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 :-)

WOOOOHOOOOO!

For those who have been following my Just Giving donation page for Team Jac - the latest donation from Sarah and Gordon Brown is actually from THE Sarah and Gordon Brown. The Prime minister and his wife have donated to my team...how utterly fantastic is that :-) :-)

To explain, I may have written a wee letter to Sarah Brown to tell her about my walk - obviously she can relate to the issue of CF but it was also due to the fact Fife (where the walk will take place) is where Gordon Brown's constituency is and I hoped she would be able to support the team in some way. I am so so chuffed and very grateful for her help with this.....apart from a wonderful donation, just having that kind of backing is a big boost to the walk. Go Team Jac!

Back Home

I got back home on Wednesday night, after stopping at mum and dads for dinner (obviously!) and picking up my wee pooch. Dad has been continuing the heel work so there was no rest for poor Seb, although I am sure he gets more treats when I am away ;-) Dad has discovered that Seb LOVES corned beef (after he stole dads sandwich) so this is a new found motivational tool when I don't have any chicken to hand. He had dog training on thurs night but I had to go myself this week as Andrew has been working late every night, and today - Saturday - as he has a deadline to meet. Seb was acting up a bit at class and I'm not sure if it was because Andrew wasn't there watching - maybe he likes having spectators (like children wanting their parents on the sidelines!) He did really well at heel work, apart from the fact he has taken a dislike to one of the trainers and refuses to walk if she stands too close to him! She tried feeding him treats and although he took them, he then walked off before she could even pat him. So so rude. He was then very good at his sit stay, and down stay and would just lie there for as long as I asked I think. He finds this part rather boring though.

I then had to go to a room next door for a wee talk (we get dog ownership talks every week) so had to leave Seb with one of the trainers. Two minutes later and there is a wee knock at the door, and the trainers standing there with Seb under one arm and his collar and lead in the other - apparently he was so desperate to go out he slipped his collar and then wouldn't let anyone put it back on! He has never done this before! He does however have a terrible fear of anyone touching his neck after an awful experience at the vets where 4 people held him down for his vaccinations. It is very stressful as he gets so agitated when anyone 'comes at him' as if to hold or touch his neck and he gets hysterical. Fortunately the trainer was aware of this so just brought him to me before he got too worked up. Apparently he was fine after that, but I suspect it was more to do with the fact he has seen where I was and knew I hadn't left the building!

Lastly it was recall and this week I asked if I could get him to sit and wait, rather than being held by the trainer as he hates this. He does this perfectly at home but at training decided he no longer understood what the word 'sit' meant and stood there looking around as if rather confused. He did eventually sit and wait and then come when called, but it wasn't a very elegant performance so we must work on that for next week! Only 3 sessions left now..

I have received my appointment for the barium swallow, which is to look at how fast my stomach is emptying, This is the 9th Dec in Newcastle, but this can be tied in with my transplant clinic appointment so isn't really an extra trip. Fingers crossed the results are ok and don't interfere with the surgery. Strangely my reflux has been really bad lately as if to reassure me that I have made the right decision! Funny isn't it.

I also got my blood test results back from GP - everything was normal. They do a test (Hb1ac) which gives an indication of blood glucose control over a 3 month period. It came back at 6.4% which is really good (less than 7 is normal), although a few months ago it was only 5.6%. I am aware that my sugars are much more random now but am doing my best to control them. Unfortunately this means I have had a lot more low sugar episodes (hypoglycaemia) which are quite scary when they happen outside. I had one at the dog training and I had on in Tesco a couple of weeks ago, which was rather scary as I was on my own. I usually become light headed, shaky and confused. I had my dextrose tablets with me but even after half a packet my sugars were still rather low. I suppose the sensible thing would have been to ask a member of staff for a sugary drink instead of continuing to push a heavy trolley around ;-)

I had my second gym session this week, after my induction on Monday. They have set me a programme of 10 mins on treadmill at 4.5km/hr, 10 mins on bike (no resistance) and 8 mins on rowing machine, and then I can gradually increase times but have to just stick with these 3 machines at the moment. I already started increasing the treadmill as I find this one quite easy (due to walking seb) but the bike is really hard! I could do 10 mins shortly after the transplant but can't do any more yet - I thought it would be easier but I obviously haven't been working those muscles. I quite enjoyed myself and hopefully I will continue to go twice a week and start to see some big improvements soon!

My friend is coming for dinner tonight so that will be lovely to catch up. No where near as hectic as last weekend when 5 of Andrews friends came for the afternoon - to stay overnight. So I had fold up beds, blow up beds crammed into the most unlikely places! It was a really good night though and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. This get together has been cancelled twice already because of me - once because I was really unwell and then again when I had my false alarm. So thankfully it went ahead this time and I was able to help and make food and be the perfect hostess ...or something :-)

Good news is that my friend Louise finally got home from hospital last week after her transplant! It will be a slow recovery and lots of work still to do, but fantastic to have made that all important step :-)

Now, I'm off to work out how many days it is until Christmas.....

p.s Can't believe I forgot to mention this last week but I have some GREAT news about Team Jac. I was looking for sponsorship so that I can get (probably caps) something for the team to all wear so we are a 'group'. Anyway, the company Moy Park, who my aunt works for are sponsoring the team £500 to buy anything needed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How fantastic is that???!!!

Live from Newcastle

I'm still in Newcastle tonight following my endoscopy this afternoon and we will just head home tomorrow. I met with the GI doctor first to discuss what was happening (since I had just received this random letter in the post with no explanation!) As expected, he said I had been referred due to the results of study I took part in, which showed significant acid reflux. Basically there is a sphincter at the bottom of your oesophagus (gullet) which opens when you eat to allow food down, and closes afterwards to prevent acid coming back up. During transplant surgery the nerve which controls this can become damaged (the nerve runs down the chest) so the sphincter doesn't work properly - hence acid refluxing back up and causing symptoms. My case is a little different as I had severe reflux pre- transplant (common in CF) and am already on the maximum medical therapy (in fact I am on doses above those normally allowed) - this worked quite well pre transplant but since the transplant the symptoms have all returned. Based on this alone, I am a very good candidate for surgery - an operation called Fundoplication - this involves wrapping a small part of the stomach around the oesophagus to create a new sphincter. So the reason he is recommending the surgery is to help alleviate the symptoms, but as an aside, it may help reduce my risk of chronic rejection (although this is not reason enough to do surgery on someone).

