Here’s a picture of the winning prize:-

I was going to ask you to send in your child’s drawing of a louse but actually they’re not going to be that bothered about the prize because it’s not more for parents than kids – so instead, perhaps you could just let me know how many legs a head louse has and leave it at that. If you’ve got any funny head lice stories then even better – it’s not a particularly attractive subject is and I’m trying to make this post a little more sexy – it’s not really working.

If anybody reading this is considering sending me a Valentine’s card because I’m newly single then just to confirm, I don’t actually have lice (and neither do my children – although yes, I do have children. Lots of them) I’m just doing a competition.

If you don’t know what head lice and/or nits are then you will find all you need here on the Vosene nit knowledge site for all your nitting needs:-

http://www.vosenekids.co.uk/headlice-knowledge/

I am 42 years old and the mother of four daughters who are 15, 14, 12 and 4. In June 2010 I was probably fitter than I had ever been as I had been training for a marathon. I can remember thinking how well I felt then which is fairly ironic looking back. One evening as I took off my bra I noticed a tiny, dark brown spot in the bra cup, I honestly didn’t think much of it and assumed I may have dropped a little bit of my favourite Green and Black’s chocolate down my front as I am such a clumsy eater! The next day I wore a different bra but noticed it again and then the next day and the next. It became obvious that my nipple had some sort of discharge and so I booked a Doctor’s appointment, at that time it never even crossed my mind that it might be particularly sinister.

The Doctor thought it was probably nothing but I was referred to my local breast clinic at Kingston hospital. My friend Lucy came with me and the first thing I noticed was that the clinic was absolutely full to bursting. I waited for ages to be seen and then when I finally was the Doctor was charming, reassuring and very calm. He sent off a sample of the nipple discharge and said I should return a week later. When I went back the following week he said that there were some abnormal cells in the discharge but he wanted to do a biopsy of the nipple duct and thought that by removing the duct there would be no further problem.

I was seen very quickly and efficiently – almost on a weekly basis. This is what impressed me so much about the NHS care I was given. From discovery of the discharge to the removal of the duct took about three weeks. Despite the huge number of women that were at the clinic every time I went, the speed that my case was dealt with was remarkable.

I returned to the clinic alone for the biopsy results, I told my husband and friends that I would be fine as I was so confident that once the duct had been removed there would be no need for further treatment – how wrong I was! My consultant didn’t really beat about the bush he just said the biopsy showed that there were cancer cells in the duct and that it was called DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma in Situ). I remember feeling very calm initially but when the breast cancer care nurse came and took me to another room to call my husband, the enormity of what I had just been told slowly began to sink in.

After a further biopsy of the other ducts in my left breast I went back to see my consultant again. This time I took my husband with me. From the moment I walked in and saw the look in my consultant’s eyes, I knew it wasn’t going to be great news. He told me that the whole breast had extensive DCIS and would therefore have to be removed and how sorry he was, but that the prognosis was good if I had the surgery. As I sat nursing a coffee afterwards I recall holding my husband’s hand as he sobbed, whilst I calmly reassured him everything would be fine. Isn’t it funny how we all deal with things differently?

And so I was put on the waiting list to have my DIEP Flap mastectomy done at the Royal Marsden in Chelsea in September. This was all fine as we were supposed to be driving to the South of France on holiday as a family in mid July. However as the date approached for us to go I began to feel more and more unwell and it became obvious that I had an infection in my breast from the second biopsy. When I went to A & E I was told that my Consultant had accidentally cut off the blood supply to my nipple when he did the last biopsy and so basically my nipple was dying and I was told I shouldn’t go on holiday. My husband and the older children drove down to St Tropez leaving me and my three year old at home. A week later after being shown how to change my own dressings we flew to meet the rest of the family on holiday. It was a strange holiday as I was living under such a black cloud but it was good to be away from all the hospital appointments and although I hadn’t told the children about my planned surgery – my husband was being kind and loving.

