Hello! It’s been a while hasn’t it? Nearly 18 months in fact.

I don’t have any excuses. Life happened. So much life. So much of the disabled life, funnily enough. And I think there are a lot of people out there that understand, consciously or otherwise, what that means, what it entails.S

Short version of the roundup is this – and I hope to tell you abut each of them in turn as I bring DisABLEd Mummy back to life:

• I clung hopelessly, desperately to the idea that I would be back up on my own two feet after my surgery in March 2025 within 12 weeks. I was not. It was lowkey devestating. Not because anything went wrong. It didn’t. But my surgeon floated 12 weeks and I, in fact, living in this body as I must, did not feel able to take an independent step (that is, sans walker) until November 2025, a full  8 months after my surgery. I think I hid from reporting this because, well, it didn’t feel fair.
• Never one to do anything by halves however, in December 2025, I applied to for a full-time job at my daughters’ school, throwing my hat in to return to the classroom as an LSA – a job I loved but haven’t actually done since 2014. My girls helped me prep and I got the job!
• Being back at work was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. A very distinct split in “me” became obvious very quickly. My mind loved the stimulus of the role…. my body thought it was under attack. I was absolutely, physically wrecked and wrestling with the heartbreak that a job I loved simply couldn’t love me anymore.
• Had to seriously reconsider not only what I wanted from this one and only life, but also what I was capable of doing. There was a serious period of grief about the school role as I worked to get to the summer whilst also letting go of my lifelong dream to be a play therapist.
• Researching alternatives, I discovered the MA in Developmental & Therapeutic Play, a fully theoretical programme based on everything I have wanted to learn since I was a child. Got excited, applied and have been offered a place for 2027.
• Over the summer, we adopted a dog – a 10 year old pug with one eye named Toby. So now, I’m not the only one plodding along dealing with old age and disability. He might be my baby but he’s also a little kindred spirit too.

So my future looks different to how I thought it might this time last year. I had hoped going back to the school would either be a seamless, easy, permanent arrangement or a stepping stone to the MA in Play Therapy. It was neither. But still, somehow, I’m headed in the right direction.