He did explain the possible side effects post surgery, which did make me feel a bit more worried about it all! The sphincter will be very tight to start with and at first I will only be allowed to drink and then take sloppy food for first few months (not liquid, but things like mashed potatoes etc). Then I start introducing more normal things like pasta, fish etc. However it is quite possible I will always have problems eating heavier foods such as red meat, crusty bread etc. I may in fact not be able to eat them at all.....and I LOVE steak! Most people however can return to a near normal diet. The other issue is that the air from your stomach (that you swallow) can't escape so you get quite bloated. I don't like this one bit! I get this enough due to GI problems with CF. However on the upside, 90% of people have significant improvement in symptoms and usually come off their medication (although I might have to stay on it due to rejection risk issue).

The actual surgery itself is normally done using a laparoscopic technique - this involves 4 small incisions for them to put instruments through but scarring is minimal and I should only have to stay 1-2 nights. However he also took a look at my peg tube site - which is still leaking after 6 months!! He said that the stomach is adhered to the abdominal wall where the peg was and this might make laparoscopy impossible - in which case he will have to proceed to open surgery, which clearly is much more invasive and would be around a 6" scar (judging by the hand motions he made!!) I would have to stay in hospital around 5 days if this was the case. I will have to consent to both and will only know once I wake up which has been done. Normally the risk of needing open surgery is 1 in 40 but my risk is about 1 in 10. It would be really annoying if this happened as it would be a big setback for me - I probably wouldn't be allowed to go to the gym, to drive, lift things etc for few weeks but I will just have to take it as it comes. On a positive note though, he is going to staple the peg tube site from the inside to stop it leaking - as he said if it hasn't healed by now, then it's not going to. It will be great to get that sorted once and for all.

So, after all that discussion, I had the endoscopy this afternoon, which was just to check there was no reason I could not have surgery. He said that they found the sphincter was sitting wide open, when it should have been closed, so there was clearly a problem. Also however, he found food in my stomach and I had been fasting for 5 hours. This indicated that my stomach is emptying too slowly (another post transplant issue) which might affect the surgery. Therefore I will have to go back for some tests to investigate this - I think it involves drinking a radioactive fluid and then being x-rayed. Nice ;-) This should be done fairly soon. There are medications which increase gastric emptying speed so there should be something to help if this is a problem.

He did offer me the first date available for surgery, which was 19th Dec. However if I ended up getting open surgery then I might be in hospital at Christmas! No way!!!! So, I politely declined and will be getting it within the first 10 days of January instead. At least this means I won't be eating mashed potato for my Christmas and New Year dinners. Especially after I missed both of them last year due to being too unwell to eat, so am really looking forward to a great Christmas this year :-)

So, I'm not sure how I feel about all that really. I think he has painted the worse case scenario so that I am clear about risks - but hopefully it will all be plain sailing. It would be lovely to get rid of all the reflux symptoms and to be honest, if I didn't get this surgery and developed chronic rejection, I would never forgive myself. There must be a reason that I took part in this study...

I have other stories about starting the gym etc but will have to save them for later in the week. Enough for one night I think!

Spring Cleaning ....in November

So this week I have been on a mad clearing spree, which has seen me empty nearly every cupboard in the house! It started with a clothes clear out, which was well over due. I have been wanting to do it for a while (largely due to the fact I needed to make room for new clothes) but was waiting to see what kind of weight I stabilised at before I started throwing things away. I was fairly ruthless and a good few bags were filled. But that was just the start...I have worked my way round the whole house and found so many things I had forgotten I had! I also created an amazing amount of space in my hall cupboard when I finally got round to throwing out several boxes of overnight feeds and supplements that I no longer need. It's amazing how much space all my medical stuff took up. I do still have an entire (large) cupboard full of drugs but I can cope with that. It's very cathartic having a clear out...I have this notion that I need to get everything in order before January so I can start next year afresh. I like being organised :-)

Other big news is that I have joined the gym. Yes I did say gym. My physio referred me on medical grounds so I join a programme for the year and get a discount on fees. I had a consultation this week to discuss what I needed/wanted to do and on Monday I have my induction. Scary! I have never used gyms (bar the hospital ones) so it's all very new and intimidating. Everyone else always looks so fit! I have to start slowly and only do cardiovascular for the first month, and she suggested I attend the supervised sessions at first, so I can get some guidance. I will be reviewed at certain points to see if I want to add in anything else, like swimming (not keen) or classes. I really hope I enjoy this but the thought of my 10 mile walk is enough to spur me on!

Seb had his dog training tonight and he was really good! We had a different trainer tonight and she said that his walking to heel was excellent and that he must be a pleasure to walk!! I said he was, apart from the fact he runs barking at joggers. The suggestion is squirty water again - to take this on the walk and when he runs at a jogger he gets squirted! They will think I am mad but it's worth a try. It is so embarrassing because they probably think he is going to attack them, but I think he maybe just wants to run along with them ;-) He was great at his sit/stay and down/stay apart from the fact he gets bored after a while and starts looking round at all the other dogs, yawning widely as he does. So rude. We also started to learn 'the finish' for recall - where the dog is meant to come from sitting in front of you, round your back and end up sitting on your left side. We had to use treats to lure the dog round...but I only had to do it twice and he realised what I was asking him to do. I am not saying it's perfect yet but for the first go he was pretty amazing. I am rather bias though. The other thing we tried at the weekend was taking him to the country park with a 30m washing line (dog training suggestion) for practising recall. We were in a really quiet area with loads of grass, so he had free run to the end of the 30m. He loved it!! He was diving around all over the place but did come back each time I called ( I had treats obviously) so perhaps there is hope for him yet. I would love to allow him off lead in safe areas so maybe one day :-)

Here is a video of his recall efforts at the weekend (I am dressed like I'm on a trip to the Arctic because it was FREEZING)



On a different note, I had an unexpected letter this week telling me I was booked in for an endoscopy (camera test to look at stomach) in Newcastle for mid December. I phoned the transplant unit and the nurse said it must have been triggered by the results of the reflux study I took part in. I'm not that surprised because I still have bad symptoms of reflux despite maximum medication. Anyway, I then got a phone call today from the doctor who was doing the research and he said the consultant thought December was too long to wait, so could I go to Newcastle on Tuesday next week! I was a bit surprised but I suppose it's better to get this looked at sooner than later. The concern relates to the fact that reflux is a known risk factor for chronic rejection of the lungs (theory is that acid refluxes into lungs, which causes inflammation and scarring, which reduces lung function) so I do need to get this looked at. I suspect they may want to discuss surgical options for helping with this but I will find out more next week. I am not looking forward to the endoscopy though - I will take the sedation on offer, but if my bronchoscopy was anything to go by I will probably still be wide awake! However, I have had a few endoscopies in the past so I know roughly what to expect.

