April

April, Dear April

April, dear April, I beg you come soon-

And bring your sweet primroses too.

Let them join in with the daffodils' play,

As skies offer sunshine anew. 

April, dear April, my blessed spring child,

Ornate in your yellow and white,

Teasing the birds into trilling their songs

And dancing to music of flight.

April, dear April, come enter my dreams

And rid me from cold winter chills,

Banish the rain and those blustery winds

And warm up our countryside hills.

April, dear April, I know you can't stay-

You have to move on 'till next year.

And though I shall cherish the glory of summer,

You'll always be my month most dear. 

By Mark R Slaughter

We had a very quiet and lovely family Easter and Easter Sunday was special when we had a family get together over a roast lunch cooked entirely by Rob; we dished out Easter eggs, played an entertaining game of scrabble (Oli is such a bad loser!) and generally just chilled out and relaxed. Easter Monday saw the beginning of my favourite month April. I always conjure up in my mind Easter and spring and the expectation and promise they both bring when I think of April. It's also the month when I was born making it even more special for me. Usually Easter means a holiday too for most people, whether it is the Bank Holiday Weekend or the longer school holidays and this holiday always seems the turning point for me when winter ends and spring begins. So think April; think Easter; think holidays; think birthdays; think longer days, lighter days; think gardens and flowers; think new life and new beginnings and April thoughts for me just go on and on...  

 

Daffodowndilly

She wore her yellow sun bonnet,

She wore her greenest gown,

She turned to the south wind,

And curtsied up and down.

She turned to the sunlight,

And shook her yellow head,

And whispered to her neighbour:

'Winter is dead."  

By A A  Milne

A few facts about April: April always starts on the same day of the week as July every year and January in leap years; April always ends on the same day of the week as December every year!

After my stay in hospital just before Easter, I have been doing really well and although we have had to fit in a few quick visits to the warfarin clinic and a CT scan at the local hospital, since my last blog post we have just been like any other family enjoying the Easter break, just relaxing and having a more carefree time. Rob has been tidying up the garden and I have been spring cleaning the summer house in readiness to enjoy some lighter nights and sunnier, warmer weather. We have had quite a lot of sunshine here, but we are still waiting for that cold wind to disappear once and for all now the snow has finally melted. Still with the sun out, getting outside on the garden and the lighter nights, it does feel a bit more like spring time now. 

My birthday is in April and with the spring equinox on March 21st, Aries, my star sign, is the first sign in the zodiac. We are supposed to be leaders of the pack and the first to get things going and our strengths are supposed to be initiative, courage and determination. Well I'm not sure on all of that, but I do know there are some things that I am very determined about. One is to keep as well as I possibly can in readiness for my transplant, so I'm now going to try even harder to build up my strength by keeping active and doing some very light exercise. Another, as many of you well know, is to keep on raising awareness of both Pulmonary Hypertension and the need for more awareness about organ donation. It feels a quieter time now, but my thoughts are never too far away about what we can do next.    

My birthstone is a diamond, which is supposed to give protection from severe diseases, so I guess I could always get myself a few more diamonds and see if that will help along with my medication! The ancient Romans also believed that when diamonds were worn on the left arm, next to the skin, then this would give the wearer bravery and daring, so I have now got this vision of myself being wheeled down to the operating theatre for my transplant with my left arm being draped in diamonds...

On a very serious note now though, Arians are supposed to like championing a cause, so I'm going to do just that to end this week's blog. As I write this, it has now been 562 days of waiting, which is getting rather a long time. In this time at least 1686 other patients like myself, waiting for a transplant, will have lost their lives while they have been waiting. With 1686 patients comes 1686 families and with 1686 families comes dozens of friends, so literally thousands of people are being needlessly affected because of the chronic shortage of organ donors and the general public's lack of awareness. Please, please, please encourage your families and friends to sign up if they haven't already. You can find the website is at the bottom of my blog.