Sep 25, 2014

A Cause close to my heart

I don't know how many of you have heard of Endometriosis, but it is a debilitating disease that 1 in 10 women in Australia and New Zealand suffer from. There is no cure and current treatments are downing various pain meds, radical surgery or hormone treatment.  The pain meds are shocking. You have to swallow tonnes of pills just to mask most of the pain only to feel like a walking zombie. The surgery is painful and is not a guarantee of a fix as the Endo grows back. Hormone treatment is totally out of the question for those who want to have children. 

Every month you wait with nervous tension as your period due date draws closer. Then suddenly..BAM! you are curled up in bed crying with the excruciating pain. You can't go to work, you can't look after your kids, keep up the housework, catch up with friends, even your partner sleeping next to you is too painful to bear. You swallow pain meds and lay there just waiting for the pain to subside so you can catch just a little bit of sleep.  Sometimes it lasts the entire period, sometimes just the first day. Sometimes it may even stop then start up again, getting a second wind, so to speak. In any case every 28 days, once a month this disease has you by the neck. 

You are constantly on edge, you feel like a failure, you feel like no-one understands what you are going through. All this is happening while you are expected to just carry on and accept it. 

How do I know? Because I have Endometriosis. My little sister has it to. 

The two of us, along with hundreds of other very brave Australian women are campaigning to get a drug company called Bayer to import a drug that they have developed long ago to specifically treat Endometriosis. The drug is called Visanne and it has actually been approved by the Government to be used in Australia back in 2010. Bayer just don't see it as "Viable". They don't think that 1 in 10 women is enough to give us a choice on how we treat this disease. 

They give a man Viagra to cure a limp penis but help hundreds of thousands of women deal with agony every month? A disease that rules our entire lives and that of out families! Bayer doesn't think we are worth it. 

There has been a petition created to hand over to the drug company and it currently has over 73000 signatures, but we need 100000! It's not that far away and we can do it if we keep trying and keep up the fight. Please help me in signing this petition. Your contribution will help thousands of women like my sister and I take our lives back into our own hands and not live like animals. 

PLEASE SIGN HERE!  


Thank you 

Sep 24, 2014

Whale Watching

Apart from my wedding day and the birth of my son, the day myself and my son and Mum went whale watching was one of the best days of my life. We headed out after lunch and the skies were grey and threatening. Going out into the bay we did get a bit of rain as we searched for whales. 

Our first wildlife encounter though was a couple of playful dolphins who sped along the boat and then jumped the bow waves. Before anyone could get over the excitement of that encounter we heard the call "Whales!" Over to the right was a group of two. Our boat and the dolphins went to investigate. While our boat kept a respectful distance, the dolphins however decided that the whales needed to be teased. We were pretty far away though and soon the whales dived. 



Throughout the day we encountered many small pods of whales. Most of them just lolling about on the surface until they dove again for deeper water. One whale in particular spent a good twenty minutes slapping his pectoral fin on the surface of the ocean. 

The highlight of the day was when a group of three grew inquisitive and decided to surround our boat, sliding underneath and down the sides, eyeing us all as we cheered from the decks. I don't think I said "Oh my god" more than that day. It was one of the most thrilling things to see. These beautiful, majestic animals. I am getting all choked up now just writing about it. As one Italian tourist aptly put it; "F**k YEAH!" 

I didn't get many good photos. It was just too exciting and I didn't want to be stuck behind a camera lens. I did get some really good videos which I can't post here. At the end of the day with the sun setting and the rain pelting down... I stood at the back of the boat looking out to sea. I was freezing cold and wet, but I didn't care. I was still riding that euphoric high having fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams to see the whales.  It is something I will never forget.

Sep 18, 2014

Has it really been....

...that long since I last posted?

Well, time and real life does fly by when you are busy. I was prompted the other day by a good friend to maybe revisit this blog. But what do I write about? There is so much to say and yet, today I find myself not really wanting to say anything at all. I am in one on those moods. I guess I could be clinical and do a point by point on the happenings of the Sprite family.. I guess I could do it that way. But that's not really exciting isn't it? Anyway seems like, for now, until I get my "blogging" grove back, that is what you will have to contend with..or not.. 

ME: Well I have had a cancer scare (don't worry, all is well). But coming out of that I was FINALLY diagnosed with having Endometriosis. You have no idea what a relief it is to finally have a name to this terrible debilitating pain I experience every month. My little sister has it to and she even underwent the surgery. Not that it worked.. those little Endo buggers do like to grow back. I opted to go the less invasive route and am on a low dose of the pill, which delays my period so that I now only get it every three months. Four times a year. I am yet to see if the pill works in stopping the pain as I don't have a period due until November. Only time will tell. But hey, only having to deal with excruciating pain only four times a year? I don't really care if it works or not. 

I have registered my name/art business and will be making a web site soon. It's very exciting :)

My eye is still stupid. I have lost a bit of vision from it but at the moment it is stable. I just have to bombard it with steroids whenever it flares up.

HUBBY: is fine. He had his Defibrillator put in last year and it all seems to be working. He is now the proud owner of a Brown belt in Karate and is working hard to get to black. At the moment he is a happy chappy, doing up a second car for us. He is in his element under the hood of a car. 

SON: my teenage Aspie boy has had his ups and downs. We put him into normal school this year. At the beginning it was a little rough for him, as he didn't get the concept of homework and assignments being due when they are due. Time management was an issue. He made friends quickly though, which was good. He has settled down into school life now and rides to school every day. 

He is also a member of the AirForce Cadets here. He absolutely loves it and is considering a career. 

He is becoming more and more of a genius when it comes to anything technological, sometimes he even surpasses my Hubby, who has had many years in the IT industry. 

FAMILY: Well mostly no news when it comes to my family except for my Dad being diagnosed with Lung cancer. It was a bit of a shock for all of us. He has been having chemo and was not very well for a while, until the doctors found he also had a bad infection, caused by the cancer. That was treated and his health started to pick up. Then we had another set back and the doctors had said that his long term prognosis is not good. While the cancer is stable, it is no longer curable. In saying that, he is doing well at the moment and has even started up a few hobbies. He rang me excitedly today and told me about his new wood burning project. While we were all pretty much prepared for the prognosis, it is still scary. I mean, he's my Daddy. I'm sure you know what I mean. 

We almost bought a business. It was a cute little homewares store and Hubby and I were very excited about it. But then things started getting dodgy and the seller and her Solicitor got nasty and Hubby and I didn't like how it was going, so we terminated the contract. Unfortunately the seller does not wish to re-negotiate the contract and so that door has closed. Yeah, we were pissed off. 

But, we do have another little business we looked at before that we might buy. It's an antique/vintage/second hand shop and it's adorable. Really cheap and doable with the money we have. Considering Hubby and I set up our own company and family trust, then we have to do something.. otherwise we are this entity with no substance to it.. haha.. 

OO! I almost forgot, son and I went Whale watching...but that I will leave for next post :)