And for some cheery news - my friend Louise is doing much better now! She finally got out of ITU last week and had her tracheostomy tube taken out earlier this week...and they were talking about allowing her home at the end of this week! I have not yet heard if this is definitely happening but either way it looks like things are moving forwards at last! The other CF lady I wrote about just came off the ventilator a few days ago and has moved out of ITU to the transplant ward and is doing much better. I think she still has a way to go but is, at last, starting to improve. So good news all round :-)

Naughty Dog

I went upstairs and left Seb asleep on the footstool (he is allowed on this):




I came back down half an hour later and found him in my seat on the sofa, perched on top of a cushion! (this is definately NOT allowed!)




It's the way he is looking at me with such distaste.....seems like I disturbed his nap or something.

Trains and Fireworks

I had another post transplant first this week....I got on the train myself and went Christmas shopping in the city centre! It's been a long long time since I went on a train anywhere myself, and I'm not sure when I last went into town for Christmas shopping. The last few years most of it has been done on the internet, and last year mum wheeled me around the shops for some last minute pieces. What a completely different story this year! I wasn't even planning to go but my car was in the garage (again!) this week so I was sitting at home feeling a bit bored...then I suddenly thought, '0h, I can actually walk to the station and get on a train somewhere!' I was so excited I felt like telling the train conducter that I had a transplant this year and did he know how cool that was?! Only downside is that I spent more money (especially since I was on my own with no one to keep an eye), however I did get quite a few presents and I walked around for hours (carrying all the bags) and then had to walk back from the train station.....and I was still able to take Seb out!

This was especially impressive since on Monday I had been rather silly. I went out to put some bin bags out and saw the state of the patio...all covered in leaves. So I decided to sweep it all up and tidy in general, which involved a lot of moving around of garden furniture. I then progressed to raking the leaves on the lawn (the lawn is about 90ft long!) and after about 2 hrs I was near to collapsing and sadly it didn't look like I had done much! I had however filled the entire garden waste wheely bin - which I insisted Andrew look at when he got home to prove how much I had done! It was good exercise though and although I felt completely exhausted that evening, by the next day I was fully recovered. Amazing!

On a similar note, I was sitting here thinking about where I was this time last year, and I must say that last October was one of my worst months ever. I had a couple of admissions and one of them was the worst I have ever felt. I remember mum wheeling me into the hospital, me crawling into the bed and then refusing to get back out for the next 2 weeks. For anyone who visits me in hospital they will know that I usually get up and dressed no matter how bad I feel, but this time I just didn't move. I could hardly get to the bathroom with the breathlesness and mum had to wash me as I couldn't go in the shower or even stand at the sink. Half way through my IV's the infection markers started to climb again and I can remember how scared I felt, wondering if this was going to turn around. Obviously it did, and I am still here and still standing...but have come so far. It's weird to think that I have not had a chest infection since April now - longer than ever in my entire life!! It's a nice thought for such a dreary day :-)

Seb had quite a stressful week with the fireworks. He was ok last year, but this year he was out in the garden when one went off, and he got a huge fright and came diving back into the house. He then hid behind the curtain, in a corner, behind the sofa before finally curling up beside Andrew (even though he is not allowed on the sofa, and technically he was mostly on the sofa!) I did ignore all his antics, as apparently by reassuring the dog you are making them think there is something to be worried about. However I was quite bad and let him sit up beside Andrew, simply because he looked so sweet (Seb, not Andrew) and I felt really sorry for him.



Things are progressing well with Team Jac and I have a feeling numbers will be closer to 100! I will need to get these finalised fairly soon so I can work out places on the bus, which is taking us to the starting point. I do have the bus organised though (free of charge!) I am currently trying to sort out the toilet situation, as public ones half way through the walk are closed due to vandalism. Great. However, I am looking into this so hopefully we can find a solution. I also wrote to all the local businesses looking for sponsorship but sadly have had no response, which is disappointing. The only person to help was the lovely lady who runs a local beauty and health shop and she is giving me a gift voucher. I think I will have a wee competition locally with this as the prize (it will only benefit those who live nearby). I had no idea there would be quite so much organisation required, but it is all good fun and keeping me busy.

I will leave you with some pics of Seb wearing my hat...just because it is cute :-)

A Bumble Bee, Indiana Jones and some nuns....





I had another busy weekend! Friday night we popped round to Andrews gran's as Anne and John were coming up for a quick visit. I very helpfully offered to bring some dinner round, as they would be arriving quite late. I decided to try a new chicken casserole recipe. Cooking for other people is never a good time to try a new recipe! It was looking pretty good until I started reducing the stock and it just got saltier and saltier until I could hardly bare it - something to do with the entire packed of smoked bacon that I put in. I had a minor panic, until I decided to pour an entire carton of cream in...worked a treat and probably only added about 1000 calories or something ;-)

On Saturday we took Seb to the country park, as it was a lovely sunny day for the first weekend in ages. Everyone had the same idea and the park was the busiest I have seen it all year! This meant meeting lots and lots of dogs, but Seb got on really well and I think mixing with the dogs at training has really helped him. We were practising recall by allowing the lead to it's full extent, waiting until he was busy sniffing something or other and then calling him and rewarding him with a treat. He was doing really well, especially when he realised I had treats! I am hoping one day he will be reliable enough to be allowed off lead in safe areas. Maybe wishful thinking though.

We were at a Halloween party on Saturday night - me dressed as a bumble bee, Andrew as Indiana Jones and mum and dad were a pair of nuns ;-) It was rather amusing! My mum drove us to the party, so there was a pair of nuns in the front and me and Andrew in the back. Dad kept telling her to drive faster when we got into well lit areas in case anyone saw us. I was almost hoping we got pulled over by the police just for some comedy value.






