I Can Drive?!

First of all, let me take you back to just over 2 years ago, I was 20, working in a busy town with fantastic transport links that dropped me as close as a 5 minute walk away from my office and was able to spend my wages on whatever I wanted. I had no real reason to be driving and had little to no desire to begin either. Flash forward to when I started my job in a small village and things became extremely different! Not only are the transport links between where I live and where I work quite poor, they're slow and expensive! where I was paying £7.00 per week for a train ticket, I began paying £95.00 per month for a bus ticket, a huuuge contrast. Throw in a bus that only runs every hour and is quite often late and you'll get an extremely fed up Hayley! After a year of working at my current job, I finally gained enough courage to get behind the wheel and learn to drive and after a few weeks of learning, I wondered why I'd never wanted to start! 

All in all, it took me around a year to pass my test, I reckon this is partly because I put off doing my theory test for a long time out of fear that I'd fail. I started lessons around the end of September and then passed my test just two weeks ago on the 25th of October. I was surprisingly lucky on both occasions and passed both of my tests first time which was so so unexpected, I didn't feel at all like I knew enough to pass the theory and I certainly didn't feel prepared to pass the practical test. 

The weekend after the weekend that I passed, I went down to my local Citroen dealership and bought my first car, I got a C1 Elle in nude and I'm completely obsessed! The car is on Citroen's Simply Drive package where you get the car, insurance, road tax, roadside assistance and servicing for one monthly price which is a LOT cheaper than any prices I found when getting quotes for other separate cars. The car insured with a telematics scheme because I'm a brand new driver and 22 I only installed the device yesterday and have been obsessively checking my score after each journey since! so far I'm not doing too bad but it is put together over an average based on ALL journeys so I'm hoping I can keep the good driving up! 

Getting in a car on your own for the first time is weird and definitely takes a lot of getting used to but I'm starting to get used to it now and the first day I must've stalled 200 times while getting used to my car and driving to and from work was crazy but I'm definitely getting used to it now.  

Hayl xo

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Hospital Appointments and HRT

Since the last (only) time I wrote about my Turners Syndrome a lot has happened, I still don't know too much in terms of it's effects on me but the check ups and treatments are well underway so I just thought I would go over that here for anyone that may want to know the kind of tests/check up us turners ladies have.

Medication

There are only 2 types of medication that I take currently

• 3 vitamin D supplements in a high strength in the morning. These are due to a deficiency in Vitamin D which has affected my bone health. I was diagnosed with osteopenia meaning I have weak bones but not so weak that they would break with ease just through a fall etc. 
• 3 oestrogen tablets (ethinylestradiol) on a night. This is my hormone replacement therapy which is standard for girls with turners syndrome as well as lots of other women that have issues with their hormone regulation. This currently is purely oestrogen for now until my doctor sees fit to transfer me to the combined pill with progesterone in.

Tests/Screening

As you can imagine, I've been subjected to a lot of prodding and probing in the past year and a bit just to make sure I'm in tip top shape. Some of the tests I have had done are:

• Enumerable blood tests to diagnose any deficiency or abnormality in the blood. As mentioned above the only deficiency right now is Vitamin D however in my last set of tests, my ferritin levels came back as low so my doctor has decided if they are any lower by my next appointment, I will be put onto supplements for that too.  
• A Dexa scan to check my bone density levels - this was the test that discovered my osteopenia.
• An MRI scan for my uterus to see what shape it was in, this came back normal
• A healthy heart test to ensure my heart was working as it should be - this was just an ECG which came back fine
• A cardiac ultrasound - this was just to see what my heart actually looked like and to make sure there were no problems with my aortic valve - weirdly, this was my favourite of all the tests as I got to see my heart on the screen in the same way an expectant parent see's their child both are fascinating to see.

I can't actually think of any other tests I've done but aside from that I have regular check ups at the hospital to discuss my general well-being, plans for parenthood and my extremely terrible food habits (I always get a telling off about that last one)

In general, I'm very happy with my progress since diagnosis both personal and physical, a lot of things have begun to make sense, I joined the UK Turners Syndrome Support Society and often interact with the other TS ladies and parents which is always helpful and full of support where needed. 

