Wednesday 22 June 2011

Whooping Cough!


Well after 6 weeks of back and forth to the doctors surgery WEEKLY, today I was finally told we have Whooping Cough. Kelly and I have taken it worst and Marcus has it milder. The main annoying thing is that we could of been treated WAY back when we 1st started going. Now however we are past the stage of the medicines being any help. What is more worrying is that I work in a primary school, Kelly goes to the Academy and Marcus to East end Primary! so that's THREE schools where the kids have now been exposed to it. I feel bad about that but its not like I did not seek advice early on. I also feel angry that we had, between us, 5 courses of Anti-Biotics and 2 inhalers for NO REASON! Anyways, hope now that in a few weeks it should be over but I thought this deserved a blog!






What is whooping cough?

Whooping cough is an infection caused by a bacterium (germ) called Bordetella pertussis. This bacterium is spread to others through contaminated droplets in the air, produced during coughing and by close contact with an affected person. The bacterium attaches to cells which line the airways. It then multiplies and causes the symptoms.

Bordetella pertussis bacteria affect the lining of the airways in some way to cause symptoms (mainly a cough) to continue for a long time after the bacteria have gone.

What are the symptoms of whooping cough?

The illness typically follows a pattern.

Early stage (catarrhal phase)

At first there is often a sore throat. Within a day or so a mild, dry ordinary cough develops. At this stage you may feel mildly unwell and have a mild fever (high temperature). You may also have a runny nose. Over a few days the cough may become more productive with some sputum (phlegm) - but at first it still seems to be an ordinary cough.

Main coughing stage (paroxysmal phase)

After several days, often as many as 10-14 days from the start of the illness, the cough gets worse and becomes paroxysmal. This means there are bouts (paroxysms) of intense coughing. They are sometimes called choking coughs.
  • During a bout of coughing, you repeatedly cough over and over again. The face often goes red and the body becomes tense. Eventually, there is a desperate attempt to breathe in, which may cause a whooping sound. Note: the whooping sound at the end of a bout of coughing only happens in about half of cases.
  • Some children may stop breathing at the end of a bout of coughing and go blue for a short time. This looks worse than it actually is, as breathing usually quickly resumes.
  • Each bout of coughing typically lasts 1-2 minutes.
  • Several bouts of coughing may occur together and last several minutes in total.
  • It is common to vomit at the end of a bout of coughing.
  • The number of coughing bouts per day varies from case to case. You may only have a few bouts each day but some people have up to 100 bouts per day. The average is about 12-15 bouts per day.
Between the bouts of coughing you are likely to be well (unless you develop a complication, which is not common). The symptoms of fever, runny nose and other symptoms of illness have usually gone by this main coughing stage. But, each bout of coughing can be distressing.

This main coughing stage of the illness usually lasts at least two weeks, and often longer.

Easing stage (convalescent phase)

The bouts of coughing then ease gradually over a period which can last up to three months or more. (In some countries whooping cough is known as the cough of a 100 days.) As things seem to be easing, you may still get the odd bout of severe coughing.

Whooping cough can be very miserable as the bouts of coughing can be distressing. However, in some cases the symptoms are milder than described above. There may be just intermittent bouts of coughing which are not too bad without any whooping or vomiting.


Tuesday 21 June 2011

My little Girl



 This is my baby girl! well when she was 3. Kelly has done us SO proud this week. She has always LOVED to learn things. From a young age she was always extremely curious about everything. Best day ever was the day she learned to read, then she stopped asking Why? What for? When? and started to read the answers.Since that day she has got more and more into learning and now being at the Academy she is no different. She is a joy to have around and a dream daughter to have.I hope she stays on track, keeps doing what she is doing and does not go off the rails like I did haha.

This week we were invited to attend our 1st ever prize giving at Elgin Academy. Above was the Schedule we were handed as we entered. Showed us inside her name and what she was getting. We had no idea at this point what her Attainment for for. An Attainment is when a teacher puts a pupil forward for a subject as they have exceeded in it and impressed the teacher enough.

Here she is!!! I put the pen in as the camera would not focus!!

Her is her merit certificate! Work ethic!!! She is a star!
Well not to say we were chuffed! Delighted! Over the moon! We had expected one subject...NOT SEVEN! 
Geography, Mathematics, Technical Education, History, Modern Studies, English and Physics! 

KELLY YOU ROCK!!




Sunday 19 June 2011

Weeks 19 and 20


I have been trying to hard but see what my lovely Daughter made today.... Chocolate Brownie Cake, Victoria Sponge with chocolate butter icing and Shortbread!
 Finally treated myself to a much needed recipe book stand. I never ever thought I would be the kinda person that needed one of these. Since starting the diet I have found I have to keep looking and laying books down all over so they are getting wet, splattered and ruined. £3.99 out of TK Max!

I am back to trying to lose weight again. I have spent about a month and a bit now around the same so I am now back to writing it down on a  weekly basis.
Going to have one hanging basket all red and black this year, the other is red and yellow! Will post more pics once they are in full show.
Tatties are coming on, they are in need of more compost now to fill to the top! Job for Mike this week.

Thursday 2 June 2011

Week 18

Diet


Well what can I say....I have not been on any type of diet/ eating plan this week apart from the shove anything in my mouth that's close by. This included chocolate, biscuits, crisps etc and lots of it! Also was a night out with a meal and LOADS of alcohol. Went to Slimming last night and I LOST 1.5 pounds and got Slimmer of the week! I have no idea how that worked lol.But I have to get my self back on track this week. I like the little mini goals and my next one now is 6.5 pounds. Once I lose this I will have reached my 2 stone award!




Exercise


I have done nothing much at all. Having had this chest infection since I recovered from my nose op I have not had much chance to do much. Walked this school run this morning so its a start lol. I do intend to keep at it now though, back to the grind!


Other


Have been leading a quiet life of late due to mainly being under the weather. Have Marcus's school Fete at the weekend I am on the bottle stall. Might try to get out for a nice walk somewhere over the weekend. 

A Bang to remember!

A bang to remember! Tuesday 18th July. Nice enough day weather wise, I decided to go out onto my swing seat in the garden with my coffee. I ...