Awareness, fun and support

By now, most of you will have had at least one tweet or FB message from me about Rare Chromosome Awareness Week.

Those who haven't, well, here's your chance to find out more !!

As you know, Peter has a rare chromo disorder.

It took many, many years  to find out where the problem was and many arguments, tantrums, tears to get us to that point.

July 1990 was when we first found out that Peter had "something" genetic going on. (it wasn't till many years later I found out these things had been noticed at Peter's first check, but we were never told)

The initial diagnosis was chucked in the fuckit bucket early on, but my correspondence (yes, this was the pre dark ages when t'internet didn't exist and FB and twitter didn't FB or tweet!!) - lead me to a lady called Edna Knight and a group called Unique

I remember the phone call to Edna well.

Me upset, her listening.

She said to me " Julie, whatever has happened with Peter, it's NOT your fault".

She explained that most times, things just happen and we have absolutely no control over them.

And so began a journey of learning about chromosomes, getting to know  people and getting (and hopefully learning to give) support to others.

I won't bore with all the details of our journey - but we've had conferences with our Unique Family, where I saw how much we were cared for and how much other families appreciated the care we gave.

One or two vivid memories - of meeting my friend Sue for the first time.

We had been e - mailing and were meeting up at the conference. I went round to her room to say hi, to find that she'd had a bit of a rough journey down.

So what does a girl do???

Tell her pal to sit down while she puts on the kettle and askes if she wants tea or coffee!!!!

Sue reckoned my bossiness was just what was needed at that time and our standing joke is "just how far will we go to meet up with People for e hot drink!!!"

Another memory was one evening sitting in the bar. We'd had a bite to eat and Lou and Paul went to reception to see what was going on. A family were there and Lou started to talk to the little girl (she was the one who had the chromo issues). The girl took Lou's hand and obviously wanted to go for a walk. Meanwhile, her brother was a bit worried about this - so Paul said "hey pal,we can't let those girls go off without us annoying them - come on let's do it".

The dad came into the bar and sat down with me - he asked if the red headed  girl and her brother were mine. I automatically started to apologise, thinking something had happened. He laughed and said no and told me what had gone on. He thought it was great that a couple of older kids had been so kind to his children

So - Unique, well. what do they actually do?

They have a database of genetic abnormalities that they can reference.

They put families in touch with each other for support.

They have written info leaflets on the more common rare disorders.

They help with genetic research - helping find people they know who may want to be part of the research.

And, with the help of some funding, they organise conferences and family days.

We had one this weekend in Glasgow.

Just getting together, chatting to people, making new friends, catching up with old ones and a bit of food in between.

And we find that while there are vast differences in our children's problems, they are actually more alike than we realise.

We also compare notes on our holidays - our specialty is Disney!!

And these are two of n my fav pics from our holiday in January - opening the park with our new friend Sienna

So now, what i'm asking ,would you care to pop by our website

    www.rarechromo.org

Join us on tweet

   @unique_charity

or pop over to our FB page

   Unique - Rare Chromosome Disorder Support Group.

We'd love to meet you.

And please - pass the message on!

Magic Wands, Light Sabres and a Wedding!!!!

So, the day eventually arrived.
After 2 1/2 years of planning, deciding, tears, tantrums and tiaras, we got there.

Yes, The Wedding Day.

So, we all arrived at the hotel on the Friday afternoon, Luggage, Bridesmaid dresses, my outfit, suits for my boys and most likely there was a kitchen sink in there somewhere!!!

The location was the Golden Jubilee Conference Centre and Hotel. It's attached to one of the hospitals here in Glasgow. Just on the outskirts and overlooking the river.

At this point, I really should post a photo, but I don't have the one of the view from our window.
But believe me - it was lovely, and you would have been hard pushed to know that just a few yards away was a busy NHS Hospital and a few miles along the road, a busy city getting ready for a warm summer evening.

After getting our stuff into the room, we went off for dinner - on a boat, moored on a canal.
We like the unusual!!!
Fish and chips, then back to the hotel for a couple of pre wedding drinks.

And this is where I realise that I DO have the view from the window on the PC.

(ok, I never said that tech stuff was my forte!!!!!)

Not too bad a view!!!

Saturday morning brought the promise of a lovely day.

Yay, sunshine, heat, wedding - what else could we want???

(Winning numbers of that night's lottery!!!!)

Shower and breakfast early.

There was a Conference on at the hotel that weekend, so some of the folk were in the lift with us.

By the time they got to breakfast, I think they were almost wanting tot be at the wedding and forget the conference!!

