Up The Farway Tree

MOT - pass!

I had my annual review - or MOT - at CF clinic this week.  It's a long day but the good results made it worth while.  The morning started at 10am at physio department.  They run through their annual check list of questions and then we do the 6 minute walk test.  You basically walk as fast as you can between 2 cones for 6 mins and they measure distance covered.  It was exactly the same as last year, which was great.  I don't think I can actually cover any more distance as I am walking as fast as I can without running.   Then it was off to lung function for 11am for full tests, which involves sitting in a box and going over lots of different breathing tests.  I used to hate this so much as I was too breathless to cope with it - especially one where they put a shutter down and you breath against it.  I used to feel like I was suffocating.  Now, it's really not that hard!  I actually got the best results I have had at CF clinic (so matching my best at newcastle) so that was fab news.  Then I went for chest xray and round to clinic.  At clinic you get put in a room and all the staff come to see you (this is to avoid cross infection in the waiting room).  I saw the CF nurses for bloods, weight, oxygen levels, cough swab.   Then I saw the pharmacist who checks all my medications, then the dietician who likes to tell me to be a bit heavier (although my weight was exactly the same as last year, which is good).  Then I saw the doctor who goes over the tests.  So all in all, I had no complaints and all my results were great.  I can't ask for anything more!   It took over 4 hours in total but I had taken a packed lunch, so when people were coming to see me I was sitting munching on my sandwiches :-)  

Yesterday I was at an NHSBT organ donation conference.  I was speaking in the afternoon but I went along for the whole day as it looked like an interesting agenda.  It was being run for health professionals to increase awareness of the current situation with organ donation in Scotland and the roles of various team members.  The majority of the day was focused on the donor side - identifying donors, how this is dealt with, the procedures involved etc.  It was interesting to hear more about it from this side, as my experience is obviously very much from the other side.  In particular I learned more about tissue donation (cornea, heart valves, tendon, skin and bone).   There is not the same time pressures for retrieval or specific circumstances around death, so tissues can often be donated where solid organ donation wouldn't be possible.  It is becoming more common for families to be asked about this option after, for example, death in A+E setting. There was an overall feeling yesterday that organ donation should be an end of life choice for people - not an expected outcome but something that people should be asked about and that medical staff should not be afraid of discussing with families.  It is not about getting a 'yes' from a family but about giving them the option to consider this.  Myself and Erin, the mum of  a young boy who donated his organs, spoke at the last session.  Our aim was to bring together what had been discussed throughout the day and put it into perspective....to show why organ donation is important for both the donor family and the recipient.  I think the combination of our talks was powerful and hopefully helped to seal the messages from the day.

I am now rather exhausted but have an exciting night planned going to see Derren Brown!!  We saw him a few years ago and the show was amazing, so I am really looking forward to it.  The tomorrow I am flying to London very early (argghhh!) for the 2nd day of the advocate weekend, then back tomorrow night. I have taken Monday off to recover...!

Finally, I have been to my 2nd pilates class and trying to practice a little on my new mat.  Seb came to see what I was doing and tried out a few stretches himself....