The day me and the lungies started our perfect relationship...

So, on the 22nd of Jan at 5am in the morning I was waiting at the airport in PE for the first flight to JHB. Arrived there at about 7:30am, where the airport ambulance was waiting for me when I got off the plane. Then the hospital ambulance came to fetch me and off I went to Milpark. Originally they said the surgery would start at 12pm, but the heart had to go to CT, and they were waiting for the CT surgeons to get up here before they could do anything. The whole day was one nervous wait (filled with bloods and x-rays being taken)... not nervous for the surgery, but that something would be wrong with the donor's lungs and they would be unsuitable.

When 4pm came, I was finally pushed into theatre, and as soon as I saw all those people all scrubbed up and all the silver "implements" being "prepared" (more like knives being sharpened), it dawned on me that this is really IT. Time to part with my old lungs. Even though they were CRAP and gave me a hard time, they still tried their best and got me all the way to 23... much further than was expected (the Drs told my parents there was a 20% chance of me actually reaching 20). So I started crying... but only for a few mins, before they put me under. And that's all I remember about this day a year ago... surgery was 7 hours long and I was taken to ICU at about midnight.

So what was I doing today... I had x-rays at the hospital!!!! Believe it or not, I managed to get myself hurt again... Last night there was a massive thunderstorm, and I was on my way dowm to meet Chris (we were on our way out), when I fell down the stairs. Heels and wet tiles and stairs DO NOT GO TOGETHER. My feet slipped out from under me and I landed on my back, and slid down a few more stairs. Got the fright of my life and my wind was totally out. Luckily Chris came running up and got me back into the apartment and cleaned my wound for me. I was wearing a skirt, so the back of my thigh got a real nasty scrape and bled a bit. It's one MASSIVE bruise now that is disgustingly purple and red and swollen... Also, and more alarmingly, my ribs and back (on the left side) hurt like hell, and breathing has been painfull.

So this morning I went to work for about an hour to do the most important stuff, after which I headed straight to Milpark. Had x-rays done, and by some miracle no ribs are broken (having been on Prednisone for 18 years of my life, which reduces bone density, this really is good news), but some might be cracked, as apparently you can't always see that on an x-ray. So Dr gave me Trans Act patch and some more wonderfull painpills... In bed now, and going to take a nap soon, as with all the pain I didn't sleep much last night.

The people from the athletics track in Pretoria confirmed my booking for 9am on Sat morning to try and qualify for Aus... Murphy really has some sick sense of humour, as

I NEVER get hurt, and now, 2 days before I wanted to try again, my foot, thigh, ribs and back are sore, and I can't even walk SLOWLY without PAIN. So I'm going to have to cancel for this weekend, and maybe find out if I can try next weekend if I've got less pain then...

I'm obviously also thinking about my donor family a lot today, and especially yesterday... hope they realise how much their gift has meant to me. I don't think anyone that hasn't received an organ or had a child that has received an organ realises the level of gratefullness, that words cannot really explain. All you can do is thank God...

Tonight Chris and my dad and I are going out for STEAK... don't care how sore I am, I WANT STEAK!!!! Oh, and for everyone who have been reading my blog since my transplant, happy 1year of reading my blog, lol!