Week of birthday celebrations

My week has been awesome (apart from some shitty gynae news which I won't spoil this blog post with). Chris took me out to my favourite restaurant on Monday night, Wombles. Had fantastic food there as always. Prawn and Avo Ritz, Fillet steak, and a surprise "Happy Birthday" desert. Really had a perfect day.

On Tuesday evening my parents hosted us for supper. It was great, especially seeing as it was the first day of month-end at work and took the burden of supper off of us. Rest of the week was fairly normal, and Friday night we went out to the Beeryard in Fourways with Fawn and some friends. Was loads of fun was was great catching up with her. Got home pretty late (or early!) and woke up with some great rain yesterday morning.

Last night I had friends over for a little birthday get-together. We played Cards Against Humanity, which is an awesome game we got in the States we stole Anna's game and ordered her a new one to be exact). So much fun and an awesome ab workout. Had a great time. And some awesome gifts, Really spoiled and very lucky!

To end off with, a comparison of me turning 23 vs tuning 31. These lungs have given me 8 BIRTHDAYS that I likely would not have had. EIGHT! That's fucking amazing (sorry, don't usually swear on the blog but in this case I think it's appropriate). LOVE the lungies!!!! THANK YOU DONOR LADY.

Christmas present and past.... no words needed. thank you donor...

2014...

2013...

2012...

2011...

2010...

2009...

2008...

2007... (27 days before transplant)

2006... (very very sick and blue)

5 .5 years... 65 months

This time 5 and a half years ago I was in surgery! And today I'm 6 days away from competing in my 3rd World Transplant Games. I'm extremely blessed... whatever challenges I face in terms of having to undergo photopheresis, this is still an amazing miracle...

The rest of the weekend was nice, had drinks with a few friends and tea and pancakes with parents. Now just HOPING AND PRAYING to get good news from Discovery and survive the last 4 days of work before the Games!

IT'S 3 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made it to 3 years!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know how scientific this is, and don't want to jinx it, but I've heard... that post tx, most people either pass away before 3 years, or survive quite a long time... this is not medically based, but rather seems to be word of mouth on facebook transplant groups etc. If it's true or not: I'm very happy to have reached this milestone and in the manner I have!

Didn't have any hospitalisations (2 gynae procedures don't count, I didn't stay over in hosp, was just a few hours) since my 2 year lungaversary, no rejection or infection, 1 head-cold which was sorted pretty quickly at the end of last year.

Last night we went out with 10 friends (so me and Chris included we were 12). Had a great time! Didn't get home toooo late (just after midnight), but didn't get much sleep! Today is transplant network metting @ 11am, and in the afternoon something very exciting is happening.... watch this space!

Below: the difference 3 years make. 22 Jan 2008 VS 21 Jan 2011.

Christmas 2007 VS Christmas 2010

2 sleeps till Chrislie is here!!!!

Yay, can't wait!!! Just have to survive tomorrow and Sat morning :-) This week's been quite nice so far. On Monday night after gym and fighting at the hosp for my creon (digestive enzymes), Chris suprised me by taking me out to go see a movie! Our first one as a married couple :-) We used to see a lot more movies before we were paying off a bond! It the The Switch or something with Jennifer Aniston, rather cute and didn't require too much brainwork!

On Sat morning I'll be attending a meeting with SASCOC (South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee) representing SATSA (South African Transplant Sports Assoc.). A bit nervous, don't quite know what to expect... will be interesting though.

Looked through some old pics last night, found one taken exactly 3 years ago. Good and a bad memory at the same time, if that makes sense. Good evening, felt like sh*t.

Anyway, hope your week was OK!

This day a year ago: breathing without a ventilator for 1st time with new lungs!

So this day a year ago I woke up and ate chips and had a Tab (sugar-free soft drink, like Diet Coke)!!! It was the first day I remember after transplant, and I really can't say it was a bad day... the nurses were great, the Drs said I was doing FINE, my parents were SO happy to see me awake and breathing on my own (with O2 still of course)...


