Monday 27th February to Friday 3rd March

So two years ago this Monday, I was having my second liver transplant. Just the beginning of my crazy and difficult time 😖 I find it quite tough at times when I think back, I have some weird and bizarre feelings about it all.

I didn’t seem to do anything at all to celebrate it this year (apart from Robyn, as always, who spoilt me with a card and present 😘) I just treated myself to a Costa before going to an appointment with my original consultant in the Horton Hospital, Banbury. So I updated him with things and also told him the fact that because of some of my recent blood results, PBC may be back in my new liver. He always has a feel of my tummy (which is something that Birmingham clinic consultants never do). Amazing how they can feel some of your internal organs through your skin and can kind of assess how they feel to them! And I told him that I am starting to get fluid build up in my legs and feet 😩 I don’t know if this is a side effect of the medication I am on for my high blood pressure or something else. Of course it wasn’t too bad when I showed him, so he told me to just keep an eye on it. He makes a note of everything on my file and always writes to my GP and I always have to have my blood taken there, but he doesn’t adjust my medication or anything. As I still haven’t been discharged from the doctors in Birmingham yet, that is all still left to be done when I go to my clinic appointments there. I seem to be getting double the care!

I called in to see my sister and her husband on the way back home to give them a piece of my birthday cake. So I stopped for a quick coffee and chat and also picked up a couple of the boxes that have been stored there while we were in the process of moving. Now to find more places to store even more junk!

Shrove Tuesday – pancake day. Off to work and then no pancakes to look forward to either 😞 I think this is the first time for many many years that we haven’t joined in with the pancake tradition. We usually make our own mixture and we always have to toss them before we can eat them (being careful not to drop them on the floor as Jake 🐶 would be ready and waiting underneath). This year Robyn was out at her boyfriends for the evening and because of their different complicated diet ‘restrictions’ no one wanted to eat any anyway, and me? I’m just simply not into food right now! 😔

Wednesday – just work. And then Leah cooked this for me 😋

And I actually enjoyed it (considering I have no appetite at all at the minute).

I heard on Thursday morning that a friend had just undergone her third liver transplant. I couldn’t stop thinking about her 🤔 I knew exactly where I was going to walk to when I had finished my volunteering today. I walked into nearby Headington so that I could take a photo of this (just to send as a bit of fun to hopefully brighten her day just a tiny bit when she woke up in Critical Care).

I have been wearing some different boots which are a bit of a looser fit and I found were a bit more comfortable on my broken toe 😕 but I haven’t worn them on a long walk before, so they started to rub my feet … I ended up with two blisters as well as a sore toe ☹️ Silly me. Oh well it was worth it to get the picture I wanted.

In the evening instead of a walk this week, I went for a carvery meal in a local pub with the usual walking group to belatedly celebrate my birthday with them.

Friday was just a hobble to work with my very sore feet 😨

My #walk1000miles challenge has suffered a little this week. I’ve not really been able to go out on any little extra walks which I like to try and do (I made an exception on Thursday of course). It hurts my toe too much. I am not happy about this.

And just in case you might be lucky enough to visit London soon! why not have a look at where you might still be able to see some Banksy artwork.

Saturday 25th to Sunday 26th February

This Saturday I was being treated for my birthday to some time out with my friend Nina 😀

But for some reason while I was getting ready I seemed to decide to walk into the leg of Gary’s bed and I heard a crack 😖 It seems like I had broken my toe. It hurt a lot 😰

And what bad timing! I hobbled around to finish getting ready in time for Nina to pick me up and take me to Oxford.

Nina treated me to an afternoon tea, served with a glass of prosecco 🥂It was lovely.

We also went into a couple of shops, wandered around (well I was very much hobbling) and went into the Covered Market where we saw these lovely unusual flowers.

And yes, they were real 🌹

We sat for a while and had a drink and then we went to see a musical show called Wonderland (based on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass).

A nice day.