We played that game where you wrap people in toilet roll to make them like a mummy - I had to be the victim for our team, since I am the smallest. I must say, it's rather claustrophobic being entirely wrapped in toilet roll - especially when they got me to spin round and round to make it quicker, and at the same time mum decided to wrap my head up so I had no concept of where I was spinning!



We also did douking for apples - i had a go at this, although could hardly get my head into the bowl because of the other lady's costume! This is me looking rather wet, and Andrew being force fed vodka jelly by the lovely Alison, because he didn't win his douking contest!




Yesterday we went to a new outdoor shop and I bought some walking trousers, waterproofs and Andrew got walking trainers...so we are all set now for some practice runs! Just need to find the time and the energy :-) There are lots of nice places to walk near where we live, so we really have no excuses. Speaking of walking, I am off now to take Seb out to practice his walking to heel and turns, haha. He is getting pretty good now and performed really well at his class last week. He did veer off to the side when doing recall though and at the last minute turned back and came right to me....I think he was just playing with us! Got a sense of humour that dog...

Up North and Round About

I had a lovely weekend up North, although pretty tiring. We left the house at 7.45am on Saturday and got back at 10.30pm on Sunday..phew! We dropped Seb off at his Granny's first and gave everyone instructions on his training schedule haha. He thought he would be getting away with his usual nonsense for the weekend ;-) Then we headed up to Inverness for the afternoon with my friend Andrew, before going on up to Elgin for Saturday night to stay with some friends there. We had a lovely evening! Then on Sunday we came back via Aberdeen way to see my friend Fi, and went out for an amazing lunch. I feel like I spent the whole weekend eating! Then back home via mum and dads to pick up wee Seb, who apparently had been very good (for once). Apart from barking incessantly at the back gate, so mum went out and sprayed him with water. I think he is getting the idea now! He is allowed to bark but he should also stop when you ask him to, which is the part he has great difficulty with :-)

I had a quiet Monday, trying to just catch up and take it easy after the busy weekend. On Tuesday I met a friend for lunch, which was lovely, before attending the last of my PBL facilitator training sessions. It was quite interesting and we were mostly feeding back on our experiences of sitting in on the PBL group. I seem to have an opinion about everything these days and felt I maybe did a little too much talking. Better than not joining in....I think. I would really love to facilitate a block of 5-10 weeks for some experience but I am not sure I will be able to do this in my current job, as my funding should technically be used for clinical work. Hopefully there is a way round this though, as I would really like to try it. I am also hoping to set a return to work date but am waiting to hear about my funding at the moment, so fingers crossed that is all ok. It is rather complicated but because I am only able to go back part time the post I am looking at is supernumerary but funding is very limited and it is difficult to get one of these posts. I don't feel ready for full time work, especially after being off for about 16 months now, and only working part time for the past 5 years. I think it would be too much of a shock to the system! Plus, I also have a lot of outpatient appointments and trips to Newcastle for the foreseeable future, so need to have time to take care of these. I'm sure it will all work out though :-)

Yesterday I had a great day as I went to visit my friend in Fife. I was driving there (about 1hr 40min drive) and suddenly thought how utterly fantastic it was that I could just do that...and know that I wouldn't feel ill or too tired! Amazing. Total freedom. I took Seb with me and we were unsure if this would work out as she has two border collies. The younger collie was out and about, as they live on a farm, but the older one, Sky, was at home. However Sky and Seb seemed to get on pretty well! Seb tried to do a wee growl at first but I gave him a loud 'NO' and he stopped. He then wandered round the kitchen with Sky following sniffing him - Seb just pretended he hadn't noticed this large dog at his backside haha and continued to wander around. For the most part they just ignored each other, and later in the day, both got into their own baskets for a wee nap. Cute! Seb had a brilliant day though, as we took a walk round part of the farm and he was fascinated with the cows and chickens and all the farmyard smells. He did get chased by a chicken at one point and got the fright of his life haha. He was also very very naughty when he was left momentarily in the kitchen, while I moved my car - I went back in to find him on the kitchen table helping himself to some cheese. What an embarrassment. I did ask about this stealing behaviour at dog classes and they suggested I leave out a mustard sandwich and it would put him off stealing again! The problem is that Seb doesn't just steal any type of food...he is really quite fussy so I really don't think he would fall for it. Maybe give it a go though.

I will leave you with a picture of Seb. It's not a great pic but just to show you where I found him lying the other day...this is a new one for him. The fire wasn't even on!

More Training and ENT

I have been quite busy organising things for Team Jac and trying to get sponsor sheets out to everyone. I sent an email to everyone with the Just Giving link - however I know some people have not received this as some work places filter out email with URL's in them....so if you didn't get it please let me know, or just click on the link to the right and you will get the address. It's all coming together nicely though and we are now approaching 80 members of Team Jac :-)

Seb also had another dog training session last night. He was a little more confident this week but was still quite nervous of the other dogs. He didn't bark however, so that must have been a lesson learned! We started off by showing the trainers how we were getting on with walking to heel - she was impressed with Seb and said there had been a big improvement. That's my boy! We just need to work on our 'turns' as normally when I am walking him we don't randomly turn round so he wanted to just keep going in a straight line. We then had to practice a 'sit and stay' - he was good at this as I get him to sit and stay when I answer the front door, so he does know what the command means. In fact he looked rather bored throughout, as if it were all beneath him!! Then we did the first practice of recall - one at time in front of everyone. The trainer held the dog and then you had to call them. Most of the dogs flew down the hall at high speed, although many of them went past the owners and headed for the front door!! Seb however, wandered casually down the hall, stopping every so often to sniff the skirting boards, and I am at the other end waving maniacally and shouting his name. When he does recall at home he either ignores you completely because he is too busy barking in the garden, or he flies in at top speed and stops right at your feet. I was hoping he would do the latter in class, but I suppose as least he did come to me...albeit at his own pace ;-) I did also tell them that since I have been doing the training he has been more disobedient in other areas, for example, refusing to sit or come when asked. She said he is just trying to re exert his place as 'boss' but that I need to just be consistent and he will soon learn that this is not the case. They also came round with tit bits for the dogs and Seb was so cute - he sat down and then took it ever so gently from the trainer - she thought he was adorable! In reality, he is actually very suspicious of people giving him food so tend to carefully investigate it first, haha.

