Well I've had a really busy week so far!
On Monday I had to get up early and head on up to the Royal Liverpool for a scan on my fistula in my arm, I was convinced that the bulge in my arm had got bigger therefore I would need more balloons meaning more surgery! However my theory was disproved as it hadn't got bigger at all (if anything its got smaller) and the great news is I don't need anything doing, well not at the mo anyway! I need to go back in 2months for another scan just to keep an eye on it! The surgeon did the scan himself and took some measurements for the trial I am part of! So all good news!
I then had a full day at uni on Tuesday and went out for a chinese with my friends Steph and Gary! It was my turn to drive this time so I picked Gary up on the way and headed on over to Frodsham which is about half an hour away. We had a lovely time chatting and laughing away, its good to see them away from the hospital and not just talk kidneys and dialysis.
On Wednesday I had another full day at uni, a big lecture on doing my dissertation! Very scary! The headed on over to Warrington Hospital for Dialysis, which was ok apart from the end when I felt a bit funny and got terrible cramp in my big toe! It brought tears to my eyes, the most annoying thing is that I can't move (get up and stamp my feet) the nurse was very nice and filled up a rubber glove with hot water to hold onto the cramp to ease the pain! Cramps happen when you are taking alot of fluid off or taking too much fluid off.
Felt ok today, a bit tired but not too bad, I think its all the early mornings and uni catching up with me. I went again today, just for the morning and then this afternoon we were babysitting our friends little boy Peter. We had fun playing trains and watching in the Night Garden. Andy brought Abigail round for an hour as well which was nice but they had to make a quick dash for it as Abigail was having a bit of a tantrum (hehe starting early)!
Also had a phone call this afternoon from Kelly at Raw Television (the battlefront campaign) she has asked me to fill out a CRB form online and I need to take my Identifications to the post office ASAP for them to check them, this is necessary for all the people that finished in the top 10. Kelly then went on to say that it was even more important that I do the CRB quickly as I had made the judges top 3!!! I need to speak to a psychiatrist/psychologist (can't remember which) on Monday at 4pm to see if I am a suitable candidate to make that coveted 20th spot inthe Battlefront! Really happy about this, just need to wait till 3rd November to see who wins!
Finally my plans for next week are...
On Monday I'm excited to say Emily from Live Life Then Give Life is coming to stay the night as she is up in the North West to do a talk at the Manchester Royal Infirmary on Tuesday. I might head up to Manchester in the morning to help her set up the LLTGL/Organ Donor stand before I go to uni in the afternoon (Can't wait to catch up Emily). Talking of Live Life Then Give Life they have a great new blog which you can visit here, I feature in their latest blog!
On Tuesday night I'm at my friends birthday night out, we're going bowling and then heading into town for a few drinks.
So thats all the gossip really, will keep you updated with the Battlefront competition!
Showing posts with label nights out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nights out. Show all posts
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Ok, so first things first... No baby news!!!! She is going for a routine hospital appointment tomorrow (she will be a week overdue then) so hopefully we'll know more then, maybe they will keep her in and induce her, who knows.
Seem to have had a busy few weeks really, can't pin point on things I have actually done. Met up with some friends and did some crafting (in anticipation of baby pictures.)
I also caught up with a friend I used to dialyse with Steph (who received her transplant a year ago) and one I still dialyse with, we went for a burger at Frankie and Bennys it was lovely!
On the dialysis front, nothing new really, had a few off days last week, vomitting and sickness but I'm lucky really, my really bad days are getting less and less as I get more and more used to dialysis I suppose. I have been good recently at taking my new tablets (Alucaps) and had my blood tests last night so hopefully it will show in them. I'm also counting down to my procedure on my arm (which is hurting today, for some reason!), the stent will be insterted under Local Anesthetic next Thursday and hopefully I'll be out within a few hours!
Thats it really, hopefully I'll be officially an Auntie soon and I will be able to announce the baby's name, which as yet no-one knows apart from Andy and Fiona!
I've decided that I have started talking more about family and friends rather than dialysis, so I'm going to take some pictures of the unit and talk you through my dialysis routine in my next post.... watch this space....
