MAKE ME PERFECT

I am amazed that even though I have had a number of viruses over the last month my sense of humour is still intact. Yesterday saw a change in symptoms, I now feel like I have a head cold.........runny eyes, nose, headaches and sneezing. As hurricanes get their own names perhaps I should start naming my viruses, Virus Aristotle,Virus Burke, Virus Camus and now Virus Descartes. I awoke at 4:20am, unable to sleep because of a headache that resembled a kick in the head, so I took some pain killers and sat and watched TV and waited for the pain to subside.



VIRUS DESCARTES

I watched a program on ITV called MAKE ME PERFECT.

Make Me Perfect is currently being shown on ITV1. This program follows 15 women who have each suffered emotional trauma because of how they look. The women are helped by a team of experts using hair and make up, psychological counselling and extensive cosmetic surgery to enrich their physical, mental and spiritual well-being

Well it certainly made me squirm, me the nurse, the poop-checker. I think it was the sound of breaking bones int he Rhinoplasty that set me off! Whilst I was a student nurse I went into theatre and watched an operation that involved re-breaking bones that had not healed properly and I have also seen a number of amputations and none of them have ever been a problem for me. As a nurse I have been able to see anything and do anything but the minute I see it on TV I get all girly and pukey and start squealing the likes of ooh, ooh, ooh!
My first day as a student nurse on a ward saw me helping stem the tide of blood on a patient with oesophageal varices and the blood was projected half way up the ward.
Where were you when the Iranian embassy in London was stormed in 1980?

As a young student nurse I was doing an assessed dressing on a huge Pilonidal Abscess , the patient was lying on their front watching the TV, to distract themselves from what was happening, and I was packing the wound with gauze and liquid paraffin(pre-bung days). It was not a simple technique and it entailed dipping the gauze in the liquid and then packing the wound with it, this was done by by using 2 forceps. I had perfect marks at the end of the technique but half way through the patient shouted,'STOP' and wouldn't let me continue the dressing until the storming of the embassy had finished!
I was also sent looking for a cranial pack when I was in theatre, it was on stand-by in another theatre and when I entered the theatre I was surprised to see the theatre was full and photographs were being taken of the patient. On opening up the patient an unusually large growth was found and the patient had been extensively opened up and was in an upright position so the photographs could be taken. I did not find the situation upsetting at all, just unusual.
I seem to have been hardened from a very young age to things that I have witnessed in hospitals but anything on TV just makes me all queasy.
I started my pre-nursing course when I was 16 and worked on the ward for 2 days a week. My first ward experience was in a small casualty unit in a Welsh Valleys town. The staff there thought it would be funny to send me into the surgical dressing room for something, only for me to discover the 2 male nurses doing 'something'(maybe cleaning him up-I couldn't tell you) to a patient who claimed he had caught something off a toilet seat in a local bar! Even then I had a sense of humour and thankfully saw the funny side of it.
I also cannot cope with people talking about procedures but yet I can be in the room and see it being done! I just can't explain it. I am obviously one strange bunny!
I am however, obviously a very shallow person because I saw the program(with all the yuk) and thought,'Well I wouldn't mind having cosmetic surgery'.

A bit like when I saw the documentary, SUPER SIZE ME, it made want to go out and have a Big

Mac Meal!

I would have the brow lift to rectify my lop sided brow, my eye bags removed and a tummy-tuck and liposuction. And what would stop me having it done? Money of course and the fear of MRSA(I'm great at excuses!).

I worked on a gynecological ward before I had Beauty and the sight of an infected Cesarean section wound made me adamant that I would NEVER have an elective Cesarean...........

I had a cut when Beauty was delivered and I contracted MRSA anyway.

I would be too afraid to work as a ward nurse again because of MRSA.

