When I started this blog 500 posts seemed like something impossible that would take years, yet it's come up so quickly I nearly missed it. I actually can't begin to imagine the amount of drivel I've typed! I'm so blinking perfectionist too, that I dread to think of the hours that equates to.....
I can barely believe all the brands who take a chance and let me review for them over the past 500 posts, those who I am now a regular blogger for (including LEGO wahey!), and Drumond Park, who sponsored me to attend my first really big conference at Britmums. I'm incredibly flattered.
I also had no idea of what would happen and how incredibly eventful the last 500 posts would be, what they would document. I started my blog as a place to keep reviews I was doing for Izziwizzi Kids and I didn't expect to see that end fairly soon afterwards. I knew I'd record birthdays and holidays, I didn't expect to document Meningitis and a broken leg. The blog hasn't just been my record of events and days out, it's been my memory and my timeline, my catharsis and my rock.
I've never needed blogging more than I did exactly 1 year ago tonight. Alone and terrified in a house full of young people relying on me, it was bloggers I turned to. They were the people who were awake, they were the ones ready to listen, give advice and support. They sat there with me all over the country while I told them my partner was in hospital seriously ill. They were there for me until I could sleep at 2am, and they were back online at 6.30am when I rang the hospital to be told my partner had a 'good night'.
He hadn't. He was incredibly ill with Meningitis and didn't really even understand why he was in hospital or what was happening. He couldn't give his full name or answer anything tricky like 'how are you feeling?'. He was shaking so badly that his bed was rocking and waking the other patients. He had a steady temperature of nearly 40 degrees. In the 48 hours after arriving at hospital they pumped him full of fluids and 3 courses of antibiotics, but he lost 2 stone in weight. You really could see him wasting away. Thankfully yet he hadn't started trying to leave.
Without my blog I would have a lot of trouble trying to remember how events continued. It really was my diary and I can't read my early Meningitis posts without remembering exactly how I felt. I can't really read them at all, I cry. Who am I kidding, I cry even thinking about reading them. Thankfully we had a good outcome, a great outcome. My partner is here beside me as I type - watching crap on telly and playing a daft game on his phone.
He has poor memory now, he can't really remember much he did today, but tomorrow he'll remember more. He can't remember appointments or details, and he can't recite a number over and over to remember it while he walks from one room to another, he has to write everything down. He's coping fine at work, and his tiredness has pretty much gone, although he still falls asleep when he's stressed (and I really wish I did because it's an excellent get-out).
He still has back pain, and leg pain and he walks with a limp, but we can be a family, we can carry on our lives and take our kids out for the day. We are the lucky ones.
If you ever, EVER, feel like you have the worst hangover ever and you've not had a drink or been in the sun all day. If you have a temperature that won't drop with Paracetamol and Ibuprofen. If you're in so much pain you can't lie still. If you get cramping pains in the front of your thighs. And most importantly if ever you can't touch your chin to your chest - go directly to hospital.
Thank you for all those who've helped me along the way, and especially to those Izziwizzi Playfest people who've been there from day 1 - you guys are still here, even though Playfest isn't, and I couldn't have ever hoped to meet such a great bunch.
Thank YOU for reading. If you can stand it, here's to the next 500...x
