Sunday 24 July 2011

Christmas????

Following on from my last post, I'm VERY pleased to be able to report that lovely Kirstie got her new lungs :) She is recovering well, she is one amazing girlie.

My last post about myself was pretty miserable, so lets move onwards and upwards!

I've had lots of work related stress over the past few weeks. I was told that my return to work was only a temporary 2 month agreement due to funding issues, then I had to find another position elsewhere in the hospital. This came as quite a shock to me! My union rep was on holiday, the human resources manager was never in the office when I tried to phone and took it upon himself to (very professionally) ignore my emails. There is a real shortage of jobs in the hospital at the moment so chances of finding a suitable position for me to transfer to were not looking good at all.

It appears that me returning to work and not holding any grudges about everything that happened has reflected really well on me. Also, I've gone back and made the role my own, I keep being told what a good job I'm doing and thanked for all my hard work - the funny thing is that I could work harder if I pushed myself, I guess they have low expectations considering the person who was in the post before me! Anyway, all this meant that I had a few key people in the department fighting very hard to keep me. Last week the manager decided that this talk of me leaving the department next week was all a big misunderstanding, and that he hadn't meant that at all! Now, he told me in the corridor and sent me a 2 line email telling me that I needed to look for another position, so I know full well it wasn't just a misunderstanding. It seems like he has either changed his mind, or realised he made a mistake, and rather than just say that, he is backtracking. I don't care either way, I've settled in really nicely so I'm glad to be staying. I'm extremely glad to not have the stress of being back on the redeployment register too :)

The lovely people I work with had arranged a little leaving party for me and bought me presents! As they'd already bought the presents they still gave them to me, chocolates which I shared with everyone, and a lovely bracelet. I felt so bad taking them as I wasn't leaving, but at the same time, most of these people I've only known for less than 2 months so I was really touched that they'd done that for me. I do work with some lovely people :)
Oh and that reminds me, remember in one of my previous posts I was talking about how I didn't want to return to work and be the 'social butterfly'?! Well, I only found myself organising the Christmas party!! I just can't help myself, I love doing things like that! So, I've decided to go with Becky's wise words that I'd be betraying myself by stopping myself from doing the things that make me happy, rather than betraying myself by going back and pretending nothing happened. My thoughts are that we spend so much of our lives at work, it's too much time to not be happy or not get on with your colleagues.

In other work related happy news, Monday is 25th July. I've found someone else in the office who is also a Christmas fanatic, so we're going to celebrate Christmas in July!! I'm baking some mince pies, she is going to bake a christmas cake, and I'm going to dig out the tinsel I left behind and throw it around. I must admit, most other people looked rather horrified at the idea, but I'm sure that we'll force them to enjoy themselves for at least a few minutes ;) On that note, there are only 154 days until Christmas!

Thursday 7 July 2011

Do something amazing!


This week is national transplant week! I wanted to make a post asking people to keep my friend in their thoughts, then I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk about organ donation!

My lovely friend, Kirstie Tancock, is very poorly in Harefield Hospital. You can read her blog here. She has cystic fibrosis, and is in desperate need of a lung transplant. Please could people keep her in their thoughts and/or prayers. She is so poorly that this is her last chance to get some new lungs before she gets too ill for transplant. Thank you x

I've been registered as an organ donor for as long as I can remember. I know my lungs won't be much good, and I suppose my heart isn't in the best condition, but other parts of my body could possibly help someone! I completely respect that people have their own thoughts and feelings, but I don't understand why more people aren't registered as organ donors. Would you take an organ transplant if you were in need of one? Well, why aren't you willing to do the same for someone else?!
If there is anyone who read this, who isn't a registered organ donor, please give it some thought. This website is a great place to find out more, and you can register here too.

Finally, please watch this video by Tor. Tor has Cystic Fibrosis and has been on the waiting list for new lungs for 4 years now.
http://www.transplantweek.co.uk/tor-tremlett.html

Three people die each day because there are not enough organ donors

50% of people waiting for a transplant die whilst on the waiting list

1 person can save 9 lives

Sunday 3 July 2011

Scary medications

I've been lying low and keeping quiet lately, 'things' aren't going so well and posting the ins and outs of my life online doesn't really appeal to me! So, concentrating on these lungs of mine;

I had a review with my respiratory consultant, we agreed that Azithromycin wasn't doing anything for me so that was stopped. He brought up Methotrexate. When I hear that drug I automatically think 'cancer', which leads to 'horrible side effects', so I said I was pretty reluctant to take drugs like that. Since the appt I've read up on Methotrexate and seen that it's actually used in a few other conditions too, and some people with severe/brittle asthma have found it very helpful. Food for thought.... I'd love to hear any experiences from anyone who has taken it!

I mentioned in my last post that I'd been feeling pretty unwell. This week it got worse, I rarely get chest infections but I really felt like I had one. So I made an appt to see my GP that afternoon, by the time of the appt I felt better. I HATE it when that happens!! Obviously I like feeling better, but it's so annoying when I end up saying - I feel okay now but earlier I felt really ill and was coughing up gunk blah blah blah. Anyway, if it had been my old GP I would have cancelled the appt but my new GP is so lovely. He has A&E experience so he understands asthma that can quickly deteriorate, for me this is great! Outcome was, I have a course of antibiotics to take and had to bump up the Pred again :( I felt so much better after a few days and my peak flows have started to pick up again, so it's all good :)