Up The Farway Tree

Blogging from Ireland

It's me! From Ireland!

We set off early on Monday morning to catch the ferry from Troon to Larne - needless to say we were the last car on the ferry but we made it, so that's the important thing. We are staying in a small town called Buncrana which is a couple of hours drive from Larne, so it was late afternoon before we finally arrived. After the obligatory Irish 'cup o tea' we went for a wee drive around the local area, which is really beautiful, and then went out for dinner.

Yesterday we set off fairly early and spent the morning at the 'Famine village' which tells the story of life in Ireland over the past 200 years. It was really interesting and of course there was another 'cup o tea' at the end of the tour. It really is a shame that I don't actually drink tea! In the afternoon we drove up to Malin Head, which is the most northerly point in Ireland. We got out the car at the top of the hill, nearly got blown away and pretty much got straight back in! We then just did a bit of touring around in the car as I am pretty limited with walking at the moment.

Today I insisted on everyone going to a pet show in a nearby town called Clonmany. They have a festival at this time every year so the town was very busy. I enjoyed watching all the dogs in the show, although I think everyone else was pretty bored. I didn't however make them stay for the cats and rabbits ;-) It's a shame wee Seb wasn't with us as I am sure he would have loved meeting all the other dogs. I've heard he is having a great time at Anne and John's and they have sent us a photo of him lounging up on the sofa (which he is most certainly not allowed to do at home!) Amazing what he gets away with at his grannys :-)

My foot hasn't been too painful as long as I keep the weight off it although I am still hobbling about on crutches. I am getting pretty good at them now and can move quite fast - only problem is that my right hand is now hurting from leaning on the crutches and it's putting quite a lot of pressure through my breast bone (which is still healing from the surgery). I did want to do some upper body strengthening exercises though and I am certainly getting to do that so I won't complain too much! I did also have a bit of a minor panic before we left because I started to feel quite sick over the weekend and when I phoned Newcastle to ask about taking anti-sickness tablets they insisted I get some urgent bloods in case something else was wrong. I couldn't bear the thought of going to A+E for a second time that weekend so after a phone call to my CF ward they very kindly agreed to check my bloods on Sunday night. The main worry was that my magnesium levels were low again but they were fine. My kidney function was off slightly but this could be something as simple as not drinking enough, so I am taking lots of fluids and this can get rechecked once I am home. The other thing that could make me feel sick is the antirejection levels being too high - these bloods are processed by Newcastle though so I won't get the results until tomorrow or Friday. I have been feeling less sick as the week has gone on though, so hopefully it was just nothing at all!

Well, I will leave you with some pictures of my trip so far...

Glashedy Rock

View from Malin Head

Mum having a carry on (she may have been singing 'the hills are alive')