USA

Week 1 - South Carolina

Not sure if folks remember, but ages ago I was invited to go and present the CF and Body Image booklet at a CF conference in South Carolina.   Of course I jumped at the opportunity, and there being no show without Punch, Andrew came along too :-)    We jetted over on the Saturday morning, and 3 flights later we arrived in Charleston at 9pm.  We stayed at a B+B the first night and getting there in a hire car was all a bit of a blur but impressive navigation on Andrews part.  The following day we moved over to a beach house in Folley Beach, near Charleston.  This was kindly loaned to us by a lady known to the conference organiser.   It was fab!

The first 2 days we had lovely weather and enjoyed exploring Charleston - walking all over the city and seeing as much as we could.   Unfortunately the weather took a strange turn - dropping to 3c with torrential rain - for the rest of our stay!   It didn't really matter for the conference days but would have been nice to see a bit more sunshine never the less.

Charleston

View from back of beach house

Weather turns chilly

I was orginally meant to be speaking on the Wednesday but the schedule had to be changed and I was speaking at 7.30am on the Thursday.  I don't think I have ever been to a conference in the UK that started before 9.30 at a push!  We were still on UK time so it was easy to get up anyway!  The talk went really well :-)  I had an hour to speak about the topic and felt I was able to cover everything, without rushing or going on too long.  I got some great feedback and the attendees found it really helpful.  There was a panel discussion later in the day where I was asked some questions.   We met some lovely people and got to chat to lots of people I had only spoken to via email.

In the evening I attended a parents group to talk about my experiences of CF and Transplant, organised by Mary, who is a CF physio and did most of the organising for me.   I really just spoke from the heart for that one and it was much less formal - I think they found it helpful and hopefully was a positive for them to see me doing so well.

Talking to parents

With Mary - organiser and CF physio

We also had dinner with the CEO of the company who sponsored me to attend the event.  The company make one of the physio vests in the USA (basically a machine that causes vibrations in chest to help clear mucus).   He was lovely and was pleased to chat about CF and my experiences, as well as my career in psychiatry.  In fact it went so well that I might get the opportunity to go to Minnesota (where the company is based) to speak!!  Exciting :)

Week 2 - San Diego

This was the holiday portion  - and although it involved flying to the west coast it was worth doing something I really wanted to while I had the travel insurance.   I LOVED it!  I will definitely go back to California to explore further afield.

San Diego itself was lovely - quite laid back and chilled.  Weather was low 20s and lovely!  We had rented an apartment in the Gas Lamp District, which was ideal - loads of places to eat right on the doorstep.

View from Apartment

We were on the go all the time trying to see everything we could!  My top trip was to go to San Diego Zoo and it didn't disappoint!  We saw the Pandas, although I also loved the Polar Bears and giraffes ;-)   It was a massive zoo and you could easily spend more than a day exploring.

Andrews choice was the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier - which was surprisingly interesting ;-)  Although after I had seen below deck and looked at a couple of planes, I was done haha.   We also explored the harbour and there is a cute tourist area down by the water called Seaport Village with really nice shops.   We also explored the old town (quite wild west feel) and went on a ghost tour at night, which was great fun!


At the harbour

USS Midway Museum

Old Town

We hired a car for the last few days and drove up the coast to La Jolla Beach and to Oceanside pier.  We went inland up to a village called Julien, which used to be a gold rush town but is now famous for apple pie, as they grow lots of fruit.   We went to Torrey Pines national park and walked one of the trails, as well as just driving around looking at the amazing scenery and visiting Point Loma.


La Jolla

Torrey Pines

Driving about in the hills...

Julian

On Pier at Oceanside

Point Loma

All in all it was a great experience!   It was fab being able to meet all these lovely people in Charleston and get the opportunity to speak.  I also loved California and am already planning what I could do next when we visit....!!

I'm Back!!!

I more or less gave up writing my blog because so many people had trouble logging in etc that it seemed more hassle than it's worth, especially when most people catch update on facebook.   However I came up with the idea today to create a google account that everyone can use for log in if they are having trouble with their original one.   So going to give blogging a try again....!

Given that we are now in April I have 3 months of blogging to catch up on.   Looking back January and February were fairly quiet.  March was very busy with a trip to USA so may need a blog entry of its own :-)

January
I finished off my Autism essay for part 1 of the module and just got the results this week telling me I had passed :-)  There is no grading but it was marked as excellent in all the areas so can't ask for more!  I need to enrol for part 2 now (another 6000 word essay) and hopefully by end of the year I will have my Post Graduate Certificate!  I am finding it really interesting and learning that Autism is so much more complex than I ever imagined. 

February
Health wise I have been really good and had CF clinic in February, with got a good report.  My shoulder is still bothering me so I was back at orthopaedics and I am now waiting on more physio to try and help stabilise it.  Joints in general have been bad actually and recently been getting these weird sharp pains in sternum and ribs, which doctor thinks is inflammation in the tiny joints connecting to ribs.  All part of my CF joint stuff.  However, in the bigger picture - it's nothing compared to the sick lungs, so not complaining!

We had my lovely friend Louise and her family for the weekend which was fab.  We went to the science centre, which I think I enjoy more than the kids.

Mum had her 2nd hip replacement and is making a good recovery - after getting in trouble a lot on the ward for doing too much ;-)   At least that's both surgeries behind her now and she can start to recuperate properly.   I think she is hoping that dad has got used to doing some of the heavy housework.  I doubt it ;-)

March
USA for 2 weeks - will blog separately!  We had big group of friends staying last weekend - 11 of us for dinner and 7 to stay.  Busy!  It was fab night though and worth the many duvets I am still washing now...

I was also speaking again at George Heriot school about organ donation, and this year, my good pal Kirsty also did two sessions with them - which went down really well! 


Last Sunday was of course Mothers Day.  Since mum is not able to sit for long periods she wasn't keen to go out for dinner - so I took dinner there and cooked it instead, which worked out well :-)  Fillet steak  - can't beat it!    

A CF lady, Emma, is currently organising a campaign called The Little Yellow Duck Project in memory of a friend, Clare, who died waiting on transplant.  The idea was inspired by  Clares mum, who is marking her anniversary by carrying out random acts of kindness.  Emma has got all the crafty type people on board to make little yellow ducks (by any medium - knit, sew, clay, bookmarks etc) and they are going to be left in random places for people to find.  There will be a tag saying to take the duck home and a link to a website which will explain the story and urge people to join the organ donor register - as a act of kindness.  Ducks have become the symbol simply because Clare loved them!   I have so far made some from fimo modelling clay and discovered 'shrink plastic' for making keyrings so trying that too!  I will post when the website is ready!