Dreads day 3

Going very well here. Absolutely loving my baby dreads. Unfortunately I didn't have the best of nights with body aches and pains. Still have the headaches from the new dreads which isn't helping. This morning I found myself being sick which is just rubbish. Otherwise my one bright spark was my lovely baby dreads which I am having a whale of a time playing with. 😁

Half up half down is my favourite way of having them at the moment.

Dreaded day

I have my new dreads and I love them so much. Best hairstyle I have ever had. Angie from DreadEndz in Bedford did them and with over ten years experience behind her she produces some incredible work. In seven and a half hours she has changed my hair, which was very long, into some very neat baby dreads.

This is my hair before I had the dreads put in. I loved it but it was seriously high maintenance. The cost of shampoos, conditioners, detanglers, spray, accessories.... You see where I am going. But now I have dreads 😁

Dreadlock prep

I have decided to finally get my hair dreaded. I discussed it with my partner as he has mentioned in the past how he wasn't a fan. I asked why and it was just down to that myth that dreads had to be kept dirty. So I pointed him in the direction of the vlogger Lazy Dreads who has an amazing number of videos dispelling myths about dreads.

So now I have booked myself in with Angie from DreadEndz to get my hair done tomorrow. I am so bloody excited. I have wanted proper dreads for years. I will post a picture tomorrow when they're done.

Mid life crisis?

I was handing over a patient to an ex colleague of mine and she saw for the first time my new ink work on my arm. She decided to announce loudly to myself and the other nurses there that I was obviously going through a midlife crisis. This lady, by the way, is roughly six to eight years older than me but dresses and looks like an old-fashioned grandmother. Normally I would ignore or inform them of my opinion of their rudeness but this lady I had considered to be a friend. I felt hurt at her comments and just left. It's a hurtful experience when someone you consider close to you insults your life choices in comparison to a stranger doing it. A stranger I can happily ignore or pull them up on their unwanted opinion. After all they don't know me or my reasons....

But we are where we are. I suppose the lesson here is to develop a thicker skin and expect that not everyone you know to be open minded and accepting of your life style and/or choices.

New job as an ED Nurse

I have finally started working at a place where I feel happy and fulfilled. Last time I felt this good about my work was ICU before the back injury.

Very similar environments in that it seems to attract a like minded kind of individual. There is no room for slacking here. It's a very supportive environment where everyone pulls in together. And I don't like to say it but I'm going to the nurses that work here are definitely of a tougher and more intelligent breed. But it's early days yet. :)

Tattoo haters and hypocrisy

I had a patient last weekend announce loudly to the ward how little she thought of tattoos and especially women who had them - she had seen a young girl walk past sporting some ink work. I had my back turned to her and removed the tubular bandage from my arm which I had on as I had more work done on my sleeve the day before, and when handing her her drugs I watched the horror and realisation on her face. I didn't have to say a thing. That woman was not so vocal for the rest of the shift. But it must have been a weekend for the tattoo haters. An agency nurse decided to tell me how I was wasting my money on this dreadful habit I would live to regret. 😡 The hypocrisy of an agency nurse telling me about wasting money didn't escape me.

Night shifts

Night shifts are becoming the bane of my life.  I am finding it nigh on impossible to return to a normal sleep pattern and resume a normal lifestyle.  I can't blame anyone other than myself as it was me who set my working hours when I started working here.  But it's been 3 years now of night shifts and it's taking its toll. 

Needle sharp injury

Well aren't I the lucky one? I was taking blood from a young guy who had been engaging in unprotected sex during group sex whilst on holiday and one of the other participants admitted afterwards to being HIV positive. Whilst taking his blood he jumped as the needle was withdrawn and it rebounded and stuck into my finger.

I have three points here where I want to rant:

1. Who the fuck has unprotected sex with a group of people whom you just met on holiday?
2. What kind of a fuck doesn't come clean before sex about their status and wear a fucking condom?
3. Who jumps when the needle is being withdrawn?

I have to admit to being somewhat angry and fucked off here. So my apologies for my language. But thanks to all the above I am now on Anti-Retro-Viral Medications and have been vomiting and having diarrhoea since starting them. I have to stay on them for the three months. Yep that's right, three fucking months. Repeated blood tests to ensure I haven't contracted anything and my liver function is not shafted.

