Friday 7 June 2013

And now it's June


'This is the month of June,
The month of leaves and roses,
When pleasant sights salute the eyes
And pleasant scents the noses.' 

Nathaniel Parker Willis

Another week has rolled by and June has arrived bringing with it, wall to wall and beautiful, warm sunshine. At long last. It has been a lovely week to get the garden sorted and tidied and cleaned up and all set for summer and a lovely week to spend just enjoying it. Rob has been busy blasting clean the patios and planting all the summer pots and baskets for me and because of the surge of warm weather everything is now bursting into life. We have planted a new herb garden and I've sown lots of wildflower seeds this year, so we will see what happens...


It has been a bit like 'Springwatch' in our garden as great tits and blue tits have been frantically flying to and fro to feed their chicks, which have hatched out in each of the nesting boxes. It feels quite a responsibility when you can hear them all squawking and then the naturally curious cat from next door is on the prowl: we don't wish to scare off either the cat or the birds, so we have been trying to carefully distract the cat. If the adult tits get scared they will abandon their nests. I was hoping to see the fledglings fly the nest, but the blue tits cheekily disappeared in the early hours of the morning one morning, long before I got out of bed and hopefully they are safe and healthy and now flying around the vicinity. The great tits are still hard at it, so I'm keeping an eye out for some action!  


We had good news about the next round of genes testing I had had done at Addenbrookes Hospital and the Genetic Consultant has confirmed that I do not carry the other main inheritable gene for PH, gene ALK1, so as a family I think we can rest easy now that the girls will be safe from Pulmonary Hypertension because of family history. There was only a very small risk I may carry this gene, but if it was confirmed I carry it, then the girls would have been at some risk. So that is the genetics testing all finished for now and the common causes for developing familial PH have been ruled out, unless they come up with something new or have a major breakthrough.

This week's wheelchair adventure was to Hatfield House to their annual garden fair. It was a lovely sunny Sunday and perfect for a picnic and a browse around the beautiful grounds and fair. Enjoy this week's photo show, the picture of the house is Hatfield House by the way, not mine just in case you were wondering!









  

June
The fountain murmuring sleep,
A drowsy tune;
The flickering green leaves that keep
The light of June;
Peace, through a slumbering afternoon, 
The peace of June.

A waiting ghost in the blue sky,
The white curved moon;
June, hushed and breathless, waits, and I
Wait too, with June.

Arthur Symons


It's now come round to June again, two years since I was referred for transplant assessment and I have been waiting 628 days for my heart and double lung transplant. The situation is beginning to feel beyond hopeless and we desperately need more organ donors and for organ donation to be part of our culture. Three people a day are still dying while they wait for a transplant and so far I have been one of the lucky ones being well enough to remain on the transplant list and keep on waiting the long wait, although tragically 1884 people will have lost their lives while I've been waiting. Still only 31% of the population have signed up to be organ donors and yet over 90% would accept an organ from someone if they thought they were dying. 

If you want to help and sign up to the organ donor register click on: www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/   

3 comments:

  1. You go to such beautiful places Kath! I always enjoy seeing your pictures :D

    XOXO

    ReplyDelete
  2. Only just spotted this Kath; gorgeous writing and pictures. Hoping that your call come soon. xxx

    ReplyDelete