Thank You

I just thought I would like to dedicate a post to all of you who have followed this blog over the past few years day in day out and thank you for continuing to do so.

In recent months , you may have noticed that I have been posting fewer poems but that is because something exciting has come out of the original reason for posting a poem a day which I will share now.

As you may be aware, I started this blog on the back of a challenge to post a poem a day for a year at the same time raising awareness of cardiac arrhythmias and syncope.  This was a very personal challenge for me, having been diagnosed with PoTS after a 30 plus year struggle of passing out in the most bizarre situations yet never getting a diagnosis until 2008.  But true to form, when life gives you lemons and you choose to make lemonade, truly remarkable things can happen.

The poetry challenge was well received and the statistics showed just how many of you read it but more importantly just how many were finding out why I was doing it.  From this, Ginz and Tonic started to raise awareness just as I had hoped and to this day continues to do so.  But it also led to the formation of a specialist support group for patients in our area who also have an arrhythmia or suffer from Syncope.

As a psychology student with special interest and a background in Positive Psychology and coaching, I set about working with dedicated clinicians from our local hospital, Grantham Hospital and together we formed Beat-It Grantham.  This arrhythmia and syncope support group facilitates a programme of education, a platform of shared lived experience between members and much needed social support.  We also go into the local community to raise further awareness of these conditions and last night were delighted to be recognised for our work at the United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust Staff Awards evening as we were presented with the working together award for 2016.

Life is a collaboration and when we work together we can truly benefit so many but then doesn’t the blogging community know that already!?!  So my message is one of thanks to all who have supported this venture from the beginning.  I don’t think I ever thought that the beat in poetry would translate into the beat within that is our heartbeat but there you go – remarkable things happen with a little innovation and a lot of help from your friends!  Life is good!  Life is inspirational!

Many thanks

Gini

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Clouding of Consciousness

A neural mist descends
A heavy weight on mind
A plague of obstacles progress
Inhibiting in kind

A nebula that masks all thoughts
Miasmic effluent
That overwhelms and suffocates
Without release; relent

A haze within the brain
A vapored smog depress
To kidnap and take hostage life
Clouding of consciousness

This blog is dedicated to raising awareness of www.stars.org.uk who diligently support all those suffering from conditions that result in unexplained blackout.  The clouding of consciousness (also known as brain fog) is a nasty symptom of many of these conditions.  To find out more please contact Stars who can help ensure that anyone presenting with unexplained loss of consciousness receives the correct diagnosis, the appropriate treatment, informed support and sign posting to the appropriate medical professional.

Heavy mist (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

Cupcakes and Lemonade

Cupcakes and lemonade
Picnics away
Chilling to celebrate
Come on today
To shine like a star
With sweetness galore
With fresh lemonade
Come on – we implore!

And feel sun in your hair
And grass in your toes
Whilst making a diff’rence
Cos everyone knows
That cupcakes and lemonade
Forever will be
The best of best partners
For a fundraising tea!

This summer stars.org.uk are asking us to hold Cupcake and Lemonade parties to fundraise for them so that they continue to be here for patients with unexplained blackouts, to answer their questions, talk to schools and provide reassurance when you need it.  To find out more click here.  This charity provides an invaluable service to those, who like me, suffer from conditions that knock us out regularly and particularly for those who struggle to get a diagnosis for rarer conditions.  Why not consider supporting them and organising your own Cupcakes and Lemonade picnic or party.  You can process the funds raised through the donations link on this blog which goes directly to them.  Let me know what you do? 🙂

jalapeno lemonade cupcakes (Photo credit: freakgirl)

Poetry

Today marks the first anniversary of Ginz&Tonic.  A year ago I pledged to post at least one poem a day for a year to raise awareness of the work of stars.org.uk.  You can read more here.  It’s been a fabulous year and 550 poems I remain so very grateful for all the support that you have all given and of course, remain, thankful for the work of stars.org.uk who continue to be such a valuable service for those who experience unexplained loss of consciousness.  If you would like to know more – why not check them out.

