2024 so far - graduation, Eastern Cape trip, Isle of Man things

Embarrassingly I only seem to blog every 6 months. I should probably just give up blogging altogether but worried people will think I have died. Very far from it!

This year and the end of last year has been a whirlwind of excitement and admin. We had a fantastic week in the Eastern Cape at the end of March. One night in Graaff Reinett, few nights in Port Elizabeth with Arno's parents, and 2 heavenly nights in Storms River Mouth (if you're an OG blog reader you'll know it's my favourite place ever). In April we went to Bloemfontein for a night for my graduation. (I passed my Postgraduate Dipl in Financial Planning). Will post pics of all the above below.

The BIGGEST news though is that Arno got a job on Isle of Man. He went there for a day when we were in the UK in Dec as well. It has been a massive task so far this year to get unabridged birth certificates, police clearance certificates, TB certificates, proof of relationship (I could apply for a spousal visa because we've been living together for more than 2 years), sell the house, get rabies certificates for the cats, write an English exam, resign our jobs, wait for Arno's Certificate of Employment from the IOM government, and finally - apply for the visas.... which we did 3 weeks ago.

We are very excited for this adventure! It's a BRILLIANT opportunity for both of us career-wise! I've obviously had to do a LOT of research about the medical side of things, and I've already made contact with Harefield Hospital in London, for transplant things. At the end of the day my medical care will work out SO MUCH CHEAPER than it is now. It's absolutely ridiculous how much of my salary goes towards medical expenses here. I won't cancel my medical aid in South Africa altogether, but I will move to a much lower plan, so that I can upgrade again one day if we had to come back. And save a LOT of money. 

The island has a massive backlog in their immigration department, so the turnaround time for the visas is 75 working days once it reaches IOM after 3 weeks in the UK. So at the moment it looks like we'll be going over in Sept, but it could be faster. Fingers crossed. Unfortunately we don't get progress reports, so we will be hearing nothing until we're notified to fetch our passports. Eeeeekkkk. 

Time for bed, see highlights of year so far below, and tomorrow is 6 years 7 months with these amazing lungs!!!

6 Years and going strong!!!!

I've been meaning to do a post again, but keep forgetting! Then yesterday anon's comment reminded me that a post is LONG overdue! I cannot believe my last post was 1 May... shocking!

So the biggest milestone was my 6 year Lungaversary almost 2 weeks ago on 31 Oct! It's a biggish one for me, because when my previous lungs got to 6 years I had been diagnosed with chronic rejection. However this time around all is still well! Thank goodness! I didn't celebrate as much as I would have liked to, due to studying! (more about that later). But I will make up for the lack of celebration in December! (more about that later too). I had a medical check up just before the lungaversary, and it went GREAT. My kidneys took a bit of a mystery dip in June, but they have recovered luckily. Lung function great, all other bloods fine, next app next year! I actually don't have any other medical check ups this year, but I think I'll have to see a dentist somewhere this month for a tooth that might need a crown.

Studies: So at end of Aug and beginning of Sept I wrote my last two outstanding subjects for my Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning. Unfortunately I didn;t get the required 60% for the Case Study subject, so I had to re-write that one this past Monday. It's an 8 hour exam, super exhausting, but this second time went a million times better. It helps to know what to expect! Thank goodness the exams are over now! Now I can breathe a bit (no pun intended) and prepare for the end of the year's trip!

So in 1 month and 1 day's time, Arno and I leave for our xmas holiday in the UK! We booked tickets in June already, so it's been a wait, but very excited! We'll be staying in a friend Carli's flat in London for a week and a bit, then off to my aunt in Yorkshire for a few days over Christmas, and then down to Bristol to visit another friend Bonnie. Flying back on 31 Dec, entering the New Year on a high note! Can't wait, this will be my 5th time in the UK, but Arno's first time, so will be so nice to experience it through his eyes again! Also super keen for the proper Xmas vibes, it's not quite the same here where Christmas equals heat and summer! The odds of a white Christmas is probably not high unfortunately, but we can hope!

In June we had a short break to Stilbaai (directly translated means Quiet Bay), for a mini university reunion! It's been 20 years of friendship with a core group of friends from varsity, and we finally got to all meet up at the same time (partners and kids included where applicable), at the amazing holiday house of Terrance's family. Even though it was winter, the sun was shining, the air fresh, and the company AMAZING, so good for the soul!

