Older and wiser

My holiday is over and time has ticked on. I had a great time and enjoyed being by the sea again, for my wife it was a chance to catch up with her family and for me a chance to revisit the old haunts that I frequented when I was training to be a Nurse.
I was so aware of the differences that a year and a transplant had made to the visit and although I didn't manage to do as much this holiday some things I took in my stride that I could not manage last year.I will talk more about these later.
One thing I did when I got to Hastings was to buy myself a compact camera to use when I am out and about I had tried out a couple and settled on a Nikon P300 which I found was the best at image stabilisation which I need because of the shakes I get through anti rejection medication I have yet to settle on a DSLR to buy so I felt that this would be a good stand by second camera.

During the first week we went to Eastbourne to attend the annual airshow and I was able to get some great photos of the planes I used my Canon DSLR to take them because of the zoom required for good pictures.I got many nice picture of planes that did a flypast over the pier

Spitfire

I was also impressed by the aerobatics team that did a demonstration

 My family were shocked by the noise of the F16 that flew over

Finally, later than planed, we were treated to the the premier aerobatic team who were only able to do a fly past due to the weather conditions having deteriorated by this stage

Red Arrows

 The rest of the holiday was filled with a lot of walking up and down hills which I coped with better than I thought I would and I was able to spend a day at the sea in Eastbourne on one of the days when the weather was good I had hoped to walk along the beach and get some pictures in some rock pools but alas it was not to be as the tide times that day did not allow it but I did get a picture through one of the groynes looking towards beachy head using my new camera

Holywell

I also was able to take some pictures of  Brighton and the famous pier using the easy panorama function which I think you will agree does a good job

      One other trick that my new camera had in store was slow motion video and so to illustrate i have included a small piece of video of some seagulls on the seashore 

I am so grateful to have made it back to Sussex again and without my transplant I feel sure that I would not have had this opportunity. I sat by the sea drinking coffee and realised how luck I was to be able to breath in the sea air with my new lungs.
I gave thanks to the anonymous 45 year old donor who selflessly left me the gift of life 10 months ago that has enabled me to have a quality of life again that I thought I had lost forever. I have recently moved into my last year of my first half century. The experiences I have been though have made me realise how lucky I am to be writing this blog.
I follow people who have not been as lucky as me and are still waiting such as Victoria Tremlett she is presently deteriorating and desperately waiting for a transplant you can follow her blog on my blogroll

Past the Point of No Return she is needing a transplant very soon or she will die.

She is one of the people who is in danger of dying while waiting,

as three people do every day in this country  

If you are reading this and have not signed the donor register please take the time to click on the flashing heart in the right hand column of this blog and that will take you to NHSBT website where you can add yourself in a couple of minutes.Then you will receive a card in the post to carry with you in your wallet or purse.When you do, please speak to your next of kin about your decision so that they know what you want  as they will be asked about your wishes.

Holiday - Let the Games Commence

It all systems go for my holiday:) I hope to spend two weeks on the south-east coast in Hastings this will be my first holiday since my Transplant and I am looking forward to meeting up with my wife's family and hear the news.
I must be truthful when I say that I did not expect to make it to see another holiday by the sea last year before my transplant. The organisation that was required to get an oxygen supply and equipment I had to use such as the wheelchair and oxygen bottles made the whole process very stressful for me and the whole family. this year it will be better as now I am able to tolerate the hot weather and the inclines that I will encounter I will still have to carry a bit of stuff like my Bi pad machine and nebuliser and the various pills that I consume each day but I will be able to do many things that I  avoided last year.I hope that we will be able to attend the Eastbourne Airbourne Airshow and I will try to post pictures that and of my other adventures if I can.

The other thing that has happened is I have started my pulmonary rehabilitation course at the local gym unfortunately due to me being away I will miss some of it but this will continue till September when I get back.I must be honest when I say I was worn out when I had done the first two days. I found it great to be able to push myself and was able to do much more than I thought I would, so I was glad.
My wife has also been referred  for fitness training though our GP surgery so when I have finished on the rehab I will start to go for supervised fitness sessions with my wife if she wants to so we can both get fit again.

I have also been inspired by another transplntee who I know, who is presently at the UK transplant games and has managed to achieve 
Silver Medal in Archery with a score of 278, and a Bronze Medal in the 5k run.

he said  on his Facebook page today "So proud to run as part of the Harefield CF 4 x 100 metre relay team today. Running for everyone with CF, everywhere." 

