It's been another busy week. We enjoyed a few days in London following the Woman and Home's Seize the Day event and we managed to pack in a lot as the weather was fantastic and was lovely and sunny.
Thursday we visited the Royal Exchange in the City for a coffee and had a little explore around some of the streets where I used to work over twenty years ago when I worked for a bank. It felt like a little trip down memory lane! We had a wander up to St Paul's cathedral too, which always look stunning then we spent the afternoon catching up with some good friends who we hadn't seen for ages. We had a lot to catch up on and lots more reminiscing, this time way back to younger days when we all used to work together for the bank in Blackburn in Lancashire.
Friday was like a summer's day and we visited the very moving poppy display at the Tower of London and then walked across Tower Bridge to Shad Thames. Shad Thames was yet another place where I did a bit of reminiscing too. We stayed here once for the weekend as a special treat when I graduated from university just over eleven years or so ago, so we had a wander around the shops and had some lunch there. Then we did quite a long walk by the riverside back up to Westminster Bridge and just enjoyed the atmosphere and sights - Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast, the Globe Theatre, Borough Market, the Golden Hinde to name but a few. We reckoned all in all we must have walked seven or eight miles. Now that would have been totally unheard of before my transplant!
We got back from London and then did a quick turn around to Suffolk, as we were going to Bernice's party. Bernice is one of my 'transplant' friends and she was holding her party for the charity 'Live life, give life', which is a charity that helps to raise awareness of organ donation. We had a great time catching up with Bernice and her family once more and a really lovely evening.
We also got to catch up with our dear friend Stacie, who, after three false alarms is still waiting for her heart and double lung transplant. She has been waiting over two and a half years now, I can't imagine how hard that must be, two years was hard enough. She is always bright and cheerful though and is so brave. We are all hoping and hoping that her call will come soon. Stacie was with her twin sister Megan, who we have met once before and it was really lovely to see her again too.
Both Stacie and Bernice have blogs too, take a look below, they are listed below under 'blogs I'm following'.
We were also lucky to meet Emily and her husband David, Laura and Sally and her husband Steve. Emily, Laura and Sally all had transplants around the same time as Bernice, so it was lovely to chat to other transplant patients. Between us there were four pairs of transplanted lungs and two transplanted hearts - how totally amazing is that?
We won the auction for the 'Skulfie' cake too, so we have been a bit naughty on the 'eating cake' front this week - even worse than usual! Bernice's mum bakes the most fabulous cakes!
The rest of the week was fairly quiet, thank goodness I needed a rest after all that! We had a lazy Sunday and family dinner including our new addition - Sarah and Oli's little cocker spaniel puppy, Alfie. I like the dark nights when the clocks first go back and cosy Sunday evening dinner!
It has been one of those weeks for catching up on jobs - we've had builders fixing things and cars being fixed and a lot of that humdrum stuff. Wednesday was bonfire night and I had been keen to go and see some fireworks, but then Rob read in the paper that the weather conditions were ripe to cause toxic air conditions and it may be difficult for people with lung conditions. I still struggle a bit with my breathing if the air is smoky or something smells too strong so I thought better of it and decided I would give it a miss.
Health wise I only had one blood test to have done. I went to the doctors all ready for my weekly telling off, but this week I got a different lady. There wasn't a word said about my paperwork, the lady was smiling and helpful and it was a very nice experience - well except for the 'sharp scratch' as they always say! The only other bits health wise were picking up monthly drugs from the pharmacy and arranging and taking delivery of my immunsuppressants that come from a health care company now. So all very quiet on the health front this week thank goodness.
In between everything else going on I've been busy on my book that I'm writing and I've just finished part one - well the first draft of part one at least! It is going to take time, but a little milestone has been reached now, just two more parts to go and I won't be far off!
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