Home!

I arrived home from Edinburgh this afternoon having had an *amazing* weekend away. We left Friday evening, having packed in a record 30 minutes (forgetting nothing except my hairbrush) and caught a night flight over. This meant we still had time to catch a pub/bar night out when we got there. We stayed on Princes Street which is as central as you can get (unless you count the Royal Mile as the centre which was a 5minute walk away anyway...)

On Saturday, I went to Gap and got new jeans. Gap are *amazing* for jeans and it's the only place I buy mine. Well, when I say that, I mean I bought my last pair there a couple of years ago and was so impressed by the sizing, that I went back and got a new pair on Saturday. So technically, yes, it is the only place I buy mine. I also decided, should Gap ever come to Ireland, I'm going to work there. The people who work there get to wear Gap clothes. And they're friendly too. Even the Gap clothes are friendly. It's like they talk to you, saying 'Buy meeeeeeee!'. Not that I'm obsessed with Gap. It's just good. Gapgapgapgapgap.

We also did the Edinburgh Dungeons on Sunday which I highly recommend!!! We saw street performers too but we had no sterling with us to give them a donation but they were actually really good! Each night we went out in search of different bars/pubs/places but invariably, we ended up at the same bar each time. I guess we're creatures of habit.

Also, as hard as we tried to find Scottish people, EVERYONE we talked to was Irish. Everywhere we went, walked, stood, sight-saw, gossiped, whispered, an Irish person was standing beside us. Heavens, we even met people who we were in school with.

I'll try and get a photo up soon as I realise it's been a while since I've shown my face about the place!

On the health front, I'm feeling really well. I've put on weight in the last couple of weeks which is a relief too. I still get coughing fits and cough when I laugh so while I don't think this is normal/healthy I'm hoping it will improve.

*OH* and it's nearly that time of year again where I go on my SKIING lessons. Oh that brings back memories....except the time I fell and got a concussion. I have no memory of that.

Cleaning

Ever since I had those nice new wardrobes installed, the rest of my room has been a bit of a mess. I make the bed every morning and that gives the illusion (if you keep your eyes away from the floor area) that my room is really nice and tidy and generally really cool. Unfortunately most people tend to see the floor which was a bit of a problem. So I began to tidy. I made the bed.

Then I organised my dresser and the drawers. Then I fixed the desk. And then I attacked the bookshelf. I'm not much of a reader anymore. Compared to the time when I would get through a few books a week, now I don't read at all. The last book I read was the last Harry Potter. I read the paper from time to time but that's it.

Tidying my shelves, I found books I read when I was a teenager, and ones I read as a child! I even found three unfinished books with bookmarks in them. I have a million books I've never read too. I flicked through each of them and if the writing type was large they were put in the 'dump' pile. If there were pictures in them, they too went to the 'dump' pile. I still was itching to throw a few more out so I judged them on their title or cover picture. The Hardy Boys for example was out. I don't even know how something like that ended up on my shelves in the first place... And now my shelves are all tidy and clutter free.

I even found two Virgin Mary paper-weights!

So now I've got even MORE clutter on the floor but it will get sorted. Eventually. And when I can't sleep at night, that's what I'll be doing.

On a side note, college has already become ridiculously hectic between lectures, after college stuff and social business which means this blog is a bit neglected. And so I've decided to blog once a week now. Probably Sunday. But that could change. Just letting you know!

Weekend :)

This morning I finished my IVs and went over to the hospital to have the line removed and have bloods taken. There was no traffic at ALL and I flew across the city. It would appear all the cars seemed to be stuffed into the Hospital car park however as it was full. I parked on the street and was in and out in an hour so it made no difference.

Today marked the end of my first week back to college. It was a tiring week but I think most of that stems from the IVs. Hopefully with a quiet weekend full of rest and lounging in front of the TV, I'll be ready to go on Monday.

I got around to doing my stationary shopping today (my all time favourite geeky thing to do), and will do my clothes shopping for the year next week. I got fabulous new wardrobes built in my room last week and in my opinion they are far too bare. The fact that they are very big has absolutely NO impact on this at all.

