Monday 23 February 2015

Blog news, and a health update

I've had a rebrand!  This is something that's been in the works for a long time.  Since I've been off ill from university, it's given me the time and (brain energy to) put the changes into place.  Some of you may have noticed them already, as it's something that I've had to do over a few weeks.  There was quite a lot of work to do!

This is a post just to say that, I'm still here, and that this account is still me.  I'd also like to talk a little bit about the processes of redesigning, where to find me on social media, and there is a health update at the bottom.

It's been so much fun redesigning everything, and when I say redesigning I really mean designing, because there wasn't much there to start with!  The blog is by no means finished, it's still a work in progress.  However I've found the style that I want to go for, and have got to a point where I'm happy with the way it looks.  It turns out that web design incorporates two of my favourite things, being creative and scientific precision (that half degree did come in handy after all!)  I'm sure that the look of the blog will change and evolve as time goes on, just as I will.

I decided on the tree theme, because to me they represent life, and after all that's what this blog is about.  Life that is still beautiful and prosperous even if it is one lived with an illness.  They also remind me of growth and stability, which are two things that I aspire for this blog to represent.   As soon as I made the cluster of trees, I knew that they were what I wanted as my logo.  I love trees and the outdoors in general, so it's a great way to reflect my personality.

Contact and social media

Along with redesigning my blog, I have also set up a gmail account for you to email me.  Feel free to email me at jennyhelenemail@gmail.com for questions, collaboration ideas and chat!

As of yesterday I'm on twitter, tweet me @jennyhelenblog!  I'm a complete novice though, so bear with me if I take a while to get back to you!  I'm looking for some people to follow though so definitely hit me up on there!

I also now have instagram (see feed in sidebar) I will be posting pictures of the things I get up to, as well as promoting this blog and generally being part of the spoonie community!  You can find me at @jennyhelen_, if you have an instagram account leave your link in the comment section.








Update

I just thought I would give a little health and uni update, as my last blog post was a bit open-ended on that front.  I have decided to have a break from uni for at least a year.  This week we started the paperwork for an "interruption" which means that I will be able to rejoin my studies from where I left off, and won't have to restart the year again.  My health has been slowly improving since I have been at home, I am in much less pain and am able to do more.  We have also been experimenting with my sleeping medication which has worked wonders so far!  Sleep had become a real problem as my health declined, lets home the improvements stay! 



Comments

I've decided to start using Disqus for the comments, I hop this is ok!  I really like Disqus because if you have an account, you will get a notification when someone replies to your comment.

I'd just like to say a huge thank you for all of the support that I received on my last post, it has meant a lot to me.  I've been really enjoying reading the comment section, so please do leave them.

Friday 6 February 2015

An Overdue Update

I'v been putting off writing this post, because it is quite a negative one and I don't like giving or sharing bad news.  You may have noticed that I've only posted once in the last two months.  It is because I have been unwell.  Throughout the second half of December there was a dramatic decline in my health, and it hasn't improved much since.  I was unable to go to any of my January exams and spent the majority of my Christmas holiday in bed, in a lot of pain.  I don't usually get severe pain with my M.E. so I knew something was very wrong with me.

I went back to uni one week later than planned, and stayed for three weeks.  During that time I didn't manage to get any work done, and only attended one lab session on campus.  I am now back at home.   Although my leg pain has largely subsided, I am still very unwell and mostly unable to leave the house.

Yesterday the paperwork went through for me to become a part time student.  But I don't think that this will be enough.  I need total rest, I can't even get up and down stairs more than twice a day at the moment.  I'm certainly not well enough to attend/catch up on one lecture a day.  (Which is what I would need to do, to keep up with and catch up on all of my lectures.)

Anyway I just thought I would keep you all updated, I didn't want to write any other posts before explaining the changes that have occurred.