Other news is that I had my ENT appointment this week. I drove over to the hospital on Tuesday, eventually got parked and was pleased to have arrived 10 minutes early. I soon found out however that I was in fact 24 hours and 10 minutes early! My appointment was on Wednesday. What a numpty! So I went back on Wednesday and there was good and bad news. The good news is that the MRI scan did not show any major infection or anything worrying. It did show sinuses that have had far to much surgery and are completely abnormal. There were pockets of fluid in places and a few other things they could offer surgery for, however, he said that it was unlikely to help and would more likely make matters worse. So the bad news is that nothing can really be done. I did emphasise how much pain I was getting and how much this is bothering me, so he has referred me to the facial pain doctors to see if they have any suggestions. I am hoping they can find something that controls the pain a bit better. I could cope with it if it wasn't on a daily basis...it's the chronicity of it that gets me down, so fingers crossed I get some kind of answer soon.

Also on the medical front is the joint pain -my knees have been better but now my ankles are sore! I woke up during the night and could hardly move one of them, although it had eased off when I woke up. Very odd. I have also come out with the rash on my arm again, which I used to get before the transplant associated with joint pain, so there is definitely something odd going on. Hopefully it will just ease off in time though and being my knees and ankles, it must surely be related to using the joints more. I need to get it sorted though - I have a 10mile walk to train for!!

I am away this weekend up North - a wee tour to see some friends. We are heading up to Inverness tomorrow and then Elgin tomorrow night, before coming back via Aberdeen. Busy weekend ahead! I am looking forward to seeing my friends though and it will be a nice break away for us. Wee Seb is going to his granny's though - I hope they keep up his training ;-)

Just Giving Site

I have now set up my Just Giving site for Team Jac, where you can make a donation online. This is the easiest, and preferred, method for donation. There should be a little icon on the right hand side for you to click on, although I am having problems displaying it on my computer. If you can't see it then please click on this link http://www.justgiving.com/teamjac

Thanks!

Dog Training and Human Training

Seb had his first dog training class last Thursday, or perhaps I should say, we had our first dog owner training class :-) He was a little overwhelmed at first, as there were around 15 dogs in the class, many of which were large and rather manic. Seb hid under my chair for the first wee while but then he became a bit bold and strutted out barking his head off. This set another couple of dogs off, and before you know it, mayhem ensues. In order to control the barking, there is someone who goes around with a water spray and if the dog keeps yapping, they get a sprayed with water. Another dog got it first, but the owner kindly pointed me out and said 'Her dog started it!' so poor Seb got a soaking as well! It certainly stopped him barking. He then hid back under the chair and tried barking from there, but he got another spray so that was the end of that master plan. After that he was quite good at not barking when I told him to stop, so it certainly seems to work. We were learning about walking to heel in this class, although not putting commands to it yet. There were 4 trainers, so you were taken up one at a time to get individual training, which was very helpful, especially since every dog is different. The trainer remembered Seb from the microchipping but she mustn't have thought he was too bad because she pointed him out to her trainee for her to take. I had to get Seb to stand at my left side, not moving, and then he had to walk when I started walking, staying beside me. For a dog who has never been taught to walk to heel, he did pretty well on his first attempt and we didn't stay on the floor long. I was one of those annoying people, pointing out other dogs to Andrew and saying 'Oh, at least he isn't as bad as that!' Very satisfying. There was one very scary dog, who was totally wild. He apparently bit the trainer when she microchipped him and she showed us the massive bite mark on her arm to prove it. Even more worrying was the fact he was apparently muzzled at the time! I must admit it's a little unnerving having the dog in the class, but I'm sure the trainer will keep an eye out. I couldn't really work out if Seb enjoyed it or not...we will see what his reaction is this week.

So since then we have been practising. Anyone who has had the pleasure of walking Seb before would be truly amazed! He previously stopped every 2 metres to sniff a bush, tree, lamp post etc and would not move on until this had taken place. He also had to pee about 20 times on average. Now I have him walking beside me all the way round without stopping to sniff once!! At certain grassy areas I un-clip the lead (it's one of those extendible ones ) and he runs onto the grass for a while, but he usually comes back fairly quickly...and today he even came back straight into position by my left side. Clearly Seb was not the problem.....I just let him away with too much and he is perfectly capable of walking along like a normal dog. I am so competitive that he really will have to be top of the class ;-)

Friday was a really relaxing day with my friend, and it was nice to just chill out. We did however have a good chat about Team Jac and the logistics of the day, now that I have over 70 people! I think there may actually be some precautions needed, such as insurance, first aiders, notifying council etc but I am looking into all this at the moment and I am sure it will not be a problem. If anyone else still wants to join then please let me know quite soon so I have a good idea of numbers. I think the route is nearer to 10 miles than 12 if that makes any of you feel better! I am hoping to have some t-shirts made for the day. Team Jac on the front and maybe something about transplant on the back. Ideas for a good slogan welcome :-) Seb will have to get a wee bandana or something.......I really hope I can get him fit enough for the walk because then he could be the team mascot!

I am having Andrew's gran and his mum's cousin (who is visiting from Canada)for dinner tonight, so I better go and get organised. I keep volunteering to cook for people...I am getting scarily like my mum.

6 Month Check up

Well, I will just jump straight in with the good news - I got an excellent report! The bronchoscopy showed much less inflammation in the lungs and absolutely no rejection. Three months ago I had stage 1 rejection (not enough to treat) but this has now gone down to stage zero! My lung function has jumped up to a staggering 97% (Fev1 2.74L). I have a feeling I may be forever chasing the elusive 3% ;-) My chest x-ray, apart from the wires holding my sternum together, is completely normal and my oxygen saturation levels are 100%. My weight has held steady and they seem happy enough with that. My blood pressure was perfect (high blood pressure can be a problem post transplant due to medications) and all my bloods were normal. Now if that doesn't deserve a massive gold shiny star then I don't know what does :-) The doctor said it was my best report to date and he seemed very pleased indeed. I have to go back in 8 weeks for a check up. I would have been allowed longer based on that report if it hadn't been for the early episode of rejection..but better to play safe.

I did mention the problem with sore knee joints, which keeps flaring up. He agrees that it is most likely CF related joint pain and would expect the immunosuppressants to help with this, however it might just be because I have been walking a lot...so this should settle down with time. The reflux is still a bit of a problem but I had my last study of this yesterday (with the nasogastric tube) so I can discuss the report next time I am at clinic.

