Goodbye craft room

Liothyronine- article from the telegraph

Ok, so this was in the telegraph, but I'm going to ask about it at my next GP appointment.
I will post about what they say.

Patients suffering from thyroid conditions are being routinely abandoned to gain weight because NHS bosses refuse to pay for unnecessarily expensive life-changing drugs, a report has found.

An investigation commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care reveals potentially thousands of patients are being left to battle excess weight as well as diabetes, depression and heart problems because of the back-door rationing.

Between one and two in every 100 people in the UK suffers from an underactive thyroid, known as hypothyroidism, an endocrine system disorder where the thyroid gland does not produce enough of the hormones needed to regulate metabolism.

Around 20 per cent of these require liothyronine, which costs less than 16p per pill to manufacturer but which until last year the NHS had been paying £9.22 for.

The new report found evidence that local healthcare commissioners are refusing to pay for the medication, despite national guidance stipulating that they should.

It means patients are being forced to endure the life-changing consequences of untreated hypothyroidism or pay for the drug themselves.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, who campaigns for better treatment for thyroid patients, said: “It’s not acceptable that vulnerable people are getting caught up in something that should have easily been avoided."

The report, which relied on interviews with more than 400 patients and was conducted by a consortium of charities, has been passed to national NHS leaders.

Last year liothyronine appeared in a NHS England consultation which considering whether to cease payment for various drugs and treatments.

In the end it was decided the medication should continue to be funded, however the report speculates that local leaders may have taken advantage of the uncertainty to introduce their own rationing.

Dr Krishna Chatterjee, Professor of Endocrinology and president of the British Thyroid Association said: “The current uncertainty, with liothyronine-treated individuals either being denied ongoing prescriptions or needing to source the treatment themselves at their own cost, seems very much against patients’ interests.”

Marley's big adventure

Because of the building work that starts tomorrow, Marley has been sent on a mini break to my parents.
Traff has gone to stay with them too, to keep an eye on Marley.

So far she's really enjoyed exploring their house. Only 10 minutes under the sofa on arrival! 😂

Cambridge

Today I went on a work adventure to the INI.
It's very rainy in Cambridge. My shoes are full of water!

Gloucester

Today marks the beginning of a very busy and chaotic week.
The loft is being ripped out on Wednesday and Thursday. The process required for this to happen is extremely drawn out.

Over the weekend we emptied the loft, and stored everything in the front room. Today I took Therese to stay with Ray in Gloucester, so that we could move the lift things into Jenni and Therese's room.

The house is looking surprisingly empty and feeling very quiet!

It's been a long night of driving about and carrying boxes, but it's been worth it for these two views!

Gloucester cathedral and our street. It's so cold that you can see the stars. And the moon dog effect around the street lights.
I spent all of last week complaining it's too warm for Christmas. But I take it back now! Definitely cold enough!

Family history day!

Today my Dad and I drove to Nottingham to meet with his second Cousin, Amanda.

She's been tracing back our family tree and was able to tell us loads about our ancestors. Definitely a few characters!

She also had a ton of old photos which I'm going to upload here!

Crochet scarf take 2

This is a present for one of my colleagues. She said she loved my scarf, so I decided to make one for her too 💜

Pre Christmas lunch 🎄⛄

I went for fancy lunch at the Hart of Harwell pub with my school friends on Saturday.
Not quite as inappropriate as lastly year.
But the food was ace! We should definitely meet here again!
Awesome food and awesome dining companions.

London

I was working in London on Friday at the Royal engineering society.
This is right in central London, so in my way back to the tube station I got to see the Xmas lights! 🎄⛄

Crochet scarf

We had a training day at work on Monday, and as part of the session one of my colleagues who has been working to improve her facilitator skills ran an ice breaker which involved using balls of wool.

I was really impressed and we got to keep the wool from our table at the end of we wanted to, so I've used our table's navy blue wool (and some accent colours from my own stash) to make a scarf of appreciation!

I can't decide if it's weird or not, but hopefully she'll be happy.
Now I just need to write a note to go with it.

Chunky creation

So, on the theme of using things up, I've started making a chunky blanket scarf for Tracey.
I'm not sure I have quite enough wool to finish it, but I guess I'm allowed to order another ball of wool if it removes 4 (in scarf form) that have a tag on the packaging from Bedford!
Launguishing in the loft for 2 and a half years!

I've got a few more bits and bobs on the go to use stuff up. I'll refill my yarn stash at some point but once my craft space goes I probably won't get away with an 80l Addis crate in the middle of the living room.

It's soooo cold today. Crochet is the only craft activity. Preferably something big so it keeps me a bit warmer!

Crochet blanket scarf

I'm working to finish off a few abandoned projects at the moment.

On Saturday I finished this epic scarf. I started the round shapes as part of my art textiles Alevel that I was doing with Chrissie's support, before she was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away at the start of the year.

After Chrissie's funeral I found them squirrelled away in the loft and it just seemed disrespectful for them to just be in storage.
So I have made myself a very memorable and totally weather appreciate accessory.

Polesdon Lacey

On Saturday my Mum, Sister, Nan & I went to Polesdon Lacey in Leatherhead.
We were supposed to go to the Imperial war museum, as we were invited to see some pictures of my Grandfather when he was on duty in Aidan.
He was part of a promotional photo shoot for the British army. We didn't even know!

My Nan was super excited about it. And then the trains got cancelled.
So we drove over to hers for a nice national trust day. She was still pretty disappointed.

Autumn leaves

Marley and the moon

Flowers

Traff brought me flowers.

It's like he's psychic or something.. the ladies at work were all saying that their husbands haven't brought them flowers recently.
Now I can brag 😂

The truth

Wonky house?

We went to see this place yesterday. I really liked the look of it- the garden in the photos looks huge (but actually it's the same size as ours! Crafty photographer!).
Inside space was smaller than where we are now too, but the two fire places were a bonus

Everything else was ace... Except that the house felt weirdly wonky.
Like it was leaning.

Probably a bigger structural issue than would be easy to fix