Up The Farway Tree

Flying past the target!

Well the Team Jac sponsorship has been flying along this past few days thank to my very kind colleagues at DNUK. This is a doctors forum I use and I rather cheekily posted on the general chat forum about my sponsored walk and have since been inundated with sponsorship (all from people I don't even know) which has sent me flying over the £1000 target! I haven't really started my harassment campaign for sponsorship (which will come much nearer the time) and most of my team members will not collect sponsorship until after new year.....so looks like we need to set a new target! Go Team Jac!!

I have been to the gym twice this week, so have increased the treadmill to 15mins at 5.5km/hr (which is quite fast for my wee legs!), still 10 mins on bike, as I find this really hard and 10 mins on the rowing machine. I am so far enjoying myself, although it's finding the motivation to get yourself to the gym when it's cold, dark and horrible outside!

Dog training this week went very well and Seb got a lot of compliments :-) The head trainer (who microchipped him) said she couldn't believe it was the same dog she had first met. She did see him at his very worst though because to be fair he was fairly well trained to start with...I think she just got the impression he was a wild, unruly spoiled brat. The spoiled bit is pretty much true though ;-) He did a fantastic recall, stopping right in front of me to sit and then going round to end up on my left side in sitting position -he was the only dog who could do the whole thing, so I was feeling incredibly smug. I am rather competitive though and have been working hard at it! We now have to introduce randomly asking the dog to sit when you are walking - the idea being that by now they dog is quite complacent but they have to remember to pay attention to you at all times, as you might give a command. So far Seb is looking at me like I'm nuts - we walk along and I say 'sit' and he looks around as if thinking 'Who is she talking to?!' I said it again and he lowered his bottom, realised the ground was cold and stood straight back up! So at the moment I am having to push him into a sit even though he knows the command. He will soon get the idea though...he is just so stubborn.

I also had joint CF/Diabetic clinic this week. It was the first one since my transplant so it was a very strange experience. CF wise, everything was ok. They reckon the joint pain (which has got worse since started the gym) will ease off as my muscles strengthen and support the joints. I've had a few GI problems with cramping stomach pain but they upped my meds for that, so things should settle now. My lung function was 90% (was 97% in newcastle) but this is using a different machine, which also read my result as lower than Newcastle when I was up regarding the chest pain in September, so I am not worried at all about this. I was rather amused at the doctors response to seeing me for the first time though - she got so overexcited by the way I spoke, which is apparently very different to before. I speak much faster and use longer sentences but she said it was the most marked difference she had ever seen post transplant and she has know me 11 years!

I then saw the diabetic team who were a bit concerned about the random hypo's I am having (low blood sugars) coupled with unexpected high sugars. I have to monitor some fasting blood sugars to see if I need any long acting insulin and also rotate my injection sites more often as this can affect absorption of insulin and might explain some of my unexpected results. My friend Audrey had told me about a course where you learn to count carbohydrates so you can calculate the amount of insulin needed so I asked about this. They do have a 2 day course so are going to set me up on that, which I think will really help me! I am eating more than I did before and now have no idea how much insulin to take at times. The doctor did emphasise that I have NOT to follow a diabetic diet...I have to stick to the high fat CF diet and adjust the insulin accordingly, otherwise I will probably start losing weight again. This was good news as it means I can keep baking and then eating it all!

Yesterday I was at my friends wee girls 1st birthday party, which was fun. Orla is so so cute! She was pushing herself around on a wee wooden tricycle before deciding she would try and stand on it instead....I am sure she is going to be trouble when she is older! It was so lovely to be able to just pop along to something like that with no problem and no worries about how I would manage the stairs etc. These wee things just keep reminding me how far I have come.

Today I am off to buy some Christmas tree lights...I think the tree will be going up next weekend. I know that's quite early but I go home for Christmas and New Year so I have to get the benefit before I go! That's my excuse and I am sticking to it :-)