Its official - I'm not human!

Let's start this week with the update on the hexagon blanket. That is easy - there is no update! My hands have been swollen for the past few days and so no crocheting was possible.  That nicely links into the subject of this week's blog.

When I started this weekly update back in January, I said I would tell you a little bit about living with an auto immune disease - so here  goes. 

I have Antiphospholipid Syndrome , sometimes called Hughes Syndrome or Sticky Blood. It means that my blood is thicker than it should be and very prone to clot. I was diagnosed 3 years ago following a rather large blood clot in my groin which appeared one day for no apparent reason.  It is an Auto Immune disease which means that the body attacks itself by mistake. This can take many forms and is different for each person. I often get swelling of my arms, hands, legs and feet - which stops me being very mobile and more importantly interferes with my crafting.

But it is not all doom and gloom and I would like to share with you an amusing story.

For some reason I now have a heightened sense of smell, and one Sunday morning I went into the kitchen to start lunch when I thought I could smell gas. My husband could not smell anything, but I was sure that there was gas coming out of one of the kitchen drawers!  So, the emergency gas number was called and an hour later someone arrived. This is how the conversation went:

"Hello, I think there is a gas leak in my kitchen"

"No problem Madam, I'll just check it out with my meter.  No that is fine, no leak here"

"But I can smell it - I think it is in that drawer"

"I can assure you everything is fine- nothing shows on my meter"

"Sorry, but I can definitely smell it - can you check again?"

"If you insist Madam, but there is no leak here.  Right lets pull the cooker out then!"

"How long has this gas hob been here?"

"About 10 years"

"Well it appears there is a very minor, insignificant leak from the connecting pipe"

"So there is a gas leak then"

"Well is it so tiny that it is not detectable by the human nose"

"But I smelt it and called you out"

"Lucky guess Madam, there is no way you could have smelt it"

So the gas was turned off, and we had to wait until Monday morning for some to come out and fix it.

I shall leave you this week with a quote from Robin Williams who sadly died recently.

"You are only given a little spark of madness, you mustn't lose it"