And all of that was followed by a little shopping trip to Banbury on Sunday and a visit to my sister’s. But my poor toe was very bruised and hurting 🤦🏼‍♀️

Thursday 23rd to Friday 24th February

My mind was still in a funny state on this Thursday morning. I just could not get myself into the right frame of mind to go and volunteer. I don’t think I would have been much use to anyone 😕

I had a sudden urge that I needed to take myself out for a walk. So 9.30 in the morning and off I went. Out into Storm Doris 🌪

I decided to go on a slightly isolated walk. I was a little bit anxious but just went for it! Then I thought to myself that maybe I should let someone know where I had gone just in case I got abducted!!! No one at all knew that I had gone walking, they would have all just thought that I was volunteering at the JR 😏

It was a tough walk. The wind was SO strong 💨 I was being blown about all over the place. It was quite scary at times. I did think to myself that I must be mad going out for a long walk on a day like today. But weirdly it was also quite enjoyable.

I had heard from my sister Lynda at the beginning of my walk, she was coming into town to pick up some tablets and did I want to meet up? A good excuse for a Caffè Nero visit!

I just finished my walk in time to meet. I was exhausted and felt completely battered by the storm. I had walked 5.43 miles 🤗 So it was really good to have a nice mug of tea (especially as I had left the house this morning before I had a chance to have anything 😏)

Eventually I got back home and set myself to do some much needed jobs.

Then I went back out for another walk in the evening. Thankfully the storm had died down quite a bit by now.

Friday was an uneventful day just spent at work. But I think the two reasonably long walks yesterday had left me very tired and I was suffering with my feet 😕

Thought I would share this with you all –

Monday 20th to Wednesday 22nd February

I had to go for an X-ray on my feet first thing Monday morning. Just to see if it shows anything up that may be causing the problems I’ve been having with them 🤔

The rest of the day was just spent pottering about the house as I was feeling quite dizzy at times. I really wanted to go out in the afternoon for a walk but I wasnt sure if I would be okay while I was walking about on my own so in the end I decided I had better not. Very annoying. I also wasn’t really fit enough for yoga, even more annoying

Just work on Tuesday. I found today quite difficult. It was two years ago today that I got my call to say they had found me a liver, so two years ago tomorrow that I had my first transplant 😩 It just brought everything back to me and I kept thinking a lot about my donor and family. I tried to be good in the evening and made myself some food to eat, sweet potato and roasted veg – even that ended up as a bit of a burnt mess 😳

I had a day off from work on Wednesday. I wanted to keep my mind occupied and also use the day wisely so I was determined to get back into sorting some more boxes of junk out, I eventually got into the swing of this and so once again I didn’t get to go out for a walk. I think I did reasonably well, despite all my thoughts still being very much elsewhere, I got a couple more boxes ready to go up in the loft (which Tom helped me to do later in the evening, along with finally putting the Christmas decorations back up there 🤗) I also came across some photos of Robyn and Leah when they were little and various ornaments that people have given me, I think I’ve discovered that we need to get some new furniture now so I can actually display some of my things rather than just stacking them all in a box up in the loft for no one to see!

I then decided to be extra efficient and thought that I would immediately hang up some of the photos that I had found. Well that didn’t turn out to be a good idea. I was attempting to hang a photo of Leah as a very cute 1 year old, I was looking up trying to hook the string over the nail and it fell … right onto my nose and face. ‘OUCH’ it hurt – a lot. A lump immediately appeared, that soon went down but I have been left with quite a bruise on my forehead and nose (for me to receive many comments from people about over the last few days) Sore 🤕

It seemed to be all go in our house later, Tom was doing the hoovering and Robyn was in the kitchen doing some washing up and then cooking the two of them some pasta 🍝

I had to pop out to the surgery to get a blood test. The uric acid level in my blood was going to be tested again. I am already on tablets for this. Apparently if you have too much uric acid in your blood it can lead to gout (a type of arthritis) so my levels are being checked again in case this is the cause of my foot pain. I can’t complain that their not trying to help me can I?

When I got back I was allowed some of the leftover pasta!

I noticed that the oil light had flashed on and off in my car again when I was on the way to the surgery. I had noticed this before so I thought I would text Gary and tell him. (I’m not very good with cars so normally I just get Gary to sort these kinds of things out for me if I can 😣) He came round and found that my car did indeed need some more oil, it was almost empty apparently – I got a good telling off 😰

Please could I have some nice things happen to me …

Perhaps I could have one of these ‘crazy hair day’ styles done to cheer me up a bit. Their very good but the kids would need to have a lot of patience to sit still while you’re doing them wouldn’t they!

Aren’t these just brilliant. Their actually painted rocks! These are two of my favourites but have a look at these other painted rocks too, fancy a new hobby anyone?!