I took SnoWhite to Tesco last night to buy a few things and I managed to get IMMUNACE
which states the following

Nutrients for immune function
Valuable antioxidants to help support your immune system.
With highly effective antioxidant vitamins to help eliminate harmful chemicals, including free radicals, from the body.
Plus trace minerals and amino acids used in the synthesis of more complex antioxidant molecules.
Research shows that sometimes our diets are unbalanced and some of us may not always be getting the nutrients required to maintain a strong and efficient immune system. Immunace® is a synergistic dietary supplement of 24 nutrients for the immune system, to help maintain every day healthy immune resistance and optimal cell defence.
"The best way to support the immune system is to maintain your general health with a balanced diet, mild exercise and sufficient sleep. Diet is probably the major factor in supporting the immune system and for those who cannot maintain a varied and balanced diet, products such as Immunace may help to provide important micronutrients that are missing in the diet."
Professor Ronald Eccles
Cardiff School of Biosciences
Free radical defence
Antioxidants such as vitamins E, C and carotenoids, help defend against harmful free radicals which can damage cell DNA. Certain amino acids and trace minerals such as selenium are also used in the synthesis of more complex antioxidant molecules. Free radicals are found naturally in the environment, caused by sunlight, cigarette smoke, pollution, and other factors in modern day-to-day existence. The activity of viruses in the body is also thought to be mediated by free radicals, so antioxidants are particularly important to immune system defence. Immunace® includes antioxidant vitamins, trace minerals, amino acids and five natural source carotenoids to help ensure comprehensive antioxidant defence.
Nutritional Support for your Immune System
Immunace® provides a comprehensive formula for the immune system, with effective levels of antioxidants. Vitamin C and E circulate in the body to help protect against the damage caused by free radicals. Other nutrients such as betacarotene protect DNA and cells from within. Immunace® helps safeguard nutrients required for:
The short term - to help maintain your resistance against infection. It also helps replace the vitamin C lost during colds.
The long term - to increase the body's level of protective substances for long term cell protection.
Comprehensive support
Immunace® provides a comprehensive range of vitamins and minerals, taking the place of a regular multivitamin / mineral supplement. These include nutrients for all-round wellbeing, as well as vitamin B complex for the maintenance of the central nervous system, which helps to regulate immune response.

Well it all sounds very impressive.....if it works but read between the lines and it says, 'Maybe it will help but don't sue me if it doesn't'.
Well it only costs £5 for a months supply so I shall take it and see. However, when I opened the pack the tablets were the size of horse tablets........well if they kick like a horse I shall be happy!

I am very impressed with how Beauty is coping with all these illnesses, I have said before that she has a high threshold for pain but even with this and her communication problems she is still a happy little bunny and only took to her bed for one day. Fiona however seems to be sleeping night and day.............and I would if I could!
When Beauty was little she caught her fingers in a door and whilst her sisters and myself would have been rolling around the floor crying and screaming, she did not bat an eye lid. This I feel is a significant problem for Beauty because she could hurt herself in all sorts of ways and I not know. As I have said before, she may even have broken bones that were never diagnosed. Her communication is increasing daily though, last night I put her to bed and kissed her and said, 'Good night' and she responded by saying,'Sweet dreams', yes she is a little sweetheart.
Perhaps this is a Pollyanna way of looking at things but I wonder if she would have been quite so sweet and lovely at 6 if she were not autistic? I think she probably would have, I remember Fiona when she was 6 and she was a little doll. Ariel and SnoWhite were also little darlings at that age and whilst Anastasia and Belle were the loveliest of little girls they did have a volatile relationship with each other which meant our home was never quiet when the older girls were little. Anastasia and Belle were very popular little girls in the church that we attended when they were young, and everyone loved them. So as my other 5 other girls were wonderful at 6 I think that Beauty would have been lovely with or without autism. I think the fact that developmentally Beauty is very young in lots of ways is a factor in how sweet she is.
Even when she is being 'naughty' you just want to pick her up and hug her because she is so sweet. I sometimes wish that Beauty's older sisters were little again so I could pick them up and hug them again as hugs and kisses are no longer on the agenda. Oh well! It seems as if Beauty will have to get their share of hugs and kisses!