fatigue reprieve

for the last 10 years i have had periods of fatigue that come and go for no explicable reason..it's had a huge impact on my life..i had to withdraw from a university course where i had completed most of the course work and placements and i had started my thesis but fortunately i wasn't far into it..at the same time my 5 year research position contract expired..i had never planned to be a researcher..it was temporary employment until i graduated as a health psychologist..i then planned to work in health promotion as a counsellor..after being an unsuccessful applicant for a couple of other research positions i applied for i realised that it was a pointless pursuit given that my future career as a psychologist was not to be..

in a previous life i had been a registered nurse but my registration had lapsed so because i needed work i applied to do a 3 month nursing refresher course..ironically i did my refresher course at the hospital that i trained at that, after graduation, i had vowed to never work at again..after working in the renal unit for 12 months after completion of my refresher course i left to do agency work because, due to my fatigue, i needed to manage my own working hours..i managed to work as an agency nurse for 2 more years..in that time i worked in the busiest emergency departments in melbourne, in cardiac and trauma units and anywhere else i was sent..the problem was that i couldn't work more than 2 shifts and i couldn't survive on the resulting ration income despite having been extremely frugal..for example i used to walk to and from the hospital from where i parked my car to save on parking costs..that usually meant an 1-2 extra hours on top of an already exhausting day..and it also meant walking at 10pm at night because i only worked afternoon shifts..

the day came when i'd had enough so i put my house on the market and i applied for a bank loan to tide me over until it sold..buying a run down smaller house in a less salubrious suburb enabled me to retire..i finished most of the renovations a couple of years ago but there've been a few outstanding things that i've needed to complete but months of fatigue, where even minor exertion, has resulted in me spending days in the horizontal position..and i mean resting! but as luck would have it my daughter alexandra has needed a bit of extra income so she has been helping me with some cupboard and storage trunk painting..

in the last couple of days i've been feeling ok so i've finally finished the spare room..and i love it..in fact i love it so much i feel like moving in to it..i just hope that i'm not out of action now for the next week..

do you remember this cupboard?

i still need to remove the paint from the left side door glass

and add handles

it contains my cookbooks

the cup and saucer is a christmas gift from my daughter katerina..
she knows i love cross stitch

i first saw neapolitan cyclamen nestled in the arid rocky and hilly
 landscape behind the main town of hydra in greece when i was
 travelling with my mother and two family friends..i retrieved
 some of the corms, that she had brought back with her, after she
 died and i have them growing in a pot

alex painted this op shop trunk where i now store
blankets, extra pillows and the continental quilt
for the spare room (i decided against the red quilt cover..
i realised i don't like bright colours in bedrooms..
i've cut the softer floral backing back from the quilt
cover to make a new cover)

 it feels good to be back in blog land again x