Growing up I loved the beach. Living in the midlands, visiting it was a once-a-year holiday treat. As young children life at the beach was all about the sand. We’d build great castles using our brightly coloured plastic buckets as moulds. Sea water would be collected for the moat, and shells or grass would be … More Watching The Waves
I last had a hospital appointment in June, three lovely long months ago. Since then I’ve been deliberately postponing them. I’ve received monthly letters from my Pulmonary Hypertension team inviting me along for a check up. I turned down June, I turned down July, I turned down August, I eventually agreed to go along in … More Time For A Check Up
Last week I got a letter from Harefield Hospital. Since getting ill, I have collated a whole file of medical letters. Appointments, reminders for appointments, notes explaining what happened in the appointments, follow ups from points raised in the appointment. Having three hospitals wanting to see me regularly, I’ve now filled a large lever arch … More A Letter
My husband is a last minute packer. He runs around manically the hour before we leave to go on holiday, scanning each room for what he might need, and inevitably forgetting something. 😉 I used to be the same. We could handle last minute and spontaneous short breaks; it was our norm. But since getting … More How Holidays Change
Having a transplant is not like having a routine operation. You don’t get given a date and a time to attend. You don’t get a chance to prepare and organise your life beforehand. You don’t even know if it will ever actually happen. Agreeing to have a transplant is agreeing to go on a waiting … More All About The Transplant List
Sometimes life throws you curve balls. We can be happily swimming along the river of life, and suddenly the waves start battering us, rocks stand in our way, crocodiles eye us up for dinner. Life is hard for a while, we struggle to keep our head above water, we desperately doggy paddle to avoid the … More An Unexpectedly Strong Summer
I like to think I am the Queen of the Courgettes. Every year, without fail, I have managed to produce bumper crops of the produce. Our fridge overflows with the vegetable, I spend hours inventing dishes so they can be eaten at every meal, and I give them away to all and every summer visitor. … More Gardening with Dodgy Lungs
Like everyone, I love holidays. However, life is never simple, especially with an illness, and our intended vacations this year haven’t really gone to plan! So far we’ve planned four week-long trips away.. and have had to cancel all four at the last minute. 2016 has been a crazy year, with more than my fair … More Changing Holiday Plans
I love camping. My happy place involves a tent, a glass of wine, my husband and some stars! Unfortunately since getting ill, I’ve had to do away with the first two! Nowadays, I have to be slightly more inventive.. I get my wine fix from sniffing Phil’s wine (!), and amazingly we’ve found a solution … More A New Way to Camp When Ill
I feel like I’ve been on a treadmill for the whole of 2016. I’ve had to keep continuously plodding along in life, despite having some interesting curve balls thrown in my direction. Life has not allowed me much time to stop and think, instead I’ve been forced to keep going, to move forward and to … More The Wobbles
We Can Adjust The Sails 