Seem to have had a busy few weeks really, can't pin point on things I have actually done. Met up with some friends and did some crafting (in anticipation of baby pictures.)
I also caught up with a friend I used to dialyse with Steph (who received her transplant a year ago) and one I still dialyse with, we went for a burger at Frankie and Bennys it was lovely!
On the dialysis front, nothing new really, had a few off days last week, vomitting and sickness but I'm lucky really, my really bad days are getting less and less as I get more and more used to dialysis I suppose. I have been good recently at taking my new tablets (Alucaps) and had my blood tests last night so hopefully it will show in them. I'm also counting down to my procedure on my arm (which is hurting today, for some reason!), the stent will be insterted under Local Anesthetic next Thursday and hopefully I'll be out within a few hours!
Thats it really, hopefully I'll be officially an Auntie soon and I will be able to announce the baby's name, which as yet no-one knows apart from Andy and Fiona!
I've decided that I have started talking more about family and friends rather than dialysis, so I'm going to take some pictures of the unit and talk you through my dialysis routine in my next post.... watch this space....
Monday, 11 August 2008
Hi, sorry I've been lazy in updating, thats because not much has happened in the world of Holly this week!
Me and the folks took Fiona out for lunch a couple of times to keep her occupied while we wait for the little bubs to make an appearance, think she is getting fed up waiting now, then again I think we all are. We also went out with her family for a meal together before the little one is born, this was a great laugh and I got to wear my new dress, YAY! I also them my final baby present which was a bib with "If you think I'm cute you should see my Auntie Holly!" written on it!
I've also been busy this week making scrapbooks to put pics of the baby in, they are coming along well and will be a great way of preserving memories for years to come!
I also ordered myself a new dell laptop in pink (obviously) so thats due to arrive on the 28th, well in time for my final year of uni!
On the dialysis front, nothing new really, I felt sick a couple of times during dialysis but I think this was due to me having a large lunch before my session, this seems to be a problem because I have to weigh myself before dialysis to calculate how much fluid I need to loose, this is done by taking my weight and then calculating the difference between that and my dry weight. So if I go in today and my weight is 68.9kg I would need to loose 2.4l (2400ml) as my dry weight is 67 and then an extra 500mls for the washback through the machine at then end of dialsys. However if I have had a big lunch the scales can't calculate what is food and what is fluid and so I may take off more fluid than necessary and obviously feel ill, may get cramps and have trouble getting my blood pressure at the end of the session.
However my latest bloods weren't too bad, my potassium had come down to 4point something, it needs to be under 5 as to much can cause heart problems. My clearence has gone up from 71% to 73% which is good news, as if it was decreasing I may need to put up the time I spend on dialysis! ( I'm one of 2 people in the unit that only do 3 hours)
The only problem with my blood is my phosphates (again) I like these Alucap tablets a lot more than other tabs and I have no probs in taking them, I just cant seem to remember to take them "every" time I eat!!! Also my calcium is still a tad high due to those other tablets I was on so hopefully by the next bloods this will have reduced.
So today I am off out for lunch with my folks, Fiona and Mum's friend who is over from Ireland (not decided if I'm going to eat yet, as I don't want to feel sick again on the machine later on.) I may still go along though as I don't want to miss out on any gossip!
Me and the folks took Fiona out for lunch a couple of times to keep her occupied while we wait for the little bubs to make an appearance, think she is getting fed up waiting now, then again I think we all are. We also went out with her family for a meal together before the little one is born, this was a great laugh and I got to wear my new dress, YAY! I also them my final baby present which was a bib with "If you think I'm cute you should see my Auntie Holly!" written on it!
I've also been busy this week making scrapbooks to put pics of the baby in, they are coming along well and will be a great way of preserving memories for years to come!
I also ordered myself a new dell laptop in pink (obviously) so thats due to arrive on the 28th, well in time for my final year of uni!
On the dialysis front, nothing new really, I felt sick a couple of times during dialysis but I think this was due to me having a large lunch before my session, this seems to be a problem because I have to weigh myself before dialysis to calculate how much fluid I need to loose, this is done by taking my weight and then calculating the difference between that and my dry weight. So if I go in today and my weight is 68.9kg I would need to loose 2.4l (2400ml) as my dry weight is 67 and then an extra 500mls for the washback through the machine at then end of dialsys. However if I have had a big lunch the scales can't calculate what is food and what is fluid and so I may take off more fluid than necessary and obviously feel ill, may get cramps and have trouble getting my blood pressure at the end of the session.