Whatsoever.

Check-Home

I was discharged this afternoon and promptly caught a taxi home! We had a bit of a panic moment last night where my PICC line wouldn't give blood out. Twenty minutes later, it was determined that there was blood coming back out so it was OK to go. I can't say I saw any difference but I am NOT complaining as the line is *touch wood* still standing.

I'm taking the IVs four times a day but only have one week left. And each IV *should* only take 30 minutes which is fantastic.

Incredibly and bizarrely my prograf (anti-rejection tablet) level came out at 25.1 today, making it extremely high. I have no answers to that puzzle. So tonight I'll take nothing and then in the morning start back taking 2mg and 2mg, which is half the dose I'm on now. It's a bit nerve-wrecking taking no anti rejection at all but whatever sorts it, whatever.

But I'm home! :)

Check-In

On day release/ out for hours so thought I'd post a small update!

Went into hospital on Friday and following three attempts, a PICC line now dangles from my bicep (tricep?? Can never remember which one's which). I'm on Tobramycin and Meropenum for a while. The hospital room is lush and equipped with essentials like a bathroom and flat screen telly with ALL the 18 or so channels- no complaints!

I've been feeling a bit sick with the IVs, and got sick yesterday but since then feel good. What really helps is the fact that I'm well-ish coming into this course of IVs which is a positive. The PICC line also ensures that I don't need to be jabbed for blood which is always good!

I've started watching Grey's Anatomy too - epic stuff!!! And that's about all that's going on right about now...

*Slight* Turbulance

Along the, for the most part, smooth life post transplant, on occasion bumps will be hit. A depressed immune system combined with a history of CF and transplanted lungs sometimes means little glitches arise.

I went to clinic yesterday where my lung functions were 99.6% (a personal best for me), a good x-ray was reported and all things look good. Except that I have some sort of chest infection as evidence by the 'not so nice' stuff I have been coughing up for a few weeks now. (Symptoms for the medical peoples= "green") Plus I've noticed I can't laugh or scream without coughing first.

But everything else looks super which is a great sign. However we agreed that there's no point in waiting until something serious comes up regarding this infection and so considering the smarties tablets (ciproxin) failed to have any effect recently the next step is I.V.s.

I will go into hospital tomorrow morning at silly o'clock and have a PICC line placed and begin as soon as I can. I will spend a couple of nights in hospital itself and hope to continue/finish the course at home early next week. It was my decision to go into hospital as I found the last course incredibly draining as each set of IVs takes 2 hours and must be done every 8 hours. This requires early starts and way too late finishes - ignoring the tiring effects IVs have on the body.

Although I was rather frustrated by the whole situation yesterday, I realise that, in reality, it's not so bad. The timing is just perfect (as I'm not working and college doesn't start until next week) and having IVs again just means I'm fuelled up and ready to hit the ground running when the course is completed. Two years ago I couldn't even run. Not that I can now, but the potential *is* there if I wasn't so self conscious about sounding like a clumping elephant on a treadmill in the gym. That's for another day....

Home-io

Just a quick little update: I saw Hungary, Austria, Poland, The Czech-Republic, Germany and The Netherlands over the past two weeks. We stayed in one hostel and then ran away the third day because we didn't like it so much. Thanks to work connections with one of my fellow traveller, we were able to stay in Marriott Hotels everywhere else. This really made the whole 'back-packing across Europe' a lot easier. Especially going to the whirlpool/swimming pool bit.

Berlin, we considered as 'sunken cost' and was the worst bit. It's hard to put a first on the rest, but probably Krakow or Amsterdam would be my favourites although they were all excellent.

So I'm home and have two weeks to myself before I head back to education land. This next two weeks will be spent running errands and getting myself together. In fourteen days time I will probably be questioning where the time went and analysing how I could have spent it wisely whilst staring at a ridiculously long/out of date 'to do' list.