We also had a great family long-weekend at the end of Sept on a Game Farm. The photo's speak for themselves!

The year hasn't been all holidays and fun though. Arno and I really tried to move to Joburg, so that I can be closer to work, my doctors and family (we stay in Pretoria, the city next to Johannesburg, so I drive 50km between work and home, so 100km per day going to work in terrible traffic.) We put in an offer on a townhouse that we loved in the same suburb as my parents, the offer was accepted, but then the body corporate would only allow one cat, and we have three... When when found a house we loved, put in an offer along with like 4 other people, and our was accepted. Arno's place was "sold", but then his sale fell through... and we couldn't find other buyers, so we lost the house. Was such a bummer. At least now I work from home 2 days a week, so that helps a LOT. Then interest rates rose etc etc so we didn't even try to sell his place again. For now we're just staying put and seeing what happens. Hopefully next year will be more exciting on that front. Fingers crossed. 

That's everything in a nutshell! I promise I will report back on our Dec adventure in Jan before work starts again on 3 Jan!

Conundrum of surviving

A neglected “by-product” of beating the odds after two bi-lateral lung transplants, is how hard it is to plan for your life financially and career-wise. I couldn’t finish my Honours in Accounting, as I was ridiculously sick. After my I got new lungs, I didn’t feel like going back to university, I wanted to work and become independent. When I started working at age 24 after my first lung transplant, I THOUGHT that I was financially behind my peers who started working slightly earlier, but looking back that was a joke… I was perfectly on par really.

However fast forward 7 years and about 3 months, and I was medically boarded, due to my transplanted lungs being rejected by my body. And for about 3 years prior to being medically boarded, I knew that I was in rejection and that I should stay put. Survival mode kicks in, ambition mode turns off. To paint the picture more clearly, at age 28 I knew that my life was in danger yet again, and that I just needed to stay in the position I was in for as long as my lungs held out.

I coped in a fast-paced environment for another 3 years, until I made the call, together with my lung specialist, that I should stop working. I was very lucky to have group life insurance at that point, so I continued getting 75% of my salary – tax free. At the same time the evaluation for a second lung transplant started. About 1 year and 9 months after being medically boarded I received another set of lungs… a miracle indeed! 

Now being an analytical person by nature, I was curious as to how long these lungs were going to last. My lung specialist refuses to give educated guesses on these types of questions, which is absolutely fine, but I wanted a vague idea. Dr Google said that the 2 year survival rate for a redo lung transplant is 32%. Obviously this is an average, but I decided to make the most of it. (FYI – I’m still the only surviving redo lung transplant recipient in SA). We travelled to New York and Mauritius during the first year after my second transplant, I fixed some things in and around the property that my ex-husband and I owned at the time, upgraded the little Peugeot 107 that I was driving… I didn’t want to go back to a corporate work environment, so I resigned once I was fit to return to work. This time around I took a much more slow-paced accounting job. Set for life…. If you’re going to live another two years that is.

Fast forward to beginning of 2022, and I was heading towards 5 years post redo transplant. I decided to study again, as I was lacking mental stimulation. I ended up picking a post graduate diploma in Financial Planning. A few months later I started a new job, more in line with my studies and a much more formal work environment again. But also in a way starting from scratch. The irony is that in my own life, applying financial planning skills is almost impossible. I think of where I would have been now, if that rejection of my first transplant didn’t happen. If all the retirement savings from those first two jobs kept on growing, if that salary kept on growing the way it would have. If I didn’t use savings for travelling. I’m not even going to bother wondering where I would be financially if my medical aid and the little co-payments here and there didn’t take a massive chunk of my salary. Also – there was divorce – but that is not a scenario unique to me.

The point that I want to get across, is that trying to figure out how to navigate saving/ having a career/ having a work-life balance when you have had two organ transplants (and especially lung transplants, because they have the worst outcomes of all the organs) at ages 23 and 33, is HARD. You can’t assume you’re going to live to age 65 when your first transplant was at 23! And hey, YOUR life is super short right? Live every day to the fullest! BUT you might end up living for a really long time and have to be able to support yourself and have a meaningful career, so there is that too. Nobody prepares you or warns you about this interesting tightrope, and you can’t expect that from anyone either, as each patient’s situation is so unique. But this is definitely an interesting challenge! One that I'm grateful to be facing.