I had a few problems with the bronchoscopy this time, starting with trying to get IV access. It took an impressive 9 attempts to get a line in (and I had just had three attempts to get bloods before that) and I must admit I was nearly crying by this point, although desperately trying not to! After attempt number seven, I suggested they get a basin of hot water to put my hands in because the room was absolutely freezing, so all my veins were hiding. Thankfully this did help and we finally got a rather precarious venflon in. Then the fun started - mainly due to that fact they could not sedate me enough. Despite 14mg of the sedative medazolam (this is a massive dose!) I was wide awake and talking coherently, mostly saying "Should I be as awake as this?!" I'm not actually sure how I was managing to talk with a mouth guard in and a scope down my throat (although Andrew says it would take more than that to stop me!) The registrar was a bit freaked out, probably by the fact I was staring wide eyed at her as she tried to start the bronch, instead of sleeping as would be expected but they could not safely give me any more medazolam. She was unhappy to continue, especially with me chatting away very lucidly, so they had to call the consultant in. He was a bit perturbed by my behaviour and was more worried I would remember this as a traumatic experience, so he did the bronch as quickly as possible. Back up on the ward I slept for about an hour, before waking and saying to mum "I was just dreaming that the consultant was doing my bronchoscopy, and I was awake and people kept saying I was doing really well, and I was asking when it would be over....but it must have been a dream, because the consultant couldn't have been there!" It wasn't until the next day at clinic when the consultant asked if I had recovered from the day before that I realised it hadn't been a dream and that he had been there! I told him I was very relieved to hear that I had not been having strange dreams about him ;-) I wasn't really that traumatised by it because medazolam affects your memory, so despite the fact I was awake, I only remember it in a dream like way, as if it didn't really happen at all. It is quite surreal. I also realised they must have been rather hasty, as I coughed up a lot of watery blood when I woke up....they do wash outs to check for bugs growing and I swear they must have left 1/2 pint of saline down there! The blood is because they do biopsies (they take quite a few as I am enrolled in numerous studies) but this clears pretty quickly and sometimes I don't get any at all.

After the bronchoscopy, I was trying to convince the nurse that I should actually be allowed home for the night instead of staying in hospital, but they said it was protocol. Pah! Who says you always have to follow protocol?! So I managed to negotiate a couple of hours off the ward instead. I was actually gone for 4 hours but I don't think anyone noticed ;-) We just headed back to mums friends and relaxed and has some dinner. I was so tired from the mornings events that I couldn't have gone anywhere anyway. Once back on the ward, mum had to leave after visiting at 8pm and I was alone with 4 elderly woman in a bay. Well, would the stop talking? Not a chance! Mum had barely left the room when the questions started...'what was I in for' ' Did I have CF' 'Was I 'in education'?' Now, by 'in education' I suspect they meant secondary school or college at a push, so they nearly fell out their beds when I told them I was in fact nearly 30 and married! I decided that saying I was a doctor might finish a couple of them off completely so I just said 'I work in psychiatry'. That was surprising enough for them. As the evening progressed the chatting continued. I got my nebuliser out so they wanted to know what that was and why I was taking it. They then watched me sort out all my medications (transplant patients self medicate on the ward) and then I asked for sterile water so I could make up a saline solution for my sinus wash. So I am sitting there pouring water into this bottle and spooning salt (that I had in a wee tub) into this, before disappearing to the bathroom with it all. I wonder what they thought I was up to? It seemed more amusing to let them wonder. The time ticked on and there was much hilarity, with one of them shouting that they needed a psychiatrist to assess the other one. I kindly informed them that they were all in need of psychiatric assessment but were all probably beyond my help. I then loudly asked the nurse if she would give them all a sleeping tablet so I could get some peace...the nurse agreed that this seemed like a good idea :-) I was also rather amused when the next morning the nurse had to do an inventory of one woman's belongings as she was being moved to ITU after her surgery....it was at this point they found she had 6 cigarette lighters with her. She was only expected to be staying until the weekend! I suspect she had a reserve in case they confiscated one ;-) Ah, the joys of sharing a room...

After clinic yesterday we went up to the ward to try and see my friend Louise, however she just been moved back to ITU so I couldn't visit. I am not sure what has happened but it's rather worrying and at 7 weeks post transplant she shouldn't be back in ITU. There is also another fellow transplant patient (who goes to same CF unit as me) in ITU at the moment. She is 3 1/2 years post transplant but suddenly became unwell 2 weeks ago and has been in ITU since. I bumped into her mum, but there was not any more news at this time, as they are still unsure what is wrong. She is holding steady just now but has a long way to go, so if you can keep them both in your prayers it would be most appreciated. It did really put things into perspective for me, and I am truly grateful that I am doing so well just now and being given the chance to live life to the full. Long may it continue.

Another Busy Week!


I have had another rather busy week - I'm almost looking forward to going down to Newcastle today to get a wee rest :-) Tomorrow is my 6 month bronchoscopy and check up!! It's not actually 6 months until the 25th Oct but they are doing the bronch a little early just to fit in with my clinic appointments. I cannot believe it is nearly 6 months since the transplant!! The time has just flown in and I have come so far....however in some respects it does feel like an eternity since I got that call, and it seems even longer since I felt so breathless and unwell. It's funny how your brain has a way of forgetting the difficult times and you start to get used to the new 'normal' - feeling like this is the way it has always been. Sometimes I am really afraid to forget how difficult it was before the transplant because I worry that it will make me appreciate this new life less....however I also understand that you cannot live in the past and the only way to make the most of this opportunity is to move forwards and make the most of each new day.

Making the most of each new day is probably the reason I have been so busy! On Tuesday I sat in on the addictions clinic, which was really interesting and a bit of an eye opener. I am not sure I would be able to work in an area like that full time though, as it is quite emotionally draining and frustrating at times. I was mostly sitting in with the nursing staff so will probably go back and sit in on some medical reviews as well so I can see it from that perspective. On Friday I had the second part of the PBL facilitator training, which involved observing a PBL group as they worked through the process. It was very strange watching this from the other side, as I did PBL twice a week for the first three years at university so am well used to it from the student's perspective. I also realised I was actually 10 years older than these students, but I probably looked younger....not sure if this is a good or bad thing ;-) I really enjoyed the session but hadn't quite appreciated how much work the facilitator should do out with the sessions. They are given notes to read up on, so that they understand what the students should have learnt, in order to give some direction if they are going off course. I was reading up the notes before the session and I could hardly remember any of it from university! It was all about cell cycles and receptors and other things I have long forgotten, so I felt like I was doing all this revision before I even got there. Hopefully if I do get to facilitate a block, I can do one that has some psychiatry in it, as this would be a lot easier for me.

