I was thrilled to be invited on to BBC Radio London's Barking At The Moon last night - the most awesome canine radio show there is - in fact, the ONLY radio show in the WORLD to devote 2 hours entirely to all things DOG.
After 2 days of crazy deadlines, no sleep, and a school summer fete thrown into the mix, it was lovely to round off a hectic few days with the fabulous JoAnn Good and Anna Webb - the ladies behind Barking At The Moon. The very lovely Producer Mel kindly kept topping me up with coffee while I waited for my late night time slot. And let us not forget the most important stars of the show, Molly & Matilda, the canine co-hosts of the show.
We talked about the new site and all of the exciting new things that Creature Clothes are making - our vegan dog collars and belts, the matching kids/dogs ranges so children (and adults!) can match their belt to their dogs collar and lead and even have a beanbag to match their dogs bed! And then something strange happened and we went off onto a tangent and got absorbed in a discussion about epilepsy.
I have had epilepsy since I was about 12. It has been a challenge living with it and there have been some very hard times, especially for my family. Watching someone you love have a seizure must be hideous. I can't begin to imagine it. In a way I'm the lucky one as I don't get to see it, but I do get to talk about it and help raise awareness.
There are a huge amount of people living with epilepsy and I am a very lucky one of those people in that I have just got my epilepsy stable and under control. It has been a long road and I have been very fortunate to find the most wonderful neurologist who has helped me through the bad times. He has understood the balance of seizure control against the sometimes debilitating side effects of medication and we have worked together (that is the key) over 10+ years to get the right balance.
He also helped me to edit my medication so I could try and have children in the safest possible way. We got my medication down from 3 drugs to just 1. I also signed up to the UK Pregnancy and Epilepsy Register - a great research project who take your pregnancy notes and collate data on different medications and pregnancy. It's pretty much the only way to collect this data and see what drugs are the ones to avoid/try if you want to have a family.
There is so much I could write about epilepsy, but maybe we'll save that for another blog.
For now, here are some pics of my very exciting trip to Broadcasting House, a building I have always loved and hold very dear to my heart, for reasons I know not! Maybe it was growing up in London to a soundtrack of Radio 4 in my mums car and knowing that all of the words came out of that building... it's somehow magical... I love the BBC.
xcx
Listen to Barking At The Moon on iplayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tm0rs
Barking At The Moon on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BarkingattheMoon
Follow the Barking Blondes on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/BarkingBlondes/
The Epilepsy Society has been a great help to me: http://www.epilepsysociety.org.uk/
The UK Epilepsy and Pregnancy Register: http://www.epilepsyandpregnancy.co.uk/
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| The British Broadcasting Corporation |
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| The spectacular old building on Regent Street |
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| The very cool blue new building round the corner |
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| JoAnn Good, me and Anna Webb (Molly & Matilda were under the table!) |
