Weekend and reminder:

Firstly: a reminder to sponsor Annelie for the London Marathon in London in 4 weeks time!! She really does a lot of fundraising for CF and I'm very proud of her!!! To sponsor her go HERE...

Training on Sat morning was fine and promising! Just worked on my race-walking technique, and got training-homework to do for the week! The coach guy said I'll be ready for August, so that's good to know!!! Also got myself some more appropriate clothes for the training, as apparently my knees need to be open so they can see if I'm walking properly etc.

This week's going to be busy but cool. Gym every morning before work, Photo-shoot for the mag on Tuesday afternoon, Chrislie arriving Thursday morning, and a stunning weekend ahead!

Update and news...

MY SISTER’S COMING TO VISIT NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!! SOOOO excited, as I haven’t seen her since Xmas… Already planning all the things that we’re going to get up to!!! She’s landing on Thursday morning and leaving again on Monday morning. Only 6 sleeps….

Also, I’ve found a coach for the 3km race walk!!!! He’s from the university, and my first training session is tomorrow morning at 8am at the track… pretty nervous, as I’ll be training with other (non-transplant and very fit) athletes… but it’s something I have to do, and after the first time it’ll be easier to go!! So wish me LUCK… I also gymmed 4 times this week, so calves are a bit stiff… hopefully they’ll be fine tomorrow.
I went to the Transplant Group Network meeting

for the first time last night, and it was very cool… mostly people waiting for transplant and a few post transplant. Dominee Japie, die guy who councilled me before I got pushed in theatre and talked to my parents and prayed with us led it, so was great to see him again too. Wish I had a meeting like that to go to pre-tx… it’s really an excellent tool.

What else? Oh, I’m going to be featured in an article about the WTG! Had an interview and going for photo-shoot on Tuesday afternoon!!! Should be fun!

Don’t think there’s much happening this weekend, apart from my training session, but should be nice to relax a bit, as the following weekends will be BUSY with road-trips and weddings and parties!!!!!! April’s definitely going to be one AWESOME month :-D

Had bloods done again this week to see how my CMV virus is doing, but haven’t got the results back yet, as my Dr’s been at some lung converence in Brussels the whole week. Should hear on Monday by the latest, but feeling so much more energetic and not slightly nauseous anymore, so I’m sure the gastly expensive pills did their job…

Anyhow… have a good weekend!!!

14 months with new lungs...

Yay, today marks my 14 months of perfect breathing!!!!!!!!!!! Can't believe it's been a week since I've blogged... must be a record for me! This week's been pretty hectic and good. Firstly, I've tried going to gym in the morning before work, and it works out really cool and saves a lot of time... I never used to want to do that, because I don't want to use the gm showers, for fear of germs etc., and don't have enough time to go home first and then back to work. BUT 2 weeks ago I discovered that we have these awesome showers AT WORK... they're in the basement, and are CLEAN and not used often. So it's perfect. Definitely going to be doing that regularly now.

Also, this week was PERFORMANCE reviews at work... I've never had a performance review before, and was quite stressed out about it, as people were coming out of theirs in tears... but in the end it was very positive and went great, so feeling good about work right now!!

Chris and I are going to PE for Easter, and also to Cape Town for a week at the end of April... VERY VERY excited about it, as apart from the 1 day I took off over Christmas, I haven't had a holiday since I've started working... and my body could do with a few stress-free days by the sea!!! What is a worry though is transport... we'll be driving, but (and I don't think I've mentioned this before) Chris was in a car accident last week Wednesday... He was driving to a nearby town for work, when the back wheel's mag broke or something went wrong with the tyre (not sure yet), and he had to swerve the car off the road in order not to hit a truck... so at the moment it's about 50/50 whether or not the car will be written off... I'm just SO GLAD he's OK, and got quite a fright... if he wasn't on the open road at the time where he could go off into a bush it would not have been good... So the long and the short of it is that he needs to find out what's going to happen with his car, and if it gets written off, find a new car.

