Visit to Clinic results in one month off !

I attended the transplant clinic and was given a clean bill of health by the doctor, he was happy with my lung function and X ray and stopped one of the meds that I had been on since the transplant, also cut the water tablet that I had been taking since my collapse.Then he said that he was happy for me to wait one month till the next visit!
This will be the longest that I have gone between clinic appointments since my transplant.It was great to leave knowing that I would have some time to make plans and make the most of my new lungs between visits.I drove home with a fresh sense of freedom but also a slight worry about how things would go.

I got back home and my worries proved groundless and things have been going well I have started to cook again and was able to cook roast dinner for the family on Sunday and clean up afterwards which to some may not be much, but before I was transplanted I was unable to deal with the cooking fumes without breathlessness, I am really enjoying helping out again.

I put some pictures in the latest competition in my camera club and scored 17/20 for one even though I entered  at the last minute with little preparation I was happy but will try to enter some prints in the next competition as well.

I also took advantage of a nice day and went to Oxford to the local Jessopes  camera shop to look at the latest 60D Canon.It was so good to be able to walk to the shop with my son that I never was able to get to pre-transplant. I was impressed by this new camera but another model is being released soon that I want to see before I make a decision about which to buy.

I was also able to get to Oxford with my wife and daughter and walked around for the afternoon getting to many stores I had not visited for ages and not having to worry about stairs and if there is a lift available.we finished the day by going to Blackwells bookshop and I took my daughter to the basement room which is vast so that she could look at law books she was amazed and surprised about the amount of books there.
So many time over the last couple of weeks I have done things I couldn't do before and I find myself  doing things that would have left me a heaving wreck before. I am so grateful to my donor and I hope I can honour the gift of life that he gave me!
Finally I got confrontation of my status as a healthy person when the oxygen company came to collect the oxygen machine and my portable cylinders. They have been part of my life for so long  that in some sense I was sorry to see them go! They had been my means to carry on with life but also like a ball and chain that I was forced to carry  they tied me to a status as a disabled person when I was forced to use them.
Now I get breathless, but I know that I will be able to catch my breath without a tube up my nose and have joy at the experience of breathless bought on by exertion without the panic that I was cursed by before my transplant.

Please remember those who are still waiting

Sign the register if you haven't done already. The donor I received my gift from was only a bit younger than me ,we never know what the future holds but you can leave a legacy that lasts a lifetime.