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Hello and welcome back. Here we are again.

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Well, today we're sort of going right back old school.

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Because listening back to some of the old podcasts I've been doing using the laptop,

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I'm really not happy with the sound quality. I'm going to be honest, really not happy at all.

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It was like this humming noise in the background, which, yeah, I didn't like it. Couldn't figure it out.

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So here we are. We're back. We're using the phone and we are back carrying on as usual.

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Well, today there's a few bits I'm going to talk about today.

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One of the main ones, and I'm going to say it, is probably not something I've said today.

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I want to talk about how much of an absolute head-messer MS actually is.

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Now, I think any of us that are going through this kind of understand the sort of thing that MS does and whatever else.

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But it really does play with your head. It really does mess with your brain on quite a big level.

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And I'll explain a little story. A couple of little stories actually.

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The first one was a few days ago now. And I went to get in the bath.

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And run the bath, not really thought anything of it, not a problem. You know, it was perfect, not an issue.

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Normally I'd dip a hand in just to check, make sure it's not too hot or whatever else.

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Well, I didn't do that this time. And I just put my foot straight in the bath.

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And I'm thinking, there's nothing wrong with that, that's all right.

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I couldn't have been much further wrong. Put my second foot, leg in, got myself in the bath, sat down, as you do.

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And my word that bath was hot. It was literally melting the flesh off me.

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It was absolutely red hot. But my legs, they felt comfortable. It didn't feel hot at all.

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But it was absolutely ridiculous. The heat was shocking.

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And I'm thinking to myself, how can my legs be so comfortable in that bath?

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It doesn't feel hot at all, which feels just right. But actually everywhere else, it's like it's trying to boil me alive.

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It was ridiculous. And I'm thinking to myself, thanks very much for that.

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Yeah, I really appreciate that. It's lovely, it's nice of you to do that.

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But yeah, I mean, I couldn't believe it.

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And then it was only a couple of days ago from now where I got in the shower.

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And everything is as it normally is. I got in the shower, I'm leaning up against the wall to keep myself OK, not a problem.

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Got myself all washed and sorted. And I got out of the shower.

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And I put my right foot on the floor. And there was this just moment of complete shock.

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Because for the first time in a very, very long time, I had absolute complete feeling in my right leg.

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And I mean, literally, it was ridiculous. Like I've never had a problem with that right leg at all.

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And still foot drop. That was still there. I tried to walk from the bathroom to the bedroom.

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Foot still dragging across the floor. I'll tell you that because I could feel my foot.

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It was actually really, really quite... It was nice. I could actually feel my leg. I could feel everything.

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I will say my foot dragging on the floor was hurting a little bit. But you know, at least I could feel something.

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But within 10 minutes, boom. Back to how it always is. Couldn't feel a thing.

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What a game player. Genuinely. MS. Seriously. Make a decision, stick to it and let's crack on.

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You know, why do we need to keep doing all the silly stuff? Absolutely ridiculous. Genuinely can't believe it.

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I mean, it is just... There is a word I really want to use. And I'm trying very hard not to.

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And it is... These last two things, them, that I've just talked about, is an absolute head.

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And the next word begins with the letter F. That's where I'm going to leave that.

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Because if I open that door and start talking about it in that manner, I promise you that door is never going to close.

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So, I will leave that right there at my thought process of what an absolute, yeah, game player MS actually is.

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Because it is. It is. Yeah.

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But yeah, just again, just in general with myself, overnight I had a few issues, going back a little bit,

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where I was having quite a lot of pain and discomfort in both my legs.

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And it was making getting comfortable in bed quite difficult.

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I actually put it up on my Facebook page, on my MS Journey Facebook page.

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And there was another MSO who's an influencer, made a comment on it.

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And I was given some advice, and this advice, absolutely superb. Brilliant bit of advice.

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And I was advised to use Vicks VapoRub on the areas that are being painful, discomfort, all that sort of stuff.

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And genuinely I'm thinking to myself, is that a thing? Is that something we actually do?

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You know, I didn't really know what to think about it.

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But from my point of view, if a fellow MSO tells me, actually for me this works,

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I'm giving it a go, because let's be fair, there's nobody that can give better advice on this sort of stuff

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than us that are going through it.