However nothing could have prepared me for the moment as I was doing my daily dressing change. The sun was blazing through the window, it was an idyllic morning on the French Riviera, but as I looked down at my dressing I realised with shock, horror and slight amusement that my nipple had actually fallen off. It’s hard to know what to do in such circumstances, such as how do you then dispose of it and would it be appropriate to pop it in the bin in the kitchen or not? Anyway I did get rid of it and I do think it’s quite funny that my nipple dropped off in St Tropez – there must be a song title in there somewhere!

And so I had my mastectomy in mid September. It was a six hour operation done by a fantastic plastic surgeon and his team at the Marsden. They took fat from my stomach in a “tummy tuck” style operation and moved it to my left breast which was reconstructed at the same time. Within 12 hours I was up and about – I remember feeling self-conscious at my lack of make-up and looking so utterly revolting, so even though I had a 21 inch scar around my tummy I decided to paint my toe nails just so I could feel a bit more normal!

Since then I have had two more operations to reconstruct my nipple and I am now waiting for my tattoo to be done which is basically around the areolae area to create a sort of trompe l’oeil type of effect…. should be interesting – never thought I would get a tattoo!

This might sound a bit weird but all in all it has been a very positive experience. I know I was lucky. I was lucky to have had a sign that something was wrong so early that it could be dealt with quickly. I even think how if it had been in the winter months and I was wearing a black bra instead of a cream one – I wouldn’t necessarily have spotted the discharge. I was lucky too that once I had my mastectomy done I didn’t need further treatment. I know so many people who have had radiotherapy, chemotherapy and are on Tamoxifen in addition to the surgery. My surgeon is a complete genius and has created a wonderful new breast that looks incredible. I was in a bikini lying on a beach four months after my surgery – admittedly I did have big pants on as my scar is rather wide but you would never really know otherwise.


And so for all the awful, heart wrenchingly painful stories that you might have read about breast cancer….please remember there are so many positive ones too. Naturally I did have my dark moments – usually when I was putting my little three year old to bed and as I kissed her soft, sweet smelling hair goodnight I would wonder if I would be there for her as she grew up. But there is nothing more life affirming than having children and they have given me more strength than they will ever know.

I am very relieved to see this is slowly changing and that there is an emergence in the “super” health centre offering a more cohesive approach to our physical and mental health. Last week I went to visit the new impressive The Putney Clinic which is part of London’s largest NHS and Private Medical Treatment Facility with a view to teaching some Pilates classes there. They provide a complete cycle of care; from the immediate treatment of your pain and injury rehabilitation through to lifestyle changes and preventative exercise for your complete body and mind wellbeing.

Their main clinic is now located on the Upper Richmond Road in Putney, and their second practice on the Kings Road in Chelsea and they provide outstanding multi-disciplinary physical therapy services for clients throughout West and South West London.

My friend, Clive Lathey, Director and Osteopath at The Putney Clinic and Chelsea Practice says:-

“Our aim is to help each individual overcome his or her moments of vulnerability. Our ethos is not solely on treatment, but reflects the clinic’s aim to promote achievable lifestyle improvements and preventative measures, with a strong emphasis on rehabilitation, suited to your individual needs.”

They offer:-
Osteopathy & Cranial Osteopathy
Sports & Therapeutic Massage
Sports & Exercise Medicine
Acupuncture
Physiotherapy & Clinical Pilates
Podiatry, Chiropody & Biomechanical Analysis
Yoga & Pilates Classes
Hypnotherapy, Psychotherapy & Life Coaching
Women’s Health Clinic

Each clinician will therefore be able to learn from each other, play to their strengths and refer on appropriately. For me it means that I can have access to the physiotherapist’s notes on my clients before the class, which makes the exercises I provide for them infinitely more valuable and focused.

SO. If you’re free on a Monday morning at 9.30am why not come along and try out my class?

Apparently the owner has been getting away with this for 13 years – he said that women are only coming forward in droves now because they want the compensation money. How cold and calculating can he be? Putting all those women at risk. The NHS have said that they will only replace them in exceptional circumstances.