And I even got a couple of hugs from people!!

This Mother of the Bride was letting people know that we had arrived and were going to party.

Party HARD and enjoy!!!!

So hair and make up to get done, get into posh frock and shoes.

I forgot to put out Peter's new socks and things, so he nearly ended up with tatty socks on! Luckily, Paul had a spare new pair.

But the new belt was still in the room where I left it the night before!!!

Photographer arrived - loads of pics done, but was a tad worried when we told him that the wedding dress wasn't there!!!

Don't worry, quick call to Ann Marie, she was just picking her mum up and was on the way.

(look on the photographers face said worry - we just threw him out to go and take other pics!!)

I did runner for a few things - taking things to people to pass on to others and checking where Matthew was - by this time AM had arrived and Auntie Eileen was checking over the speech!!

Yup - running around a hotel in a posh frock, make up on and in my stocking soles.

In my defence m'lud, I knew it was a long day, so I was staying comfy!!!

Now, this is where the Light Sabre comes in.

Remember I wanted a wand to zap pesky guests into frogs???

Well, I was told I wasn't getting one.

So I suggested a Light Sabre.

Ok, says Louise - get one. (thinking I wouldn't!!)

So it was produced!!!

He, he he - I was having fun.

Bridesmaids and flower girl sorted, AM and I went to get Louise dressed.

The dress was gorgeous.

But we knew it would be!!

I got to the ceremony room and was a bit overwhelmed by all the people.

But, as usual, it was my Aunt Eileen who made me laugh

Why, she asked was I crying - it had taken me long enough to get rid of the girl!!!!!

Say what you mean!!

We scrub up not too bad.
More photos after the ceremony.

And my friend May had a present for me.

I GOT MY WAND!!!!!!!

Now, I was going have really good fun and do lots of zapping!!

I recruited 2 youngsters -  sorry, partners in crime for the rest of the day.

Jamie was on Light Sabre duties, Felicity on wand duties.
Jamie had a great time annoying Paul, they chased each other and generally had fun.

Felicity just wandered of, waving my wand.

Love having youngsters I can corrupt and lead astray.

Chaos, panic disorder - my work was done!!!

Speeches over, meal eaten and time to party

We really don't look as if we're enjoying it, do we????

The last photo is of Abby, one of the flower girls and Felicity - having a break from wand duties!!

It was a magical and special day.

And the conference goers - they kept telling us that we looked as if we were enjoying ourselves and one or 2 said that I looked brill in my outfit!

But it all went sooooo fast, I can't wait to see all the official pics and the DVD

So, i'm looking forward to the next wedding.

(what ARE you talking about I hear you say!!)

Paul and Emma got engaged about 10 days after , so we have another wedding in the pipeline!!!

Mmmmm - wondering if I can get a full size Light Sabre for that one..............................

A night at the movies

..................... No - more like a night on the tiles!!!

The time had come - it was Louise's Hen Night last Friday.

I had prepared well - bought Minnie Ears to wear (as well as 2 other pairs - worn by my friend May and Emma - Paul's girl friend) 
AND - the white Minnie ears, complete with veil.
To top it all off, Ariel's bouquet !!! 
IT HAD THE BRIDESMAIDS COLOUR IN IT!!
So now she says she may cancel her official bouquet and use that one!!!

(not bad for a 3 euro sale item in one of the shops in the Disney Village!!!)


Plans for the evening ..........

Some of us were meeting on the train, picking up the stragglers, oops, sorry, the Bride at the next station. Meanwhile, Emma and i put on the minnie ears, explaining to 2 little girls what we were doing that night and brought out the special ones. 

Of COURSE we made her wear them on the train!!!

The station in town is getting a lot of work done to it, so once we got to the top of the stairs, a nice lady gave us a creme egg each!!!

Well, after she laughed at the cluster of Minnies that passed her!!!!

So off to meet some others at the pub before getting on to the bonkers Bus .

Mind you, the pub was so busy, but we were a mere matter of a few feet away from a stag party. Needless to say, the stag's pals wanted photos with the hen!!!


I will say nothing of Emma keeling over backwards (and that was before any drink was consumed ) or about the Woo Woo Louise had in a drinks bottle.
Actually, least said about either the better!!!

So, off on the Bonkers Bus,
Loads of music.
Poles to Dance round!!
With the lack of tables to dance on/fall off, i did partake of a shimmy round a pole. 
No photos were taken - i think my beloved daughter was just a bit shocked at her auld, decrepit mother doing it!!!!

My friend May on the other hand, fell about laughing, as only and old friend can!!! 

