How proud am I of my son?

Remember that 18-year old young man who only lasted a few days at university in September 2012? Who found it impossible to cope with the culture shock of embarking on such a hugely different stage of his life when he was still in the later throes of his eating disorder?

Phew: just reeling from 2 radio interviews this morning

Both BBC Radio Leeds and Radio Sheffield contacted me yesterday to see if I'd do an interview this morning about the rising problem of boys with eating disorders. I think the Radio Sheffield interview probably went better than Radio Leeds, but, then, the angles were different. Phew...

PS: My son finished his University Finals Exams on Tuesday and is now back home, currently singing at the top of his voice in the shower. And, as I've always said on this blog, when my son sings, all is well with the world. :)

Talking about eating disorders at my son's old school this afternoon

If anyone had said to me a couple of years ago that I would be looking forward to doing a talk on anything, let alone a talk on eating disorders, I'd have said they were mad! But, strangely, since the eating disorders talk for parents and carers which I did at the Institute of Psychiatry the other year and the similar talk I did earlier this year in Edinburgh, I've discovered that giving talks on eating disorders gives me quite a buzz! How odd is that?! Especially for someone that's inherently shy! It's like some actors, I guess, who transform once in front of the footlights.

This'll make you giggle

I just said to him: "I'm so proud of you, all these time-management skills and all that." "What's brought that on?" he said, suspiciously. So I told him I'd blogged about it and so on. "Aw, thank you!" he said. Then, giggling (in a little boy's voice): "Okay, mummykins... I've been such a good little boy, can I have five million pounds, please? Like NOW! In CASH!!"

That's another bonus. He's got his fabulous sense of humour back, too.

One good thing that came out of his eating disorder

My son is currently writing his university degree dissertation and studying for his final exams at the same time as applying for a Masters degree and obtaining funding for it. Phew! But I have to say - his time management skills are awesome, they really are. Top notch. Helped, of course, by the fact that he's passionate about his subject: history. While other students leave things to the last minute and panic, the wheels of his time management ability are turning smoothly and on time. I am so very proud of him - and admire his dedication and organisational skills more than you could imagine!

Big flashbacks at teatime....

It's curious how the brain gets 'stuck' in the 'fight or flight'/Red Alert response, isn't it? Take yesterday teatime for example (or evening meal, to non-Yorkshire people out there!) Paul and Ben were eating fish in breadcrumbs, chips and mushy peas. Ben commented on the fact that Sainsbury's mushy peas weren't a patch on Batchelor's mushy peas. Then there was a silence. And the 'stuck' part of my brain suddenly went into FREEZE. I mean F.R.E.E.Z.E...

What do my elbow, back and my brain have in common?

Back in August I had a bike accident. I broke my elbow and herniated a disk in my lower spine. Meanwhile I was onto my fourth (or was it my fifth?) course of therapy for the PTSD, anxiety and depression I'd developed two-and-a-half years before - a delayed result of my brain attempting to cope with what it had been through during the years when I battled to get my teenage son through anorexia.

It took around 12 weeks for my elbow fracture to heal. Eight months on I am still working on the tail-end of the disk herniation, very gradually easing myself back into normal tasks and even sport (I can't wait to get back on my bike, for example, but will need to rehabilitate myself with care).