Blah....

Is how I’m feeling, for various reasons.

Firstly, I went for bloods on Monday, and on Tuesday my Dr called saying my CMV virus count is high… which means I’ve got CMV virus. I’m not feeling any different really (except tired, but think that’s because of my lifestyle, not some virus), and the only reason they picked it up was routine bloods. So now I’m back on Valcyte, which I took for 11 months after transplant and have not been taking for 2 months. Obviously my body wants Valcyte!!!! (And taking into consideration how ridiculously expensive that stuff is I’m definitely HIGH MAINTAINANCE!!!). Rest of the bloods were all good though.

Secondly, work is crazy. I’m working hard 11 hours a day, with no real lunch-break. It’s tiring and stressful but also educational and challenging. All I know is that my 2 breaks (going to Cape Town and PE) in April can’t come fast enough!!!! I’ve even lost weight.

Thirdly, I’m struggling to find time to study. The only time I get to study is if I get up at 4am, but sleep is so precious when I’m working this hard L So I’m feeling guilty about that.
Fourthly, I’m not training as hard for the Games as I should (too tired and busy). So I’m feeling guilty about that too. Got a bit of sponsorship at least, which is great.

Lastly, I’m not seeing Chris nearly as much as I would like to, and that makes me unhappy :-(
So all in all I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself, and can’t wait for the weekend… to sleep till 7 or 8am (my body does not want to sleep later than that, no matter how hard I try. Stupid internal clock.), hang out with Chris, catch up on some eating, and play some squash… all the nice things!!!

13 MONTHS!!!!!!

So it's 13 months after transplant today!!!!! Wow, time really is flying.. Had a fab weekend. Spent lots of time with Chris, saw a movie, drove around a lot helping C shop for a new car, and... best part, went to Pretoria so see Andrew who was here visiting his sister!!! Saw him for longer than I did at Christmas, so that was great. All of us went out for lunch today, where I had awesome chicken in beer and mushroom sauce :-D

The movie we saw was 7 Pounds starring Will Smith... it's basically about organ transplantation, and very thought provoking. Overall I liked it quite a lot, even though all the facts weren't medically accurate, but they were close enough. To see Emily's blog post about the movie, go here... Pretty much explains how I felt about it too. I especially connected with the part where Emily (not the same Emily as in the movie, lol!, the main character (apart from WS), who is waiting for a heart, said that she misses being able to travel. I remember being stuck in PE, waiting for THE CALL, and not being able to leave the city. I might not have even left the city in that year anyway, but just the fact that I wasn't ALLOWED to leave, in case the call comes, as well as the fact that I was O2-bound, was really horrible.

This week will be busy as always... on Tuesday I'm attending the first Organ Donor Foundation Working Committee Meeting!!!! Pretty excited about that. We will probably be discussing means of raising more awareness about organ donation etc, which is obviously something I have a passion for.

Anyway, have to go get ready for bed and the week etc now... but will post again during the week.

P.S. One of my facebook friends who had her lung transplant 3 months prior to me (and my age, also CF), Ashley, has been diagnosed with chronic rejection... I'm really bummed about it, as she's been so happy since her transplant and have started studying again etc. I also looked up to her for motivation while waiting on the list, and her story gave me lots of hope. It just reminds me that life is short and you have to enjoy EVERY minute. At the end of my life, whenever that might be, I want to look back and be happy about how I spent my time and know that I have no regrets and my "extended life/second chance" meant something. This time of feeling awesomely healthy and having "normal lungs" must be APPRECIATED... I can do nothing but thank God for this unbelievable gift I received. And will ALWAYS be greatful to my donor and her fam for what they did.

TGIF

Soooooo glad it's Friday... AT LAST. This week's been rather crappy. Trying to avoid all the sick people, work's been rough with lots of training, not getting enough sleep, stressing about my exam and sponsorship for the Games... etc etc. At least I DIDN'T get sick as of yet!!!!!! Thank goodness....

