sleigh bells ring

Well sorry blogsphere I have been a bit lapse in writing my blog.

Today is the 27th December Christmas has been & gone.

Well what has happened since 10th December?? it seems so long ago. I think our last story ended with the relatives about to arrive from Canada. It was a really lovely visit from my Aunt & Lisa, although was slightly mared my colds, IBS & a bad infusion site and my PH not playing ball.

While they were here we visited Granny, went out for lunch & went to Blenheim palace. It was nice just to spend time with them, just wish I could have spent more time with them.

Blenheim at Christmas

Aunty, Me, Granny, Mum, Natalie & Lisa

I've had a few infusion site issues recently, firstly I woke up one morning to find i'd pulled my site out in the night, it looked like a scene from the Texas chainsaw masacre. Then the new site I chose formed a blister, then the third site got infected. Fingers crossed the site that I now have is fine. I had a really painful Christmas Eve and was not looking forward to Christmas Day in so much pain. Thankfully Father Christmas gave me the gift of a fairly pain free day.

Christmas was also quite traumatic as on Christmas Eve my Gran had to be evacuated from her house and moved into a residential care home. We're all hoping that she settles in well as we're not sure what the future holds regarding her property and her ability to live in her own home anymore. It was a really tough decision for my Mum to make. It has lead to quite a stressful time for Mum and I'm nt sure how she got through entertaining on Christmas day & Boxing day.

Christmas day was lovely and I got some really nice pressies. We spent the day at Mum & Johns with my sister, granny, step sister her husband, his mum, and my twin nephews. Christmas lunch was fantastic as usual. We had crackers with racing penguins, which me, my sister & step sister played. my penguin didn't even get off the starting line!!!

Boxing Day was spent down in Bath with Joss family which was as always a nice day. We were hoping to see my step brother, sister in law & neice & nephew as well but my poor nephew wasn't well.

Oh well better go, darts to watch & James Wade has just started playing.

Merry Christmas people of blogsphere x

Lets.......play.......darts..........

Well what a week it's been full of highs and lows, or actually that should be lows and highs.

Last week started with the news that a fellow PH'er had had "The call". A doner heart and lung had been found for her. The whole PH community came together online to wait for news, we all care so much about each other, yes we have our ups and downs, but when we need each other we're always there. After the operation news filtered through that the operation hadn't gone as planned and the donor heart wouldn't pump unaided. An anxious wait was in store as we waited for news, we were kindly updated by the PH'ers family & friends. During this time many prayers and positive thoughts were sent out, amazingly a second donor heart and lung was found, and as I write all seems to be going well. We are all still praying and hoping for our PH friends continued improvement.

The whole thing rocked me as it just shows how serious and complicated transplants are. The day when we were waiting for news seemed to last a year. But it also showed the support that the PH community give each other, and I for one am proud to be part of our little group x.

 

The week ended on a definate high, Saturday we were Portsmouth bound, what some of you may not know is that I LOVE DARTS!!! Every chance we get me & Joss watch on TV. I've never been to a live match before (not counting watching Joss play once in the Witney & Eynsham league). Saturdays event was called the Untouchables and was an exhibition event which featured 8 players. One of the players featured was James Wade, now I have a soft spot for James Wade, one of the reasons for this is that last year he told the world about his struggle with depression, I know people who suffer from depression and know how hard it is to deal with & talk about. A few months ago James played a match on TV and he was obviously struggling mentally and I just wanted to give him a hug. Well on Saturday I got the chance, we'd paid for VIP tickets which included a player meet and greet. I was so star struck as the players were just wondering round the room and we had to go up to them and talk to them. I think I just about managed to tell James Wade I was a huge fan!! Joss did a much better job than I did (but then that won't be a suprise for anyone who knows us!). I became a fan of Co Stompe as he was really lovely, even took a picture of me and Joss with Michael Van Gerwin (what do mean who!!!! MVG one of the most impressive darts players at the moment, and going to give Phil Taylor a run for his money at the world championships next week, and if you're saying Phil Taylor who??? then there's just no hope for you!!). It was the best night EVER, well nearly ever, me & Mr P had a lot of fun.

Me & James Wade



The whole of the news seems to be full of the death of the nurse who took the call at Kate Middletons hospital. It's all very sad, I find it hard to understand that someone would leave behind their children & husband because of a mistake at work. It's very very sad.

I've just got back from a visit to Hammersmith hospital for my 3 monthly clinic visit. All went well apart from they were unusally behind today, my 11 o'clock appointment ended up being 12.35. I managed to do 408 metres on my 6 minute walk test (I still think all of my healthy friends should try and do a 6 minute walk test to see how far they get) my oxygen levels didn't change from when I started to when I finished which is really good. They don't want to see me for another 6 months yippeeeee.

Well blogsphere 2 weeks tomorrow will be Christmas day and i've still got loads of presents to buy, and I haven't even written a card yet....... oops. Tomorrow my little Cousin & Aunty arrive from Canada woo hoo, can't wait to see them.

well hello my friend.....

Warning Warning too much information may be given here......


Well Blogsphere I have to admit i'm not feeling too chirpy. Everything seems to be getting me down and I just couldn't figure out why...... until Saturday that is when a friend who used to visit monthly but hasn't visited for 2 and a half years turned up (and by friend I mean the thing that turns up for most girls on a monthly basis!!). I've recently had my implanon contraceptive implant changed so i'm guessing that's the cause.

This reapperance has made me feel really broody which in turn makes me sad. For those of you who don't know for some having Pulmonery Hypertension means you can't have children, this is because of the strain that would be put on the heart that pregnancy would cause, and this is the case for me. At the moment I seem to be in a low place thinking about the things I don't / can't have. I'm sure once my friend has gone I'll be back to appreciating what I do have. I had counselling after I was diagnosed and about the only thing it helped with is realising that it's ok to feel sad and angry about my situation, I don't have to put on a happy face and be strong all of the time. Having PH is quite frankly shit, it's not a bed of roses, it does affect my life in a huge way, and it's ok to acknowledge that sometimes. There was a post on the PH facebook page asking if anyone has bad days, the answer to this is yes, we all have bad days, I can guarantee everyone with PH has a day where they don't have the energy or breath so they day is spent in bed or on the sofa watching tv or sleeping. I wish I could describe what having PH is like but it's so hard.

In happier news I had a nice day Christmas shopping with my sister on Friday. Every year we have a girly shopping day me, Natalie & Mum. This year however Mum couldn't come as Granny has been flooded out of her house for a week now, her house isn't actually flooded but you can't get to it. We're hoping she'll be able to get back to her house early this week.

I also bought some new boots which were a bargain. I have small feet so I was able to buy a pair of childrens boots. not bad for going out to buy an advent calendar.

In other news the Christmas lights were switched on in town on Friday. They were switched on by the prime minister, as he is our local MP, apparently there was much booing and someone tried to climb over the barriers, not sure what to do.  I will take a picture of the chrismtas tree as it really is a sad looking thing.  Our Christmas decorations will probably go up in a couple of weeks time.

Just to end on a happy note here's a picture of my cat wearing a Christmas hat that stayed on for about 3 seconds, she was not impressed!!!

Have a good week blogsphere, next blog i'll be back to my positive self x