TGIF

Soooooo glad it's Friday... AT LAST. This week's been rather crappy. Trying to avoid all the sick people, work's been rough with lots of training, not getting enough sleep, stressing about my exam and sponsorship for the Games... etc etc. At least I DIDN'T get sick as of yet!!!!!! Thank goodness....

Last night was cool though, went to Jenny and caught up on some Greys Anatomy! And slept a good 7 hours, which was nice!!! Tonight I'm going to Chris, tomorrow I'm seeing my friend Andrew from PE!!!! He's going to be in Pretoria for the weekend, so gonna have lunch with him and Patricia.. Will update again on Sun night.

Have a good one! Be good, and if you're not, take photo's!

IMPORTANT: SPONSORSHIP

This is aimed at all the South Africa readers of this blog. In order to participate in the World Transplant Games in Australia in August, each athlete needs about R30 000.00 in sponsorship. Even though SATSA (South Africa Transplant Sports Association) is registered with the Deptartment of Sports and Recreation, and each athlete receives full SA colours from SASCOC, we don't receive financial support from these bodies.

SO... if you think your company might be interested in sponsoring me or some other athletes (it has tax benefits), please e-mail me at alicevosloo@gmail.com for more info or a sponsorship form. Thanks!!!!

Valentines Weekend etc...

So my weekend was pretty great. Spent all my time with people I love (parents, Chris, family), did very cool shopping, saw an awesome show (Dancing Queen, a tribute to queen and ABBA), had the most yummy buffet lunch on Sunday in Pretoria at a very nice outside resturant, went out for coffee twice, etc. So I'm pretty bummed that the week has started again :-( Was also very very nice to be able to sleep 'till 8am!!!!!

So today was back to the rat race... woke up at 3am, and couldn't sleep again cos I know I have to get up at 4am. Was the first one at work again and used that alarm code I learnt last week. Had 3.5 hours of training with some people from the other branches, and ate way too much, as it was 3 peoples' birthdays yesterday and the all brought yummy cakes and savoury stuff to work today.

Went to gym after work, which was frustrating because it too forever to find parking, the gym was full, and I wasn't in the mood. Also irritated because my dad and 2 people at work are sick... and now I feel like I might be sneezing more than usual and being all paranoid (or am I?). I just really don't want to get sick now....

Anyways... the rest of my week will be busy as usual. Getting up at 4am, work, going to Chris after work tomorrow, Church cell and gym on Wednesday, Greys anatomy with Jenny on Thursday (we're got 2 episodes to catch up on!), and then it's weekend again!!!!! Have a good week!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!!!

Check it out...

Check out the new South African Cystic Fibrosis Accosiation website... I wrote something for the "personal stories" section about 2 months ago.

You know you're getting up too early when...

• it's pitch dark when you wake up...
• you have breakfast at 5am and by 9am you feel like lunch already...
• you get to work at 6am... AND...
• you enter the office to be met by the alarm going off... because you're the first one at the office...
• the alarm wants you to enter the code which you obviously don't know, because no sane person is at work at that hour...
• so you run out again, and stand in the hallway listening to the alarm going off properly...

So that's what happened yesterday!!!! Was really blind, and luckily one of the (more friendly) managers showed up a few mins after the alarm went off to save me from the embarrassment!!! Luckily I DO know the code now... for future reference!

What else? The studying is going slowly... hard to get back into that mindset after almost 3 years of not doing it. Also, being at the office as just after 6 means I'm there for 11 hours of the day, which is quite draining. BUT, it's also great, as I'd NEVER be able to do it with my old lungs... I would hardly have been able to go for that long without nebulising!!! So it's all good. Went to gym last night and hanged out a bit with Chris on Tuesday night.

Can't WAIT for this weekend, cos it's VALENTINES DAY and my mom will be here!!!! Normally I hate Valentine's day, but for obvious reasons it won't be the case this year ;-) We're all wearing red to work tomorrow too, so that will also be fun. Anyway... still have some stuff to do before bed, so have to love and leave you... night!!!!!!!

Manic Monday...

My weekend was great... VERY NICE in fact!!! Did some Valentine's shopping, watched DVD and some series', played squash, went to church, registered to vote, ate yummy food, relaxed. The squash was a bit sore though, ribs not completely healed, so I left Chris to his own devices and did some cycling and weights (leg weights!!)

Today was rough though... had my alarm set for 5am to study, but woke up at 3am, fell asleep again at just after 4am, and felt like I truck had driven over me when the alarm went off at 5... on the way to work I scratched my car's wheelcap quite badly, as I had to squeeze past a bus that was broken or something. Work was pretty hectic, and after work I went shopping for food, where I got stuck in traffic again. UUGGGHHHHH!!!!! So I'm aiming to be in bed by 8:30pm, as tomorrow I'm getting up at 4am to study... have to get into a routine to get up that early and go to bed early.

Not much other news that I can think of now... looking forward to the weekend very much, as my mom will be here!!!! Anyway, good night, sleep tight, hopefully I will!!!!

DISCHARGED FROM HOSP A YEAR AGO!!!!

Today marks 1 year without any IV's, hospital stays, nebulisers, OXYGEN, bedpans, coughing up all sorts of S*#T etc... WWWHHHHOOOOHHHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! And 1 year of living in Joburg... a very cool place to live that has been very good to me. :-D

199 Days 'till the GAMES start...

Wanted to post yesterday so it could be 200 days, but just didn't have the time. Been SOOOOO busy. The "big" news that I mentioned at the end of the last post is that I'm going to be writing quite an important (for work end my career) exam of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Still waiting for my study material, will hopefully get it tomorrow!! Then I'll be studying quite a bit in order to write the exam as soon as possible. (it gets written almost every day, you decide when you're ready).