Last night was cool though, went to Jenny and caught up on some Greys Anatomy! And slept a good 7 hours, which was nice!!! Tonight I'm going to Chris, tomorrow I'm seeing my friend Andrew from PE!!!! He's going to be in Pretoria for the weekend, so gonna have lunch with him and Patricia.. Will update again on Sun night.

Have a good one! Be good, and if you're not, take photo's!

IMPORTANT: SPONSORSHIP

This is aimed at all the South Africa readers of this blog. In order to participate in the World Transplant Games in Australia in August, each athlete needs about R30 000.00 in sponsorship. Even though SATSA (South Africa Transplant Sports Association) is registered with the Deptartment of Sports and Recreation, and each athlete receives full SA colours from SASCOC, we don't receive financial support from these bodies.

SO... if you think your company might be interested in sponsoring me or some other athletes (it has tax benefits), please e-mail me at alicevosloo@gmail.com for more info or a sponsorship form. Thanks!!!!

Valentines Weekend etc...

So my weekend was pretty great. Spent all my time with people I love (parents, Chris, family), did very cool shopping, saw an awesome show (Dancing Queen, a tribute to queen and ABBA), had the most yummy buffet lunch on Sunday in Pretoria at a very nice outside resturant, went out for coffee twice, etc. So I'm pretty bummed that the week has started again :-( Was also very very nice to be able to sleep 'till 8am!!!!!

So today was back to the rat race... woke up at 3am, and couldn't sleep again cos I know I have to get up at 4am. Was the first one at work again and used that alarm code I learnt last week. Had 3.5 hours of training with some people from the other branches, and ate way too much, as it was 3 peoples' birthdays yesterday and the all brought yummy cakes and savoury stuff to work today.

Went to gym after work, which was frustrating because it too forever to find parking, the gym was full, and I wasn't in the mood. Also irritated because my dad and 2 people at work are sick... and now I feel like I might be sneezing more than usual and being all paranoid (or am I?). I just really don't want to get sick now....

Anyways... the rest of my week will be busy as usual. Getting up at 4am, work, going to Chris after work tomorrow, Church cell and gym on Wednesday, Greys anatomy with Jenny on Thursday (we're got 2 episodes to catch up on!), and then it's weekend again!!!!! Have a good week!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!!!

Check it out...

Check out the new South African Cystic Fibrosis Accosiation website... I wrote something for the "personal stories" section about 2 months ago.

You know you're getting up too early when...

• it's pitch dark when you wake up...
• you have breakfast at 5am and by 9am you feel like lunch already...
• you get to work at 6am... AND...
• you enter the office to be met by the alarm going off... because you're the first one at the office...
• the alarm wants you to enter the code which you obviously don't know, because no sane person is at work at that hour...
• so you run out again, and stand in the hallway listening to the alarm going off properly...

So that's what happened yesterday!!!! Was really blind, and luckily one of the (more friendly) managers showed up a few mins after the alarm went off to save me from the embarrassment!!! Luckily I DO know the code now... for future reference!

What else? The studying is going slowly... hard to get back into that mindset after almost 3 years of not doing it. Also, being at the office as just after 6 means I'm there for 11 hours of the day, which is quite draining. BUT, it's also great, as I'd NEVER be able to do it with my old lungs... I would hardly have been able to go for that long without nebulising!!! So it's all good. Went to gym last night and hanged out a bit with Chris on Tuesday night.

Can't WAIT for this weekend, cos it's VALENTINES DAY and my mom will be here!!!! Normally I hate Valentine's day, but for obvious reasons it won't be the case this year ;-) We're all wearing red to work tomorrow too, so that will also be fun. Anyway... still have some stuff to do before bed, so have to love and leave you... night!!!!!!!

Manic Monday...