Andrew's friends was staying at the beginning of the week as he had an interview nearby. For the first time in a while Seb well and truly showed me up! I had cooked a roast chicken and took a couple of plates through to the dining room and then went back for the others. I was only gone about 1o seconds and returned to find Seb sitting up on my chair tucking into my roast chicken!! The worst of it was, he wasn't even bothered that I caught him and simply lifted a large chunk of the plate and jumped down before I could catch him. He then had the cheek to rattle his bowl in the hope I would put some chicken in there. I was so embarrassed! Just wait until we get to these training classes next week....

The rest of the week I was working like a busy busy bee on this 'CF and relationship' booklet. Most of this time was spent trying to work out how to use a publishing programme and there was much 'Oh I didn't mean to press that!' 'Where has that graph disappeared to?' 'Why is that heading three times bigger than the others?' before I finally got the hang of it. I have now made a pdf of the whole booklet (it is rather long!) and my friend is kindly proof reading it for me at the moment. Myself and Emily will then need to think about approaching some people regarding publishing, but in the mean time we can hopefully make a downloadable pdf. I will let you know how to access it once we are finished, although it's probably not very interesting if you don't have CF!

I have also had a busy weekend, as I had friends over for dinner last night. I think my meal was quite successful although I had a few timing problems. I can cook each part of the meal fairly well but trying to get all three courses ready at the right time was a bit more difficult. I clearly have a long way to go before I am up to my mum's standards :-)

So, I will blog when I get back from Newcastle, which will be Wednesday if the bronchoscopy is clear, and the end of the week if there is any rejection. Fingers crossed for a clear biopsy! The only reason I have to stay until Wednesday is because I am doing the last part of that study into reflux with the NG tube. At least this is the last one though, so it's not too bad. I am hoping to visit my friend Louise when I am down there, as she is still in HDU. I hadn't updated because I hadn't heard anything for ages and neither had anyone else. It turned out she couldn't contact anyone because she was in ITU very unwell for the first 5 weeks post transplant, but she is now on the HDU ward and progressing slowly. I think she still has a way to go but things are looking a lot more positive now :-)

Busy Busy

I have been quite busy harassing people for my Team Jac project and now have around 60 members :-) It is going to be a riot! I have no idea what I have started..

Other than harassing people, I seem to have been otherwise quite busy. It was my friends 30th birthday recently, so myself and an other friend took her to a lovely restaurant in the city centre - it was a great night and we all enjoyed the meal. It's so good being able to go out and actually enjoy...and finish the food! Also the fact I am not coughing all through the meal makes it so much more relaxing (for everyone concerned ;-)) On Friday I met up with a friend for coffee, which was lovely. We met in the shopping centre so Andrew came over after work and we had a look at some of the outdoor shops because I would like an outdoor coat for walking Seb over the winter. The one I have at the moment I got when I was about 15 and it makes me look like the mitchellin man because it's so big and puffy, haha! I saw a lovely black one but it was rather expensive...maybe for Christmas though :-)

At the weekend we saw Andrew's mum and dad and also went into town to meet some friends for lunch. It's been a long time since I have been in the city centre so we had a wander round the shops and it was so nice to be able to do this. I am pleased to say I did refrain from buying any more clothes. It was a test of will power though!

I had a bit of a stand off with Seb last night during his walk. He tried to run and bark at a jogger (he also does this to cyclists and buses) so I bent down and said 'NO!' loudly and pulled him back. I then asked for a paw before we moved on. Would he give me a paw? Would he heck. He stared off to the side, and refused to look at me. I turned his face round so he looked up at the sky instead. He then turned round completely and tried to sit facing the opposite direction, so I turned him back round. He then became intensely interested in a nearby bush and just kept pretending he couldn't hear me! I really couldn't let him away with it, as that dog trainer told me that I hadn't to give in when he was being obstinate. It took over 5 minutes of this charade before he finally gave in and offered a rather limp paw in my direction. The things I do! He is going to get a fright when he starts his dog training next week....

Tomorrow I am sitting in on an Addictions clinic. My friend works as a doctor in the addictions team, so I was interested to see what they do (I haven't had the chance to cover addictions in my psychiatry training) and also to see if it is something that would interest me in the future. It will also be a good stepping stone back towards work...I am trying to fit in some work related things before I head back in January so that I feel a bit more relaxed and confident about it.

I will leave you with a pic of Seb after a walk in the rain ..

I have just emailed everyone who has agreed (or provisionally) agreed to join Team Jac, with some updates and details of the walk. If you have not received this and are taking part or just wanted to find out more, then please either email me at weejaqAThotmailDOTcom or leave me your email address in the comments.
Thanks!
Jac

Last Wedding of the Year!

I was at my friends wedding at the weekend, which makes the 5th wedding I have been to this year! I am so glad I have had the transplant because otherwise I think I would have missed most, if not, all the weddings...and instead I have been able to join in all the fun and have a great time. This was a fantastic wedding and I had a great weekend (we were staying the Friday night as well). It was probably helped by the fact all my good school friends were there so I had great company and lots of people to dance with! It was a ceilidh and disco so we got the best of both worlds, and I was up dancing a fair bit. I think my friends boyfriend managed to video us all dancing to 'walk 500 miles' - now is it just a student (not that we are students, but we used to be!) thing that you get into a wee circle, arms round each other, and jump up and down to this song?? We seemed to be the only ones doing this and I assume everyone thought we were mad or very drunk. Never mind eh. I wore the infamous red shoes and not only did they look pretty (in my opinion) but they were quite easy to dance in. Maybe I am just getting more expert at high heels ;-)

Lyndsay and Colin

Me and Andrew

The Girls!
Gillian, Stephanie, Lyndsay, Claire and Me

Claire, Giuseppe, Me, Andrew, Gillian and Pip

Me with curly hair! (this is how it is naturally)

We headed back via mum and dads on Sunday, to say goodbye to Corey - he was up visiting because it was Frances Ann's birthday at the weekend - she would have been 24. We had a nice lunch on the Sunday and then Corey had to get to the airport, so we just headed back home. We were both exhausted from the two late nights and could have fallen into bed at tea time. We did however decide it would be good for us to cut the grass instead. I say 'us' because I decided I would now be able to cut the front grass, while Andrew tackled the huge back lawn. I think I did pretty well! It was much harder work than I anticipated but it didn't make me out of breath and I managed quite well. So there is another post transplant first! Seb watched me from the living room window with much curiousity, as if saying 'what on earth are you doing???' I tend to agree with him.