Not sure what's going to be happening today, but might go out for lunch after church to celebrate the 14 months!!! Have a good week...

P.S. The newspaper article at the top appeared in the Afrikaans newspaper last Saturday. It was about the Milpark transplant function last week Tuesday. The 2 guys with me both received hearts...

Tough test and great weekend!

Friday's test was DIFFICULT... and seeing as I need 65% to pass, I'm not sure if I will... either way, if I don't, it was good seeing what the test is like etc for next time... won't be as much in the dark then!

This weekend's been great! Chris and I joined up with my dad, grandad, aunt, uncle and cousin at a game reserve called Loodswaai. What makes it a special place is that it's the farm right next to my grandad's old farm that he sold in 2000 or so. It's quite primative, but cool. No electricity (another thing I couldnt do pre-transplant), cooking on the fire or a gas stove etc. Even boiling water for coffee is a bit harder than just puthing a button on a kettle...

Had some interesting things happen... it rained REALLY hard and a lot. At some point last night I was worried that we'd be stuck there!!! Also, when Chris went to his room, there were 2 BATS busy mating in there... really really really scary and disgusting!!!! So we both ended up sleeping in my dad's room downstairs where there's a proper ceiling and no bats!!! Went in there again this morning, and Chris got a pic of the bats... still there and sleeping. (the owners said the bats will have to be shot, as nothing seems to keep them away...) Didn't sleep too greatly last night, as was worried about being stuck and not having enough medication with me... also, I'm someone who goes to the loo at least once per night, which meant going out in the rain to walk to the bathroom... not fun! So I'm pretty tired tonight, and looking forward to a 9 hour sleep tonight!!! As my exam is over (for now at least), I'll be sleeping till just before 6 again, and not getting up at 4am!!!

So anyway... going to have a glass of warm milk now with my meds, and then off to bed. Have a good week!!! Hope you enjoy the pics!!!!

Post # 333

Wow, can't believe I've done 333 posts! Well technically 332, as this is #333. Last night was the transplant function at Milpark (well the hotel next to the hosp), and it was VERY nice. Company was good, speeches were inspiring, food was yummy, and we got a tree, lol! All the recipients got a tree to plant to honour their donors and because it symbolises LIFE. Unfortunately I don't have a garden, so will try to keep mine alive untill I move out and have a garden someday!!! Also got a packet of seeds which I will def keep.

One of the newspapers, Beeld, was also there and took pics, so hopefully we're in the paper over the weekend or so...

Writing my Compliance Officer exam on Friday, and am on study leave as of this afternoon. Taking a break now for blogging, then back to the books. Feeling pretty stressed about it, but at least I'll be able to relax this weekend. Untill then, byyyeeee....

Weekend and JP Morgan and stuff

Another weekend over :-( Not that it was the best ever, mostly studying, but was nice to be able to sleep till like 7:45am at least, and see Chris.

So the most exciting thing about last week was the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge... even though I wasn't really looking forward to it and felt pretty lazy. I stuck with 2 guys from work throughout the race, and they had no mercy. We ran the downhill when we could (was VERY crowded), and walked the uphill FAST. Our time was pretty lousy though, 1 hour 4 mins, but it's not a true reflection, as there were 12 000 people competing, and when the gun went off, we practically stood still for like 10 mins, and then moved slowly for quite a while. The weather was great at least, and afterwards we got a medal for finishing, t-shirt, a bag and a cap. What's more is that I probably walked like 10 km altogether that evening, as we parked pretty far, so had to walk at least a km uphill to get to out tent, and then another 1.5km or so to walk to the starting line! After the race I walked around the cricket field a few times too, looking for our tent! What a mission...

Surprisingly though I wasn't stiff afterwards! I was preparing for not being able to walk on Sat, but NOTHING... legs were tired on Friday, but no stiffness, which is great.