This weekend has turned out to be surpisingly nice, considering I woke up yesterday morning with so much pain in my ribs I contemplated not MOVING for the whole of Sat... but then the serious amounts of pain pills I took kicked in and I did some quick shopping, and spend the rest of the afternoon more sensibly and watched House (medical drama series) with Chris on TV.











Than last night some friends and I went out for supper to celebrate my transplanteversary, which was lots of fun even though I felt a bit "out of it" again most of the time. The food and conversation was great and that's all that matters. Today my pain is MUCH less, and have only taken ONE pill for pain so far... Went to the picnic the couple at church organised, and then just watched some House again.


Getting ready for the week now... tidying up and deciding what to wear to work etc. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO MADE MY MILESTONE MEMORABLE!!!!



OK, blond moment... it wasn't EXACTLY a year ago, it was the Sunday... which means Tuesday it will be a year ago... but close enough!

2009 is HERE!!!!!!!

Hope you had a great New Years Eve on Wednesday night!!! I definitely had a better one than I have the past few years! Chris and I went to a theme party hosted by friends of Chris (Daniel and Alice) based on the BBC series Allo Allo, so all the food etc was french. VERY yummy. Daniel even wrote/compiled a play/mystery with the caracters of the show, which we acted out in between courses. Will def post some more pics later on!!!

I also went to the optometrist on Wednesday afternoon, as I've managed to lose my glasses about 2 weeks ago, and my eyes have been suffering quite a bit at work. I'm trying the contact lens thing again for the first time in years, but my eye is not liking the air-con!! The good news I got is that my eye has improved!!! (Only my left eye is bad) I really didn't expect this... maybe it's the increased amounts of oxygen in my system??? Anyway, I can't wait to get my new glasses and free pair of designer prescription sunglasses I got with it!!!


Yesterday I just chilled and Chris and I went for a swim at Jenny's place (he's teaching me to dive!!!!), as well the most delicious prawns that Paul brought home! We also watched the last episode of The Heart is Beautiful, which was very touching, as my donor family was on and I saw what my donor looked like... Was pretty emotional as you can imagine, but I'm glad I saw it nevertheless. She was an awesome woman, and my heart goes out to her son and family. I am unbelievable gratefull for their selflessness despite their grief. It was also very good hearing her mom and the rest of the family say that knowing that her life saved people helped them in their grieving and that something good came out of their loss. If they ever wanted to meet me I'd be more than willing, but obviously it might be pretty traumatic for them.

At work again today, but at least it's almost weekend!!! Can't believe a week ago was Boxing day... feels quite far away. Don't have much planned for the weekend, but I'm giving a testimony in church on Sunday morning, so have to prepare for that. Will also definitely be playing some squash and run a bit. Hope your first weekend of 2009 is awesome!!!!

P.S. The pics are New Years last year and this year...

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2007

Spring Day!!!!

So it's the first day of spring!!! Although some would say technically the 22nd of Sept is first day of spring, but whatever. The sun is out here in windy PE, but the wind is blowing (surprise surprise) and it's COLD. Yesterday was even worse, and I got every type of weather you can think of for my birthday!!! There was WIND, rain, sun, hail...

Enough about the weather though... my birthday was very nice yesterday. Thanks so much to everyone who sent me birthday wishes, I felt pretty loved!!! Went to church in the morning, and had lots of family over for lunch!! Grandparents, dad's cousin and his fam... had 3-course meal and cake and coffee etc etc. I probably gained a kilo just from yesterday!!! In fact... it felt a lot like Christmas... In the afternoon I met up with Anto, Daniel, Andrew for coffee (they had cake, but I just couldn't face more food, so just had 2 cuppucino's), and my sis and her boyfriend joined us a bit later. Then went for a drink with friend from Cape Town who is here for work.

