Minding My Own Business

I've not blogged for a while. Work and life have overbalanced leaving no time for writing down the nitty gritty. Running a business from home means I live my work, it's hard to escape and vice versa, my work creeps into my life at every turn.

I've mentioned that last year a stowaway was discovered in my brain, a lesion that was causing some issues. A visit to a neurosurgeon in Bristol last week confirmed I have a cavernoma, a rasberry like cluster of blood vessles in my left frontal lobe. The good news is it's still a wee beastie, not so good is that it has bled - and may do so again. The symptoms I'm experiencing include headaches, clumsiness and poor concentration. As a creative, I've struggled focusing on my business, particularly designing but you never know; it may cause me to look differently at my work, coming up with new ideas altogether!

My appointment with the neurosurgeon was thanks to a wonderful charity, The Cavernoma Society led my it's founder Simona Stankovska. Simona encouraged me to get in touch with my GP who in turn referred me to Mr Mario Teo at Bristol Southmead Hospital. He talked me through my scans, pointing out the haemorrhage and confirming my symptoms. Until that point I'd spent eighteen months stumbling about, literally without knowing why

Having just sent my completed manuscript of An Unfashionable Cancer off to the publisher, I do not want to write a sequel about my brain invader. Instead, I intend to learn how best to live with the uncertainty of a bleed and coping mechanisms for the symptoms I experience.

To be honest, I really don't have time for added health complications. My work room is overflowing with vintage clothing right now. I have 100s of items still in sacks ready for their wash and restoration. My Coverstory Clothing shop has sold out of hospital gowns and I have mountains of deadstock fabrics waiting to be transformed into new designs. In between sewing, upcycling, mending and listing I also have to sell the stock; with fashion fairs and festivals out of action I only have the online outlets and as you can tell, my website and blog need some serious TLC!

There's also the small matter of two tiny humans to look after, my grandson and granddaughter are here 2/3 times per week as both their Mummy's are nurses. I do endeavour to fit work in while they are with me but neither have got the hang of sewing and they're not able to model for me just yet.

With everything else to do, writing has taken a back seat of late which is why this blog has been so neglected. I have however, managed to fit in Tamworth Writers Zoom meetings most weeks so if not actually writing, I am talking about it!

I am going to leave you this week with an insight into my creative mind, well actually my brain. A couple of images taken from the multiple scans I've had; one pinpointing the cavernoma, the other showing the dark area where it has haemorrhaged. Here also is a link to a blog post by a fellow cavernoma sufferer, Lisa Goldapple who, together with her creative friends, has come up with some awesome digital art to showcase her own self named 'clusterfuck'.

I'm not sure I'll be printing my brain invader on a teeshirt just yet though ;-)