However my latest bloods weren't too bad, my potassium had come down to 4point something, it needs to be under 5 as to much can cause heart problems. My clearence has gone up from 71% to 73% which is good news, as if it was decreasing I may need to put up the time I spend on dialysis! ( I'm one of 2 people in the unit that only do 3 hours)
The only problem with my blood is my phosphates (again) I like these Alucap tablets a lot more than other tabs and I have no probs in taking them, I just cant seem to remember to take them "every" time I eat!!! Also my calcium is still a tad high due to those other tablets I was on so hopefully by the next bloods this will have reduced.
So today I am off out for lunch with my folks, Fiona and Mum's friend who is over from Ireland (not decided if I'm going to eat yet, as I don't want to feel sick again on the machine later on.) I may still go along though as I don't want to miss out on any gossip!
Saturday, 5 July 2008
It's been a busy week, can hardly remember what I've done!
On Monday I did a practice 2 mile walk to make sure I could actually do it, this is a big deal for me as I get tired really easily and I didn't want to ask people for sponsor money if I was unable to actually complete it! I did it in about an hour so thats not bad for me. So I'm all set now for tomorrow, I hope the weather stays nice! Thanks to everyone whose sponsored me (on and offline) I really appreciate it!
On Tuesday I had a fun day catching up with different friends, I went to a play barn with my friend Hanne and her daughter Ellie. This was great exercise running around after her and really tired me out, so I had a nap in the afternoon, ready for a night out with some other friends. Me and my friends Steph (whose had a kidney transplant) and Gary (who I dialyse with) went for a chinese and it was great to chat away from the hosp!
On Thursday I spent the whole afternoon at Warrington Hospital in the Opthalmology department! On a routine eye check about a month ago my optician said that my optic nerve was swollen and he was going to refer me. I was a bit concerned as this happened before about 2 years ago and I needed various tests and an MRI scan so I was worried that all this needed to be done again. We had to wait about 2 or more hours to be seen, I had to have special eye drops in that dilated my pupils (I looked like I was on drugs) and made my vision all blurry! I needn't have worried though, the consultant saw me and looked at the back of my eye and said it was scarring from the previous time it had swollen so it would probably always be like this! So all is good.
Finally yesterday there was a bit of a nightmare with dialysis, Warrington Hosp phoned and said that the unit had no water and so patients were going all different places to be dialysed, I was told I would have to go to Clatterbridge for 4.30. So we set off just before 4.00, but on the way there the unit manager rang and said a patient had got there before me and so he would get on first and I would have to wait until 6.30! To say I wasn't impressed was an understament, particulary because he was told to get there for 6.30!!! So we arrived at the unit after about 45 minutes and knew that we would be waiting well over an hour, which isn't the best feeling when you then have to have dialysis for 3 hours and then have to tavel all the way home again. So to kill a bit of time me, my mum and dad went for a walk to a nearby strawberry farm that we spotted on the way in! We managed to pick 2 massive ponnets of strawberries in 15minutes and I'm sure my mum ate as many as she picked! Everytime I turned round her cheeks were puffed out as she had stuffed another one in!
All the patients from my usual shift in Warrington also went to Clatterbridge so it wasn't so bad, I finally got on the machine at 6.30, there were no tellies so the time dragged and the patients actually talked to each other for once, as in Warrington the beds are set out at an angle that patients cant see or talk to eachother! So this made a change and killed a bit of time, but I'll not take the tellies at Warrington for granted now!
So I got home about 11, and watched Big Bro in bed!!!
Will let you know how I get on with the walk tomorrow! x
On Monday I did a practice 2 mile walk to make sure I could actually do it, this is a big deal for me as I get tired really easily and I didn't want to ask people for sponsor money if I was unable to actually complete it! I did it in about an hour so thats not bad for me. So I'm all set now for tomorrow, I hope the weather stays nice! Thanks to everyone whose sponsored me (on and offline) I really appreciate it!
