Post #444: New lungs for Francois!!!!

Yay Francois, a 20 year old CF guy got lungs yesterday!!!!!!!!!! He came out of theatre at 2am this morning, going fine so far. First double lungs for this year. Please keep him in your prayers!!!!! They've had 3 donors in the last 3 days... truly amazing! So my hosp did 2 heart transplants on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the lungs yesterday. I know the other organs were transplanted at another hospital. So excellent week :-D Hopefully this continues and we have a really good year!!!! Organ donation has really taken a back seat to a million other causes in SA, and it's time people woke up about it.

My week's been good, not TOO busy at work, went to gym 3 times, saw Chris last night and got paid :-) And sure the weekend will be great too. Have a good one!

25 months today :-)

Yup another month has gone by! Yay to good working lungs! Please spare a prayer for my transplant twin Trevor, he's haveing some acute heart rejection :-( In hospital in PE, my hometown, as he was on a camp just outside PE when he got sick. He'll be moved to Cape Town as soon as he's strong enough. Praying he recovers fully in record time.

The weekend was great, I FOUND A WEDDING DRESS! Going back in 2 weeks time when my mom is here to have my measurements taken... they make the dress according to your size. Very exciting! Also got shoes :-) Can't wait to go back to the shop with my mom!

Lunch for my grandad's 83rd b-day was great, and got to see some friends in Pretoria afterwards. Saturday was also great, after the wedding dress shopping with Suzanne we watched rugby with the boys and just had a good time.

Anyway, hope your weekend was good and that this weeks' a good one!

Yay it's Friday!

Ugh, what a week! AGAIN! After the excitement about the home loan settled in, we realised that they want us BOTH to get life-insurance... As you can imagine getting life insurance for me is nearly impossible. I applied last year and was turned down flat. So I haven't been feeling too positive. Haven't heard anything bank about my life insurance (Chris's is all good), but feeling quite a bit better as the bank has said that we won't "lose" the home-loan if I can't get life insurance, because Chris will have. Hopefully this is all going to work out then... it's been 4 weeks of nail-chewing, no sleeping for me. Can't wait for the day we can walk into that little townhouse and feel like it's OURS... well the bank's technically, but you know what I mean.

Going wedding dress shopping this weekend!! Not sure what to expect... hope it goes well. Also doing a talk tomorrow morning at our monthly Tx Network Meeting about the World Transplant Games. And having lunch in Pretoria on Sunday to celebrate my grandad's birthday! Nice & busy weekend :-) Have a good one too!

GOOD NEWS AFTER HOLDING MY BREATH FOR 3 WEEKS!!!!!

WE GOT APPROVED FOR A 100% HOME LOAN!!!!!!!!! Finally we got some good news today!!!!!!!!!! (suprisingly on a Saturday!!) So now it's just all the legal stuff and then we're officially home-owners :-D Thank GOD!!!!

Please pray for Eva

http://65redroses.livejournal.com/
She had her transplant 3 months prior to me, in Toronto, Canada. There was a movie-documentry called 65 Red Roses made about her, she gave thousands of CF people hope... and now she's reached her end... if she doesn't get another transplant like TODAY. Breaks my heart,

Wow, almost middle of Feb!

Can you believe it?? Only good thing about that is that it's almost pay-day again :-) And closer to our wedding day: 7 August!!!

So what's been happning since the last time I blogged? Well Avatar was pretty cool, looking forward to seeing more 3D movies in the future! Esp animated ones! Ooohhh, and the new Alice in Wonderland movie with Johnny Depp is also going to be 3D!!!! What could be more awesome, a movie about me starring Johnny :-D Lol, just wish I was the actress starring opposite him!

As you can see frm the previous post I met up with my donor's sister and Trevor again, which was great as always. Chris and I also went window-shopping for fridges/washing machines/microwaves... compared prices etc. Went to church... not too much else. Great weekend.