Saturday 18th to Sunday 19th February

OMG i am 5️⃣0️⃣ !

A train ride to London, a walk around Camden Town and the markets there (thank you to Solomon who gave me a free ‘birthday’ cup of coffee).

A boat trip along Regents Canal to Little Venice, a visit to the scary London Dungeons, a bit of walking and various tube rides to get us from one place to another, spaghetti bolognese in Bella Italia! and a walk through Chinatown. This was how I spent this Saturday, my 50th birthday 🙂

Keep a look out for the piccies hopefully appearing soon on my Photos page 📸

And then on Sunday afternoon Robyn had arranged for some of my family to get together at a local cafe for a nice cup of tea and …

I got a birthday cake 🎂🤗

Thursday 16th to Friday 17th February

I made it to volunteering this Thursday. Followed by one of my walks around the streets surrounding the hospital. A doctors appointment for my feet (yes I have finally given in 😏). And then my usual evening walk.

And as it was a nice sunny day on Friday we had a bit of an unexpected day out in Stratford. One of the conditions being that we had a walk along the side of the river so that I could clock up a few miles! So off we went – Robyn, Leah, myself, Julie, Hannah and her friend’s little boy Harley.

We had a tasty lunch, a jacket potato with chilli and cheese for me, and a good wander about. The walk along the river was fun. Feeding the ducks and the swans, Robyn and Harley being surrounded by them and then playing in the trees. A visit to a couple of shops and that was the afternoon soon over. 3.46 miles 👣 ✔️

Later on, when we had all got back home, it was time to try and sort a few things ready for my birthday outing tomorrow. Of course, just the same as all the other organising I have tried to do has caused me problems, this did too, resulting in long complicated phone calls with my sister and a mad dash down to her house to use her printer, which then also decided it was going to play up. But finally we managed to sort it all. Only then to receive a phone call from my brother being just a little awkward about the plans I had made for the day!  😩

Oh goodness me. I have had enough. It’s my birthday tomorrow and in some ways I wasn’t really looking forward to it 😶

Then I saw this heartwarming story ‘jumbo sweaters‘ – have a little read!
Goodbye forties 👋 you have certainly challenged me (in many, many, many ways) and right up until the very end too! I somehow made it through, goodness knows how at times 😳 

Now it’s very nearly time to say hello fifties 😱 – I’m ready for you …

Monday 13th to Wednesday 15th February

Happy 60th Birthday to my brother Peter 🍻 He had been taken off to Cyprus ☀️ for a week to celebrate, the lucky thing.

As it was a nice day here too, I went off for a Monday afternoon walk with my friend Kate.

Tuesday. Valentines Day 💕 And this time my sister’s birthday! Happy Birthday Julie 💐

So after a normal work day, in the evening a few of us went to the Toby Carvery restaurant in Banbury for a nice roast dinner to celebrate. I was looking forward to this but I was also wondering how my tummy would cope with it 😏

I’ve been to work on both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week but I still haven’t been feeling especially great while I’ve been there 😷 Since my ‘sickness’ last week, no matter what I seem to eat now has been giving me horrible pains in my tummy. What with this, and all the stress from still trying to arrange my outing to celebrate my birthday, food has not been high on my list of priorities. I guess as a result of that maybe, I am still feeling so tired and weak 😖 Makes everything so much harder to cope with. Not a great week so far.

If only I lived in Australia. I would just be able to visit this – ‘A behind-the-scenes look at organ and tissue donation, the Giving Life exhibition showcases the powerful stories of families and medical professionals touched by the gift of life’. It actually officially opens on my birthday so my problems would be solved!

And if my tummy was better I might be able to try these Scotch Creme Eggs. Look delicious don’t they, but think they may be a little sickly! Or how about these Cadbury Choc Tarts …

which apparently are coming out in the shops soon 😋

Thursday 9th to Sunday 12th February

I started to feel a little brighter from Thursday. Though very tired. I didn’t volunteer as I went to an appointment with Robyn. Then sneaked in a nice Costa coffee! ☕️ I wasn’t sure if I had recovered enough to be able to do the walk in the evening, but I gave it a try and I managed it 🙂

Friday was a trip to the Churchill Hospital in Oxford for a dermatology appointment. I didn’t realise until I got there that I was going for a full body skin check 😳 I thought it was just a check up for my procedures last year. But anyway, I have recently been waiting for this appointment to get here as the solar keratosis that I had removed from my lip last year has recently returned, although I noticed that some of it had come off itself just this Wednesday 😏. I still needed to get it checked out though along with a little dry patch of skin on my arm that I have also noticed, which is sometimes itchy.