Poetry

The essence of my heart
True dreams, beliefs and more
The past, the now and future paths`
Expressions open door

Words paving through the banks of time
Emotions rolling tide
The tempest finding harmony
For calmness to reside

The soul dancing on open page
The eyes all gleaming bright
And harbinger of sentiment
Sensations perfect sight

Evoking feelings’ passion
Imagination’s fire
Aesthetic voice that weaves as one
Notions that might inspire

Extending past the stanza to
Paint pictures; imagery
Drawing in letters, rhymes and verse
A little bit of me

Ey Up Mi Duck

I might be a little quackers
For sure mi duck you’ll see
That quacking I do ain’t so mad
But more for rivalry
To capture his attention
The drake that’s in the pack
To flirt, attract and get my man
Ey up mi duck!  Quack! Quack!

FYI: “Ey up mi duck” is a colloquialism for “Hello” from the East Midlands region of England.  Funnily enough it’s nothing to do with wildfowl but actually takes it’s origins from the Saxon word “ducas” which was meant as a term of respect akin to the word for leader “duc” which later became “duke”.  From this it therefore became a greeting before it became a term of endearment!

Did you know that it’s only the female duck that “quacks”.

Brain Fog

The sun shines brilliantly
Enlightening the shadows
With a sheer luminosity
Glimmering rays of clarity
In the warmth of a summer’s day

And yet a mist is swirling
A miasma of the mind
A hazed clouding of consciousness
With depleted transparency
Held in the grips of a brain fog

A life encased in fatigue
Buried in oblivion
Where time disorientated
Impairs all conscious cognition
In the midst of a confused world

Heavy mist (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The PoTS* Way

I woke up really early as
The birds began to sing
As sun rose over horizon
All weak and watering
You know?  That glazed look that she wears
To start each brand new day
That says “OK! I’m up, give me
Some time to make my way
Up high into the brighter sky
To beckon in the dawn”
And likewise I then rubbed my eyes
And stifled a huge yawn!

I thought I’d jump right from my bed
I’ll make this day so full
Of all the things I need to do
With inspired push and pull
“A run!” I thought, “Yes that’s the thing
To start this day anew
And then perhaps get all chores done
And walk the dog out too!
Get dinner prepped; into the pot
The ironing out the way
And mow the lawn and wash the car
Then go to the ballet”

But now on fully wakening
Reality has hit
For my legs are made of lead weights
And energy has split
And rising slowly from my bed
My head begins to spin
With heart pulsating rapidly
There is no way to win
With brain fog misting morning sun
And tiredness oh so rife
I’ll render plans wiped out for this
Is how  PoTS^* runs my life

Instead I turned to books and such
To poetry; to art
For things like this can be done lest
Less strain put on my heart
And if I’m really honest they
Bring forth a whole new way
To still enjoy this life so much
And live for every day!

^*Postural Tachycardia Syndrome

 

For More Information:

If you would like to know more about this condition please visit www.stars.org.uk

Sickness

Maladies tides washed in waves of affliction
Besetting the body in floods of disorder
Depriving the senses of congruity
And physical tenement depleted
In a portentous defeat of malaise
Consumed in an vast exhaustion
Of decrepitude and enervation
Awaiting health to yield her remedial balm
With exuberant vivacity and
The verdancy of well-being reinstated;
Fine fettle recalibrated

When Life Steps Out Of Time

Don’t you hate it when you’re poorly
Out of sorts and feeling ill
Unable to get on with life
Against your own free will
The issues and the problems that
Sheer up the pure delight
Of living life with better health
No pain or hurt in sight

And don’t you hate it when your helpless
Paralysed by pathogens
That creep throughout your system and
Attempt to become friends
So toxic and so alien
That fail to do you good
By causing sickness and disease
With harm not understood

And don’t you hate it when your hurting
Bash, bruised with broken bones
Inflicting injuries carte blanche
To give you cause to groan
That cripple and disable that
Disturb and so upset
Don’t you hate these loathsome ailments
To them don’t you object

But life is not smooth flowing and
It comes with copious costs
Of illness, disability
So testing; arduous
But each of us can bear this brunt
The testing uphill climb
So let’s exercise compassion
When life steps out of time

BBC Radio Lincolnshire Interview

Recently Ginz from Ginz&Tonic was interviewed by BBC Radio Lincolnshire.  If you’d like to hear the interview then please click on the link below to find out a little more from behind the scenes of Ginz&Tonic, more about Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (PoTS) and a dip into her biography.

NB:  Soundbites courtesy of BBC Radio Lincolnshire with many thanks