This week's been rather nail-biting. I haven't mentioned it before, but we put an offer to purchase in on a townhouse that has stolen our hearts... the offer was accepted just over 2 weeks ago. Because we're first time buyers we really thought getting a 100% bond wouldn't be too hard, but alas... no bank is prepared to give us more that 90%(reccession? not sure), BUT a home loan co offered us 95%... which we might be able to pull off. We've only been provisionally approved though, so please hold thumbs and pray that we hear some awesome news tomorrow as time on our offer is running out. And we don't want to lose this place that we're crazy about... (promise to post pics if we get it!!!!)

Apart from that, not too much going on. Looking forward to this weekend again, going to my first RUGBY match in JHB!!! Stormers VS Lions... Chris is a Stormers fan, so seeing as PE is closer to Cape Town than JHB (and by default of being engaged to C!) I'll be supporting them! Should be interesting...

Have a great Friday, weekend, and VALENTINES DAY!!!!!

me, trevor and our donor's sister....

Had the chance to meet up with Suzanne again today... she lives in Aus, but was visiting home :-) What a privilege!!!!

2 years ago today: HOME!!!

I was released from hospital on the 5th of Feb 2008. What a day! Was scared of leaving the safely of the hospital... having nurses there at the push of a button. Drs seeing you twice a day. Not too much movement needed. Strong pain meds. But at the same time I was excited... how will this new life be? A life without nebulising, supplemental oxygen, coughing (if all went well), being blue because of lack of oxygen. How will it feel to be considered normal?

If it wasn't for my 3-day stint in hosp last month, I would've been able to say I've never been admitted to hosp again. But that's OK, I wasn't in hosp because of my lungs. I've been so blessed. Read Emily's blog today and could SO relate to what she's saying.

Had a rough week work-wise, but it's the weekend!!!!!!!! Seeing Avatar FINALLY tonight. And the rest of the weekend should be fun too. HAVE A GOOD ONE!

01/02/2010

Can't believe Jan is over! Although SO MUCH happened in this first month of 2010. Got engaged, first hospitalisation after tx, back to gym-routine, Chris and I found a place we really really like a lot (now to be able to buy it....) So all in all very productive month.

Weekend was quiet, went to Bridal Expo with Jolandi (who got her lungs almost 4 months ago), On Friday night I cooked for her and Reinhard, and on Sat eve we had a braai at their place. Didn't do much on Sunday!

On my way to bed now, will do more interesting update later in the week. Have a good one

Celebrations and new week!

My celebration-weekend was pretty great... We didn't do much on Friday night... had some champagne and watched a horrible horror movie that was suggested by Jolandi (note NEVER take movie advice from her again)! On Sat we had the lunch, which was great. Afterwards we went to pick up Carli, who's up in JHB for work, and had a braai with Suzanne, another old school friend! It was GREAT! Didn't have my camera there, but suzanne did take some pics, so hopefully I get them eventually! We just had such a great time, and was great to celebrate with some of my friends of about 20 years (Carli, Suzanne and I all met before we were 5 years old!).

Went back to gym tonight, which was crappy :-( SO unfit, because over Xmas I did no gym, and then I was back there ONE time, and then got my myserious infection... Last week I worked over-time to catch up, so THIS WEEK is the week I get back into action. Going to be sore tomorrow probably, but going back there! What's wierd for me, is that I'm "unfit", but my lungs are the same... just my body gets more tired quicker! IN my "previous life" if I've been sick and got "unfit" my LUNGS wanted to die and kill me off.