Eventually, we arrived at the Normandy Hotel for out Night at the Movies tribute night.
Charlene met us there. She had already sneeked into the place we were having dinner to put goodie bags at our places and cupcakes with little rude things on the,

(this is a family show - i'll leave it to your imagination!!)

(Oh, and a lovely cake, the shape of which i will also leave to your imagination. But heck, 20 women on a Hen Do!!!!!)

It was a giggle looking in the bags and chatting. Catching up with some folk i knew while enjoying dinner.

The DJ and tribute band were ok - heard worse and we all got up to dance - after a fashion. Ann Marie is good at just telling you to get up!!!

But best part of the night - or at least one of them, was when the Bridesmaids were going to the  Loo.

Ann Marie followed them, tape measure in hand to get all the details to start their dresses!!!!

Well - she had them all there - captive audience, so she may as well get it done!!!

We had planned to stay till 2 am, but by midnight, May and i knew we wouldn't (and we'd listened to the DJ's rave music - trancey stuff that nearly did send us into a trance!!) May phone her taxi driver friend and asked if he could be ther at one.

Even Louise decided it was time to go!!

May made sure Emma and i got home OK.

Claire ,Lou's friend on the other hand had a more difficult job getting Lou home!!!
 He, he , he - Louise HAD picked up keys.

Just NOT the keys she needed to get into the house!!!!

Not wanting to waken the baby up by phoning, she went back to Andrew's mum's house to stay the night!!! 


Mmmmmm - i think that one might find it's way into a speech on the big day!!!

Mind you,it took my knees till Sunday evening to recover and the rest of my body till today. 

It was that shimmy round the pole what did it!!

It couldn't possibly be the Southern comfort !!!!

Two out of three ain't bad!!!

It's a while since I last posted.
Life has a habit of getting in the way!!!!

So, what we've been up to................

Peter and I were in Disney last month for a few days. Couple of iffy moments, which we'll gloss over!!!
But we had loads of brilliant moments.
Two of the biggies were helping to cut the ribbon to open the Park on the Sunday morning!! We were waiting for the park to open and chatting with a little girl and her mum. The cast Member came over and asked if Peter and Sienna would like to open the park.
Would they?????
Mmmm, is the sky blue?
Do I enjoy a prawn curry????

Of COURSE they would!!!
And if they don't, us mums will!!!!!!

It was nice to watch them cutting the ribbon and a big fuss was made of Peter and Sienna.

The other biggie was on the Monday morning. 
We had some time in the park before we headed to the airport.
So we went off to find a Princess.
We got our time to go to the Princess Pavilion and waited.
We had noticed Cinderella sneaking in.
I had to explain to him that we might not see Cinders.
So we waited.
Then our time came............

And today, Peter, you get to meet..............

Cinderella!!!!!!

So, I had one very happy boy, who met his favourite princess, and yes, he stole a kiss!!!!

Our time in Disney was great. We got to meet the Mad Hatter and make funny faces.
And we met Tigger at Dinner. We think he may have been Scottish, because when we were talking, he pointed to us, did a bit of a highland fling and did a thumbs up!!!!

We got home late Monday evening and were shattered.
But very happy!!

Plans for the wedding are well in hand.
Today was suit buying time for the men in our family.
Now, this may seem easy, but when is anything ever easy in my life!!!
For starters, we only had Matthew and Peter (Paul had Uni today)
Matthew said he could go and buy his suit himself. He didn't need help.

Not happening sunshine. If I have to get an armed SAS Guard to get you into Slaters, I would.

Men, they just don't understand that things have to coordinate, match, not clash and not make them look stupid.

So grumbling chucked in the bin, we went off.

Actually, it was less painful that Lou and I thought.
Suit, shirt, tie for Matthew and the same for Peter, plus shoes.
Alterations to be done and suits will be picked up next week.
So, 2 out of 3 suits bought isn't too bad.

We still have the hair and make up trials, the hen night (should be fun), nails to get done, alterations to my dress.
Thankfully my shoes have been dyed.

(Another thing my Hubbie just couldn't get!!!!)

So life is busy.
And I've not even started on the looking after Christopher when Loise goes back to work!!!!!

Who decided it was December already........

......... I mean, have I been sleeping or something?
Can someone please tell me what happened to this year please. It seems to have gone in a blur of baby and wedding stuff.

Or have I just been hibernating?????


So much for saying I'd blog more........

Pie crust promise - easy made, easy broken.

