Two weeks ago in Cape Town!

On the 5th of April I took my first flight in about 3 years! I flew down to Cape Town to surprise my friend Louzanne for her baby shower. I went a bit earlier and also spent 2 nights with my other close friend Ditha! I have a slight lack of girl-friends in Joburg, so seeing two of my favourite ladies was soooo good for the soul. Very glad my Doctor agreed to me flying!!!

I stayed with Ditha and her hubby on the Thursday and Friday nights. They've got a new house in The Strand, which is so perfect and cozy. We walked down to the beach, had our nails done, went to a market on Friday evening where we had supper, and her brother hosted us for a great meal on the Thursday evening.

On the Saturday morning they dropped me off at Louzanne's parents' house where the baby shower was taking place. Louz and I have been friends for about 29 years... I'm so excited about the upcoming baba in their lives, they are going to make the BEST parents ever! It was also great seeing her parents again too, as well as her brother. I took her mom's car to go and fetch her for the shower. It was awesome, she was super surprised to see me!

I stayed with her and Wouter on the Sat night. We had a braai and just caught up on everything. On the Sunday we went to Babylonstoren, a massive farm with huge gardens where they make all sorts of products. We ate brunch at The Glasshouse (the more informal restaurant there)... awesome scones with cream and jam, and some earl grey tea. One of her friends Uli also joined us. Back in 2012 when I visited her in London, Uli was also visiting her, and the 3 of us had an amazing time. So it was great seeing him again too.

Hopefully the drought in CT gets some relief this winter. It's so bad that they have switched off all taps at the airport. You can flush the toilets but then there is only hand sanitiser to clean your hands with, Felt quite gross. Luckily I had disinfectant wipes too, which made my hands feel a bit cleaner. It's also sad seeing the gardens struggling. Louzanne had a beautiful garden but most of the plants have died now :-(. Really quite tragic and alarming.

Life update (a non-holiday post for a change)

It's been almost a month since I've done a "normal" blog post! I was in Cape Town this past weekend, so there is another "holiday" blog post in the pipeline, but for now I thought I'd just do a catch-up post re life in general.

We drove back from Storms River on Easter Friday. On the Saturday was Adriaan's first birthday party!!! His actual birthday was on the 3rd of April. How much our family's lives have changed in a year!!! New lungs for me and a baby boy in the family! His party was great fun. He is growing up and changing so fast at the moment... every time I see him there is something different!

On the Sunday Andrew hosted an Easter lunch... The Roast Potatoes were AMAZING.... Possibly the best thing I've ever tasted in my life. The rest of the food was also bloody fantastic. What a great afternoon!

My last Dr's appointment was also brilliant. My lung function has increased by quite a bit from the previous time, even to my Dr's surprise. Everything was great, and I feel truly healthy, the breathing obviously being the best part! My lung function hasn't been this good in like 5 years. Hopefully it still goes up more, but if it doesn't that's totally fine. It's "normal". The sleeping-pill quitting is also going well. If I've been struggling for more than 3 hours to fall asleep then I take a quarter pill. It only happens about once a week though, 

I've entered for the National Transplant Games taking place in PE in July... my events are squash and 100 sprint! Lots of prep that needs to be done but I'm working on it!!!! I've upped my level of exercise, so hopefully I stay healthy (I had a cold a while back that lasted for 4 WEEKS!). I should be fairly prepared by then! Exciting times.

Love Life; Gift Life has been fortunate to attend 3 amazing lectures/talks in the last month or so. Two were at the WITS Ethics Symposium, and last night there was one by a Prof from Flanders.These have been so interesting and insightful. I would never have been able to do these kinds of things with the old lungs, my O2's battery power wouldn't last nearly long enough. Or my energy levels.

I also saw one of my school friends who lives in London now, James. He came to SA for his sister's wedding and spent a night with us in Joburg last week. Was super nice to catch up with him too. That's all I can think of now!

Coastal Roadtrip Part 3 - Storms River Mouth

The undisputed highlight of our trip!!!! If you're new to this blog... some background: Storms River Mouth is where some of my best childhood memories were made. It's where I went about a year before my first transplant for a day visit, took photo's, and those photo's were inspiration for surviving transplant. I went there 2 months post first transplant with friends for a day hike, which was AWESOME. We went there for our honeymoon, and have been back there several times since. Before this recent trip, Chris and I haven't been there for our "normal" holiday since 2014. At that time my chronic rejection had already set in, and lung function wasn't ideal, but the holiday was still great. We made a quick stop there in 2016 when Anna was here, but I couldn't even walk to the suspension bridge and was on O2 pretty much 24/7. Below pic is me and my sis at Storms circa 1989 or so.

Needless to say, this visit was a milestone for me. Chris and I survived the last few difficult years, I survived another transplant, I can hike and do fun boat rides again, my lungs are amazing again. Our life is not spend WAITING anymore. We can just BE and enjoy life.

The one day we did the full Blue Duiker Trial and more... and I climbed the equivalent of 100 flight of stairs! I was sooooo proud of the lungs! My left knee and right calf muscle suffered for it, but that's their problem LOL!

We also did a trip on boat into the sea, as well as up the Storms River. It was SO MUCH FUN! Especially the sea part. You shoot up into the air with every wave, and really use your legs when crashing down again. It almost feels like flying, with the wind in your hair, the sea's spray in your face, and doing a lot of air-time with the rubber-duck. The most fun I've had with the latest lungs so far. I'm a super lucky and fortunate girl right now, and I really hope my donor is able to look down on me and see what he/she has given me. I have my life back (again). Overflowing with gratefulness.