My birthday and back in SA!!!!!!

I'm 25!!!!!!!! Quater of a centuary old today :-D Obviously wouldn't have been here without the new lungs, so very grateful for every birthday... feeling like a child about birthdays (although that's never been different, lol)!

What a rough last 48 hours!!! We almost missed our flight from Brisbane to Perth because our bus was late, and I've slept 4 hours in the last 2 days (couldn't sleep Sat night and also can't sleep on a plane). Luckily I slept the whole afternoon so feeling better. Chris took leave for the day, so we had a chilled day, went out for lunch, had a nap, unpacked etc!

Not so excited about being back at work tomorrow, but it'll be better once I get the first day back over and done with! Posting some last pics from the athletics on Sat and Gala Dinner...

AAAAUUUGGGGHHHH and oops

Was SOOOO annoyed today!!!! Came 3rd in the race walk, was so excited abt my bronze medal!!! Then I find out AS THEY HAND OUT THE MEDALS that I have been disqualified. WHY??? Apparently I bent my knee or lifted a foot when I wasnt supposed to. Great. I walked so well ... I think so anyway. So finding a new sport for the next games, not walking again, those stupid walking people can go stick their silly rules, who WALKS LIKE THAT??? Atl least I got to see Suzanne (donor's sis) again! See came to watch me and Trev compete. By the way, I haven't been this whita and pasty all my life, it's just cos I'm not allowed to tan anymore cos Prograff ncreases skin cancer risk :-(

Tomorrow is the 800m... was crazy to enter it, but can't withdraw now unless it's for medical reasons :-( So WISH ME LUCK. The walking around and shopping etc has been GREAT though!!! It's so nice here, can see while the place is full of South Africans who have emigrated. Anyway, I'm posting some pics as well...

Oh, the OOPS is that I deleted the counter on the blog... not so clever Alice!!!! Too lazy to add a new one, and forgot how to anyway... so you'll have to comment otherwise I'll think no-one is reading!

More thorough update!!!

Have a few minutes to spare so time for better update! We arrived here at 2am on Sat morning. I went to bed, took a sleeping pill (was scared I won't be able to fall asleep, and at that point NEEDED to sleep after the flight!) Woke up the mext day at 2pm!!! I had set my alarm for 7am, but my phone's battery died :-( Was rested at least! Been struggeling to get into my normal sleeping pattern, but last night was the first night I slept well without taking anything. (the other nights I slept like 1 or 4 hours without sleeping pill).

The atmosphere's been great, we're 1008 athletes. Impossible to look around and imagine ALL those people had transplants. Mostly kidneys though by FAR. Food's great, weather is HOT. Been above 30 degrees every day. Not so good for my walking on Friday though... we're walking at 2pm :-( might die from the humid heat, lol!

Our accomodation is 4 star, REALLY smart! And my roomate is great, so that's awesome. The opening ceremony was a tad long (because we were behind the scenes for hours before the time!), but very cool nevertheless. Also did a 5km beach walk in aid of awareness in Australia.

Oh, and the BEST so far, apart from the medal for squash, is that Trevor and I met our donor's sister! I've been e-mailing with her for quite a few months now, and she lives pretty close to where we are, so she took us out and about Brisbane for the day! Was soooo cool. No weirdness or anything, just awesome. Definitely the best day so far.

We also went to Seaworld last night, we we watched a dolphin show, had supper and went on a roller-coaster! Roller-coaster was the best part of course :-) I'm posting some pics, they're pretty self-explanatory I think! Will post some more pics later when I get some time...

Sorry for the late update!!!!

Been SOOOOOO busy enjoying myself I haven't had time to blog!!!! Been AWESOME here, weather's great, people are great, everything is fantastic! Anf got gold for squash today :-D Not that I had competion :-( Seems like females aged 18-30 who have had transplant aren't really into squash for some reason... anyway, it's almoet midnight here in Oz, so off to bed now. Will of course post LOTS of pics on here, just 1 for now though...

D DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DEPARTURE DAY!!!!! Don't have time to say much... just that I haven't been sleeping well for 2 nights and feeling tired before I even get onto the plane!!! Will be updating the team blog: http://transplantgamesteam.blogspot.com as well as my own of course... WISH US LUCK AND SWINE FLU-FREE TRAVELS!!!

4 sleeps to go...

Only 4 sleeps till we fly... crazy!!!

Having an extremely busy weekend so far... went for bloods yesterday morning (because gynae put me on Sporonox and I had to reduce my Prograf because of that... so need to check of levels are still where they need to be), got masks for the flight and wherever I may need them, got Tamiflu (all athletes are strongly recommended to start swine flu treatment 2 days before we leave). Had my car brake lights fixed-unrelated to going to Oz! Did last minute shopping... got ear plugs, pants for opening ceremony (didn't have the right colour), protective eye-wear for squash (apparently the rules say we need them. Played with them yesterday and it sucked :-(), and some other stuff I can't remember now. Also did radio interview with SAFM, which was very cool and interesting!!! Then played squash with Chris and walked... and shins were better, yay! Lets hope they stay that way. Was in bed and asleep by 10pm!

