carp but am still not convinced it IS shingles as I have no rash or anything other than a blinding headache on the side of the bad eye.

    Said eye is looking a lot better now, but I had fun getting the assorted medications yesterday as they had to be preservetive free and my local Pharmacies didn't stock them so another trip to Hereford was needed. BUT I am now treating the eye and resting up as much as I can

    Once again thank you lovely people for all the good wishes

    xxx

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  8. Oh! I forgotto mention ( rolls eyes)

    tabitha did it AGAIN this morning! and today she COULD have gone outside and knew she could!

    Instead she came upstairs and wee'd on the landing, (which is bare floor at the moment as Compostman has only recently replaced it all with nice new floorboards....)

    Cats!

    I hope they stop doing this soon or they will have to be confined to the kitchen and not allowed upstairs....

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  9. Ouch! I do hope you are feeling better soon.
    Sandra.x.

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  10. Just popping in to see how you're feeling? Hope your eye is on the mend, and hope the kitties are behaving!
    Willow x

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  11. Strangely I have notification that Eco Gites, Mouse Demon and Aromatic have added comments BUT they are not here??

    So...THANK you! I did read them via email...and I have no idea why Blogger is playing up...If its any consolation *I* lost a blog post and some comments also....

    So thank you...I am feeling very rough BUT seem to be getting slightly better each day , so fingers crossed I will be OK soon ish...

    and I am intrigued by the cinnammon and chilli version of the Pumpkin Soup MD!

    I need to know how it went!

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Hello! Thank you for reading my blog and for commenting. I try to reply as quickly as I can and I really appreciate your interest in my life and doings here in The Compost Bin.

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