2013 Here I Come

The new year has started.

I thought I would do a review of the year that just passed,and some of the plans for the new one

It has been a interesting one, and for some people life changing, but for me quite sad.The loss of my mother mid summer has been a shock to me and has reminded me how fragile life is.

I am finally on my own now, both of my parents have gone, just me and my younger brother.

It has been a time of change that has seen my children move from secondary education on to college, my daughter studying A levels and my son learning furniture making.This change will continue in 2013 with my daughter moving on to University and leaving home and I feel that life has been on hold for the last two years and that this year is the year for me to get on with living again.

As you know if you have been reading my blog for a while I have been able to start swimming again and getting fit and trying to loose weight.I hope that I will continue to loose more and will be able to do more fitness activities to help me.
I also hope to do some travelling during 2013 and hope to get a motorbike.If the weather is good I will be getting out and about on my own more.  I have found the start to this year has not gone as well as I hoped I had a minor crash in the car when leaving a parking space outside the doctors and ended up damaging the wing and bumper on my car this has annoyed me as I had to make a claim on my insurance to get it repaired which will impact on bike insurance in the future but it can't be helped :(  The car still needs some work doing so in the near future I will have to return it to the garage to get this done but for the moment I am just happy to have it back after a couple of weeks of courtesy cars, an experience I am not willing to repeat just yet.
The main reason I have been remiss about updating my blog is I have been having some problems with my vision for about a month.I have been having great problems with blurring and lack of focus with my vision deteriorating as the day progresses. I attended the doctors as I was having problems with seeing the photos on the screen at camera club and she referred me to the local eye hospital. I was very worried that I may have developed some condition due to the medication I have been taking.I was reassured when I attended as the problem I suspected - glaucoma was checked and found to be unlikely.I had to wait to attend again with Liz so she could drive so that they could conduct a full eye exam using atropine drops to enable them to see the retina and the back of my eye this all proved that nothing untoward was evident.But it seems that my suspicions were correct, I have developed dry eyes due to my use of Bi pad overnight  and long term steroids I have been given eye drops I will need to use from now on. Although they are better than they were I still have problems and need to rest my eyes much more often now and add another medication to my daily regime!
One of the good things that has happened since the new year started is I have bought myself an new tablet a Nexus 7 from Asus :) It has been fun and has encouraged me to learn more about Android operating system with the thought about learning more about creating apps in the future.
To this end you may have noticed that I now have a Android app for this blog so people can read my blog on their android phone or tablet you can download it or use the QR code on the blog.I  hope that people find this useful.
I have also removed the message board widget that was on the blog as it had collected a lot of spam messages.I am hoping to have a revamp of the blog in the near future and have some ideas about making some changes.I would love to know what people think about this and what they would like to see in the future. Personally I would like to make more information about transplantation available. A more comprehensive list of some of the blogs people are writing about transplantation and more places to seek help and advice across the internet. 
The other thing I have bought myself is a new camera it is smaller than my DSLR and made by Olympus and has image stabilization in the camera body to help with the shaking that I suffer from with my meds. If you are interested it is OMD EM5 Olympus and it came with a extra 45mm portrait lens. As it is splashproof I will be able to use it when weather is poor so keep an eyes out for new pictures from it in the near future. 

Finally I thought I would include some pictures from the most recent competition we had a  the camera club the subject was quite hard "The letter Y " so I included the following two pictures

Yellow Sky over Didcot

Yellow Aqualegia

  The first picture taken with a small compact on the way back from Harefield scored 15/20. The yellow Aqualegia taken with my Canon DSLR did a more respectable 17/20. I am hoping that my new camera will be scoring well in competition in the next few months watch this space!
I am now able to go swimming again and am going to be attending a fund raiser for my good friend Justine Laymond in february as she will be attending the World Transplant games in South Africa to represent UK again if you wish to help her you can find out more  here - Justine Laymond just giving
I hope for my next blog I will have some pictures of the event to share:) till next time stay well and if you still haven't signed the donor register you can here

Three Year Wedding Anniversary

Time is moving on quickly of late with lots happening in a the space of a short time. Today was my third wedding anniversary, remembering the day I married is hard. 

