“Today the northern hemisphere is celebrating the first day of spring, an event marked by the spring – or  equinox.”

March Equinox in Plymouth, England, United Kingdom is on
Thursday, March 20, 2014 at 4:57 PM GMT

Equinox is when the length of the night and the length of the day are roughly equal.

The word itself comes from the Latin for equal (‘aequus’) and night (‘nox’).

The First day of spring.

Take a look outside.

Does it even slightly look like spring out there???

It is raining cats and dogs!

I suppose we have got all the lovely flowers that are coming up left, right and centre.

My personal favourite is the colour that has suddenly started to transform our surroundings.

There is something so special about the yellows and purples that completely transform how we see the world.

And don’t even get me started on finally seeing green again.

That special spring green.

You can’t beat it.

And you can’t beat Devon in spring.

FACT.

But what does spring mean to me?

When I think of spring I like to think of this quote:

Robert Orben: “Spring is God’s way of saying, ‘One more time!’”

This makes me think back to when I was doing my Grade 1 piano exam and played Vivaldi’s piece ‘Spring’ and accidentally played the whole piece one octave too low…which meant that the examiner had to ask me to play it one more time…

This is how it should sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xix3UOOtND4

Doesn’t it sound so ‘springlike’?

Imagine it a octave lower…kind of misses the whole point of the piece being ‘springlike’!

I suppose for me, this pretty much sums up spring:

“Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn.”

Something else that I always think of when I think of spring is SPRING CLEANING.

Since coming through my recovery from Encephalitis I have become somewhat of an OCDish person. I like things to be just so. In their place. And clean. Clean. Clean.

Take for example my make up.

I like my brushes to be cleaned regularly and for each item to be in it’s own specific place.

I don’t understand how people can live with unorganised make up. It must be pure hell.

Therefore, spring cleaning is more of an exciting prospect than a chore for me.

I started my spring clean last week.

Sleeves rolled up, rubber gloves on and anitbac everywhere.

But it wasn’t the house that was getting a spring clean, it was me.

Last week I went into The John Radcliffe Hospital and got myself some new plasma.

All the old antibodies were cleaned out and replaced with new ones.

Out with the old and in with the new.

You can’t get better than that for a spring clean.

It was time for my third plasma exchange (but the first one that I can remember)

Plasmapheresis (from the Greek πλάσμα—plasma, something molded, and ἀφαίρεσις—aphairesis, taking away) is the removal, treatment, and return of (components of)blood plasma from blood circulation. It is thus an extracorporeal therapy (a medical procedure performed outside the body). The method is also used to collect plasma, which is frozen to preserve it for eventual use in the manufacture of a variety of medications.

I was weighed and measured, which helped them to work out that I have 3395ml of blood in my body. I was then given a lovely line in my groin, a venflon that would be my friend for the week (would put a picture but don’t want to put you off your supper!).

A cannula (from Latin “little reed”; pluralcannulae) or canula is a tube that can be inserted into the body, often for the delivery or removal of fluid or for the gathering of data. In simple terms, a cannula can surround the inner or outer surfaces of atrocar needle thus extending needle approach to a vein by half or more of the length of the introducer.

Each day for 5 days they put 2192ml of other people’s plasma (the colourless fluid part of the blood) into me through the special plasma exchange machine with a washing machine like contraption which whizzes up and separates the blood and took out my nasty, horrible plasma that was full of all the grotesque NMDA antibodies and put my own white and red cells back into me along with the new plasma.

N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid or N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) is an amino acidderivative that acts as a specific agonist at the NMDA receptor mimicking the action of glutamate, the neurotransmitter which normally acts at that receptor. Unlike glutamate, NMDA only of glutamate, the neurotransmitter which normally acts at that receptor. Unlike glutamate, NMDA only binds to and regulates the NMDA receptor and has no effect on other glutamate receptors (such as those for AMPA and kainate). NMDA receptors are particularly important when they become overactive during withdrawalfrom alcohol as this causes symptoms such as agitation and, sometimes, epileptiformseizures.

This all sounds complicated and wordy but here is a picture of me having the procedure which simplifies it…

So that is me.

Spring cleaned.

Now I realise that not everyone can go and get some new plasma for their spring clean and will be more likely to do this sort of thing:

But this spring I think that I want to do something more along these lines.

I want to spring clean my life.

Spring really is a time for fresh starts.

It is the perfect time to break out of your comfort zone.

Here are seven great ways to spring clean your life:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/realbuzzcom/seven-ways-to-spring-clean-your-life_b_2899341.html

Now I have new blood going round my body I think it is time to make the step to making new starts.

I need to make that jump.

Jump into spring.

SPRING!

On a final note, I just realised, now that spring is upon us it means that summer is around the corner…and we all know what that means…

Thankfully I started off my spring clean today with a venture to the swimming pool where I managed to swim a fair few lengths AND today has been the first day without chocolate in over two weeks.

Another spring clean venture has been choosing the paint to change the colour of my room, changing from a cold blue to a warm cherry colour should help to bring some happiness into my life.

More importantly, I was able to see my BFF Faye today and have a much needed catch up. Sometimes all you really need is a cup of tea and to see your friend to realise what is most important.

Here’s to hoping that the rest of spring carries on how it has started.

Oh, and Happy International Day of Happiness!