A Very Late Special Interest Post for the End of 2024! I don’t usually post my special interest updates on here; I usually just post them on my Instagram. However, I thought, as this one is a round-up of the last 11-12 weeks, rather than just the last couple, I would put it on my main blog. My usual Special Interest posts were something I began doing to share a bit about the things I’ve been up to that make me happy and relate to the things I am passionate about, and encouraging others to do the same. This post is also a bit of an update on how I am, and why my posting has been lacking. So, I guess here we go.

I don’t really know how to explain everything, and how to begin, but I am in hospital and still very unsure of where I am going next, and the treatment in this hospital is very harsh – for example, I am not allowed to eat or drink orally, and they have said from day one this is not to change. I am not allowed fresh air, and am on four or five to one observations. It’s very confusing, and odd, and I feel sick a lot and have lost of all sense of routine, even in terms of getting up and going to bed. Still, it’s the end of 2024, and I am holding onto hope for the future, and I wanted to mention a few of the nice things I have done while here, even with limited resources (not allowed pens or pencils?):

• Read some good books, including an interesting one on Bill Gates, and finally, The Shining
• COMPLETED MY FIRST DIAMOND ART AND I WILL NEVER DO ONE AGAIN (IT TOOK SO LONG)
• Made a Christmas quiz for staff (and prize!)
• Watched a LOT of shows and films (back into Greys Anatomy, revisited my childhood favourites, and some really good horrors like The Substance?!)
• Wrote my first ever article (well, case report) for a nursing journal WHICH HAS BEEN ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION, as LEAD AUTHOR
• Designed a menu for a Eevee Pokemon cafe, complete with illustrations
• Started doing drawings of animals and people – drawing staffs’ pets and my family – and I think I’m definitely getting better at it
• A bit of volunteering
• Decorated pumpkins for the ward
• Wrote some poetry

This December is not what I’d hoped…but that’s okay. Have you been doing anything fun special interest wise over the Christmas period?

(right click and open image in new tab to see the pictures bigger)