I had to use my oxygen before I was able to get out of my car and walk the short distance in to the Oxford registry office from the disabled spot outside. Our simple ceremony with just our our two witnesses was over quickly and there was no party.I needed to use my Oxygen all the way home afterwards.

It marked a turning point in my life. 

I had just gone on the list and had received two calls within one month of being listed  

First call   Second call 

I had realized that I might not survive the process of transplant or the wait and wanted to put my affairs in order and on those first couple of calls I was very worried about outstanding issues with my pension, tenancy and provision for Liz and my children.

Three years on and life is totally different 

I am so much better and looking forward with hope, thanks to the donor who has given me this chance to live a new life and honor his memory.I am now able to do things with my wife and children and support them like a husband should.
Liz and I met 25 years ago and always said that we would get married, but just didn't get round to it.Life moved on, we had kids and still ,despite me going down on bended knee years ago in the middle of the staff social club at my old hospital,it hadn't happened.
I was staring death in the face when we finally said "I Do" and it all became clear, Love , friendship and happy experiences are the things that matter.
I really hope that I will be able to give my beautiful wife many more years of all of these things

I love you so much Liz and I'm so glad that you have been there with me though all these 25 years. 

You are my rock and I hope that the years yet to come will be even happier

Since my transplant lots has changed and just last week we finally placed my mums ashes in her final resting place in the local church garden of remembrance in St Mary the Virgin, Kidlington. It overlooks the open countryside and I finally felt a sense of peace for her since her passing. I draw comfort in the fact that there will be a space for my ashes with my mums should I wish it when the time comes.

      

I was forced to think again about my mortality as transplant is extra time not a total cure.Because of the medication I take and risks with immusupression my time will shorter that it may have been.

I hope that I have many more years ahead, but I have resolved that the next few years I will going forward firing on all cylinders and making the most of the health I have got now.

I will be looking at holidays for next year and some travelling that I have put of for a while.I missed out on Glastonbury tickets this year:( But I am looking into more transport and Christmas will be a big one this year as Liz will be off. New year I am going to try to  have a proper night out if I can, Liz will be working on 1st.But before that my daughter will be turning 18 (this month) and Liz has a birthday in November so I will be looking forward to spoiling them both.

finally I have entered my first competition at the camera club this month and so I thought I would include the two pictures that I have entered

Hang On A Minute Lads, I've Got A Great Idea....

Red Arrows over Hastings seafront 

They were both taken in Hastings in the summer fingers crossed they do well, I will tell you how they do in my next post.    

Good Times and Support

I have been very busy over the last few weeks
I have been out to the gym twice a week for my pulmonary rehab course and am finding it great to be able to push myself again. I am finding the leg exercises are the hardest on me but am slowly making friends with the treadmill and exercise bike although I think that it will take sometime to get fitter after the inactivity since having shingles. The people on the course are great and I am enjoying getting out.
I have also been successful with another picture in the most recent competition at the camera club the subject on this occasion was Doorways and Gateways and I scored 20/20 for a picture taken looking out of Oxford Botanical gardens towards one of the Oxford colleges while two bikes were passing a typical Oxford sight I was very happy with this result and I have included the picture for you to see.

Gateway to Oxford Life

I did put another picture in but it scored less well but got a good response from the audience the judge felt that the doorway itself was not interesting enough to warrant a high mark It was of a piece of local graffiti which has since been painted over but impressed me a lot with its Oxford connection.

Alice was here

 

  Please let me know what you think?

The other thing that I did this last week week was to attend Harefield Hospital for the second meeting of the Harefield support group.I have been involved in. 