I don’t understand how our society and the image of beauty can have come to this. We have all known the risks of surgery – infection, breakage, necrosis, death and yet from an early age we have created, through media images like Katie Price, a generation of young women who are brought up thinking that surgery is a normal part of the perfect body image that they would only give a little more thought to than buying a pair of shoes. How appalling. We need to get it back into the medical arena that it is and find a way to ensure that our daughters have enough confidence in themselves to want to stay as they are. Apparently 25% of women have surgery to please the opposite sex. Well, I have done my own mini survey and apart from the obvious jokes about large breasts very few men I know like fake breasts and they are positively horrified about the trout pouts.

If there is one good thing to have come out of this scandal it is that it has opened up a discussion about the health risks involved and made us ask not only how it could happen but what is it that motivates women to do this to themselves in the first place. Breast implants have only been around for 50 years. “Boob jobs” are surely SO 80′s/90′s – SO last decade.

I hope my daughter will take note and be massively put off the whole industry.

Pure madness.

So whilst we are not yet quite at the being “old” stage, I am reading a book about ageing in the baby boomer generation called “The Warmth of the heart prevents your body from rusting” which is one of the most lovely titles for a book that I have ever come across. It is going to persuade me to reconsider our options. Why are we all so scared of ageing? What is the desire to stay looking young all about? Essentially we are the first generation to undertake this extended ageing process because we are expected to live a lot longer than even our parents. Therefore, we have no points of reference and will need to make it up as we go along. So. What are we going to do? Keep trying to look younger? Keep going under the knife? Keep being obsessed with skin deep beauty? Really?? Why aren’t we embracing our new found freedom to live longer and age gracefully more successfully? How can we accept the decline of our bodies if we do not stop looking at ourselves and instead see the world around us and marvel at it? Do more things that aren’t all about ourselves?

In the book the author notes that finding the right balance is not easy for our society. We have a terrible opinion of old age – “the words ‘decline’, ‘horror’ and ‘affliction’ that spring to our lips speak volumes about the disgust and fear that the sufferings of ageing and death inspire in us”.

She suggests that instead we need to “tackle old age with humour – even deride it”. She says that old age is neither a complete disaster nor a golden age. “It is an age that is just as rich and as worthy of being lived as all the others – an age that is exciting to live, with it’s joys and difficulties” as long as we can find the means to live it well, making it a time or growth rather than a time of decline. Seeing that time as a “unique opportunity to discover aspects of ourselves that we did not know, to see, to feel and to love in a new way. Instead of becoming embittered, unattractive old people, we can hope to surround ourselves with joy and human warmth”.

Come on girls….time to take a stand and begin to start enjoying ageing both naturally and disgracefully.

By definition, when you are running you at some point in your stride have both feet off the ground. This is what creates the impact. When you walk, the pressure is four times greater through your lumbar spine, whereas when you run it is twenty times greater and there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that walking is actually one of the best forms of exercise for both body and brain.

My friend Clive Lathey, an osteopath was recently quoted in the Daily Mail:-

‘If you look at the pelvis, the sacroiliac joint in the lower back, and the S-shaped curve of the spine, they are designed for shock-absorbing vertical force. We’re well adapted to walking. What we’re not adapted to is spending lots of time sitting down in cars and at computers — that tightens and weakens the muscles in the back.’

You can still get a good cardiovascular work out if you walk fast and up hills and especially if you aim to walk on uneven ground – it helps not only strengthen your muscles but improve your balance. In addition, walking outside is not only a free form of exercise but communing with nature is known to provide a positive effect on the brain — “things you experience through the senses such as the eyes and the nose have an effect on the brain.’

So. Don’t be disheartened if you don’t like running. Get out and walk. Far more enjoyable.

