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
I’ve been stable for the past two years. 🙂 I’ve been incredibly lucky, and am incredibly thankful. I’ve crammed in excitement, filled up my photo album and created many many happy memories. Despite the uncertainty when first diagnosed, amazingly I’ve carried on living and loving life with Pulmonary Hypertension and Pulmonary Venous Occlusive Disease. However … More Waiting And Guessing And Hoping
It’s alarming how quickly health can change. Despite living with Pulmonary Hypertension for five years now, it still shocks me that my body can dive down so suddenly and unexpectedly. Wellness the days before, a packed calendar ahead, feeling good… until abruptly I don’t. It’s happened again! My body is having a downer. I hate … More A Less Scary A&E
At the weekend I turned my central heating on for the first time. I debated whether to take that significant step for a few hours, before eventually my shivering body and blue fingers convinced me it was time. It was the day. It couldn’t be put off any longer. So I did. And although it … More Saying Goodbye To My Superpowers
Throughout these past few months, the latter half of summer, a little fear has niggled away at the back of my mind. For the majority of time it has remained hidden, forgotten; I rarely worry about the future. But it has popped up at every recent recovery day. Opening my eyes -feeling sick after a … More The Latter Half Of Summer
My house reeks of vinegar. Despite opening all of the windows, my clothes have a sharp aroma, my eyes gently sting and I fear I’m slowly pickling the dog. No, I’ve not developed an unhealthy obsession with chip shop eggs… it’s chutney making season again. In my life before Pulmonary Hypertension, there was no chutney … More The Head Gardener
We’ve driven past the outskirts of the New Forest countless times, but never before been tempted to turn off at the junction. From the A338, it looks like an expense of knee-high bracken, wild ferns and the odd spiky bush. A perfect wilderness for walkers, but completely inaccessible for my mobility scooter. Turns out there … More An Accessible National Park
It was one of those precious times where the whole world is rosy and the face can’t stop grinning. One of those rare occasions where the specialness of a moment is realised at the very time it is occurring. I was bobbing at sea, aboard an inflatable dingy, laughing as Phil attempted to row us … More My Best PH Holiday
We Can Adjust The Sails 