Some flower pics from my grandad's garden and LFT's...

My second day at work went well too!!! Liking it a lot and the fact that I'm getting to know the people a bit takes off the edge!

Went to lung function tests during lunch, and went to see Dr Williams after work. FEV1% is 99%, and everything looks very good... blood results are perfect too. So I'm a happy camper. Gor a sporadic dry cough, but I'm assuming it's pollen or whatever. A bit irritating but what the hell...

Below follows some photographic evidence of the pollen ie flowers in my grandad's garden!!! Took them on Friday while being nervous for the Games... :-)

oops...

Forgot to say... looks I'm running again in January to improve my time in the 800m. Which is fine, because I'll have more than 2 weeks to prepare this time!!!!

FIRST DAY AT THE NEW JOB...

So today was the start of more new things for me... Had a very informative and interesting day!!! I think I'm going to like my new job!!! All the people I talked to seemed very nice, and the work environment is also great. The offices are brand new and very modern, so that's awesome too. Just glad my first day is over!!! Now I know what to expext tomorrow... The only thing that worries me a bit is that a guy sitting close to me has a cold... scared I'll get one too now!!!! Please pray that I don't... not a good way to start at a new place by being sick!!!!

Yesterday was pretty chilled. Was sooooo tired after only 4 hours sleep and the Games. Went for bloods yesterday morning (don't have the results yet, but hopefully it's all good). Visited André, who is looking good physically, but seemed a bit down, which is SO understandable after rejection AND infection hurdles to get over!!!! The had a quick visit with Suzanne, and went to church in the evening, which was great. And slept for more than 9 hours last night which was even better!!! Will go to bed early again tonight... maybe it will fight off any threatening colds...

Thanks for all the well-wishes for today... I appreciate it!!!!

NATIONAL TRANSPLANT GAMES!!!!!!

I'm back home after the Games!!!!!!!!! Don't know if I qualified yet, but it was awesome!!!!! So much fun... On Thursday evening was the registration and snacks and the AGM. Friday morning I went early to watch some tennis and chill out with the other competitors... Most popular question was without a doubt 'So, what did you get?'!!! Seems like this is the first year that LUNGS take part, lol!! Peter and I were the only 2 lung-patients taking part. Kidneys and hearts seemed to be the most popular... But the best part was the over-all atmosphere of THANKFULLNESS...




In the afternoon I slayed squash... I was the only woman competing, so had to play against a bunch of guys... So it was pretty rough, but loads of fun!!!! They didn't take scores into account at all (which is a good thing!!!!!), but rather judged how well you play... Afterwards they also had a bit of a squash-clinic with some of the guys who won gold medals last year at the World Games... needless to say I was pretty tired after that!!!! All in all I think I played well though...



Today was the running... yet again I was the only woman taking part in my events. Did the 200m and came last :-( Not fun running against professional male athletes!!! Especially in temperatures over 30 degrees Celcius. Anyway... I then decided to try the 800m too. Or actually my mom convinced me. So just before they were about to begin the event, I ran down from the pavillion to ask if it's too late to enter... well they let me, and as I sterted off I was thinking 'what the hell did I get myself into now!!!!'... At a certain point near the end I had to walk for a while, as my legs (that are stiff from yesterday's squash) were killing me!! In the end I finished in about 4 mins... which is not bad at all considering I walked a bit. The qualifying time is a bit faster than that, but seems like I was within 10% of that time, which means I can try again in Jan next year...mmmm. Except of course if I qualified for the squash, which would mean I don't have to run again in Jan, but can automatically take part in the event if I were to go to Australia... Will find that out tonight hopefully...


