I arrived at Harefield in a bright mood. The sun was shining, I’d spotted ten Red Kites en-route, and had met a friend for lunch beforehand. Moreover with my recent positive test results suggesting stability, I was confident I wouldn’t need to be reactivated on the transplant list just yet. But four hours later, I … More Bursting My Bubble
I’ve spent far too much time visiting hospitals these past three months. My recycling bin is full of appointment letters, the veins in my arms are feeling sorry for themselves, and I still keep finding remnants of heart monitor stickers that I miss each time I shower. I’ve had ten visits in the past ten … More Tests, Tests, Tests
Last Monday I stood atop a mountain! An actual mountain! A mountain with rocks and boulders and mud blocking the route. A mountain in the middle of nowhere, that took hours for us to climb. As I sat up high, looking down at the tiny dots of candy floss sheep in the valley below, I … More I Climbed A Mountain!
As a child I was allergic to cats. I ‘d sneeze when sitting next to a furry feline, or get itchy eyes when one rubbed against my legs. Luckily I rarely had contact with any… my siblings preferred pet rabbits! 😉 Later I had occasional summers with slight hayfever, and developed a mild sensitivity to … More The Allergy Specialists
Phil and I have a list of ‘House Jobs’ stuck to our fridge door. Most tasks are ticked off quickly, but one remained on it for 6.5 years. Every time we grabbed milk, we were reminded that we’d made zero attempt to achieve it. Guilt! The problem was it was gigantic, massive, intimidating. We didn’t … More The Gigantic Task We Couldn’t Tick Off
I struggle to walk. Since developing Pulmonary Hypertension, I can’t get very far on my own two feet. For thirty-odd years I could walk and run and skip and gallop…. until the day I suddenly couldn’t. In one sleep, in one twelve hour period, in one night… I lost the ability to plod about. And although … More Relying On Wheels
I wasn’t expecting it to be an interesting hospital appointment. Just a routine check-up at Harefield. A myriad of tests, chips for lunch, hours of filling time in the waiting room, before a “Hello, keep plodding along” from the team. Same as normal, nothing controversial; so I travelled down alone. When I last chatted to … More An Unexpected Loop on The Transplant Rollercoaster
A few months after I started using oxygen, Phil and I booked a holiday to Sussex. We found a cute cottage through a local rental company, and paid in full. However a month before the trip, after I’d emailed the owner to discuss timings for my oxygen delivery, we found ourselves embroiled in a debate … More The Kindness Of The Pig
Throughout December, I always skip track number 6 on my Xmas CD. It’s special. Reserved for that magical moment when art becomes reality, and we are indeed “Driving home for Christmas”. We sing-along as we navigate the M40: it signals the start of our celebrations. But this year I forgot my CD. We’d packed halfheartedly, … More Christmas cake, Stockings and the Flu!
My lungs have a hate list. A long index of things that they dislike. It’s new. They used to be quite compatible and easy-going… but in the last few months they’ve started disliking things that they previously didn’t mind. They’re behaving like toddlers, the terrible twos. But instead of screaming over their sudden aversion to … More ‘Adjusting My Sails’ to live with Hyper-Sensitive Lungs