On Tuesday I had a fun day catching up with different friends, I went to a play barn with my friend Hanne and her daughter Ellie. This was great exercise running around after her and really tired me out, so I had a nap in the afternoon, ready for a night out with some other friends. Me and my friends Steph (whose had a kidney transplant) and Gary (who I dialyse with) went for a chinese and it was great to chat away from the hosp!
On Thursday I spent the whole afternoon at Warrington Hospital in the Opthalmology department! On a routine eye check about a month ago my optician said that my optic nerve was swollen and he was going to refer me. I was a bit concerned as this happened before about 2 years ago and I needed various tests and an MRI scan so I was worried that all this needed to be done again. We had to wait about 2 or more hours to be seen, I had to have special eye drops in that dilated my pupils (I looked like I was on drugs) and made my vision all blurry! I needn't have worried though, the consultant saw me and looked at the back of my eye and said it was scarring from the previous time it had swollen so it would probably always be like this! So all is good.
Finally yesterday there was a bit of a nightmare with dialysis, Warrington Hosp phoned and said that the unit had no water and so patients were going all different places to be dialysed, I was told I would have to go to Clatterbridge for 4.30. So we set off just before 4.00, but on the way there the unit manager rang and said a patient had got there before me and so he would get on first and I would have to wait until 6.30! To say I wasn't impressed was an understament, particulary because he was told to get there for 6.30!!! So we arrived at the unit after about 45 minutes and knew that we would be waiting well over an hour, which isn't the best feeling when you then have to have dialysis for 3 hours and then have to tavel all the way home again. So to kill a bit of time me, my mum and dad went for a walk to a nearby strawberry farm that we spotted on the way in! We managed to pick 2 massive ponnets of strawberries in 15minutes and I'm sure my mum ate as many as she picked! Everytime I turned round her cheeks were puffed out as she had stuffed another one in!
All the patients from my usual shift in Warrington also went to Clatterbridge so it wasn't so bad, I finally got on the machine at 6.30, there were no tellies so the time dragged and the patients actually talked to each other for once, as in Warrington the beds are set out at an angle that patients cant see or talk to eachother! So this made a change and killed a bit of time, but I'll not take the tellies at Warrington for granted now!
So I got home about 11, and watched Big Bro in bed!!!
Will let you know how I get on with the walk tomorrow! x
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
So had a really busy week this week, on Saturday I went to my friend's daughter's 2nd birthday party, the bouncy castle kept the kids occupied and the alcohol did the trick for the adults (obviously not me due to the fluid restriction.) Luckily the weather held off and fun was had by everyone, I left early though as I was really tired and everyone else went on to town for the night! Here's me and Sarah in the garden, with the bouncy castle in the background! (none of those bottles are mine, they are all Sarah's!!!)
It was back to work for me on Monday after half term, I had actually missed being in the classroom and missed talking with the kids! I don't really see it as work, which is a good thing. Yesterday I went in to work for the morning, and spent the afternoon with Peter and his mum and dad. He is growing up so quick and even managed to say Holly's car, when he greeted me at the door!
Last night I had a fab night out with the girlies for Carrie's 21st! We started off at Uni in her uni room then headed into town for some cocktails (coke for me) and a dance! Here's a picture of us all (before anyone was too tipsy to pose!
And of course there are always some dodgy photos, especially once the alcohol has taken hold, below is Nic trying to give me a drunken kiss (note the lovely expression on my face)!
And of course a girl can't go out without some lipgloss on!
So I've got my op tomorrow, I'm a little bit nervous but I've had the procedure done before so know what to expect! Will update you when I get home, hopefully I won't have to stay in overnight!
It was back to work for me on Monday after half term, I had actually missed being in the classroom and missed talking with the kids! I don't really see it as work, which is a good thing. Yesterday I went in to work for the morning, and spent the afternoon with Peter and his mum and dad. He is growing up so quick and even managed to say Holly's car, when he greeted me at the door!
Last night I had a fab night out with the girlies for Carrie's 21st! We started off at Uni in her uni room then headed into town for some cocktails (coke for me) and a dance! Here's a picture of us all (before anyone was too tipsy to pose!