The guy in these pics with me is Trevor Gird... the guy who got my donor's HEART!!!!! How cool is that??? We were probably the most recent transplantees competing... He did VERY well, and qualified in his first event already, which was cycling!!! He's also doing very well healthwise, which is awesome. We played a bit of squash together, and he also ran the 200m and 800m with me. It was pretty funny... the commentator announced over the microphone that 'The same donor's lungs and heart are competing against each other... let's see who wins!!' Was quite mind-blowing!!! Unfortunately the heart won... although I didn't expect to win in a race against a 17 year old guy!!! I def think that on some level we are family now... we share some of the exact same DNA after all. Maybe he can be the brother I never had, lol!!! And I suppose we'd be able to donate a kidney to each other :-) Not that we'd want to!!!! One transplant is more than enough thank you. Oh, and in the first 2 pics our shirts are supposed to say 'I am 11', and 'Are you 11?'... we obviously had too much sun... :-)


Tonight I'm going to a dinner party that a very good friend of mine organised!!! It was suppose to take place 2 months ago, but everyone was sick!!! So tonight was the first night that everyone's available again... YAY. Going to be great. I'm missing the gala dinner of the Games, but that's fine. Trevor or his sister (who is my age and ALSO had a heart transplant) will let me know if I qualified for the squash...



Sooooo, now that that's over, I can start stressing about my new job that's staring on Monday... My mom is also returning to PE tomorrow, and I will hopefully get to see André tomorrow. He's still in hosp, recovering from the infection he got after his transplant a few weeks ago...



Anyway, that's that for now... will update again tomorrow or Monday! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!!

More National Transplant Games pics....

Heritage/National Braai Day

Today's a public holiday! It's Heritage Day, but also National Braai (BBQ) Day... unfortunately we can't braai in our apartment, but if we could, I would have made sure we did, as I am the biggest meat fan around.

Yesterday's shopping was pretty successfull, and we even went for coffee and SHARED a piece of cake... I also went to gym last night, for my FINAL training for the National Transplant Games... Now I'm resting for 2 days and then Friday afternoon is the squash and on Saturday it's the running... I withdrew from the 3km walk, as it's too close to my running event, and BEFORE my running, and since running is my first passion, I don't want to be tired by the time I RUN...

This morning we went out shopping again (just to make it clear, I don't just shop the whole time, but I NEEDED a bookshelf for my room and squash shoes, as mine has black soles that aren't allowed. Don't want to be disqualified after all...) So I'll be sorting my room out this afternoon. At the moment my wardrobe is a mess... books and clothes and BP and sats monitors and pills and USB cables etc... all thrown together. And I'm a neat person, so it has been driving me insane for a while now. Well I have FINALLY found a nice bookshelf, so can't wait to have some order :-) Also packing away my winter clothes for more space...

I might also take a nap too this afternoon, as I am TIRED!!!!!!!! My legs feel like they want to fall off from all the training. Thank goodness I'm resting for 2 days!!!! And then hoping for the best for Friday and especially Sat...

I'm on my way to Pta again tomorrow for my last day of working at my grandad's place. Getting my number etc for the National Games and attending their AGM tomorrow afternoon. Will spend Friday morning trying to keep busy. WISH ME LUCK!!!!!!!! Will be posting on Sat afternoon again, after everything's over... and of course I'll be taking lots of pics!!!!!!!!! AND... I'm meeting the young guy who got my donor's heart!!!!!! Him and his sister (she's a year younger than me, also got a heart) will also be taking part. How cool is that????

P.S. Wellshere gave me something like a medical search engine to put on my blog... it's at the bottom of my site, in the right-hand corner... check it out if you need to find medical info!!

8 months and 1 day post transplant!!!!!!

AND I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got called yesterday to say I'm starting on MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!! Awesome 8-month anniversary gift...

The weekend staying with Jenny and Aerin was very nice. Went to the zoo on Sunday etc. Went to gym in Pretoria yesterday, and went to Patricia's house for coffee and milk tart. YUM... Stressing quite a bit for the Games on Friday and Sat!!!!

Arrived back in JHB abt half an hour ago, and immediately started blogging because my aunt Annelie keeps on bugging me about when I'm blogging again ;-) After lunch, I'm going to go show my mom where my new place of work will be, and going for some more shopping (need more work clothes and squash shoes!!!), and maybe I can convince her to go for some cake too... :-)

In other news... SA has no president. Pres Mbeki was forced to resign. Our next president will most likely be an (alleged) rapist and fraudster. Everyone seems to be emigrating. The economy is taking strain. Great.

P.S. sorry for ending off on such a negative note...

P.P.S. I'm ECSTATIC about my new job!!!! See, now I'm not ending off on a negative note anymore :-)

My mom's here!!!!