They wanted to freeze the two things there and then but as it’s my birthday at the weekend I didn’t especially want to be left with a big red mark on my lip so the doctor said she would prescribe me with some Efudix cream and I could wait to start the treatment.

But since I have read about the cream, a form of topical chemotherapy, and the effects it’s going to have on my face while it’s working, I’m really not sure I want to go ahead and use it 😫

‘What are the side effects of Efudix cream? – The main side effect is skin irritation (dermatitis). The cream works by directly destroying the sun-damaged skin cells. This will cause intense inflammation, crusting, redness and oozing of the whole area treated. Inflammation is a good sign, as it shows the cream is having an effect. If the inflammation is too uncomfortable a steroid cream can be prescribed to calm down the inflammation.’

‘How long should I continue with the treatment? – After 2-4 weeks your skin will be red, crusty, and uncomfortable, this is what we want to happen. The cream can then be stopped, to allow healing.’

Oh goodness me ☹️

Leah was back from her holiday when I got in. She had a great time. But it was nice for me to have her back home.

A reasonably quiet weekend. 

A trip into Banbury on Saturday.

A visit to my sister’s on Sunday afternoon. I tried so hard to get the others to come out for a walk with me, but no, nobody would. So I just walked home on my own the long way round, in the rain! 🙃 just to get a tiny walk in.

Have a look at these two great things, a succulent turtle 🐢 and a mini pond 🐸 that you could have a go at making to go in your garden as Spring is coming – well hopefully. I love them both!

Saturday 4th to Wednesday 8th February

A lovely day weatherwise so a nice country walk on Saturday afternoon.

Lots of cuddles with baby James when I got back.

Leah and Jack were babysitting! (I don’t think they got too much sleep 😱)

I went along to Gary’s in the evening. And then, from nowhere, I was very sick 😷

All through Saturday night into Sunday morning. Ugh 😩 

Towards the end I felt like I wanted to just lay down on the toilet floor and give up, I was in so much pain.

I kind of lost Sunday. I either just slept or was in some kind of daze. I literally could not get my body to move to get out of bed. Later in the day the diarrhoea started. Robyn came and picked me up and took me home. I was like a zombie! I went straight to bed. And slept some more.

Monday I still felt terrible. I didn’t want to spend any more time in bed though so I managed to shakily get myself downstairs and onto the sofa, and that is where I spent the rest of the day. I was very weak. I couldn’t face food. Could only manage sips of my drink. I had a headache and my eyes went very blurry 😨

Leah left for her ‘already booked’ few days away with her friends (in a lodge with a hot tub, the lucky thing) so Robyn, when she wasn’t at work or gallivanting about, was left to be my nurse. Hounding me to keep drinking and trying to get me to eat when she did appear!

I couldn’t go to work Tuesday or Wednesday. Thankfully I didn’t feel sick any more but I was still very weak and wobbly and so tired. By Wednesday afternoon I was able to manage a bit of a slow and unsteady walk along to the salon, but then at least I could just sit there while Robyn did my hair for me 💆

A very quiet and lonely few days. Didn’t like it, don’t like being so ill anymore 😩

But anyway, enough about me! Here’s a lovely story about a brave mum and her little boy.

And look at this 😳

Wednesday 1st to Friday 3rd February

Work, an unexpected afternoon trip into Banbury with Leah, back to volunteering after not being able to make it for the last two weeks, another bizarre 2 mile walk around the outskirts of the hospital and then an evening walk where I got sprayed by a car as it drove through a big puddle! followed by another morning at work – this is how I filled these three days!

My feet were really hurting on my walk to work on Friday morning. I have been suffering with them for a while now and I have noticed that driving does make them hurt a bit more! 😫 I guess I really do need to go to the doctors and find out just what is going on. I’m hopefully not going to let it stop me doing my walking though.

Transplanting Pig Organs and Brain change in early PBC – two interesting articles I have found for you to have a read of.

And also – there’s new piccies on my Photos page 📸