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Because if things work for us, actually there's a small chance they might work for at least one other person.

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So, Lisa bought me some Vicks VapoRub, and the next night that I was having discomfort and pain and whatever else,

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I slapped a load of this Vicks VapoRub on. My word, it actually worked.

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It worked and a treat. It was fantastic. Within no time at all after putting it on.

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Don't get me wrong, I could still feel there was bits there, but it was nowhere near as bad.

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Not even close. And it actually left me in a position where I could get comfortable.

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And I was comfortable. And because of that, I managed to get me nut down and I had a great night's sleep.

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I had a really, really good night's sleep. It was brilliant.

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And the next night, same again. I had pains, discomfort, all that sort of stuff.

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I slapped a load of this on. I got comfortable.

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Now, to me, that is an unbelievable thing to have suggested and actually work.

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So, yeah. Again, for me personally, if somebody else is going through what we're going through, gives me advice like that,

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I'm going to take that advice because, again, it's one thing what the doctors know.

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It's another thing what we know that we're going through.

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And actually we try things that a doctor might not actually think about suggesting.

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You know, coming back to it, it was suggested to me a good while ago now when on Instagram,

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I put on there about my memory issues and my memory being absolutely awful.

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And it was suggested to me to take Lion's Mane mushroom tablets or supplements or whatever else.

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And I did buy some and I spoke to my doctor about whether they're OK to take alongside my pain killing tablets and whatever else.

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My doctor's reply was, we can't comment on that sort of thing.

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Just take it for a certain amount of time and if it works, great. Keep taking. If it don't work, stop.

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Right, OK. So I started taking them.

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And I've got to be honest, I'm probably on a little over a week now that I've been taking them.

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My short term memory has improved quite a bit in a week to the point myself and Lisa,

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we had to go and fill in some quite important forms.

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And part of those forms was remembering bits of information.

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I'm not going to go into what information it was, but bits of information.

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And I'll be totally straight, in the past, there's not a chance I would have remembered that information.

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Because any time I've ever had to remember it in such a short moment or what's this,

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I've always had to refer back to Lisa or whatever else because I just can't remember them.

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When I sat there, I filled out that form because I remembered that information in a second.

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Literally in a second. Didn't bat an eyelid.

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I'm sitting there and I'm thinking to myself, hang on a minute, I'm not going to make a big deal of this,

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but do you know what? That's incredible. I've actually remembered that and I got so proud it's unreal.

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I was buzzing. I'll be totally honest, I was absolutely buzzing.

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And I know I've mentioned that previously on a podcast, but what I'm trying to get at is actually since then,

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I've had it again and again and again.

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My short-term memory seems to be improving and I am not going to sit here and say it's perfect,

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but it never has been in my entire life. My short-term memory's not been perfect.

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But it's always been good. I mean, doing the job I did, you know, working in security for 20 years.

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I had to remember information short-term because I've got, whether it's relaying back descriptions or car number plates,

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anything like that, what's happened in an incident, some short-term memory in that respect had to be acceptable.

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Over the last few months, it had got to the point where it was nothing short of awful.

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But taking these tablets now, and I don't know whether it's maybe having a psychological effect,

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it's making me sit and think, actually I'm taking these, my memory's got to be better.

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And that maybe is kick-starting something in my brain to remember stuff. I don't know. I don't know.

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Or whether it actually is the tablets themselves that are making a difference.

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I'd like to think maybe a bit of both. Because a bit of both, yeah, that would be nice. That really would be nice.

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But again, it's a piece of information that I've been given, it's been passed on to me,

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that I've taken on board and used. And do you know what? I am over the moon with it. Absolutely over the moon with it.

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I mean, at times, at minutes, and again I know I'll keep going on about memory, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

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Well, I can actually remember what I'm talking about. Semi-impressive.

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But, yeah, I mean, there's been times where I've been having conversations or whatever.

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And I can actually relay that conversation to a good standard, which I couldn't do previously.

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Fantastic. Genuinely, genuinely fantastic. Honestly, I was kind of wondering, is it worth taking these pills?