And of course there are always some dodgy photos, especially once the alcohol has taken hold, below is Nic trying to give me a drunken kiss (note the lovely expression on my face)!
And of course a girl can't go out without some lipgloss on!
So I've got my op tomorrow, I'm a little bit nervous but I've had the procedure done before so know what to expect! Will update you when I get home, hopefully I won't have to stay in overnight!
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
So on Monday I went for dialysis and there was a nurse on shift that is new to the unit, I don't want to say too much but put it this way we haven't set off on the right foot and not seen eye-to-eye on a few things... she was putting me on the machine and I could tell she was nervous (her hands were shaking) this is not so good when your about to stab someone in the arm with a huge needle! She couldn't get a blood flow, but proceeded to keep stabbing me a twisting the needle to see if it would come, in the end after about 8 attempts she decided to call the other nurse over to do it, who succeeded first time! I know they've got to learn at some point, but I don't really want it to be me that she practices on!
Anyway after the session the nurse that managed to get the flow took me off and said that she suspected the previous nurse had blown my fistula (meaning she had gone in one side of the vein and out of the other) hence leaving me with a swollen and bruised (unsightly looking) arm! Which I wasn't impressed with as I had joked to the nurse about wearing a sleeveless dress for my birthday meal out, I still wore the dress but felt really self conscious of my arm being in sight and in the photo's!
So yesterday was my actual birthday and it was a hectic day. The folks and I were babysitting our friend's little boy Peter again. (we are doing this every Tuesday for the next 5 weeks), me and my dad took him to his usual Tumble Tots session where he went absolutely wild, running around like a little mad man! It's a fab set up, squishy things to climb on and wooden climbing frames followed by singing songs however the adults were doing the songs (with actions) while the kids were either running riot or just standing there (probably thinking to themselves look at these ridiculous adults.)
The rest of the day was spent speaking to visitors and playing with Peter. Me and mum then went to the airport to pick up a friend that is visiting from Northern Ireland for her daughter's wedding! So our house was like an open house, people in and out!
So last night we went for a meal at a local Chinese restaurant with my Gran, my parents, my brother and his wife (and bump)! It was lovely, I overate but it was too nice to leave any!
I wore all my new jewelry, the ring that my mum and dad bought me, and the earrings and necklace my bro bought me (which you can see in the photo below)! Heres a pic of me in the restaurant, my dads head seems to have been replaced with the balloon, oh well!
A very busy week for me, but have loved every minute... paying for it a bit now as I have a cold and feel a bit run down! I only managed to work a half day today and decided that I would work a full day on Friday instead which I'm really looking forward to (provided I feel ok.)
Monday, 5 May 2008
Thought I'd backdate some posts to fill you in on the mad busy week I have had. It all started on Saturday with preparations for my "do" on Sunday. We picked up my MASSIVE cake from Frodsham (Devonshire Bakery) it was fab!
There's a funny story behind it as well... bit spooky actually, some of you will know that I post on a forum called the Kidney Patient Guide. Well I received a private message off a fellow poster saying they had met me on Saturday. I was very confused until I read further and discovered the lady (Emma) actually worked in the bakery and had brought my cake out to the car, so I'm glad she contacted me, and hopefully we'll stay in touch! (Hello Emma, if you're reading this :o) thanks for getting in touch.)
So back to the preparations, lots of party food nibbles were bought and my hair was put in rollers and my mum and dad spent the afternoon decorating the house with banners and balloons. It looked fab! On the Sunday, I spent the day resting and conserving my energy for the late night, then spent a few hours getting ready, putting my "slap" on and taking my rollers out! My friends started arriving around 5, food was eaten and a few presents opened. My uni friends bought me a make-over photo shoot for two which is fab! Think I'm gonna take my mum, it takes 5 hours in total and I'm sure it'll be a fab day and they also got me a "build a bear" birthday bear, called tinkerbell, who appears in the photo below!
The pink limo arrived at 6 and lots of photos were taken!
