My 2015 - goodbye illness, hello plans!

2015 New Years resolution: to spend at least one weekend a month somewhere other than the Fens!

So, 2015 was an important year for me, mainly because it marked 5 years since I first came down with a nasty virus that didn't seem to go away. No matter how long I spent sleeping, I always felt completely drained and my body constantly ached. I caught every cold and bug imaginable and it became the norm to sleep for weeks on end. It was hard because no one understood or could explain what was happening to me. I'd always been energetic and a fairly bright student but suddenly I couldn't even concentrate on my school work anymore. My social life diminished and my attendance dropped so low because I physically couldn't get myself up and ready everyday.

After an array of tests and appointments, I was finally diagnosed with three conditions - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (also known as M.E.), Lupus and Hashimoto's thyroid disease. The virus had left me with my immune system struggling and basically attacking itself. Although 2 of the conditions improved over time with medication, CFS was a struggle to manage over the next few years. The hardest thing is that people don't always understand how debilitating it actually is because you look normal on the outside. For every good day, it's usually followed by several weeks of bad days.

The only plus side of being diagnosed with CFS at a younger age is that teenagers are typically more likely to make a full recovery than adults are. Over the next few years I worked hard with my doctor and a specialist nurse to follow structured programmes to help build my stamina back up. Some people may never improve. For the first year or so I felt like I was still continuously deteriorating. I struggled through my GCSE's and prom. However, slowly but surely my symptoms started to improve and eventually stabilised a bit. I was able to study Events Management & Marketing, got a part time job, got a golden retriever and passed my driving test. By September 2013 things seemed to be going relatively good so I pursued my passion for marketing and began my career with Cross Keys Homes.

CFS will always be there in the background and sometimes things get too much and I have to take some time out but I decided that my New Years resolution for 2015 would be to see more of the world, including my own country. I set myself a goal to spend at least one weekend a month somewhere other than the Fens.

So, how did I get on? Below you can find my main highlights of 2015. 

January

Any hopes for a dry January will always be ruined by January 22nd because it's one of my best friends' birthdays! This year we ventured to Leeds for Kate's birthday weekend. To summarise, 6 girls with just 1 double bed is a recipe for disaster.

February

At the start of February we decided to head to Nottingham for a night out and met up with our friend Heather. We also had our first Nando's of the year! 

On February 28th Ryan and I made our way down to Sheraton Skyline for a night in London before our flight to New York (yay). The cocktails in the Sky Garden really are something else!

March

After 20 years of waiting I finally made it to New York City! We froze to death in the snow, shopped 'til we dropped and gobbled as much food as we possibly could. I got to see some of the worlds most famous sights such as Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the World Trade Centre. I'm not very good at showing emotion or crying, but the first morning in Times Square reduced me to happy tears! I thought I'd stop being as obsessive once I'd visited but our trip has only made me worse. (click here to view the blog post)

April

Most of April was spent with my friends as everyone was home from uni! We spent some time in our home town and nearby city Peterborough. 

Ryan and I took full advantage of the early Spring sunshine and went on our annual trip to Alton Towers and then had date night at Frankie and Benny's. 

May

May was fun and there were 2 bank holiday weekends too, yay!

In my opinion, S Club 7 have been the coolest band around since I was a kid so we booked tickets for the tour in Nottingham and made a weekend of it. We spent the day at TGI Friday's, moved on to Turtle Bay for 2-4-1 cocktails and then relived our childhoods. When it finished we went to Baa Bar for some smoking drinks and then into the city for the night. We went for lunch at Wildwood the next day before before heading back home. 

There's nothing like leaving plans until the last minute and 2 days before Radio 1 Big Weekend in Norwich we still hadn't got an outfit or anywhere to stay - organisation at it's best. Nevertheless we had so much fun!

June

Time for some holiday shopping with my mum! We had to re-arrange twice as we were both ill but we eventually made it to Leicester.

Ryan and I returned to Corfu for the third time, this year accompanied by mother Howlett and the Johnson's! (click here to view the blog post)

July

Norwich time! We went to Chiquito's for lunch, TGI's for seconds and cocktails and the rest of the sunny day drinking on the Riverside before heading out into the city that evening.

Me and Ryan celebrated our 3rd anniversary and his 22nd birthday in Amsterdam. We had some struggles navigating the transport system on our arrival - it was a nice cold, dark, wet walk. It rained, and rained, and rained some more whilst we were there. (click here to view the blog post)

One of the downsides of being ill was that it completely ruined my front teeth and left them weak. I'd previously had them rebuilt by an NHS hospital but they were ugly. I finally spent some of my savings and got some veneers fitted to the front 4! Now I can't wait to have the bottom ones done in a few years time. (click here to view the blog post)

August

After last years fun in Ibiza we thought we'd mix it up a bit and go to Ayia Napa in Cyprus this year. We had fun in the sunshine and also managed to tick Nissi Beach off my sightseeing list. I survived tonsillitis before, during and after the holiday and after 2 lots of antibiotics I finally started to feel a bit better!

