Stress buster!

Today has been an exciting, but stressful, day for me. 6 years ago this month I developed epilepsy and had to stop driving. Trying to get my seizures under control has been a very long and difficult process. Ive been on a lot of different medications and combinations of medication. I react badly to most epilepsy drugs but found one with tolerable side effects. Up until the end of last year I was still having seizures though and so unable to drive. Id accepted that that was the way life was going to be for me.
Last June my Granddad died at the grand old age of 92 years. He was a wonderful man and truly inspiring. At the time I was very over weight and had been for years. After Granddad died I realised that if I wanted to have a good chance of living the long healthy life that he did then I needed to loose weight. For years I had been comfort eating and although Iknew I shouldnt do it I couldnt find a way to stop. That all changed thanks to the help of my gorgeous retired greyhound Harry. We got him a month or so before grandad died and he changed my life for me.
With Harrys excellent help of distracting me I managed to deal with life's stresses by taking him for walks instead of eating. I went on a diet and when I found it hard going not to eat the wrong things I walked Harry. Everytime things got stressful Harry and I went for a walk together and it really calmed me down. I managed to loose over 5 stone and Ive never felt fitter. Stress was one of the major triggers for my seizures and as a result of dealing with it by dog walking my seizures stopped. The epilepsy nurse thinks that dealing with stress better combined with the fact tat there's less of me for my drugs to get round is what has allowed the drugs to finally work properly.
Today I filled in the forms for the DVLA to ask for my driving licence back!! I cant believe ive actually beaten my epilepsy. Laurie doesnt use the car for work so I have a car sat outside waiting for me. I cant wait to take the kids and Louie places in it. I have 8 weeks and 1 day to go before im allowed to drive but am now allowed to start the ball rolling to get my license back.
Unfortunately, as is usually the way, filling in the relevant forms was not straight forward. I had information I needed to get from the doctors surgery and the receptionist who dealt with it was extremely rude and awkward over it. She didnt listen to me and it took over 2 hours to get 3 easy bits of inormation that were on my medical records, which she had access too. It was horrible having to go over everything that Ive been through to beat the epilepsy and the whole experience was very stressful.
When I finally did get the information I felt really stressed but I had my gorgeous dog, Louie, to come home to. Sadly Harry died at a very young age in June this year but it meant we wereable to give a home to another retired greyhound. I did what I always do now when I get stressed and took Louie for a very long walk. We were both shattered by the end! We then spent the afternoon cuddled up together on thesofa until Ihad to leave to pick up the kids.
When the kids and I got back from the school run Louie was his usual excited self and made us laugh a lot over his antics. He pinched the dog biscuits out the kitchen and took them into the garden - his head is in the biscuit box in this picutre! He always takes his loot into the garden and if you look carefully at the photo you can see a glove he's taken out there and also lots of shredded toilet roll that he stole this morning before school!! I needed a laugh after the stress of this morning and Louie certainly provided one! Now Im welland truly de-stressed and really excited about the fact that I will be driving again very soon. As soon as Im back on the road I will be taking him out for lots of trips in the car.