THE INTERVIEW went well I think... will find out soon hopefully!!!

Forgot to mention yesterday that my mom is here for a good 10 days or so!!!! We went to fetch her at the airport last night, and this morning we went to check out the Oriental Plaza, and went for coffee (at very cool place that I took all the pics of!) and veggie shopping. (I don't eat much vegetables, which is a bad thing, but today we're having baked vegetables for lunch). My mom and I are going shopping this afternoon, 'cause I need summer clothes!!!! For work and casual!!! I barely have any work clothes for summer, and I got so fat I don't fit into lots of my old summer clothes anymore, lol!!!!

I'm sleeping over at Jenny's tonight and tomorrow night, as Paul (my Dr) is going to Lisbon for some conference. It's going to be great! And then going to Pretoria again on Monday morning, having coffee with someone in the afternoon, then gym, and coming back on Tuesday afternoon, as Wednesday is a public holiday. So won't be blogging again till Tuesday evening... And hold thumbs that I'll have some EXCELLENT work-related news then...

I think I'm FIT...

My training is going very well... On Tuesday I did 50 mins of cardio, expecting to be in great pain the next day. I wasn't. Not at all. So on Wednesday I did the following... 10 mins on the bike, stretch, 15 mins on the treadmill, 10 mins on a diffrent type of bike, 5 mins rowing, 10 mins on eliptical trainer, lots of leg weights, and the RAN FAST for 5 mins on treadmill again. So that's 55 mins of cardio, AND weights, and I couldn't feel a THING yesterday. Took yesterday off, and going to play squash and gym again in an hour's time... This is without a doubt the fittest I've EVER been in my life, and it's awesome. So much fun!!!!!

Last night I went to a 'bring and braai' (braai=BBQ) at a girl's place that I know from school, who also works in JHB now. It was so much fun!!! Def one of the best times I've had here in Joburg, and hopefully I'll be making some good friends my age now...

ALSO.... I'M GOING FOR A SECOND INTERVIEW TODAY!!!! Obviously with the same place I had an interview with on Monday!!!! Very excited and nervous!!!!! So please pray that it works out as it should!!!! Would LOVE having a job in JHB...

Need to go get ready for gym now... will let you know how the interview went!!!

38 visitors away from 140 000!!!!

Firstly, my interview went well this morning... I think. Quite exciting... will keep you posted. LFT was fine, FEV1% was 96% and FeNO 17. Got some bad news though... André got sick overnight and is back on the vent in ICU. Poor guy... he was about to go home!!!

Still sticking to my training schedule, and squash was good today. Something I SERIOUSLY need to do though is get more sleep... the prograf does not encourage such behaviour... nor does the sun coming up earlier every day... nor does me going to bed late every night... So the solution is simply that I have to go to bed earlier...

So seeing as it's 9:18pm now... I shall be heading for bed now. And read or something in order to get tired... and drink a glass of pink milk... yes, that sounds good.

Good night and I'll be back on Thurs or Friday...

Sunday and the week ahead...

Today's been totally chilled which is great. Just relaxed, read, took a nap, ate (pasta, even though I don't really like it... all in the name of training for the Games!), and going to watch a DVD with Jenny tonight.

Went out last night with some people I know and friends of theirs. Was quite cool. Haven't been out much at night in Joburg yet, so it's pretty cool. Although you don't really make friends that way, as the music's usually to loud to get to know someone etc. But I enjoyed it! When I got home I had trouble sleeping (it happens when I drink a BIT), so only fell asleep at about 1:30am... and woke up at 5am... managed to force myself to sleep till 7am at least. I HATE the fact that when the sun comes up I can't sleep anymore... it's really a problem in summer. When I was small my mom bought me dark blue curtains for my room especially so I could sleep a bit later... so after yesterday's gym, shopping (got better running-pants!), and a bit of dancing my legs were so tired when I woke up this morning it felt like I'd been walking around all night! At least they're fine now and ready for a tough week...