We went to the cutest wedding at Brook Farm in Cuffley, Herts. It was also our first together!

To celebrate Louise's birthday we ate on the Riverside in Cambridge and spent the rest of the day drinking cocktails.

Me and Ryan spent date day/night at the beach.

September

For Tegan's birthday we had a BBQ, went to Peterborough for the night which isn't far but FLARES IS FUN and then we all ended up having a massive sleepover!

October

We finally ventured up to Sheffield to visit Hannah at uni for a few days. We did some shopping, had cocktails, year six food (aka pizza and curly fries) and two nights out.

For Halloween we decided to visit Aimee at uni in Hatfield for the first time. We met all of her friends, had some drinks and went a meal at Prezzo's.

November

With Christmas upon us, we didn't really get chance to venture too far away as we were really busy. Christmas shopping in Cambridge is my idea of hell but Ryan did finally take me to Smokeworks which was delicious.

We also dedicated another date night to one of our favourite places, Arbuckles.

Me, Jamie and Alice went to our work Christmas party at the Peterborough Marriott Hotel and had fun in the photo booth!

December

I had so many good plans for December but due to some unexpected circumstances I had to cancel quite a few of them which is a shame, but hey ho, hopefully I'll make up for them in 2016.

For my birthday me and Ryan stayed at H10 London Waterloo Again (click here to view the blog post) and had such nice views over the city. We ate at Bodean's BBQ, H10's amazing breakfast and Shake Shack whilst we were there and drinks at London Cocktail Club - yum! We walked along Tower Bridge, shopped during the day and spent the evening in Covent Garden.

As Aimee lives in Hatfield which is so close to London we decided to pay her another visit for a few days before the end of the year to tie in with our visit to Winter Wonderland. It's so pretty at night when it's all lit up! We booked tickets for Bar Ice and the cocktails were good but it was freezing.

Over Christmas I mainly spent time at home with my family and friends, but we did take Poppy to the beach for a cold walkies.

Hopefully 2016 will bring more plans! Happy New Year everybody! x

Stage three of my veneer journey - permanent veneers

After what felt like a century, July 28th finally arrived and it was time for my permanent veneers to be fitted. My dental disasters in the past left me feeling anxious and I wondered if I'd be truly happy with the final results. 

The process to fit the permanent veneers is very similar to the one carried out to fit the temporaries. My dentist explained to me what was going to happen before beginning his work. There was a little bit of drilling and then the temporaries were gently removed. They felt like they clicked off from my natural teeth. I chose not to be anaesthetised for the final fitting process but my dentist reassured me that if I felt any pain during the process he would stop immediately and inject me.

After the removal of the temporaries my natural teeth were prepped and cleaned. This is the first time during the whole 'getting veneers' process that I've flinched. My natural teeth were soooo sensitive to the cold water and it made me worry that my permanent teeth would feel the same way. 

After they'd finished air drying my teeth, they then fitted the porcelain veneers over my four front teeth. They didn't use any adhesive this time as they wanted to check I was happy with them before they went ahead and attached them to me permanently. The permanent veneers felt so much thinner than I had imagined and kinda like egg-shells. I was happy with the result so the dentist cleaned and dried my natural teeth again. 

My dentist then fitted each veneer one-by-one with a permanent adhesive. This involved a bit of wiggling around to get the veneers at the right angle, and some pushing up and down to get the veneers as close to the gum line as possible for a natural look. The adhesive is then set with a UV light which is, again, a completely painless procedure. 

The worst part of the process was creating the gaps. It gives me goosebumps and makes my hairs stick up just thinking about it! They use a material which feels similar to sandpaper to rub between the teeth and create small gaps so you are able to floss. They then make you smile and bite down a lot before filing away at the teeth to correct the bite. 

I was shown the finished result and honestly, I felt so relieved. After all these years my stupid fat inflamed gum and rubbish composite were long gone, and had been replaced with new pearly white teeth. The first time I ran my tongue over the veneers I was shocked at how smooth they feel. I had expected them to feel bulky, but they felt thin and neat. Overall, I was really happy with the permanent veneers and impressed that the whole process had been pretty much painless from start to finish.

2 hours later, the whole process was over and I was already able to tuck into a BK bacon double cheeseburger (much to my diets dismay!). I was so surprised that I had no pain or sensitivity, and to date, I haven't had any problems with the permanent veneers. They feel just like my own teeth, and I can eat completely normal. Eating an apple is something I haven't experienced for years, because of the fear of the dreaded composite cracking, and it felt sooooo good to bite into a crunchy red one.

I had always been very conscious of my teeth, and never smiled or posted photos of my teeth before. If any of my friends caught me in the background of a photo with my mouth open I would immediately remove my tag and die of shame. This is a photogra.ph of my teeth with inflamed gums and a gap where the composite had cracked off again...

Here I am with the temporary veneers...