We then hit the road to Blackpool and headed for Funnygirls, for those of you who don't know its a drag queen/transvestite cabaret show! However I didn't check the tickets properly and it turned out you needed to have ID to get in, everyone had ID bar one, and they wouldn't let her in. They weren't budging and in the end her dad had to drive all the way to Blackpool to drop her driving licence off! The show itself was hilarious as all the waiters were drag queens as well! You had to be broadminded as some of the comments were a bit risque but hey it was a great laugh and my dad even managed to pull one of the drag queens ;o)!
A different limo picked us up, this time a pink hummer, it was gorgeous and meant we got the best of both worlds having 2 different limos! We headed back to Warrington town centre to finish the night with a drink and a dance in a club called Level. All in all a good night was had by everyone!!!
There's a funny story behind it as well... bit spooky actually, some of you will know that I post on a forum called the Kidney Patient Guide. Well I received a private message off a fellow poster saying they had met me on Saturday. I was very confused until I read further and discovered the lady (Emma) actually worked in the bakery and had brought my cake out to the car, so I'm glad she contacted me, and hopefully we'll stay in touch! (Hello Emma, if you're reading this :o) thanks for getting in touch.)
So back to the preparations, lots of party food nibbles were bought and my hair was put in rollers and my mum and dad spent the afternoon decorating the house with banners and balloons. It looked fab! On the Sunday, I spent the day resting and conserving my energy for the late night, then spent a few hours getting ready, putting my "slap" on and taking my rollers out! My friends started arriving around 5, food was eaten and a few presents opened. My uni friends bought me a make-over photo shoot for two which is fab! Think I'm gonna take my mum, it takes 5 hours in total and I'm sure it'll be a fab day and they also got me a "build a bear" birthday bear, called tinkerbell, who appears in the photo below!
The pink limo arrived at 6 and lots of photos were taken!
We then hit the road to Blackpool and headed for Funnygirls, for those of you who don't know its a drag queen/transvestite cabaret show! However I didn't check the tickets properly and it turned out you needed to have ID to get in, everyone had ID bar one, and they wouldn't let her in. They weren't budging and in the end her dad had to drive all the way to Blackpool to drop her driving licence off! The show itself was hilarious as all the waiters were drag queens as well! You had to be broadminded as some of the comments were a bit risque but hey it was a great laugh and my dad even managed to pull one of the drag queens ;o)!
A different limo picked us up, this time a pink hummer, it was gorgeous and meant we got the best of both worlds having 2 different limos! We headed back to Warrington town centre to finish the night with a drink and a dance in a club called Level. All in all a good night was had by everyone!!!
Thursday, 1 May 2008
That squirrel died with a nut in its hand...
Sorry for the lack of blogging, I've had a mad busy few weeks....
First I started my work placement at a local Primary School and I'm loving every minute of it, even if the kids do ask me questions I don't know how to answer in a suitable way!? I'm with year 2's so they have a wealth of information but are still so innocent at the same time, which is just right for their age. I'm doing this for the next 10 weeks and I'm working Monday all day, Wednesday all day and half a day Friday which is great as I feel ok when I wake up in the morning as I have not had dialysis the night before. So all is going well with work, its tiring but great fun and I am impressed with myself that after the 4th day I knew all the kids names in the class (29 of them)!!!
So the topics for this week have been story writing (about a magic leaf) and woodland animals, one of the activities for the kids was them looking at stuffed animals and writing down the features of them! There was a red squirrel, a badger, a fox, a mole, a cuckoo and an owl, I had to pretend these were great, whereas in reality they were pretty freaky! The teacher had to sensitively explain the concept of stuffing an animal, and that they are real animals that were once alive, some children found it hard to grasp this and proceeded to ask me questions like why are they so still? and how did this one die? but the best comment of the day was a kid who said "wow, that squirrel died with a nut in its hand, cool!" It brought a smile to my face but then I had to explain that it probably didn't die with a nut in its hand that the person that stuffed it put it there and glued it in place! Next I was told I looked like the badger because I was wearing a black and white stripy top, So I survived looking at the stuffed animals, and I'm looking forward to going back tomorrow morning and seeing what my next challenge will be!
In other news... to my surprise I appeared in my local paper today (The Warrington Guardian) I had completely forgotten that Emily (from LLTGL) had sent a press release out about me becoming the regional advocate for her charity. The paper hadn't been in touch and so I really wasn't expecting it and obviously it came as a nice surprise and will raise awareness for a great charity, the article isn't online so I will type it up for you to have a look at...