Tomorrow morning I go for lung function (no bloods, yay!!!!!), get scripts and get my Dr to fill in a medical form for the transplant games. Then it's the interview... and then squash with Craig, and I also want to try and get some sprinting in. I'm used to running on a treadmill, but I need to sprint and time myself... the only problem is that there are no flat surfaces around... so I'll be sprinting uphill... but who's scared of a challenge???? On Tuesday and Wednesday I'm gymming, Thursday resting, Friday squash with Peter, Sat gym, Sunday rest, Monday and Tuesday gym, Wednesday gymming a BIT, Thursday resting, then next Friday is the squash-event (as well as an Organ Donation thing I'm doing untill about 2pm). The track events will take place on the Sat.

And that's just my 'sporting-agenda'! Got some social and Pretoria-stuff going on too, but I'll get to them when they happen. So it's going to be a BUSY 2 weeks ahead. Awesome :-) Beats having to sit at home on O2 by a billion times...

The pic of Lily is one I found on my phone today... my sis must have took it when I was home... I thought she looks as lazy as I FEEL today, so it's an appropriate pic!!!! Will post my LFT and interview results before I leave for Pretoria again on Tuesday...

I'M TAKING PART IN THE NATIONAL TRANSPLANT GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IN 2 WEEKS TIME!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As you can see I got a reply!!!!!!!! To qualify for the World tx games in Australia next year I have to compete in the National tx Games in Pretoria in 2 weeks time!!!!! On the 26th and 27th of Sept... WOW... I've got to fax some forms through by Wednesday (they're making an exception for me, the deadline was in July...), and then I'm entered!!! They already ordered my NUMBER :-) Officially you're only allowed to take part 1 year after transplant... and I'm only 7.5 months... BUT if my Dr says it's fine (which he does), then I'm allowed to take part!!!!

I'm allowed to take part in 5 events... I'll def be doing the following (qualifying times in brackets)

• squash (they check you out and decide how well you're playing)
• 100m sprint (16 seconds)
• 200m sprint (35.5 seconds)
• 3km walk (27 mins)

I'll basically be trying my luck in the squash and sprinting, but sure I'll be able to do the 3km in 27 mins... Then there's also a 3km run with qualifying time of 18mins, but considering all the track events are on the same day, it might be a bit much... and 18 mins for 3 km is pretty FAST...

SO I'm REALLY excited about this... all pshyced up for gym now as you can imagine!!!!

COLD saturday :-(

It's freezing today, which sucks after the nice weather we've been having... Don't have much on my aganda today... just gymming. (Jenny and I ended up rather going for lunch and shopping than gymming yesterday... :-) Also going to the zoo tomorrow, which will be cool.

I e-mailed the guys in charge of the SA World Transplant Olympics team this morning... you can fill in an application form to register to take part on their web-site, but for some reason I keep on getting an 'error' page. So I rather e-mailed them. Need to know how everything works, as it's less than a year away! 23-30 August 2009. And I'm VERY keen to take part. Will keep you updated.

Today would've been Sam's (pic on the left) 25th birthday... I posted about her in the beginning of August, she passed away a little while ago, after getting lungs at the end of Dec last year. Thinking of you Sam... now you really are an angel...

BAD TRIP?????

I had the freakiest experience EVER last night... I decided to take a sleeping pill, as I haven't in a while, and wanted a good 8 hour rest. Well idiot me took the pill, and continued chatting to a fellow CF'er via e-mails... All I remember afterwards is that I felt extremely DRUNK, couldn't focus, thought my laptop was green and furry and that everything kept moving. And for some reason yahoo and gmail was like flippen rocket-science, because I didn't know how they worked, and couldn't figure out how to send an e-mail.

It also felt like there were lots of people around me, trying to distract me from e-mailing this poor guy. HE freaked out of course, not knowing what the hell is wrong with me. The one moment I was fine, the next Im saying stuff like "i thihks is too muchinternet, screen movers, go to bednow" I kid you not... that's what I said. I was talking sh#t and freaking him (and myself) out. Luckily I did eventually go to bed and slept like a baby...

Feeling fine this morning, just a bit shocked. Anyway... now I know at least that if you REALLY want to escape reality, take a sleeping pill TOGETHER with some alcohol... mmmmmm

p.s. just kidding (sort of), don't try this at home!!!!