Sunday, April 29, 2007

Same old, same old!

Well, I'm still no better healthwise!
I'm really getting fed up with not being well and, more to the point, not being able to concentrate long enough to do my O.U. work! Pshwaaa!
I've managed to print out the 'Washing Day' poem, so that I can study it, and scribble all over it as much as I need to (I absolutely hate to write in books, so this is a better bet for me!), but still haven't found the energy necessary enough to do an in-depth analysis of it.
It's a real shame, as I'm really getting to like the poem - but I'm finding that the concentration needed to focus on rhyme, rhythm, alliteration etc., is just beyond me at the moment.
I've a feeling that I'm going to be asking for an extention on this one, which is something I hate the thought of, as it will then make me behind with all the work to come - I guess I'll have to see how I get on over the next week or so, as the 10th of May is almost upon me already!
I've been looking around for alternatives to all the tablets I'm taking for my various complaints, and have come across a tincture called knotgrass, that is supposed to be especially good for both Fibromyalgia and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, so I'm going to be ordering some in the next few days to see how I get on with it - it's got to be better for me than all the artificial chemicals I'm having to take now!
I'm thoroughly enjoying this good weather, although my husband, Bob, is hoping for rain to water our veg. patch. At least I'm able to look out the window into our garden, and the field beyond where our sheep are grazing!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

It's been a long time . . .

Well - I didn't realize it'd been so long since my last blog!
I've just spent the previous 5 months battling ill-health, due to the onset of Lymphodaema in my right leg, as well as my Fibromyalgia getting worse than ever due, a nursing friend tells me, to the battle the two are causing in my body!
To make things worse, my Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is playing up something chronic and, as I'm not allowed any more injections of Cortozone, as too many can cause Brittle bones, I am now on a concoction of various drugs to ease the pain of the three different things wrong with me! (I'm very greedy, to have three things wrong with me, aren't I?) lol
Due to this, I have only just got around to checking my blog - I really have lost track of the time, haven't I?
To get back up to date - I passed my last course with a decent Pass3 (only a few points off Pass 2, much to my disgust!), and I started my A210 (Approaching Literature) course in February.
I don't think I've done too bad so far, especially considering that I've done the first two TMA's whilst on morphine!
I got a great 76% (my best mark so far with the O.U.) for TMA 01, which dealt with doing a close analysis of an extract from Pride & Prejudice, and I got 68% for TMA 02, where we had to assess a particular novel (in my case Frankenstein), as to whether it was, as a novel, written to draw us into thinking 'this is fiction', or not.
Considering the pain I was in, and the medication I was taking, I am very pleased with this result - I fully expected to either fail, or only to get a bare pass!
Our next section is the Romantic Poets, and I have to confess that I haven't even looked at it yet, although I've checked out what TMA 03 is - it's a close analysis of the poem 'Washing Day' by Anna Laetitia Barbauld. I think I'm going to need the course work to appreciate this, and am trying to get myself well enough to concentrate on it fully.
I'll get back to you as I go along, and let you know how I'm doing - both health-wise, as well as in the O.U!