My weekend was great... VERY NICE in fact!!! Did some Valentine's shopping, watched DVD and some series', played squash, went to church, registered to vote, ate yummy food, relaxed. The squash was a bit sore though, ribs not completely healed, so I left Chris to his own devices and did some cycling and weights (leg weights!!)

Today was rough though... had my alarm set for 5am to study, but woke up at 3am, fell asleep again at just after 4am, and felt like I truck had driven over me when the alarm went off at 5... on the way to work I scratched my car's wheelcap quite badly, as I had to squeeze past a bus that was broken or something. Work was pretty hectic, and after work I went shopping for food, where I got stuck in traffic again. UUGGGHHHHH!!!!! So I'm aiming to be in bed by 8:30pm, as tomorrow I'm getting up at 4am to study... have to get into a routine to get up that early and go to bed early.

Not much other news that I can think of now... looking forward to the weekend very much, as my mom will be here!!!! Anyway, good night, sleep tight, hopefully I will!!!!

DISCHARGED FROM HOSP A YEAR AGO!!!!

Today marks 1 year without any IV's, hospital stays, nebulisers, OXYGEN, bedpans, coughing up all sorts of S*#T etc... WWWHHHHOOOOHHHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! And 1 year of living in Joburg... a very cool place to live that has been very good to me. :-D

199 Days 'till the GAMES start...

Wanted to post yesterday so it could be 200 days, but just didn't have the time. Been SOOOOO busy. The "big" news that I mentioned at the end of the last post is that I'm going to be writing quite an important (for work end my career) exam of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Still waiting for my study material, will hopefully get it tomorrow!! Then I'll be studying quite a bit in order to write the exam as soon as possible. (it gets written almost every day, you decide when you're ready).

Monday night I watched Greys with Jenny again, and last night Chris and I went to see a movie. He didn't want to tell me what we're going to do, so I was clueless as to where we were going to. So he took this massive de-tour to the movies, forcing me to give up guessing where we're going. When I eventually figured out we were on our way to the movies, he still wouldn't let me know what we're going to see. So I wasn't allowed to look at the ticket or the posters etc, and only realised what we were seeing when the movie started! It was Bride Wars, which I've wanted to see for a while now. Pretty cool movie!

Going to gym again today, legs not stiff anymore and ribs are ok. Won't do upper-body stuff... Going to gym tomorrow as well, and will play some squash again over the weekend. Wish it was weekend already...

I GOT IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So by some miraculous stroke of luck I managed to make the time by 16 MILLISECONDS!!!! How scary is that? Was supposed to walk the 3km in 27:30, and did it in 27:29:44 . If I finished a SECOND later (well less actually) I would not have made it... I still can't believe it. It was pretty hard and my ribs were hurting quite a bit and felt like I was going to collapse and die, but I DID IT!!!! YYYAAAYYYY!!!!! Now I just have to complete the registration forms for Aus and I'm IN!!!! (The SA Transplant Sports Association are having a very important meeting regarding sponsorship for us on Friday, so PLEASE pray that we get that sponsorship!!!! It's from the National Lottery people.) Just SOOOO relieved the stressing about it is over now. Will rest from gym untill about Wednesday or so (legs also pretty stiff after yesterday), and then start going religiously again.

The rest of my weekend was also very cool. Went to the MPC/Top Gear Live Motorshow at the Coca Cola Dome with Chris and my dad, and it was pretty awesome! Amazing tricks and very very cool cars. The also had 6 Chevi Sparks play SOCCER against each other, which was really wow. And they only bumped into each other 2 times. Afterwards we checked out some cars close-up and got behind the wheel to see what it felt like sitting in them. (For more pics check my Facebook profile) The rest of the weekend was just spent relaxing and watching TV/playing boardgames.

On my way to church now. Hopefully this week isn't too stressfull, although I'll have some more (relatively) big news by tomorrow or Tuesday, involving work/carreer/that type of thing. Seems like the next challenge is here, now that this qualifying thing is out of the way, lol!