17 days.....

17 Days before we leave on a jet plane.... 19 days before the start of the Games. Gymming in full swing after the last cold. I swear if I get another cold I'll lose it. So pumping the Vit C, and going to try go get enough sleep, no late nights, avoid sick people... pray! Not much else I can do. Had a hair-cutt and colour yesterday, because we're going to be taking a lot of pics overseas and starting new job on Wednesday, so generally wanted a treat! Didn't do much else this weekend, went to a baby shower, saw my parents twice, gymmed twice. I'm ready for the week! And I'm going to ned the energy for the next 17 days...

To do list - by 15 June:

Finish off old job
Start new job
Have cats spayed
Buy enough cat food for while we're gone
Make sure cats and plants are cared for while we're gone
Get passports back with Shegen Visa
Get clothing for WTG
Organise to have my meds delivered early so I have enough for the trip
A LOT OF GYMMING AND SQUASH
Go to the university's long jump pit to practise.

and my favourite...

PACK OUR BAGS!

RIP Bree xxx

Today, a week after her life support was switched off, Bree peacefully passed away. I am so sad, and just like everyone else who knew her, wish I knew what went wrong and why it couldn't be fixed. She was my best blog-buddy, and we had quite a lot in common. REALLY going to miss her, especially in Sweden. The pic above was 1 year post transplant. Here are some old blog posts...


Bree: 23 Jan 2008:


Alice has a new set of lungs!



Heath Ledger died:( (mourns)



And I'm still waiting.


So...Alice, Alice, Alice you ask? She's doing great! I just read her blog (which her sister is so kindly updating) and Alice is still sedated but should be coming off of it soon! The lungs fit perfectly and so far, she is in perfect condition! Yay Alice! I will admit I will miss sitting on MSN talking to you about how shitty we feel and how it sucks being hooked up to O2 all the time, and how people can be bastards, but at the same time, I AM SO SO EXCITED FOR YOU! I cannot wait till you return and you can BREEEEEEEEATHE! I've heard it's easy. I can't wait to experience it myself!


Bree: 27 May 2008


World Transplant Games, August 22-30, 2009, Gold Coast Australia.What do you say, Alice? Should we do it?Like I told you, this is our ticket to really experience LIFE. We've been couped up with lung disease for how long, not able to do ANYTHING and THIS is our ticket to meet eachother and THIS is out ticket to live our dream of LIVING.And even better - it falls the week of our b-days! (August 23(moi) August 31(Alice)).What do you say, Alice?? What do you say!?? WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!(lets hope i'm tx'd by then!)



Me: 27 May 2008 (almost exactly 3 years ago)


Me and Bree are going to Australia for the World Transplant Games in August 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go to http://www.worldtransplantgames09.com/ to check it out... It'll be at the end of August 2009, which is also the week in which we have our birthdays!!!!!!! And like bree said on her blog:"We've been couped up with lung disease for how long, not able to do ANYTHING and THIS is our ticket to meet eachother and THIS is out ticket to live our dream of LIVING."Bree must just GET her tx first, but she'll get it SOON... the waiting list in Toronto is 2-3 months, and she's already waited more than a month...How cool is this going to be!!! We want to do erotic dancing and running or something...


There were many more special posts... and to think we were 23 days away of meeting in real life. THIS SUCKS. At least she never had to struggle to breathe again after tx.



In other news... Evlyn, a transplant friend I DID meet is Australia, needs new lungs :-( She received a heart and lungs tx about 6 months after me. Her lungfunction has been drastically declining since end of last year, and now she needs new lungs again. Really hope all goes well for her and that she gets some great new lungs that will love her for years to come. Pic above is us with the entire Mexican team! So altogether not a good day in transplant world for me...

Managed to pick up my 3rd cold for the year, probably courtesy of the biatch in the pharmacy who showered me with her snot. Saw Dr on Monday just to stop it in its tracks so I can go back to gym, seeing as we're FLYING in 3 weeks time... (stupid icelandic ash-cloud permitting). Lucklily lung function was 100% (best so far this year), so just got some nose-stuff. Been sleeping badly so I think tonight calls for a Dormicum... mmmmm.... also only 4 days left of working at my current company...

Stuff

About Bree: as far as I know she has been declared braindead, but even 3 days after the life support has been switched off she is (well was earlier today at least) still breathing, and that's still keeping her heart beating until it eventually stops. Because she's been declared braindead that doesn't mean there's any hope :-( Ironic how the new lungs is the last or the organs to be failing her. In her own words, she had "lungs of awesome". The internet is a lonelier place without her and I've been missing her since Feb when she last posted on her blog.