So.......... what we've been doing.....
Getting lots of cuddles from Christopher.
Which is fine and dandy till grandad appears and I don't get a look in.
Hmph. Methinks it may be the smallest dirtiest wheeling that boy ends up in!!!

And......... drum roll please, I have bought my outfit for the wedding.
A maxi dress, wrap and fascinator.
NOT what I had planned but I love it!!

You'll just have to wait for pics!!!!!

So, now that it's December, I suppose I should be thinking of Christmas. I have done the shopping for presents, am doing a mass wrap of said presents this week.

The first big christmassy thing will be the putting up of the Christmas tree.
Not quite yet, but most likely the weekend of the 12th/13th.
Gives Paul a break from the crazy exam/performance merry go round that he's going through just now.

It will be an afternoon of mayhem, having Muppet Christmas Carol on and dragging out all the decorations we have bought over the years.
The Disney ones of course!!!
And the one from Yosemite - raccoons on the fir tree.
And recalling the weird Russian couple who were on the bus to Yosemite with us!!!!
We may even have a blast of the Fairy Tale of New York as well.

Christmas Day is at Louise and Andrew's, which means half a ton of Christmas paper for baby to play with!!!

I am going to enjoy it!!!!

..........and A partridge in a pear tree!!!

............... I know - you're all wondering why i'm on to the Christmas songs in august!!
No - not been at the Christmas bottle of sherry - yet. (but i may well hit it soon!!)

It was Matthew's Dad's 80th Birthday last week and we had a party at one of the sister's houses.
Matthew's dad has 6 children, 17 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren (hence the adding  of said bird and said tree - i doubt anyone would have noticed)

So the age range was from 80 down to 8 weeks and 4 days old!!!!
The 8 week and 4 day old is the reason that i haven't blogged for ages - He is the newest addition to the family and my grandson!!!
In short, if he was chocolate you'd eat him

A pic of Christopher with Grandad at about 7 hours old.
Told you he was cute.

But anyway - Friday night was his big debut meeting family members on his paternal side. (the maternal or distaff sides party is in a few weeks when the Australians arrive!!!)

So off we went - convoy of 2 cars, 6 grown ups and a baby.

This child had a ball - we hardly saw him - apart from when he needed feeding and it was nice (mostly!!) to meet up with every one.

Come on - we've all got that one relative we don't want to see. But we behaved!!

For me, it's always rather bittersweet when we get together with Matthew's family. One of the cousins is 3 months older that Peter and has a degree in English Lit and Slavonic Studies. (yeah, right, cos that's the kinda degree that you're REALLY gonna get a job working as in Glasgow. Just crying out for teachers of slavonic wotsits!!!)

He's also now doing a PhD - something eastern European. I don't ask questions that i'm not really bothered about the reply to!!!

(i'm such and interested in how you're all doing Auntie - NOT!!! I will ask a couple of them, but mostly - nah!!! )

But it often brings home to me that Peter's development is well and truly delayed, he's not going to catch up and well, this is almost as good as it gets.

All this was on top of an incident that happened at the lunch club Peter does some work at. The incident (not going into details just now) just showed how vulnerable Peter is and how he can't always tell you what has happened. 
I kind of did know, but things have been ticking over well, but it was a kick up the bahookie even for the workers at the lunch club as well and has made us all think about how we approach things.

In times gone by, i would have cried and not really wanted to be there. 
But Peter chatted to most of Matthew's sisters, almost got me to slap the  one who is most patronizing and two of his cousins want to come to Disney with us in January!!!

Poor Claire - when we were talking about holidays, she was like " oh, i've never been on a holiday like your ones!"

(just shows that i maybe did something right. BUT - if i ever win big on the lottery, i may ask her mum if she and Anna want to come to Disney in Paris with us. These 2 cousins i love and they chat away to Peter!!)

Over the years, i have managed to be better about dealing with these family get togethers .
I try not to get upset and my thickened skin and black sense of humour usually get me through.

(oh, and the fact that we don't often meet up and i can escape back to our little world. That helps!!!)

But it was nice to see how good Christopher and Peter were in their  own ways.

Mind you, mother has one glass of prosecco and was knackered after.

Just not used to friday nights out anymore.!!!!!

The madness that is my life

...................... and how I survive it!!!

Don't blame me for the title of the blog - I was totally stumped. Knew what I wanted to blog about, but just not what to call it!!!!

Most of you know i'm mad.
I will gladly proclaim my madness in all it's various forms, but for those of you who have read my bogging efforts before, you know there is a reason to my madness.

Mainly my madness (in a mostly nice way, but not always!!) is due to Peter.