Nicola Langlands who runs Look beyond the Heart is the driving force behind the group has worked with Harefields management to organise a meeting room. With support from Harefields Nursing staff, patients who have been attending clinic appointments plus patients on the transplant wards have been able to share their experiences in a informal setting and also been able to give feedback about their transplant experiences this has allowed people at all stages of the transplant experience to ask questions of others, network and make new friends

To allow the communication to continues between meetings and as a place to share information and support online Nicola has set up a Facebook page 

Harefield Transplant and Look Beyond The Heart Focus Group

I am one of the administrators and at present the group is a open group so people can join upon request.
It will be open to all people who have contact with or experience of the UK transplant services we hope that it will grow into a valuable resource for everyone to share information and offer support to one another so please join us soon :-)

While I was at the support meeting I was able to meet a several people. two whom I have mentioned in this blog in the past.
  The first one was Justine Laymond
She was up for a clinic appointment and will soon be sailing around the world on the Clipper Around the World Race as part of a crew of people raising awareness of transplantation.
She is the first double lung transplantee to ever attempt this gruelling race.But as a multi medal wining Transplant games participant she is looking forward to the challenge.
The second person I was able to meet after following her progress for so long was Victoria Tremlett
after a four year wait I was so very happy to hear that she had got the lungs that she had so desperately waited for. She had returned to clinic as part of her follow up care and I was able to to have few words with her and wish her well with her continued recovery.

I also took opportunity to get some bloods taken and sent of to check the levels in my blood with Christmas approaching I wanted reassurance that I would not need to attend until the new year.
I had a small amount of swelling in my legs but I was happy to find out that my blood work showed improvement since the last sample had been taken. I am presently waiting for a result from my anti rejection medication levels but feel much happier to breath easy for Christmas, can't wait!!

Camera Club End of the Season

This week was the last meeting of the Camera club that I attend on Thursday night. the club starts again in September. This will leave me at a bit of a loose end as to how to fill my evening now.
I entered some pictures in the end of season Annual competition as I posted previously on the blog here .
Unfortunately I did not win the competition although feedback that I received from others was favourable the judge favoured a picture of a still life scene by a friend of mine who has been exhibiting in the Oxford Art weeks her winning picture can be seen on the club website

  Wallingford Photographic Club .

It  is called "White" by Pam Sandhu-Dickens it was entered into the competition for the letter W.
As I said it was the last night and it was decided by the club to discuss suitable images for the club to enter in the CACC inter- club competition "The Rose Bowl" as you will know my photo "Eagle Eye" was one of the 15 prints that was entered on behalf of the club this year and although we did not reach the final we faired better  this year than last.
When the images were being discussed I was happy to see a image that I had put into a competition was being considered I did not know how well the image was received because when I put it in I was admitted to hospital that week and missed the judging
Fingers crossed that this image will be considered for entry in September

Winging It

  I would love to know what you think?

Annual competition at Camera Club

Tonight I have my final competition of the year at my camera club our annual competition where the best pictures people have are shown. This year has gone by so fast and because of my stays in hospital I have only been able to enter a few of the competitions.
Because of this I have decided to use two pictures that I have not entered in any other competitions and hope that they are good enough. If they do not do well I will be happy to see what comments are made as the chance of a trained judge looking at my pictures and making suggestions is the reason I enter.
Last year I got commended with a photo of a Eagle Owl and this year I am using another bird picture of a Red Kite and have included a close up  picture of a Hover fly on a Passion flower.

I was able to get out with the camera this last weekend and get some pictures of a car rally that is held in the local town and I will try to post some pictures in the blog from this soon. I will also add some pictures I took of the local arboretum  where all the flowers are coming out early.  I shall post the pictures I am entering and let you decide what you think, I have included the commended picture from last year called “Eagle eye”

Finally my entry from last year Eagle eye that was included in the club entry into the 

CHILTERNS ASSOCIATION of CAMERA CLUBS  inter-club competition