Up The Farway Tree

Catch Up

Since I didn't really blog about what I have been up to last week, I have a few things to update on!

I was speaking at George Heriot private school in Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago.  They had invited me to talk to 4th year pupils about my experiences of transplant, since the pupils have been doing some work on organ donation so this helps put the information in context for them.  I had to do two 40 minute talks back to back, to two different classes (about 35 pupils in each).   They were very attentive but it was hard to get them to interact in anyway  -much quieter than when I was speaking to primary 7 classes!  It is easier if they do interact though, but towards the end some pupils did ask some questions.  I was exhausted afterwards from telling my entire story twice but hopefully it was worth it and they will remember the human aspect of organ donation.

Last weekend Kirsty organised a small gathering to celebrate her friend Nicola's anniversary, who lost her fight with CF last year.  Last year Kirsty had organised a Disney party for Nicola, so this year we celebrated by watching her favourite film, Beauty and the Beast and having a small get together in her memory.  It was a lovely evening.   The following week has been CF week and we finished that last night with Kirsty's annual fundraising pub crawl.  She does this every year for the CF Trust, where her and her friends get dressed up in fancy dress and go around pubs in Glasgow City centre collecting money (with permission in advance from the pubs of course).   This was the first year myself and Victoria joined them, and of course I had to get Andrew roped in too!  We had a good night although the town was so quiet last night because there is a big football match today (most people know what I think about football!!) but people were still generous and (mostly) welcoming :-)  I haven't hear the exact amount raised yet but any amount makes a difference and by going out and meeting people we are raising the profile of CF.


Some pictures of the night.  Gregg as spider man attracted a lot of attention and several people asked to have their picture taken.  Victoria was dressed as Alice in Wonderland but got mistaken as Cinderella, Little Bo Peep and Dorothy :-)   

Apart from the fundraising events, I have managed to catch up with quite a few friends in the last couple of weeks which is my favourite thing to do :-)  I am also trying to get myself organised for my holiday to Sorrento - only 5 more sleeps!  I am looking forward to some warm weather (I hope) as it has been raining on and off all week after the one good spell of sunshine.  I have only been back at work 10 days and feel like I need a holiday already, which is never a good sign haha.   By the end of July I will have one less session again though so will see if that is less tiring over the summer.  The PBL group is going well and I only have 2 sessions this week and then the students will be on holiday for the summer anyway.

Lastly it is Victoria's 1st transplant anniversary tomorrow - she is at transplant clinic for her 1 year bronchoscopy so keeping everything crossed for a good result!