So, this week, being Chromosome Disorder Awareness Week, I thought i'd tell you a little bit more about Peter, his chromosomes and the people who share this part of our lives.

We knew from Day 2 that Peter has problems. Well, I say we, I did after spending the evening before crying and  listening to fireworks going off in George Square to celebrate the start of the Year of Culture.

Next day I did say to the midwifes and Matthew, but got the " he's a boy" and "he was a couple of weeks early" "don't worry".

(11 years later, I did go over his notes and found that one of the doctors had concerns, but didn't pass them on. Hell, she didn't even bother to sign the notes, so why on earth would she say anything?!?!?!)

So for the next 6 moths I worried, wondered and tried to get on with life.
We had a follow up appointment at the clinic in June for a couple of minor things, where it was decided to take bloods.
Nobody really explained WHY, just that the bloods should get done.

Fairly quickly we got a  letter asking us to go back to the clinic. I had explained to the doctor that we hadn't been given an appointment to go back to the clinic till October. She looked rather puzzled and worried (which made me worry even more)

Anyway, to the clinic we went.

Most of that day after was a blur. We had been told that Peter had  Prader Willi Syndrome (a few weeks later we found out that was wrong).
We were referred to the Genetics clinic at the children's hospital ando told to just "wait for that".

Loads of things happened in those few weeks.
I found that my GP had been frantically asking the Trainees in the Practice what the knew about PWS.
I found that the Registrar had been using my son for a teaching practice - after the Librarian at the hospital let it slip to a friend (who is a nurse) who went to find out info for us.
We found out that Peter didn't have PWS, but certainly DID have something genetic going on.

And I found a very lovely woman called Edna Knight.
As I type I still remember the tears (because as I type I can barely see the keyboard for them and I'm, trying not to let Peter see me cry as he happily sings along to a don on the laptop)

Edna and some other families got together a few years before and the group they formed went on to become Unique - a support group for families affected by rare chromosome disorders.

I don't remember a lot about that phone conversation - 25 years on, all I do remember Edna telling me was that it wasn't my fault. Whatever was wrong with Peter had happened before I most likely knew I was pregnant. She asked me to write  a little bit about us and Peter and send it for the news letter.

If you really want in depth about life over the next 25 years, look through my other posts, but along the way, we have found loads out about Rare Chromosome Disorders.
Most of them just have a string of letters and numbers.
That's the whole point - so rare, there are not enough people to give them a name!!!

There are lots of differences even between the people who seem to have similar genetic make up. Seizures, delayed development, deafness, autistic traits, eyesight issues...........................
But some people are less affected than others - Peter has global delayed development, am autistic spectrum disorder, his language was delayed, he had hypotonia, dysmorphic features, but on the whole is fairly healthy, and thankfully no great dramas health wise. Apart from having weird reactions to pain - you think something is going to really hurt and hardly flinches (or at most gives a grimace) In fact, you KNOW it's sore, but he doesn't react.

Then someone brushes by him and he's almost shouting at them to STOP IT!!!

I know weird!!!

(but heck , with a mother like me............................. Well, least said about that the better!!!)

We have spent time at Family weekends with Unique families and often, it's not so much the actual disorders you end up talking about - it's the "how did you deal with the first day of school" or "how did you deal with.................?????"

And you laugh because there is the blackest senses of humour out!!!

The comments like "oh, they've fallen - ach, they're still breathing, they're ok!!"

Or like the time Lou and Paul met up with twins - younger than them. Next thing I knew, the dad was over asking me "the girl with the long red hair and her brother - are they yours?" My reaction was "whatever they've done, i'm sorry - i'll go and sort it out"

The dad laughed and said "no - I just wanted to say they are wonderful. My daughter took your daughters hand and they went for a walk. My son got a bit worried, so your son came over and asked if they should go and annoy the girls and chase after them. It was nice to watch and funny at the same time."

That was another "lets get the tears going and cry moment".

That's the whole point of Unique. We start talking about chromosomes and then find we're talking about things that we never thought about.

It's the sharing and support.
The first conference I went to with my friend Fiona - my mum died on the Saturday morning. I was so glad that she was with me, because I would never have managed to get myself home.
But the Unique machine rolled into action, took Fiona with them to reception to make the needed phone calls and someone was with me making sure I was ok.

http://www.rarechromo.org/html/home.asp 

Click on the line - it'll take you to our website where you can learn more about Chromososmes.

Me - i'm going off to tweet, retweet and facebook  about the awareness week.

So retweet and share for me.


Thankyou for reading.
And you're all welcome to come and join my mad crazy life!!!