Congratulation to  Richard Burbedge @AwoogaBurbs who had several problems on his way to the games including a serious sprain to his ankle and a visit to hospital that nearly put his plans on hold so I am glad that he achieved his aim to represent his country  But most of all his win  represents the gift of life his donor gave him and me that allow us to live better and more full lives

 

This year at the transplant games 15 transplant  patients from Harefields Hospital are taking part in the  British Transplant Games 15 people who lives have been saved by donors who signed the donor register HERE

There is a facebook page you can visit to find out more Westfield health British Transplant Games 

If you would like to know more Transplant Sport in the UK may interest you @TransplantSport

Great Britain Transplant Cricket Club will also be of interest @gbtcc   

There is also the Northern Ireland Transplant Association  at their twitter account @nitransplant

 So I will say happy holidays to you and go to bed as I  have a drive to do tomorrow, hope to post more and some pictures of the seaside soon :-)

Sussex in the Sun

We have been on holiday four days now and most of the time the weather has been kind to us.One day it did rain but on the whole, although not the height of summer, there has been quite a few sunny spells.
As well as the Airbourne show in Eastbourne we have spent a day walking around the old town in Hastings where there are lots of gift shops and small interesting shops to look around. I managed a few photos,and with my son. Also attended to his addiction to the arcades, we had a good session spending only a little money to win several toys and tat for my children. Rock and sweets have also figured highly on the list of  must haves. I have forfilled my wish to eat fish and chips in one of the shops near the Stade which is in the fishing fleet end of Hastings and buys fresh fish locally yum yum!
The only fly in the ointment was my Mobile Broadband connection it seems that the USB stick I had was incompatible with my computer (Vista). So it kept crashing the computer every time I used it.After a trip to Carphone Warehouse and 45mins on the phone to T Mobile in the shop a new Dongle arrived via DHL the next day! I am most impressed by the excellent service from T Mobile.
So I am now able to get on line and update this blog. Keep up with people online which is becoming a essential part of my life of late and it has also allowed me to send out some pictures to people on Twitter of the sights in Hastings.
So I thought that I would share some of the pictures that I have taken since we have been here to give you a flavour of our holiday so far. Hope you like them there are also a couple on a photo slide show that I made that you can find here Sussex days and sunsets

Bi plane

Wing walkers over Eastbourne pier 

Above a couple of pictures from Airbourne gives a flavour of the day

Hastings

Beach Huts

Baby Seagull

Hastings from Bexhill

Are We There Yet?

We finally got to Sussex after a few hiccups on the way. The lack of services on the M25 journey proved a problem for me, necessitating a unscheduled stop and some harsh words, but once we had got of the M4 everything was better.The traffic was busy and the journey took longer than we hoped but we arrived.
We spent our first day out at Eastbourne Airborne and although the disabled parking was all filled up,we  made use of my blue badge to park on the road near where we wanted to go.The weather was windy and for the most part dry but at one point did start to rain a bit.I had to make use of the wheelchair for some of the day but also managed a bit of a walk later.
I was able to take some good photos of the air show and afterwards got my wish to eat some nice fish and chips, having Halibut and chips in a restaurant that we have been to before and liked. The kids got rock, I got some presents for my mum and my son bought himself a bulet necklace.
Mobile broadband has taken a bit of getting used to and because of this I will not be uploading many pictures till I get home but I thought that one was a must the view at sunset from my mother in laws front door I hope that I will be able to get more pictures like this.

Sussex Sunset

They are" Under Starter's Orders"

The weekend is over and the last few days before holiday are upon us and I haven't done much!
I did manage to get mobile broadband together and have a shiny new dongle from T Mobile in a box waiting for the starters gun to go off.

This will allow me to continue with my updates on the Blog, keep up with my friends on Twitter and the kids can check Facebook while we are away.How Dependant we have become on the web!My mother in law who has no need of more, has maintained her Dial up connection to the web and so I felt that it was time to take the plunge and go mobile.

I have a few thing to sort out this week I must get some extra medication. We have a delivery of Oxygen coming on Wednesday when they will read the meter on the machine and service it. So hopefully I will have a rebate cheque waiting when we come home, after spending all our extra cash on holiday.I have been using the oxygen most of the time, so with any luck it will be a good one.

We are hoping to be at Sussex for the weekend as I hope to attend the Eastbourne Airborne show that starts on Thursday and finishes Sunday I have been in the past and have got some good pictures of planes from it.Again as always, it will be dependant on me being able to get a parking space near what is happening, fingers crossed on that. I think that we will be able to see something if the weather is good.

My plans, apart from that, are flexible. The kids what to go to Brighton for a day out, I what to get some fish and chips, from a great shop on the sea front, that uses fresh fish bought from the fishing fleet in Hastings.Another thing that always figures highly is penny arcades.I don't doubt that I will be returning with many pieces of tat by the end of the holiday, won with numerous 2pence pieces.The sea beckons but I will not be in it this year. I will have to be content to look and hope for the day when I will be able to swim in it again.
I thought that I would finish the blog with some pictures, from the last  Eastbourne Airshow we attended.

Helicopters

Lancaster,Spitfire & Hurricane 

One of The Red Arrows