Monday night I watched Greys with Jenny again, and last night Chris and I went to see a movie. He didn't want to tell me what we're going to do, so I was clueless as to where we were going to. So he took this massive de-tour to the movies, forcing me to give up guessing where we're going. When I eventually figured out we were on our way to the movies, he still wouldn't let me know what we're going to see. So I wasn't allowed to look at the ticket or the posters etc, and only realised what we were seeing when the movie started! It was Bride Wars, which I've wanted to see for a while now. Pretty cool movie!

Going to gym again today, legs not stiff anymore and ribs are ok. Won't do upper-body stuff... Going to gym tomorrow as well, and will play some squash again over the weekend. Wish it was weekend already...

I GOT IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So by some miraculous stroke of luck I managed to make the time by 16 MILLISECONDS!!!! How scary is that? Was supposed to walk the 3km in 27:30, and did it in 27:29:44 . If I finished a SECOND later (well less actually) I would not have made it... I still can't believe it. It was pretty hard and my ribs were hurting quite a bit and felt like I was going to collapse and die, but I DID IT!!!! YYYAAAYYYY!!!!! Now I just have to complete the registration forms for Aus and I'm IN!!!! (The SA Transplant Sports Association are having a very important meeting regarding sponsorship for us on Friday, so PLEASE pray that we get that sponsorship!!!! It's from the National Lottery people.) Just SOOOO relieved the stressing about it is over now. Will rest from gym untill about Wednesday or so (legs also pretty stiff after yesterday), and then start going religiously again.

The rest of my weekend was also very cool. Went to the MPC/Top Gear Live Motorshow at the Coca Cola Dome with Chris and my dad, and it was pretty awesome! Amazing tricks and very very cool cars. The also had 6 Chevi Sparks play SOCCER against each other, which was really wow. And they only bumped into each other 2 times. Afterwards we checked out some cars close-up and got behind the wheel to see what it felt like sitting in them. (For more pics check my Facebook profile) The rest of the weekend was just spent relaxing and watching TV/playing boardgames.

On my way to church now. Hopefully this week isn't too stressfull, although I'll have some more (relatively) big news by tomorrow or Tuesday, involving work/carreer/that type of thing. Seems like the next challenge is here, now that this qualifying thing is out of the way, lol!

Back 2 Gym. Back 2 Reality.

That's supposed to sound like the corny jingle one of the big stores here in SA have and play every January to promote "Back 2 School"... except it's obviously Back 2 School...Back to reality. What an irritating thing to hear in your last few weeks of holiday, but anyway, it's not the point I want to make. The point is that I'm back at gym. Went after work, and steered clear of any upper-body exercise (did quite a bit of stretching though, which hurt) and did some leg-stuff. At least I didn't really lose any fitness, but I could feel my ribs the whole time. At least I know a bit more about what to expect on Sat... cos that's when I'm trying out for Aus again! I know I might not make it, but if I don't try at least I'll always wonder. And I'd rather be disappointed then having regret. So WISH ME LUCK... it's gonna take a miracle!!!!

Apart from that I've got no news really... It's been raining for DAYS on end now, and it's cold (well relatively cold... can't compare to Bree with her Canada weather, lol!). And of course the stairs are wet all the time and I'm a bit scared of them now. So I'm clinging to the railing like an old person when going down there (and even for going up!). Had church cell last night, and we might be going on a camp or something, which will be SOOO exciting, as I've never been on any sort of getaway WITHOUT my nebulisers or WITH my new lungs. Going to be AWESOME!!!!

So tomorrow night Chris and I will be sleeping over at my grandfather's place in Pretoria (where I'll be walking), and on Sat afternoon we'll be going to the MPH/Top Gear Live Motorshow at the Coca-cola Dome, which will be very exciting!!!! So will post again Sat evening with the NEWS.... *nervous sigh*

P.S. Oh, and thanks for those who have donated towards Annelie's run!!!! That is so awesome, especially amidst the wicked "CREDIT CRUNCH"... you guys rock.

Annelie's running the London Marathon in aid of CF!!!!

So my overly-energetic aunt got in for the London Marathon, and is running it for CF!!! She is trying to raise 2000 pounds (can't find the GBP symbol!) this time!!! Please visit her page at http://www.justgiving.com/anneliewhitfield ....

So today is the day I REALLY woke up and got off the ventilator... 5 days after the op. Can't believe I was under for that long! Have to add though that I think they sedated me for longer because I kept on trying to pull stuff out of me and was very restless... anyway... it's strange to think it was only a year ago, as so much has happened. And yet it also feels like just the other day. On the 28th, the Monday, they took me outside for the first time, wheelchair, drainage tubes, drips and all. BUT without Oxygen. It was very strange for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I was WITHOUT O2. I did sometimes go without it for short periods of time, but at sea level only, not at such a high altitude. So that was wierd. Also, I've never really experienced a Joburg summer before, and the air had that sunny humidness before a thunderstorm, that I've become to know pretty well by now. Since it's obviously the same weather conditions now, I often walk to the shops during lunch-time and experience that same humidity (which in itself is strange for JHB, where the air is usually dry), and it takes me right back to that afternoon in Milpark Hosp's little garden court-thingy.

Work's been busy this week, not much to report. Rib pain better. Bruises still look disgusting. Chris and I are having coffee with an old Varsity friend of mine and his fiance (who I haven't met)... should be interesting. Going to their wedding in April. Have to go finish supper now though, so bye!