Hi everyone,

I haven't been on the forum much lately so am sorry for that - things have been pretty hectic here lately! I think about you all everyday though and hope you are all doing well!!

I've finally got a moment to myself so just thought I would update you all on what has been going off with me.

As most of you know, I started College at the beginning of September. It is pretty hard work but so far, I have been enjoying it!

I am doing a Course in Society, Health and Development and it is really interesting. Most of the other Courses that are available were just for Health but the one I am on covers all of the health care sectors including Child Care, Criminal Justice, Health and Social Care so you get a taste of all of the areas, not just one.

I go to College 3 half days a week. At the moment, on a Monday, we are doing Communication, on a Wednesday afternoon, we are doing Child Care and on a Thursday afternoon, we are doing Criminal Justice. It is all really interesting and I have learnt quite a lot from the course already.

I have an assignment coming up soon which looks to be quite hard work. My teacher has been preparing us for it now so it isn't too daunting though so that is good.

I had my Placement induction day last week and found out that my first Placement will be on the 23rd November and will be in a Care Home looking after old people etc. The placement lasts 10 days (2 school weeks) and I have to do 50 days of placements during the 2 years that I am on the Course ... a lot of hard work!

All of the other kids on the Course are really nice so that has made things easier. They all know about my RSD and don't judge me because of it ... I guess it's easier for them to understand as they are all wanting to go into the health care fields when they are older.

When I am not at College, I still attend the School centre that I used to attend. I really like it there and I don't have to walk round as it is spaced in one room so that has made things easier. My mum has enrolled me onto a GCSE Science course that I can do at Home however, I still have to go into School once a week to do it. I started last week and I was SO nervous as I hadn't seen the kids for 2 years or so. Most of them were OK thankfully but there was a few that made rude comments but I guess theres always going to be some that are like that. The School has arranged for a lady to come and sit with me during my Science lesson. She is really nice but sometimes, I just wish that she would leave me alone and let me get on with my work myself. When she is there, I sometimes feel as though it draws more attention to my illness which I don't really want ... I just want to try and be as 'normal' as I can!

My great uncle passed away a few weeks ago so that has been really upsetting. I was pretty close to him so it's hard to know that he's gone. I think it made it harder too as it reminded me of my grandad who passed away last November so brought all of those sad memories back. It was his funeral last Friday, I wanted to go but my great grandma was being awkward saying that I shouldn't go ... she's really old fashioned when it comes to things like that!!

My mum got a phone call from my PM Doctors Nurse a few weeks ago asking if we wanted to go to the House of Commons in London to raise awareness about schools not understand chronic illnesses. She knew that we had had real problems with schools not understanding so thought it would be good for us to go. We told her yes and we are going on the 27th October. Apparently all of the MPs are supposed to be there and maybe even Gordon Brown so hopefully it will be a good oppertunity and help schools become more supportive!

My RSD has been flaring up quite a bit lately - probably due to the extra school work and weather changes etc. I have been pretty ill recently too so that hasn't helped - i'm not sure if i've had the Swine Flu or what but it took everything out of me and I felt awful for a good few days and was unable to do anything. I am finding now that on a weekend, all I seem to do is collapse from exhaustion - it's sort of like my body goes into shut down mode!

I hope all of you are doing well - thanks for the continued support!

Alison