Here is some Youtube footage of Kate Thornton and Tamzin Outhwaite for you to see first and then there are some more details about the whole thing:-

TV presenter Kate Thornton and Ex- Eastenders and West End star, Tamzin Outhwaite, are supporting the UK’s first online bingo site to be affiliated with a national charity; the groundbreaking Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Pink Ribbon Bingo has been working with Breakthrough Breast Cancer since October 2010 and has seen Breakthrough make some tremendous progress. Kate and Tamzin’s support comes along with the news that the partnership will now also be supported and hosted by the www.dailymail.co.uk which could result in a huge spike in fundraising for the charity’s life saving work.

Pink Ribbon Bingo will be supporting Breakthrough Breast Cancer all year round with 15% of the gross revenue accrued through online play on the site being donated to the charity. Visitors also have the opportunity to donate a percentage of their winnings directly to the charity. Along with the fundraising element, Pink Ribbon Bingo and the Daily Mail online will be helping the charity to raise awareness by promoting their vital health messages such as TLC (Touch, Look, Check).

Tamzin Outhwaite says,
“As a busy working mum, I find it difficult to get a moment to myself, let alone fundraise for a really important cause like Breast Cancer. Pink Ribbon Bingo allows me not only to have a quick ‘time out’ in my day, it also helps me raise money in a fun and simple way. “15 pence out of every pound goes to fund Breakthrough Breast Cancer, helping them to support the 48,000 women, 300 men and their families who are diagnosed with the disease every year.”

Kate Thornton continues,
“In the UK, one woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 11 minutes – a statistic that we can change. We’re already well on the way to beating this disease for good; as a direct result of Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s work, fewer women die of breast cancer than 15 years ago. Just imagine where we could be in another 15 years time!

“Playing Pink Ribbon Bingo is easy – all you need to do is visit http://www.dailymail.pinkribbonbingo.com/ and register to start playing today!

People can enjoy playing, knowing that whether they win or loose, Breakthrough will benefit.”

We talked for ages about Ruby’s new online project set up to help people with mental illness. They’ve got the basic website set up now – in “beta” form – ie the functionality isn’t all there yet, but they’d still like your views on what you think:-

http://www.blackdogtribebeta.com/

The idea is that a social platform is provided to get more people talking and sharing their experiences of mental illness – you can find your own “tribe” depending on what you are looking for and then you can create and join forums, write blogs and get involved. There are videos of A list experts talking about mental illness.

Their official launch will be in January 2012, but in the meantime the organisers are hoping that you can contribute to the Black Dog Tribe experience by giving them your feedback and suggestions on how to improve our site via their “issuetracker.”

What a great idea.

One doctor’s explanation behind the disparity: “women might be more likely to seek help”.

I’m not sure what the statistics are in the UK, but surely this can’t be right? Why is the figure so high? Why are more women than men on medication? How come it’s increasing so quickly? Is it because the drugs are simply more accessible? Or the doctors more willing to prescribe them? Or is there a significant and valid decline in women’s mental health in general? Is it a blip owing to the fact that the global economy is a mess and world news is depressing? What about in other countries where there are also major economic issues – Japan for example? How many anti-depressants do they take? Anybody know?

In conjunction with the release of their new look bottle, HP is giving Mo Bros across the UK the chance to celebrate and share their top Mo-moments on Facebook www.facebook.com/hpsauceuk – the most enthusiastic Mo Bro stands the chance of becoming the Gentlemanly Face of HP Movember, claiming £5,000 towards their Movember fund and a VIP trip for themselves and three friends to London.

Throughout the month of Movember the HP Facebook page will also host a series of competitions and challenges aimed to Mo’tivate men and bring the Movember spirit to life. HP teams and individuals can have fun and embrace the experience, from bacon buttie adventures to celebrity inspired Mos, and then upload their most Mo-tastic photos to HP’s Facebook page – the best images will receive contributions towards their Mo funds.

Mo Sistas can also get involved and support their Mo Bros – The People’s Choice Award for the best HP Mo Bro will be presented to the Bro who has receives the most ‘likes’ over the course of the month’s challenges.

Registered Mo Bros & Sistas can get involved by visiting the HP Facebook page on www.facebook.com/hpsauceuk and find out more about Movember at www.movember.com