Author Archives: Sara C

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to share my thoughts in this blog. I was hoping to recount my experiences in order, but feel this is a good time to drop in a random post, which actually calls on a lot of my previous experiences. So I guess these coping mechanisms have becomeContinue reading “When life gives you lemons… or a pandemic!”

14th October 2019… It was a wet, windy, cloudy morning after the night that Storm Callum had battered parts of the UK. As we travelled north on the motorway, there were plenty of flooded fields to be seen, but no nerves. There was no way that this would go ahead in this weather. I hadContinue reading “Reach for the skies!”

It was around 3 weeks after my surgery. Another beautifully sunny afternoon. Another day of me missing out on doing the things I loved, as Neil had gone out on a club bike ride and I was stay in the garden, resting… When he got home, Neil left his bike in the garden, and IContinue reading “Enjoy the journey”

Those first few weeks were a mix of doing whatever I could do work on my balance, and sleeping. I was still very much reliant on others, as I my vision wasn’t recovered enough to drive, and mum was still coming round to help with housework and cooking. It was about 3 weeks after myContinue reading “The ‘Other’ Diagnosis”

Whilst the rest of the country was watching Harry and Megan’s royal wedding, I was sat in the treatment room of our local hospital having my stitches and staples removed. I thought that it might have been painful, but actually having a head that was half numb on this occasion had its benefits. Having theContinue reading “Dream Believe Achieve”

I’ve always been the kind of person who likes plans and lists. What had frustrated me so much during this experience was that there were so many ‘unknowns’ I couldn’t make any realistic plans. My life was effectively on hold. But in spite of this, before my surgery I had written a list of goals.Continue reading “Mission Accomplished!”

I’d spent many years working with children who had special educational needs. I’d spent years studying autism, deafness and deaf awareness, dyslexia, dyspraxia, sensory processing disorders… Nothing, however, could prepare me for the world I now found myself in. My tinnitus at times was debilitating. Yet I was profoundly deaf. In the safety of myContinue reading “My new world”

So there’s this quote I love… “Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.” This became my motto. I could wallow in the self pity of not being able to walk properly, see properly, hear properly, or I could see just what I could achieve with the parts ofContinue reading “Game on!”

I ended up spending an additional night on HDU, and it would be a couple more days before my world had almost righted itself. My vision however, was still very double and focusing just felt weird. The light sabres in my head had quietened slightly, and I was just left with a more tolerable roaring,Continue reading “When you’ve hit rock bottom, the only way is up!”

I was wheeled, by the three recovery nurses, up to the High Dependency Unit (HDU). I was acutely aware that one of them was carrying resus equipment, and the realisation that this was just the very beginning was starting to sink in. Scott had called Neil as soon as he’d spoken to me, and despiteContinue reading “The day I got my life back”