And finally, after all these years (and lots of whinges from Ryan about my silly pouting), lots of smiles!!! :-) 

My work was carried out by the owner (Lau Berraondo) of Enhance Dental Spa in Ely, Cambridgeshire. Lau is an experienced cosmetic dentist who specialises in aesthetic dentistry, and he is certainly a perfectionist. I really cannot recommend the team at Enhance enough. The practice is modern throughout and even has a water feature wall, so it feels more like going to a beauty spa than the dentist. The receptionists and dental nurses are all so friendly, and waiting isn't an issue when there is a massive TV on the wall along with drink making facilities.

 If you are thinking of getting your teeth done, I strongly recommend you book your free consultation with Enhance sooner rather than later. My only wish is that I got my teeth done sooner! I can't wait to return and get my bottom ones done in the years to come. Thank you Enhance!

Stage one of my veneer journey - consultation and initial appointments

For as long as I can remember, I have always looked in the mirror and absolutely hated my teeth. I've truly mastered the art of talking with my hand over my mouth and pulling a ridiculous pouty face in every photo. I suffered from numerous health conditions as a youngster and as a result of this and the medication I had to take I was left with brittle unsightly teeth that really knocked my confidence. There's not masses of information available online about the veneer process from consumers, so I decided to blog about it in the hope it will help others considering this option.

When I was 13 I was referred to an NHS dental hospital. They attempted to build the worn down teeth back up to offer some extra protection. They used something called composite resin to do this. It's a a tooth-coloured filling material and often used as a cheap alternative to veneers to resolve minor issues like small gaps and chips. I cried my eyes out when I got home. I hated them. They were flat and bulky and looked nothing like the natural teeth that all my friends had. I continued to be miserable with these and avoided talking and laughing - especially if I knew there was a camera about. A further two years went by and it became apparent that composite didn't seem to be very hard wearing and was discolouring as time went by. I fell out of bed one night (my dreams can be very odd!) and managed to crack the composite off of my two front teeth. I had it restored and thought this was the end to the problem, but I was incredibly wrong. I'm not sure if it was because of the angle, or the dentists poor skill but the composite would slowly break off every couple of months. I had this restored numerous times over the next couple of years which wasn't cheap and the problem grew very frustrating. I hated the ledge the composite gave and it made flossing very difficult. The gum eventually started to inflame and mould around the top of my tooth which didn't look nice.

Fed up, I began searching the internet for a long-term solution and came across porcelain veneers. They are a thin, custom-made material that covers the front of your natural tooth, similar to a false fingernail. They improve the appearance and can change the colour, shape, size or length. Prices start from around £400 a tooth, and depending who you use can go right up to around £2,000 a tooth. Reading through further information online it felt like it was only celebrities and rich people that got these. When I left college I got a full time job and began to save some money away. The next time my composite broke off I decided to book an appointment with a private cosmetic specialist dentist instead of my usual. He fixed this temporarily and encouraged me to find out more about veneers.

I was a little hesitant about the whole process because of the large amount of money involved, so I decided to book a couple of consultations with other companies, as well as the one that encouraged me to find out more about veneers. Some consultations were free, and others charged around £75. The first consultation cost me, but I didn't feel like the dentist was really listening to me. He just wanted my money, told me veneers would be fine (without even checking if I'd had any previous oral issues) and tried to get me to sign up there and then. The second dentist didn't charge a consultation fee but suggested we try removing all the composite bonding and re-doing it before putting on veneers if I didn't like it. She didn't really listen when I stressed my worries about the 'join' between my natural tooth and the composite. I was made to feel like I was just being vain. The third dentist was the same man who repaired my composite the last time. He owns his own practice and specialises in cosmetic dentistry. He didn't charge me a fee for the consultation and I felt like he had all the time in the world to listen to my requirements and worries. Although his prices were slightly more than everywhere else I'd seen, I felt the most comfortable with him so I made another appointment to begin the process.

At the second appointment I had x-rays and moulds taken so they could create a 'wax up trial smile' for me. He listened to what I didn't like about my teeth and talked me through all of the options. At this point we decided to add teeth whitening and gum contouring to the treatment plan for the best results. He also informed me that there was a 0% finance option available to me, meaning I wouldn't have to dip into my savings. This allowed me to spread the cost across 6 to 12 months without paying any extra fees.

At my third appointment I got to see what I'd look like with veneers. We originally thought I needed the top 8 doing, but ended up deciding that 4 would be fine. I'd really like my bottom teeth done in the future but at the moment my top teeth are my priority just to get rid of the horrible composite. They provided me with my whitening trays which I had to use for 40 minutes each day for 2 weeks. We then booked another appointment for 3 weeks time to start preparing my teeth for veneers.

At home I soon became familiar with the Zoom2 whitening kit and found it very easy to use. I'd squeeze the gel out of the syringe into a mould of my teeth and pop it in for 40 minutes whilst I watched Hollyoaks. In the past I used Crest 3D whitening strips which gave me good results but left my gums very sore. I've seen some users of Zoom2 complain online that their teeth are very sensitive, but personally I had no issues with the kit. It didn't taste too bad either which was a bonus!

Click here to read my stage two post about living with the temporary veneers... 

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