Going to church this morning, and gym/squash. Also want to visit a friend waiting for transplant in hospital. Have started pacling a bit, because my week's going to be even more busy. Have SO MUCH to do at work still before I go. Will be working late, so won't have time for much else, especially if I want to fit in some gym still.

Update on Bree: She's got 3 out of 5 chest tubes removed and eating whatever she wants! She's also talking away a storm with the new breath :-) Oh and she's out of ICU... so excited for her!!! The recovering and finding out all the things you can do while breathing normally and gaining strength and slowly getting your life back is the most awesome experience!!! And then comes the part where she has to start training for the Games, because her and I BETTER be there together in 2 years time at the Games in Sweden so we can finally meet after like 2 years of being internet-friends!!! Taking part in THIS year's WTG was her idea after all... see this post I did last year...

http://livinglifebreathlessly.blogspot.com/2008/05/me-and-brees-dream.html

6 sleeps.....

That's all that's left till we fly to Oz!!!!!! Very exciting stuff :-D These 4 days at work have been insanely busy. Trying to get as much done as possible before I leave. Went to gym twice, and my shins were sore :-( I'm hoping they were just stiff from running on the beach, but it's stressing me out.

Going to the Dr after work to get scripts for sleeping tablets for the plane and jet lag, Tamiflu (we've been told to go on Tamiflu for Swine flu precautions :-(, get copies of my scripts to carry with me, buy masks... And the weekend's going to consist of much the same: last minute admin and shopping!!! Have received all my clothes now :-) So all of that's sorted.

Also going to play some squash and walk this weekend. And of course spend time with Chris, seeing as I'm not going to see him for a while!!!!

Bree update for those who don't know yet, she's doing GREAT, off the vent and walking and chatting etc :-) Never doubted she'd have a fast recovery! Hopefully she continues with her miraculous progress and we can talk on MSN soon!!!

Have a good weekend... it's my last weekend of being 24 in South Africa :-D

Weekend in PE in pictures....

Good news times 3!!!

Firstly... BREE IS GETTING NEW LUNGS!!!!! She might even be out if surgery, got no idea how things are going. This is awesome as she's been waiting for more than a year. SO EXCITED for her. Hope we'll get to meet the the WTG in Sweden in 2011!!! And Meghann :-) Such an awesome opportunity to meet Facebook/blog tx friends...

Secondly, lung function was same as last time, 97% FEV1%, which is great (never had this long break between PFTs before...)

Thirdly, biopsy results came back fine, they did find some infection which will require 3 weeks of Sporonox, and hopefully then I'm sorted for a while. This last few weeks have been BAD on my bank balance :-( Tried to save for Oz but that's down the drain now... oh well...

At home now, loving it to be here, loving the fresh sea air, loving the sound of the sea, loving seeing old friends and being with my mom and sister, just chilling, and CELEBRATING my 25th birthday tonight!!!!! Will post pics :-)

Another week another biopsy... UUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah you read right, I had another impromptu biopsy. Saw gynae yesterday, things still not as they should be, so she decided to biopsy my cervix. So much fun...

The good thing that came out of it, is that afterwards I went to gym and had a GREAT workout. And not even stiff today :-)

Chris's sister is up in JHB, so will be having supper with her tonight, which should be great.

Not much other news now... getting biopsy results tomorrow. Also have to go for lung function tests sometime, going to try do it tomorrow. (with all this other crap that's been happening I seem to forget that my lungies still need to be tested every now and again, lol). Wish me luck on both accounts!

Getting REALLY excited and weekend.

The two things I received in the last few days making me very excited :-) The previously mentioned visa for Oz and my official blazer! Now just waiting for the rest of the clothing...

Played squash again this weekend and the 6 days off didn't affect anything, so that's great. All set for a busy week!!!! Monday gym, Tuesday squash, Wednesday gym, Thursday probably gym, Friday fly home to PE (birthday gift from Chris), Saturday run/walk along the beachfront!!!!, Sunday night 25th birthday party, Sunday chill with family, Monday do the beachrun or gym thing. But anyway, getting ahead of myself here, will still blog about all of that!

This weekend was great too. Was nice seeing my mom again (and next weekend!), lunch at my grandad's place was YUMMY today (fillet steak and veggies-you can see my mom was here- and brownie for dessert). It was just FREEZING cold. Yesterday AFTERNOON when Chris came over his car said it was 3.5 degrees C... in the freaking DAY.

Anyways, I'm off to take my meds and get into bed... havwe a good week...