On Monday I tried to recover and also caught up with my friend for coffee, which was nice. Yesterday however I was busy again - attending a wee course! It's 3 half day sessions at the university (so this was the first) looking at how to be a Problem Based Learning (PBL) facilitator for medical students in year 1 and 2. Basically, the medical course is based on PBL sessions - the students meet in groups twice a week to look at medical scenarios. They work out what they need to learn to understand the scenario, make up questions to investigate this and then go away and find out the answers before reporting back at the next session. The facilitator sits in on the sessions and is there to make sure the group are not going way off track and are covering the main objectives. This is how my course at med school was run (we were only the 2nd year to go through this new course) so I am quite familiar with the process. It's interesting looking at it from the other side though. I hope to be allowed some time from work to facilitate a 5 week block for some experience, and maybe in the future this would be a work option for me if I found it interesting.

On the Team Jac front, I now have around 40 volunteers!! I want more though....because I am sure some people will drop out when they think about it a bit more haha. Plus I am plain greedy!! The date is set for Saturday 9th May and the walk will be part of Fife coastal route - 12 miles. I have a list of email addresses for people who have said yes, so if you haven't already contacted me then please do as I will be emailing people shortly! Even if you cannot commit just now but want kept up to date with a view to hopefully joining us then let me know. People are welcome to bring any family or friends who would also like to walk. You are under no obligation to raise sponsorship but I will create a website for people to donate to the 'team' and will also make up some sponsor sheets. Come on, you know you want to....

Holly, an advocate for LLTGL, has had her "Gift of Life" campaign idea accepted onto the Channel 4 "Battlefront" website:

http://battlefront.co.uk/campaign/the-gift-of-life/

Channel 4 will pick the most popular campaign to then be featured on the Battlefront TV programme.

Please take 2 seconds to visit the site and click 'vote' - let's get the organ donation message out there :-)

You can visit Holly's blog here

Team Jac

I am planning to do a sponsored walk next year to celebrate these shiny new lungs! The proceeds will go to Live Life Then Give Life (LLTGL), a fantastic transplant charity that I am an avid supporter of and which was founded by two woman with CF.

.....but I don't want to do this on my own! What if I need carried? Is that allowed? So, I am putting the feelers out there now to see who would be interested in joining Team Jac and her bunch of merry men/women :-)

The plan is yet to be formulated but it will be a one day walk - probably somewhere between 10 and 15 miles - on non-hilly terrain (somewhere in Scotland obviously). Ideas for routes welcome! It will probably be around mid-May at a weekend - we would have some chance of getting nice weather and I will have passed my 1 year milestone.

So, who is with me on this?? Email me at weejaq @ hotmail . com (there are no spaces, that is to prevent spammers getting the email) and let me know if you fancy it. I will then keep everyone up to date via group emails and we can formulate a plan. If you want to join in but don't think I know you, then don't let that put you off. The more the merrier!!

Anne and John, I expect you to be the first to sign up. Mum and dad are already roped in ;-)

I think I need to go start training now....

Weddings and Vegetables

I had a lovely time at my cousin, Philip's, wedding at the weekend. I didn't quite last the pace this time though and had to head home about 11pm - I think the last few weeks are finally catching up with me! I did however manage a fair amount of dancing before I left, although sadly (luckily for everyone else) the macarena was not one of them. Audrey left a comment suggesting I may have been drunk last week...I am embarrassed to admit that I was driving that night, so not one drop of alcohol had passed my lips. I think my friends would be the first to agree that I do not require alcohol to dance. Not sure if this is something to be proud of though ;-)

The Church (this is also where I got married)

Philip and Lesley-Anne - cutting the cake

Eliott, Philip, Lewis and Lesley-Anne

Andrew and me

We stayed at mum and dads and since Corey is up visiting just now, we stayed all Sunday. Nothing to do with getting a free dinner. We took Seb up to the country park near my mums and he had a great time running around and meeting other dogs. There is a deer park and he was rather perplexed by the noises the stags were making. Luckily he didn't start barking at them, like he does with the highland cows at our park. I don't know if realises quite how big a highland cow really is.

I am trying to take it easy this week in preparation for my friends wedding, which I am really looking forward to! Myself and my other friends are also staying on the Friday night just to make a wee weekend of it. Any excuse eh?!

Other news in is that I had some home grown carrots from our veggie bed the other day. They were absolutely tiny but very very tasty :-) We still have some more to pull but I am going to see if they grow any bigger first. We also have a couple of tiny peppers and one chilli pepper haha. It's a start though. The chinese cabbages were doing really well until the slugs ate half of them! I have now put some gravel around them to see if that helps...apparently putting beer down is a good trap but I am a bit worried Seb might drink it! Actually I got a row in B+Q when I was buying the gravel. The gardening part seemed to be cordoned off with tape...but then I saw a couple walking about inside, so I thought oh well, what the heck and climbed over the tape. I then skulked about for a while trying to find the gravel - I had just located it when a man, who was watering plants, shouted over "You are not meant to be in here!" "Oh! really?" I replied in a surprised manner (despite the fact I clearly must have climbed over the barrier tape). I asked if I could just take some gravel first, and he said to hurry up. So I lifted the first bag - it was burst open and gravel came pouring out all over me. So I smiled nicely at the man as I tried to stuff this one back on the shelf and select a new one (I suppose he would have to come and clear it up). He just shook his head and carried on watering plants. At least it wasn't a wasted trip though ;-)

I have my MRI scan tomorrow although I won't get any results until I see the ENT next month. Good news on the medical front is that all my bloods tests from last week were totally normal, so that pain was obviously nothing worrying. Always good to make sure though!