Holly Helps Organ Charity
A life spent hooked up to a dialysis machine is what faces 21-year-old Holly Shaw, but instead of dwelling on it she has thrown her efforts into working for an organ donation charity. Now her hard work has been rewarded and she has been made Live Life Then Give Life's key advocate for the North West.
"I am really proud to be an advocate for Live Life Then Give Life," said Holly, from Westbrook. "The gift of life is so important and a transplant could give me back my life; dialysis is a life saver but also a life sentence. With a new kidney I wouldn't have to do the treatment but most of all I would just feel normal and well again," She said.
Holly has been waiting for a kidney for three years. Her dialysis treatment leaves her feeling tired and nauseous and she can only drink 500ml of fluid a day. More than 8,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant. To sign on to the NHS organ Donor Register go to http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ or call 0845 60 60 400. Go to http://www.livelifethengivelife.co.uk/ to find out more about Holly's campaign.
So thats all the news really... dialysis has been ok, diet is going well and I'm feeling quite well at the moment, I'm looking forward to a night out on Sunday with my friends and family for my 21st Birthday (which is on Tuesday) should be lots of fun, and I'll post about all the antics sometime next week!
First I started my work placement at a local Primary School and I'm loving every minute of it, even if the kids do ask me questions I don't know how to answer in a suitable way!? I'm with year 2's so they have a wealth of information but are still so innocent at the same time, which is just right for their age. I'm doing this for the next 10 weeks and I'm working Monday all day, Wednesday all day and half a day Friday which is great as I feel ok when I wake up in the morning as I have not had dialysis the night before. So all is going well with work, its tiring but great fun and I am impressed with myself that after the 4th day I knew all the kids names in the class (29 of them)!!!
So the topics for this week have been story writing (about a magic leaf) and woodland animals, one of the activities for the kids was them looking at stuffed animals and writing down the features of them! There was a red squirrel, a badger, a fox, a mole, a cuckoo and an owl, I had to pretend these were great, whereas in reality they were pretty freaky! The teacher had to sensitively explain the concept of stuffing an animal, and that they are real animals that were once alive, some children found it hard to grasp this and proceeded to ask me questions like why are they so still? and how did this one die? but the best comment of the day was a kid who said "wow, that squirrel died with a nut in its hand, cool!" It brought a smile to my face but then I had to explain that it probably didn't die with a nut in its hand that the person that stuffed it put it there and glued it in place! Next I was told I looked like the badger because I was wearing a black and white stripy top, So I survived looking at the stuffed animals, and I'm looking forward to going back tomorrow morning and seeing what my next challenge will be!
In other news... to my surprise I appeared in my local paper today (The Warrington Guardian) I had completely forgotten that Emily (from LLTGL) had sent a press release out about me becoming the regional advocate for her charity. The paper hadn't been in touch and so I really wasn't expecting it and obviously it came as a nice surprise and will raise awareness for a great charity, the article isn't online so I will type it up for you to have a look at...
Holly Helps Organ Charity
A life spent hooked up to a dialysis machine is what faces 21-year-old Holly Shaw, but instead of dwelling on it she has thrown her efforts into working for an organ donation charity. Now her hard work has been rewarded and she has been made Live Life Then Give Life's key advocate for the North West.
"I am really proud to be an advocate for Live Life Then Give Life," said Holly, from Westbrook. "The gift of life is so important and a transplant could give me back my life; dialysis is a life saver but also a life sentence. With a new kidney I wouldn't have to do the treatment but most of all I would just feel normal and well again," She said.
Holly has been waiting for a kidney for three years. Her dialysis treatment leaves her feeling tired and nauseous and she can only drink 500ml of fluid a day. More than 8,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant. To sign on to the NHS organ Donor Register go to http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ or call 0845 60 60 400. Go to http://www.livelifethengivelife.co.uk/ to find out more about Holly's campaign.
So thats all the news really... dialysis has been ok, diet is going well and I'm feeling quite well at the moment, I'm looking forward to a night out on Sunday with my friends and family for my 21st Birthday (which is on Tuesday) should be lots of fun, and I'll post about all the antics sometime next week!