My sister is arriving in Joburg tonight, which is pretty awesome. She's just here for the weekend, but so excited! Got lots planned! Also just have 7 working days left with my current company. Interesting times.

Gymming and squash have been good this week. However there's some sick people at work again and in the pharmacy this afternoon a lady sneezed on me :-( Hopefully that flu shot I had kicks in and I don't get a cold AGAIN. Feel like shooting sick people who invade my space. Should get a banner saying " STAY THE *&^(*&)(*& AWAY IF YOU ARE SICK, THINK YOU MIGHT BE SICK OR HAVE BEEN SICK IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS" Guess that won't work in a pharmacy....bleh

Bree :-(

My favourite Canadian of all times, and online friend for 4 years, Bree, has reached the end of her time here on earth... Like I've mentioned before, she's had some brain virus, which the doctors just couldn't figure out. I saw early this moring (Monday evening in Canada) that they've switched off her life support. There's been no update since. This is what her sister posted on facebook:

Hi guys, this is Bree's sister Ashleigh. I know many of you are wondering what is happening with Bree. She has been in the hospital for the past month, battling an unknown neurological disorder. Although the Doctors have done everything they can, they can not find out what is happening and her condition has continued to worsen. At this point, she has been taken of life support. Details to follow. - 15 hours ago

Very sad, and it's so frustrating that it had nothing to do with her lungs. Same as with Landi last year.

A MONTH to go

Just a month to go till we ARRIVE in Sweden :-) Lots to happen before then... 2 weeks at my current job to go, 2 weeks in the new job. Cats need to be spayed :-( Need to get fitter, preferably thinner, LOL!

Going to be a very busy month. Also have a lot of medical bills/ medical aid fighting to do! Also training people at work. Just PRAY I don't get any more colds and sniffles again this winter! And wish me luck with some of the medical fights!

Resignation.

So the other thing that happened on Tuesday was that I resigned from my job. There were a few reasons for it, but the main one is for career growth. It was the first time in my life I've had to hand in a resignation letter, but at least now I can tick that one off, LOL! I wasn't pleasant but glad it's done! I also realised that me deciding to resign and move on to a new company shows I have so much more faith/confidence in my health now than I did 2 and a half years ago when I just started working. Back then I was so scared my health wouldn't handle working fulltime in a rather stressfull job. I just wanted to stay with that company and hope they never feel I'm an inferior employee who gets sick often. Now I KNOW I'm a good emplyee and in the last 2 years I've been sick VERY seldom. *touch all sorts of wood* So I'm starting my new job on 1 June!!! And they're OK with me taking off for the Games, which is great. Very excited :-)

My check-up on Tuesday went great. ALL bloods were normal, even the sugar ones, THANK GOODNESS. I'm finally getting the sugar under control :-) Now I'll have to work to keep my weight under control, normaller glucose levels brings easier weight gain :-( But it's all good. lung functions were a bit better than last time (although I did have a cold then), 98/99% FEV1& and 107% capacity/volume. So feeling very relieved after that. Now I must just get my flu shot and avoid getting flu. Throat a bit scratchy today so resting and trying to keep warm. I was in contact with 3 sick people the last 2 days at work, and can NOT AFFORD TO GET SICK NOW.

Then, some AWESOME news, a friend of mine Shaun got lungs last night!!!!!!!!! He's a year younger than me, also CF. SOOOOO happy for him and his stunning wife. The surgery went really well, so the next few days are critical. Please pray that all goes perfectly!

New squash racquet :-)

Another long weekend! Played squash yesterday morning and realised I desperately needed a new racquet, my last one was still bought a few months post transplant and was literally the cheapest one in the shop. So it was time for a more decent one, got a nice Dunlop racquet :-) Had a blister on my finger from yesterday morning, so figued I'd test the new racquet on Monday and just to gym today. But in the end the curiosity got the better of me, and we played anyway as well. So did gym AND squash today, and squash session booked for tomorrow. Yay!

Tuesday is going to be a big day in the Vogt household. Chris is starting a new job!!! He's very excited about it and I'm so happy for him. Hope it goes well! Like I've mentioned a few times before it's my last lung check-up before Sweden, and really nervous about it. Pray my numbers (well the important ones anyway!) are great! The last thing I can't blog about yet, but will let you know as soon as I can! In other words Tuesday evening!