Crazy month for organ donation awareness, wedding anniversary and now I'm sick

Two weeks ago LLGL along with the transplant coordinators of Johannesburg started an awareness drive in the Joburg hospitals. It's been hectic and amazing! I've attended the drive at four of the hospitals so far. The conversations we've had with nurses and doctors have been amazing.... eye opening stuff! This work makes me SO excited! It is definitely my passion in life. We've also had some amazing volunteers assisting us!

A week ago was my and Chris' 7th wedding anniversary. We went out for brunch and an ice-cream. Wasn't feeling my best so spent the rest of the day watching TV.

I've had a cold since Sat unfortunately :-( Not feeling good at all right now. Throat sore, sinuses gross and sore, lungs tight. UUGHHHHH

Wedding Anniversary and LESS THAN A MONTH!

Sunday was our 6th wedding anniversary. Have we already been married for six years???? Apologies for all the pics, but it was the best day of my LIFE :-)

Had a chilled day (like most of my days are). Headed to Northcliff Hill which is pretty close to us to take in the view. It was also what felt like the first nice and warm day! We also went to the nursery and picked up some compost and orchid soil, followed by us playing chess on the patio (because it was warmer outside than inside the house). It was the first time ever we've played chess against each other... was rather fun.

It's also officially LESS THAN A MONTH until Anna and Casey arrive! Sooooo damn excited. Can't wait to get away for a bit and to my favourite places. First off we will be going to Kruger National Park (all pics taken on previous occasions obviously)

Then we head down to my ULTIMATE favourite place in the world, Storms River Mouth:

After that we shoot over to Addo Elephant Park just outside PE...love the elephants there because they are so TAME compared to the Kruger and other northern elephants.

So I really need to stay healthy for this trip. Doing everything I can to stay strong so that I can enjoy it as much as possible. Eeeeekkkkk, please hurry up Sept!

Wedding Anniversary, Lung Function, TIREDNESS

So today is our five year wedding anniversary! Happy anniversary to us :-) Chris took me out for some awesome steak last night at Meat Co, and surprised me with tickets to Lord of the Dance afterwards. I missed a good juicy medium-rare steak when we were in the US!!! It was a really good show and something completely different to the shows we normally watch (ie stand-up comedy or musical-type shows).

On Wednesday I went for lung functions, it was down 2%, to 44%. Neither here not there really and too tired to even care about it. Didn't get to see the dr, there was an emergency, appointment was postponed to today but cancelled again. Will see what next week brings I guess. That evening we also had a little clothing-handover ceremony at the hosp for the local athletes who are going to the Games in Argentina later this month.

Very glad to have survived the first week back at work. And month-end. However I'm so tired I could just die. Or cry. Or both. Initially I struggled to sleep through a night and now the last few nights have just been late nights and crazy days. Looking forward to a sleeping pill and my bed tonight.....

Tomorrow we're going away with fam to Moonriver Bungalows for the long-weekend. Looking forward to it a lot, just want to relax and catch up on sleep. Want to feel human again!!!!

ChariTea and Wedding anniversary

It's been a busy week once again, the highlights of which was our 4 year wedding anniversary and Fawn's Charitea at which I spoke at today (which was a huge success). For our anniversary we had an amazing dinner at Pigalle in Melrose Arch, and received the most stunning flowers and champagne from Chris's mom. Some pics below...

August!!!!

It's the crazy happy month of August!! Let's see... Wedding Anniversary on the 7th, speaking at Fawn's Charitea on the 9th, spring starts, it's Organ Donation awareness month AND my last month of being a 20-something year old!!! So a very exciting month!!

A year ago (well on the 12th of Aug) I started photopheresis. A pretty scary time. Today I'm pretty proud to say that I completed 24 sessions of it without any catheters or ports and such permanent lines (well done veins!!!), and didn't stop working, even though the vibe that I got from facebook support groups is that working while having this is nearly impossible as it makes you sooo tired and immune supressed etc. So that's great.

Had a very medical week... Had gynae check-up that went very well... no abnormal cells (in 2009-2011 I had about 3 cauterisation and other procedures on my cervix due to abnormal cells that could become cancerous) I have known post transplant people who have died from cancer so it was a worry. However all has been good since then and last 2 pap smears were NORMAL. Dr is "chuffed". So yay!

The bone density also went well. My previous one was about 8 or 9 years ago, in PE, so they couldn't compare the results accurately, but from what I can remember it has improved as my Dr thought it would. This is due to exercise and being much more active than all those years ago and being on less steroids since transplant than I used to be on pre-transplant. I have also been on meds for bone density before but at the moment all I have been prescribed are Calcium and Vit D, plus exercise. So that's also great news.

Dentist had to replace 2 old fillings. Was the least "fun" medical visit. Still feels weird now when I bite down and might have to go back to have something adjusted if it doesn't get better. Annoying but as far as medical problems go not a biggie.

Tomorrow I'm going to the quaterly transplant network meeting, and gym. Sunday having nice lunch with special friends, Not much else planned.

Have a good weekend!!!

Photopheresis approved!!!!

Yay after almost 4 weeks my photopheresis treatment has been approved (for 12 sessions) by Discovery. SO RELIEVED! Starting on Monday! So it will be Monday and Tuesday next week. Just glad to get it started. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Never been this excited about anything involving needles :-/ If you missed the previous post regarding photopheresis click here.

Yesterday was also our 3 YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! Wasn't a great day, with both of us still sick and me working late. But we did go out for steak which was yummy. At least this is a long-weekend (tomorrow is Womens Day) so will have 3 days to relax and kill this cold off completely.

Flowers below are the ones I received when I got my gold medal last week and the other ones are from Chris for anniversary.

2 years of being Mrs Vogt

Tomorrow is our 2 year wedding anniversary! The last 2 years have been great and I hope there will by MANY more years together for us. Love you Chris!

1 YEAR!

Today a year ago was the best day of my life, my wedding day! Wish we could re-live the day, it really was AWESOME. Our anniversary weekend has been pretty great. Friday night we went out with another couple to see Captain America in 3D, which was quite good even though it's not normally my type of movie. Yesterday we had a relaxing day at home, with a wedding in the evening! Rather romantic going to a wedding the day before your anniversary! Today we slept in a tiny bit (as much as the kitties allow), then Chris made us a YUMMY breakfast. Had tea at my parents place, and then went to my favourite garden centre where we got 4 plants for the garden and grass seeds, soil and pruning implements. In a month's time or so we'll do the grass, just waiting for spring to start! Afterwards we had lunch there. Feeling very blessed today!

Our tickets for Sweden are BOOKED!!!!

On Friday we booked our tickets with British Airways, got a really good price, so SOOO EXCITED!!!!! So Chris is def coming with, and we're spending about 10 days in London (well in and just outside London!) and might be doing a week in Scotland, but either way, it's going to be more than 2 weeks in the UK after the Games!!! Going to be AMLOST a month off from work, longer than I've ever been off since I've started working! Plus it's out of the country, so work can't call me the whole time!!! Don't want to jinx it, but really hope something medical will not stand in the way of this holiday!

Feeling a lot more inspired for gym now, which is great. Even went to gym on Friday after work. Gym is a lot quiter now than it was in Jan, so luckily all those "new years resolutions" people are gone, yay! Didn't have to que for a treadmill :-)

Chris and I are also married for 6 months today :-) Time has really flied, been awesome :-) We're broke after paying for the plane tickets, but having some ribs at home tonight! Hope your week's going to be a good one!