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Not much news really... Dialysis is the same old same old, but I'm feeling good so I suppose I can't complain.
I had a great night out on Saturday, It was my Best Friends 21st Birthday! I went with her, her family and her fella to an Indian restaurant in Manchester called East Z East!
Indian food isn't really my cup of tea so I just had some Egg Pilau rice, a poppadom and some naan bread!
The bloke that owns the restaurant actually appeared on the last series of Ramseys Kitchen Nightmares (you might remember the odd looking naan bread stands that Gordon told him to get rid of). So Ramsey obviously helped him as he now has 3 restaurants altogether and seems to be doing well and still has the naan bread stands!!!
Other news... I've passed another uni assignment, so chuffed about that!
Friday, 14 March 2008
The Trafford Centre...
Last night I went to the Trafford centre with 2 friends of mine, a lad I dialyse with called Gary and Steph who I used to dialyse with but she received a transplant before Christmas, I miss her lots at the unit but so glad she is doing well and is free of dialysis and can get back to some sort of normality. Us three are the youngest at the unit me being the baby (21) then Gary (he will be impressed I’ve called him a lad he is 28) and then Steph (30).
So Steph picked me up from my house around 5.30 and we set off in rush hour traffic for the T centre (which was a bad idea) a journey that would usually take 30mins took over an hour! We were texting
After that we wandered round and looked for a place to have tea, we settled on a place called HA HA bar and grill.
Sunday, 9 March 2008
Jimmy Carr
So this week has been a bit of a nightmare my mum and dad have had a tummy bug and have been really ill, they caught it off the little boy I was talking about in my last post. Thankfully I have managed to avoid it and have tried to keep as far away from them as possible (in the nicest way obviously).
My dad usually takes me to dialysis and mum picks me up, dad was too ill on Friday so mum took me (this was a bad idea) she hadn’t eaten for two days so was pale and wobbly, she dropped me off and I sent her on her way hoping she made it home without being sick (she looked awful). So I didn’t want her to come and pick me up and make herself worse so thankfully my big bro came to the rescue and picked me up! So I’m hoping they’re both over the worst of it and are on the mend.
So last night mum, dad, bro, his wife Fiona and I were all due to go on a night out to see Jimmy Carr on his latest tour (repeat offender). Mum and Dad were too ill and so I invited one of my friends and Fiona invited her sister. We had a great night, Jimmy was very funny but extremely rude, and he even managed to take the mick out of someone waiting for a kidney transplant! We queued up at the end of the show to meet him and get DVD’s and programmes signed. I let him know that I wasn’t impressed about the joke and told him I was waiting for a kidney transplant, he was a bit taken aback but his words were “Well you look pretty f***ing well though don’t you?” to which I replied thanks, he was lovely, so I forgave him and he wished me luck with my wait.
Sunday, 24 February 2008
Great news... and a night on the town!
So the cats out of the bag now… and I can tell you I’m going to be an AUNTIE!! YAY!!! I’m so over excited, my sister-in-law is due on the 21st August and both her and my bro will make great parents! Me and my mum couldn’t resist and have been buying baby outfits already! So that’s the news out of the way now back to everyday life…
Sorry for the lack of blogging been busy again with uni work, 3 more assignments handed in, only 4 more to go!!!
I’ve had a cold this week so had to miss uni a few days! I’m on the mend now and even managed a night out with the uni girls last night for one of their 21st birthdays. You would think we had grown out of fancy dress by now but oh no…. school girls, cats, cowboys, fairies and even Marilyn Monroe were all out last night!
I had a great night, although as usual I did have to leave early as I was shattered and due to the fluid restriction couldn’t drink much (it’s not much fun being the only sober person). My patience doesn’t last long when the drunks get into the swing of things… literally, I got hit on the head twice last night by my mate Nic (see pic)!!!
So dialysis has been going ok, same old thing really… blood tests next week, to check the levels of potassium, phosphate, calcium and about a hundred more things, basically seeing whether I’m sticking to the renal diet or not and whether I’m taking my tablets!!!
So plans for next week are…. Going to uni, doing uni assignments and not forgetting dialysis, I lead an exciting life!
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