In September 2012, I started to write this blog. I was starting a new phase of my life and I was determined to make it an adventure. Over the past few years I've certainly had a few adventures, some great, like my paragliding off Mount Baghdad in Turkey, which is 1,763 metres high; to some that didn't go quite according to plan, for example my indoor sky dive that resulted in me ending up in Milton Keynes accident and emergency to have my chin glued back together.
Overall, I've been having great fun.
But getting older, especially if you have a chronic illness, which I do, can also have other challenges.
As part of my adventure, around about the same time that I started this blog, I embarked on an Open University degree. In June of this year, I sat my final degree, and 6 weeks later, I was offered a Bachelor of Arts, Honours degree in Humanities with Classical Studies, classification 2.1, which I swiftly and happily accepted. As you can imagine, I'm immensely proud of myself, not least because my final year with the Open University was an even bigger challenge for me, as I was experiencing a problem with my eyes, which made it hard for me to read. Not the best problem to have when doing a module on the Roman Empire.
The problem was caused by my lupus which was attacking my tear ducts and preventing them from producing tears. This resulted in the surface of my eye changing shape which meant that my eyes were not refracting light properly. and my reading vision was very blurry and my left eye became inflamed. Despite using 3 different types of drops and gel in my eyes, plus undergoing a cauterisation of my inferior punctils, the drainage channels of the eye, to block them permanently, there was no improvement. I'm now trying steroid drops to be followed by immunosuppressant drops, in an attempt to stop the lupus causing the damage. So for the past few months I've had to limit my time on the computer, and one of the reasons I've not been writing my blog.
I won't lie. At times I've found it quite a challenge to stay positive, especially as I'm also experiencing chronic back pain and was ill again with a lung infection just before Christmas. But as the picture at the top of the blog said, "Nevertheless I persisted". I still attended WOAPA rehearsals every week, I continued to feed the cats at Cogges, and do my Downton Abbey Tours, which people seemed to really enjoy. Plus last Sunday WOAPA had it's annual WOAPA day, which had a 50's theme and I once again performed a duet with one of my WOAPA friends. I even entered into the spirit of things and dressed up as a Pink Lady.
The way I see it, life isn't always easy. But we have a choice. We can either give up and let it grind us down, or we can choose to persist. I could so easily have given in the towel and dropped out of my degree course because of my eyes, and believe me, there were times when I felt like it. But I chose to persist, and boy am I glad I did.
I've now got my graduation ceremony to look forward too, along with celebrating 40 years of marriage. But that will be another blog.
Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy my latest WOAPA video. There's life in the old girl yet. :)