On that note... Bree wrote an awesome poem and said I could paste it here (seeing as I've NEVER been the poetry-writing type), so here goes her genius... (she received her lungs just over 5 months ago). She captured my thoughts exactly :-)

TonightI laid in bed
And nothing else mattered
Because I am alive
I opened the drawer beside my bed and pulled out my stethoscope
And listened
To all that i've been given
Safely enclosed inside my chest
Behind a tiny wire
Behind a long, clamshell line
Surrounding my heart
Two beautiful creatures
Kindly entrusted to me
In my careForever
LifeGiven and received
Taken with thanks
Celebrated in all aspects

So i listened
Inflate
Deflate
Inflate
Pause
Not a sound
Not a crackle,
or wrinkle
Not a wheeze or a pop
Nothing sloshing or gushing
SilenceBeautiful silence

Where once i could not blow out a candle
I can now run down the street
Where i once could not laugh in the slightest
I laugh long and hard
Even though no sound comes out
Through the casing of my stethoscope
Can i hear my life
Can i see it rise and fall beneath my eyes
Fragile, yet strong
Clear
From the bottom to the top and all around
Sounding like parchment paper, so thin, yet two little warriors
Keeping me going
Keeping me breathing
All thanks to the kindness of another whom I do not know
And never will

It is strange to me that these wonders were not born with me
We were not made together
But manufactured apart
Yet somehow, someway
Our lives became one
And you saved me
And will continue to do so

So tonightWhen the world may seem scary
And material things uncertain
I listen through my stethoscope
And remind myself
In this moment
Nothing else matters

Posted by Bree at 10:17 PM

TWO YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whooooohhoooo I've reached the 2-year mark!!!!! Wow, how time flies, and still so many has happened in these 2 years... feels like a lifetime ago that I couldn't breathe. At exactly 2 years ago this time it was an hour before I was taken into theatre, all the x-rays and bloods were done, we were just sitting around waiting... nerve-wrecking.

This past year's been amazing. The world transplant games in Oz, getting engaged! Those were def the highlights. Needless to say, the year ahead will also be very exciting! Getting married, buying a townhouse with Chris, National Transplant Games... Hopefully my lungs continue to behave as well as they have the past two years.

I'd like to thank the following people for the past 2 years: GOD... He's made all of this possible for me, my donor family... while they're mourning the death of their daughter/mother/sister/friend/loved one today, they've given me the biggest gift EVER and they're always in my heart. My mom, dad, sister and friends who were and are always there for me, as well as everyone in PE, including Dr Gebers who got me to the point of transplant. Chris for being the best thing that's happened to me post transplant, for worrying about me and loving me! Dr Paul Williams for keeping my lungs in tip top shape and who's so much more than just a doctor. Jenny, Aviva, my cell group, Lisa, Cristy and all the other friends I've made in Joburg since moving up here. All of you are just awesome :-)

I pray for many more healthy years like the previous 2, and for all my friends waiting for lungs all over the world... that they may also experience this like I have. And my heart breaks for those who weren't as lucky and aren't with us anymore... RIP Lynn Barnes, Jessica Wales, Maryke Pieterse, Paul Mooney, and many more. xxx

3 sleeps til my 2year lungaversary and WORK WORK WORK...

Just 3 more sleeps! I might seriously be more excited about my lung-birthday than my age-birthday... is than normal? Planning on having supper with my dad and Chris on Friday evening, and on Sat Chris and I'll be having lunch with Paul, Jenny and Aviva (my Dr, his wife and my physio frm hospital, am good friends with all of them!), and one of my great school-friends, Carli, is in JHB at the moment, so will DEFINITELY be seeing her over the weekend. So needless to say very excited!!!

However before any of that is going to happen, I have to survive the rest of the week at work... I've been working close to 11-hour days this past 2 days without really taking lunch (just eating at my desk), and tomorrow might be the worst... But Thursday and Friday should be better, I hope! Damn being sick last week!

The new season of Greys started last night, hope I'm not spoiling this for you, but the US has seen this quite a while ago, although the Aussies haven't seen it yet... anyway, George dies and donates his lungs to a CF guy age 22. I thought that was really cool. Hope lots of people saw that!!!! Strange though how EVERYONE watches Greys or some other medical drama series, and I still get questions like: "wow, I didn't know they DO lung transplants". And this from the same people who WATCH these shows... Do they just think it's made up??? Boggles my mind. Oh well...

Enjoy the rest of your week, and if you can, have a drink on my 2-year old LUNGIES!!!