This week is going to be pretty rough, BUT I'm getting 2 days study leave, which should help A LOT! And Tuesday night is Milpark hospital's transplant evening, where all the lung and heart recipients, people on the waiting lists, doctors and nurses etc come together to social! It was a great event last year, so looking forward to it very much!

Anyway, I've got to study some for and get ready for the week and into bed! The pics were all taken at the Challenge with my phone, and most of them pretty blurry cos I was walking, but hope you enjoy! Have a good week...

mid-week update!

Good news, been feeling a lot more energetic!!! And less nauseous (felt a bit nauseous for the last 2 weeks as a result of the CMV)... Last night Chris and I played some squash and gymmed and I felt and played a 100 times better than on Sunday. YAY! So I'm ready for the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge (5.6km) run/walk tomorrow. Well physically ready that is, as I'm pretty lazy to go, seeing as it only starts at 18:30, so I'll be getting home late, which means I'll get to bed late :-( But sure I'll have fun in the end. Hope it doesn't rain!!!

Also, I'VE GOT A DATE FOR MY EXAM!!!! Friday the 13th. (I chose the date, not supersticious, lol!) So 11 days of studying left, and getting up at 4am. It's going to be tough, but then I can breathe a bit again!!!

Got an e-mail last night from a publicist representing a Don Warner, a guy who wrote a memoir about his duaghter who had CF, called WALKS ON THE BEACH WITH ANGIE... "For the month of March, Mr. Warner is donating 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the book to help send kids to Camp Pelican in Louisiana. Camp Pelican is for kids with CF and other pulmonary disorders" So to find out more about Mr Warner, the book, or the camp, go here: http://www.angelawarnerfoundation.org/. Obviously primarily for the US readers (the camp), but I would've loved to go to that type of thing when I was younger.

So enjoy the rest of your week, only 2 days left till the WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A bit more relaxed...

Had a very non-eventfull relaxing weekend with Chris. Just what I needed! We watched 2 DVD's this afternoon (one funny, one scary), went to gym yesterday and today, and sorted out a few stuff with his car yesterday morning. (Chris got a new car... don't think I've mentioned it! Silver Polo TDI diesel sportline with leather seats and a sunroof!!!! I might have left out some details that car-crazy people will notice, but that's the important stuff as far as I'm concerned :-) Wait 'till I get behind the wheel of that...

The pic is one I took on Thursday morning on the way to work. Joburg skyline @ just before 6am! It was so pretty I just had to stop and take a pic on my phone! Luckily it's a quiet road just outside where we stay, so no traffic (because there IS traffic at 6am...)

Other news... on Thursday while gymming I feel a funny feeling in my chest. I can't explain it, as it wasn't a sharp pain or anything. The only stupid explanation I could think of is that it felt like my lung was nervous. Like butterflies in your tummy, but in my right lung when I'm breathing deeply. So on Friday I went to see my Dr (lung Dr, not pshycologist, lol!!!!), just to be safe rather than sorry. Well my lung functions were fine, and chest sounded "brilliant". This weekend when I was gymming, and especially with squash today, it felt the same. BUT I've realised it's only when I'm keeping myself upright. When I'm on the stationary bike with a back-rest and can sit back while cycling or lie down I don't feel a thing. So... I'm going to suppose it's a muscle that I somehow hurt or something. Anyway... time will tell!!!

Another annoying thing is that I'm feeling SOOO lethargic when gymming. Like my body is just tired. So it's either a) CMV or b)being too busy. I'm going to blame option "a". Damn virus!!!! Hopefully the R18 000 per month pill I'm taking for 3 months (at least) sorts that out. Because I'm not going to stop being busy.

Apart from that I have no complaints. Going to try and write my exam for work next Friday, so that I can sleep a bit more. Going to count out my medication for the week now, and then start getting ready for bed. Hope you have a great week!