Ugh, it's coming....

I've ignored it since September but it can no longer be denied that Christmas is...soon. There's some decorations up in our college canteen to tell us so, and if those gloomy souls (who say "Foh Yoro Luv" in the same monotonos, grumpy* tone every day) in our canteen say it's Christmas then it means it's definately near!

This will be our second year using an artificial tree. We were told that having a real tree can be a risk as there are some bugs on the tree that could be risky to 'no-immune-system-replacement-lungs' me. I remember a really nice big tall tree being taken down at my old hospital clinic after they discovered the health risks. But now I'm hearing on the grapevine that other people haven't been warned of such risks. So either they're all screwed or we're all stuffy cotton wool wrapped hypocondriacs.

I don't think it will make much difference whether my team were right or wrong as we spent money on a good artifical tree last year so you can be sure my Dad will be getting his money's worth out of that for the next century.

There are loads of risks associated with after transplant care, due to the fact of the immune system being knocked. Luckily for me, ignoring my first two months, my anti-rejection care has been pretty stable, and to be honest I don't like risks, I don't see the point. I'm happy doing what I've been told and a tree is a tree. I feel if I do everything I can to look after my health as I should then I'm maximising my chances of doing well. Again, that's putting obvious hypocrisy aside (with ALL those flights I took last year when I shouldn't have flown in the first year....).

There are some things I can't control such as strangers who have colds and the fact that someone with MRSA may well have sat in the same bus seat as me, or someone with Cystic Fibrosis may be sitting opposite me on the Luas ( physical contact between transplant patients and people with CF is discouraged where possible** ) and I suppose these sorts of risks are part of life. Anyway, the fake tree stays.

*Not ALL the canteen staff are grumpy souls. The chef is actually dead sound. And some of the ladies are quite pleasent too.

** There are some obvious scenarios where contact is unavoidable like in the case of siblings, partners or even good friends. I've never really had friends with CF so this isn't an issue for me. I also don't mind meeting people who haven't had transplants as in that case we both know to keep distance and not to cough, it's where it's a stranger they wouldn't know and could infect you. And we all hate the word INFECT.