So all in all it was great. The whole weekend. Last year I honestly thought I might not make it to my 24th birthday. In my head that is. But I CAN say that in my heart I thought I would. Read my diary entry of 30 Aug 2007 again, and in it I said that my biggest fear was being stuck in the SAME position next year... ie WAITING FOR LUNGS and not having much of a life. In my heart I kind of knew I wouldn't be DEAD, because I didn't feel ready. But does everyone always feel ready to die, or that it is their time to go? I have no idea. But the bottom line is: my head said I might not see 24, and my heart knew/thought/hoped I would. The pic on the right is me opening presents last year...

Still having trouble uploading Kelly's video. Our internet connection in JHB is faster, so will try again when we get back. My dad and I are driving back on Sunday, so I still have another week here!!! Booked a plane ticket to come visit again in Oct this morning, will be coming for a long-weekend then, and coincidentally it's also Anto's birthday then!!! I'll be flying down and driving back up with a pharmacist friend of mine who's also coming to visit, although he'll be coming for longer.

This afternoon I'm having coffee with Gizela, who went to varsity with me and who's a regular reader and commenter, lol!!! Looking forward to it, haven't seen her in years! HAPPY SPRING DAY. (AUTUMN DAY FOR EVERYONE IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE!!!!!)

P.S. the cat is Emma... the bitch-cat. But we still love her... sometimes...

I'M 24!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will update later, but was greeted with this cool present from a reader first thing this morning... THANKS KELLY, it's great!!!!

later... OK Im having trouble loading it... will let you know when it's working...

last year's party VS last night... see the difference???

Random Thoughts...

I read somewhere that bloggers should try to stay away from the word 'random'. Probably because it's used too much, but I'm too lazy to think of an alternative word now!

I discovered this picture on my laptop just now, and had completely forgotten about it. I was taken about 7 months ago, on Christmas Eve. I was nearing the end of my 3 weeks of IV's, so I was looking pretty good here. I'm actually wearing those same jeans today, lol! (although they're a lot tighter now!) Not looking very happy though... Sorry for boring you guys with an old pic!

One of the readers, Jen asked about why I'm staying in Joburg. Sorry for only answering now, but the week's been a bit hectic! Port Elizabeth is a 11 hour drive away from JHB, and 1hr 40 mins by plane. Apart from the fact that my Drs want me to stay here, I also feel safer here. If I feel crappy like I did yesterday, it's so easy just to drive to the hosp and get myself checked out. If I was in PE then it would've been a bit of a problem, especially since none of the Drs there know ANYTHING about transplant. I do enjoy JHB though, just wish some of my PE friends could move up here!!! But they all think JHB sucks and don't get how I can like it here, lol!! So I'll just have to make enough new friends.

On Tuesday night when I was laying awake not feeling too good, I suddenly remembered something about my old lungs that I haven't even THOUGHT about since transplant... I used to spend the entire night on just 1 of my sides, trying not to turn around. This was because more often than not I would start coughing up blood if I turned around. It couldn't have been the sudden movement, as it happened even if I turned slowly. Probably has something to do with gravity!! But anyway, it's just weird how I haven't thought of it since!!! Glad I did though...

Feeling A LOT better than yesterday!!! My appetite still lacking a bit, and thought I was going to be sick when I went out just now to go buy some food! They were making something oily in the shop, and it smelled DISGUSTING!!! Ugh...

Going for bloods and x-rays and lung functions tomorrow, so it's going to be a busy morning!! Will let you know how it turns out!!!

BAD lung pic...

The very cool pic on the left here is a picture of a scan of my old lungs which my Dr was so kind as to e-mail to me!! I was taken during my work-up in Jan last year... exactly 1 year and 3 days before my transplant. And in that time my lungfunction probably dropped another 10% or more, so I don't even want to know what they looked like when I got the new lungs!! You don't need any medical background to know they look BAD!!!!

Speaking of which... I'm going for a FeNO (nitric oxide test) and flow loop (FEV1) test early tomorrow morning. A bit nervous!!! It better be good... WISH ME LUCK!!!!!