Poor little girls are poorly

Our girls are poorly and have been so for the past three weeks. Pretty much the week after they arrived here they have all been sneezing, snuffling and coughing with at least one with porphyrin around her little nose. They've been to the vet twice now and we are going to go again tomorrow as Sasha is very sneezy with blocked sinus type sound coming from her breathing and Jasmine is also sneezing occasionally with similar breath sounds.

Luckily we have some baytril (antibiotic) left over from the last course they had. So I gave her a dose earlier today. We have been having a nightmare trying to get them to take their medication. It's a tiny little 0.04ml dose but the bitterness of the flavour is enormous. So we have tried hiding it in baby food - no luck, honey - only eat it as long as they can lick it off our fingers as they don't trust us and syringes anymore, oat bicuits and honey - no luck. So today at my wits end I remembered that we had Beaphar Multi-Vitamin Malt Paste and they like it. One pea sized amount mixed thoroughly with the medication and applied to my finger. Sasha licked every single drop off my finger and kept turning my finger around to see if there was a part she missed. :) Woohooo!!! Success!!! I tried the same for Jasmine as she is also sneezing and again the same reaction. I am now on the search for strong tasting paste type concoctions that I can mix the other doses with because they will become bored with the malt paste very soon. I was thinking perhaps a fish base paste, like those sandwich filler things. Or perhaps there's a baby food that is equally pungent and useful. It has to have a flavour that's attractive to the girls and stong enough to mask the baytril and is safe for them to eat.

Onwards and upwards! :)

New mummy to four beautiful little girls!!!

We have adopted four little 6 week old rats today and they are all does. They are the most adorable little girls I have ever seen and my heart melts just looking at them.

But I've jumped too far. Let me take you back to when it all happened....When the cage finally arrived this morning, Ray and I went at it like a pair of whirling dervishes trying to get it put up and ready. Then I layered the shelves with cardboard and then added a thick layer of care fresh bedding to the top of the cardboard. I used a full bag on the three floors. I might have to cut back a bit the next time it needs cleaning or this could prove to be a little costly. Then the hammocks were hung, tunnels placed, bendy wooden ladders positioned, sleeping huts filled with soft bedding, food bowls filled with Burgess Supa Rat, two water bottles filled with fresh water and attached to the cage wall and a freshly filled litter tray went in. It was starting to look very cosy. All it needed is a couple of little rats. At this point it was coming up to 17:00 so we quickly dashed out to the car and drove to pets at home. Now I know, pet shops are bad places to buy a pet due to the increasing demand increasing need for animal breeding farms. But I looked into Pets at Home and they work alongside the RSPCA who monitor the farms where they source their rats and they do a lot of work with animal rescue charities. So I felt I didn't live anywhere near a breeder and the breeders I had contacted lived over 60 miles away from me and had not gotten in touch with me, I didn't have much of a choice.

We pulled up at the shop and went in. One very sad sight met us. One little boy rat on his own next to a cage with two young pretty friendly does. It broke my heart to see him on his own. But I knew we couldn't take him as we had our hearts set on getting at least two if not three rats. The girl serving us brought out some more rats that have been delivered two days previously. Four little girls in the cage and they were so scared looking. I hadn't ever looked after rats that small before. But I was smitten. As I was the one who was paying I asked Ray if he minded us getting all four to which he grinned the biggest grin and said "I was hoping you would say that!"

The girl from the shop told us that the rats are the worst sellers and they usually end up growing up quite a bit and then end up on the adoption side of the store. But today not only we were buying the four little girls but another couple came behind us and bought the two rats there were out on display. The poor wee boy was left on his own. We asked if they would be getting any more male rats to keep him company and she said she honestly didn't know what the sex of the rats that they would be getting in next.

We bought some more bits and pieces whilst we were there, such as another larger food bowl, more bedding, travel box and a few more chew toys etc... Boy were Rays parents going to be surprised. :)

So we arrived home and introduced the girls to their new granny and grandpa. Granny laughed and was delighted and thought they were adorable. Grandpa was blown away by how small and beautiful they were. So it was all cool on the home front.

We brought them to their new home and they ran for the most secluded part they could find and stayed there. We decided to let them have some time to adjust and to come to terms with all the big changes they have had to undergo over the last few days. I think the large amount of space that was now available to them may have intimidated them too. But for now we are just leaving them to move around, mark their areas, check out the best hiding spots and finding the food and water. When they are more socialised I will take photos but for now I think the priority is for them to acclimatise.

Oooooh they're so beautiful!!!! I am a rat mummy!!!!!!