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Absolutely it is. Absolutely. I'm not going to stop taking them, seeing the effect. I'm having such a short period of time.

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Because let's be fair, in a week these things shouldn't be touching at all. But they are. So that continues. That absolutely continues.

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In terms of other bits and pieces, what I've got to say from my point of view,

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and I'm going to do a bit of shameless self-promotion here.

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Obviously, what I need to do now, I'm not actually out in the working world full-time and whatever else.

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I need to start sort of assessing my life and assessing what I can actually do to provide for my family.

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Now, there is quite a few bits and pieces that are out there that I can do.

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And some of them actually are things that I would never even dreamed of doing previously.

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But in all fairness, life changes, we change, thought processes change, all that sort of stuff.

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Everything changes sometimes, nothing stays the same. So my thought process has changed quite drastically.

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And I'm currently on TikTok, I'm part of that TikTok shop.

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There's certain bits and pieces on there that I'm adding to my profile for people to have a look at.

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I'm trying to make it stuff that actually is quite useful.

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One of the things that's on there, I wasn't going to talk about today, but do you know what I'm going to,

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is a little teddy bear. And it's called a worry monster.

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Now, this is something we actually bought our kids years ago, absolutely years ago, just to help them in case they ever had things on their mind.

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They could write this stuff down and put it in the teddy's mouth. It would go into the teddy's belly.

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So their worries were being eaten up, their worries were being protected and whatever else,

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so that they knew it had been written down and effectively they'd spoken to someone about it,

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but at the same time speaking to someone, to an extent that worry had been, I'm not going to say removed,

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but it had been made less of an issue because the teddy had eaten it up.

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Now the good thing is, once it's in the teddy's belly, the kids knew that we could open that teddy up,

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we could read that worry and then help them with it.

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And do you know what, it worked an absolute treat. And I'm not going to go into any details about our family life or whatever else,

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but what I will say is it actually helped massively, it really did.

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And as soon as I saw that on there that I could promote that sort of thing, absolutely I'm going to do it.

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Because quite honestly, it's something I feel quite strongly about, it's something that from my point of view is,

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it's worthwhile, it's absolutely worthwhile because I'm not being funny,

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anything that can help someone out, help kids out, for me that's an absolute plus.

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So yeah, I mean again, if you've got the opportunity, as far as I'm aware it's just TikTok Shop UK,

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but go and take a look, go and take a look, see if there's anything on there.

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I mean I've got things like Ratan Garden furniture, I've got other bits and pieces on there that,

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a head torch, just little bits and pieces that actually could come in a little bit handy.

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So yeah, by all means pop across, go and have a look, see if there's anything you like the look of.

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But again, it's something that I was never going to get into, but actually for the sake of me trying to make money,

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trying to help my family in another way, because again, 20 years in one line of work,

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it kind of makes it a little bit awkward to get into other things because my brain works in a certain way now,

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and yeah, it's kind of difficult to go another way, but trust me when I say,

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if summer comes up, certainly part-time at the moment, because I think I'd struggle full-time,

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I've got to be honest with you, I really do.

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If summer comes up part-time, I'm keen, I'm more than keen, in fact I jump at the chance.

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But there we go, yeah, I mean again, little bits and pieces like that,

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very much something that from my point of view has got to be done, because again, family always going to come first,

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no matter what, family's always going to come first.

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But yeah, I mean that's kind of where we are, as I say, the MS side of things.

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I've had some pretty rough moments recently, I've got to say that, I've had some pretty rough moments.

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One of the things I will say, on my social media accounts, I have been a little bit quiet recently,

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and again, I have said this, but it's that loss of confidence that I've had,

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and I am actually starting to get that confidence back, and I will be back to being me.

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I want to get back to being that fun kind of person that keeps going and whatever else.

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So trust me when I say to you, I'm coming back, I'm very much there,

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and I'm keen to keep entertaining everyone.

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But yeah, I think that will probably do for today.

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What I will say is we've kind of got the carpet being put down now in the hallway, stairs and landing.

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That's happening literally this second, as I'm talking to you right now that's happening.

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So I cannot wait to see what that looks like, and I will talk to you all about it very, very soon.

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Have a good time. Speak soon. Bye bye.