Thanks for reading, 

Hayl xo

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My stay at Wynyard Hall

Back in April (I drafted a lot of posts ready to come back!), I went with two of my friends to stay at Wynyard Hall and have some time at their spa. If you've not heard of it, Wynyard Hall is a beautiful country hotel in (would you believe...) Wynyard in Teesside.

So, on arrival, we were greeted at the welcome desk, given our key and taken to our room, we were staying in the Mount Stewart Suite which is one of their junior suites to fit up to 4 people. Our room had a nice view of the front of the grounds as it was just above the entrance to the hall. The room was gorgeous sadly I didn't take any photo's to upload, it had 1 double bed and a double sofa bed too. Also in the room was the standard tea and coffee provisions (complementary) and an array of bathroom goodies to sample too. there was also a tv and dvd player which was handy as we had wanted to watch a film whilst we got ready for the night. I took a handful of DVD's although they did have a their own library that you could loan from should you have wished to do so.

On the night, we decided we would go to a local pub for tea called The Stables. The food was to die for and the portions were HUGE! We got potato skins as a starter and the waiter recommended we get 2 between the 3 of us rather than each get 1 and even then I don't think we ate it all! I then got a trusty Chicken Parmesan 'Parmo' for my main, it came with chips but they were about an inch thick and wide again it's safe to say, I did not finish that! We were all far too stuffed for dessert so we went into the bar for drinks. The atmosphere was lovely and we had a fantastic night (and of course it wouldn't be a trip to any pub without me leaving v. tipsy).

The next morning, we went down for breakfast at around 8am and each got a full english as well as a few bits from the continental spread they had. Once full, we then headed to the spa. None of us really fancied an actual treatment so we just spent our time trying out all of the facilities - the hot tub being the clear winner for us all I believe!

Overall, it was a lovely stay and I'd love to do it all over again

Hayl xo

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Baking With Hayl - Tanya Burr's Lemon Drizzle Loaf

Last year, I bought Tanya Burr's - Tanya Bakes, in an effort to bake more and I'll not lie - it was a while before I put it to good use! My absolute favourite recipe from the book would be the lemon drizzle loaf, it's just so quick and easy to prepare and tastes absolutely amazing! It's a huge hit at the office too, especially with my boss!

For the cake:

• 3 eggs
• 170g self-raising flour
• 170g caster sugar
• 170g butter
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• zest of 2 lemons*

For the icing:

• 150g icing sugar
• juice of 2 lemons*

*Through trial and error, I've found its a lot better to use 2 smaller sized lemons, I once used 2 larger lemons and there was far too much juice to icing sugar ratio making it slightly too tangy for my liking - if you prefer the tangy taste just do what you think but I definitely prefer using the smaller lemons.

Lets bake!

Pre-heat your oven to 180℃. Mix the eggs, flour, sugar, butter, baking powder and the zest of two lemons into a big mixing bowl. line your baking tin with a bit of butter or use a non-stick baking tin and pour mixture in. Bake for 35-45 minutes - the cooking time depends on the size of the tin and your oven. To check your cake is ready, slide a knife into the centre and if it comes out clean, it is ready to come out of the oven.

Mix together the icing sugar and juice of the two lemons to make the drizzle. Stir it together - it should be quite quite a watery consistency. While your cake is still hot, poke it all over with a skewer or sharp knife and then pour over the drizzle so it can soak in.

Hayl xo

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Guess Who's Back - Back again...

Hiiiyaaa... it's been a while, no? Well it would seem that we have a lot of catching up to do then ey? Since the last post, all I've thought when it comes to blogging is, what is there to follow a post like that? Where do I go from there? The answer, as it would seem, is wherever the hell I want and since I've had such a long break in between what I'd classify as 'proper blogging' as in me having a schedule etc. I thought I really can write anything, if there is ever a time to give my blog a new feel it would be now hence the new theme. 

So now for where am I going with my blog? 

Pretty much as I used to - I'm gonna write what I feel like writing but this time, I'm going to do it better! this means that If I want to write a beauty post about a facemask I'm loving... I'm gunna! If I've been binge watching a show on Netflix and I think you'll love it - I'll let ya know!

I really want to give the whole blog thing a go one more time and if it goes back to square one, I'll pack in (maybe) and just forget about writing all together but for now, I constantly think about how I can come back to the blog and what I can write that will make me happy and what better to make me happy than whatever I want?

Thanks for reading possibly my rambliest post ever! 


Hayl xo

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