During the last month I had a meeting that I attended and I had a couple of visits to Harefield Hospital so it was quite busy.
The first visit to clinic was on the 9th and although I was okay I had some issues with my chest my lungs felt congested in the upper right side and this combined with the swelling of my legs was a cause for concern. I talked with the doctor and she suggested I use ventolin nebuliser a couple of times a day and a drug to thin any congestion on my lungs to help me clear them.
I had been told is that after a lung transplant the body can't clear the natural secretions from the lungs and you need to cough to clear them regularly this is because the connections are severed by the operation.She also told me that I should bring forward my appointment with the consultant who has been monitoring my kidney function as some of the levels were elevated that indicated some problems with them,this was a bit of a concern to me. I was another appointment for clinic in a week.
All was not doom and gloom as I was able to catch up with a couple of people while I was in clinic I met up with Victoria Tremlett looking happy and healthy and Richard Burbedge who is one of two transplant people I know who are carrying the Olympic torch in July.
The following weekend on the 14th I was booked to attend with LLTGL for their speaker project, a session to help people who have had transplants use their experience and tell their story to encourage others to sign the organ donor register.
It was a great day and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to raise awareness about the issue of organ donation after having a experience of transplantation.It was quite emotional to here others stories and tell our own.It took my right back to the transplant again,but also gave me guidance as to how to bring out the emotional elements that people would be able to relate to and par down my story to the most essential elements we also practised our story within a set time to help when speaking in public.
I had a great day and met Emily Thackray who is a lung transplantee who suffers with Cystic Fibrosis and who set up the campaign with her friend and is now the chief executive of Live Life then Give life. They are a great charity raising awareness of the issue of Organ Donation.
Two of the people I follow on the blog list are Ambassadors Victoria Tremlett and Kerry Thorpe.
Another two of my blog list are also Advocates for the charity Victoria Glenn and Kirstie Tancock.
After my session I was luck enough to have a chance to meet with Kirstie Tancock who was also attending the afternoon session of the project and is looking great after her double lung transplant.
Please take a while to visit the charity's website and learn more if you fancy raising some cash for them have a valentines cake bake they have some downloadable resources to help you just click on the link below
Great Valentine's Cake Bake 2012
The following week on the 16th I attended the clinic again and was seen by the consultant due to the medication I had been on my chest was less congested and my lung function test had shown some improvement from my last visit.the doctor was very pleased and suggested that I continue with the medication to help me clear my chest and use the ventolin if I needed it but told me that it would be important to maintain my other nebulisers as a preventative measure against any another bugs in my lungs then she told me that I could have two months off clinic as she was happy with my progress.
I will be back in February for my appointment with the kidney consultant and may get a heart echo done to check that the swelling in my legs was not caused by my heart, but I was very happy:-) Since my appointment the swelling has now improved a lot and only happens in the evening after being on my feet all day, not unusual as the doctor reminded me.
Finally You may have noticed that I have added a chat gadget on the blog on the left column if you would like to leave a message on it I would be very happy:-) If you have any questions about anything on the blog please feel free to use it and I will try to answer you. It will allow me to have a two way conversation with some of my blog readers and hopefully learn more about what you want from the blog.
