Monday 13th to Tuesday 14th June

A trip to Banbury on Monday afternoon for me and Robyn. We were visiting Costa coffee first for a while so I could have my blogging session. Whenever we decide to do this Robyn takes all her own lunch with her and I normally have a coffee and a cake! 

The bad thing was that I then needed to go shopping to get some last minute things for Robyn’s birthday. We were both already feeling very stressed about our housing situation and I know I was feeling pretty fed up generally. Neither of us were really feeling up to it! So Robyn decided to just wait for me in the car as she didn’t need anything herself. Well, as always I had a few disasters! and I seemed to come up against every problem there is going. The correct sizes of the things I wanted to buy were unavailable, ‘would she like this, would she like that’ and every till I went to seemed to have a problem of some kind or another. Grrrr! I took rather too long and Robyn was a bit grumpy with me when I eventually got back to the car 😠 We were quite late getting home.

On the way back Robyn suddenly started singing to the tune that was on the radio but she was inserting her own words. She made up some really funny songs. One was about prodding Leah with a fork when she got back (which she actually did when Leah was in the kitchen whizzing about at 100 miles an hour like she always does, preparing all her food for the next day! 😂). At least this made us laugh for just a little while.

In the evening I came across these Unique plants from around the world. How great they are. And how amazing is nature 🌺🌼🌸

Tuesday was back to work. With an evening spent wrapping presents 🎁🎁🎁

When I was just a few months old this man was doing the first heart transplant!

Don’t let the worms eat ANY of our organs I say! Please ask everyone you know to sign the Organ Donor Register 📝

And here’s another lovely memorial @BurtonHospitals

Love that ‘Another Chance to Fly’ 

As always, massive thanks to my donors  🕊 🕊

Saturday 11th to Sunday 12th June

A Saturday spent at home. With Emma’s 21st birthday party in the evening. 

Robyn and Tom came along too but Leah had a last minute invitation to go to Devon with her friends so she took off there. Lucky thing being away for two weekends in a row!! 

We had a good evening with lots of dancing 💃💃

And very delicious cake 😋

Sunday was our Chipping Norton Town Festival,  which is a day of live music, childrens’ rides, hog roast, stalls etc. This year there was also a street party for anyone that wanted to join in and a cake competition, both to celebrate the Queen’s birthday.
It was raining first thing and I thought to myself that it was just going to be a washout, but it did clear up for a while. When the sun did come out it was actually very hot and then later it turned into showers with one being very suddenly particularly heavy. I think it caught everyone out 🌂

So I walked down with Gary and we joined Robyn who was already there with her friends. Julie and Hannah were there too for a short while. We all sat on the bales listening to the different bands and chatting. It was a fun afternoon and evening.

Weekend over!

Thursday 9th to Friday 10th June

So my first morning of volunteering starts today 🙂

Important me!! all organised with my mug of tea for the journey. I even managed to catch my first choice of bus this morning too, normally I’m a few minutes late and I have to hang around for the next one 🚌 😕 

I went back to see the man that has recently had a liver transplant, I met him last week briefly after my induction. It was good to have a chat with him, he seemed really nice, and he said he had enjoyed talking to me! I then went to see an elderly lady (who was actually in the same bed that I was in when I was on that ward having my two drains before my transplants!) She was very sweet but a bit confused and it was quite hard to keep a conversation going. Another man the doctor recommended for me to see was asleep when I went into his room so I didn’t wake him. They had an emergency on the ward so a lot of the staff were busy with that. So I decided to leave it at that for this morning. Being my first time there I was a little unsure of things and didn’t want to get in anyone’s way 😏

So I decided that while I was out in my car I would travel on to Banbury (to avoid all of Oxford’s terrible traffic) and go shopping. The fact that I needed to do this was really annoying me actually because I knew I had a whole lot of jobs I needed to be getting on with at home but I also knew I had a party to go to at the weekend and I didn’t really have anything suitable to wear for it!!! Anyway after lots of trying on I managed to get myself a new frock! 👗

By the time I got back it was another rush to get ready for my walk. It was actually this week that I quickly ate the two small sausage rolls and a few crisps like i told you I had done last week! Oops sorry 😔 I think last week it was a filled wrap that I had to gobble down quickly 🌯 Not very important or interesting information I know, but I do like my blog to be accurate!!!

Friday morning. And Robyn says to me ‘so what have you got on your lip now?’ I look in the mirror.

Now what? Is this the same kind of thing that just appeared on my eye the other day? Am I continually going to keep getting all these weird little things?

Off I went to work 😏

Look at this.

How I wish I could take myself off and live there! Or was just able to visit for a day of blogging, coffee and cake eating 😝 Heaven!

Monday 6th to Wednesday 8th June

Well the girls had returned safely from their weekend in Scotland. Yay 🙂

Poor hardworking Leah! had to go straight back to work but Robyn had her usual Monday off. As it was going to be yet another warm sunny day, when Robyn got back from her gym and yoga session we decided to take our lunch and have a little picnic. So we drove in to Banbury, took our blanket and went and sat by the side of the canal. A lovely way to pass a couple of hours. 

Then we had the food shopping to face 😖 As the girls had been away for the weekend Leah hadn’t done her usual Saturday morning weekly shop! Now I have got out of the habit of having to do the food shopping I hate it when I do have to go, I never know what to buy, and Robyn hates taking me too as she complains that I take much too long as I always have a good look around at all the offers and everything So I made sure that I was a good girl this afternoon and I just let Robyn take over and do it 🤗 I think it was a bit more successful that way!

We went back to Julie and Hannah’s then to have some tea with them in the garden as it was a lovely evening. And Leah had come along also when she had finished work. Hannah had cooked some little new potatoes and we had some cold meats and salad with it. Yummy!

On Twitter today I read about an amazing miracle that happened for these Identical Twins. Just imagine how much more difficult things would have been if the donor hadn’t been a match for BOTH of them. What an extremely difficult decision would have had to have been made …

After yesterday’s nice day, Tuesday was just spent at work. And poor Robyn had to go back to work too 💇 after her week off, which she was not particularly looking forward to.

In the evening I was taxi driver for Gary and took him to Charlbury for his Riverside Festival meeting as he is one of the organisers for that, which is coming up in July. While we were in there we could hear a massive thunderstorm going on with lots of heavy rain ⛈ and when I was driving home later the roads were steaming from where they had got so warm during the day and then all that rain had fell on them.

Wednesday and Happy 21st birthday Emma 🍾

I wasn’t feeling quite 100% today but I went to work in the morning and I don’t think I was able to do too much in the afternoon. In the evening I went with Gary to pick Emma and Jamie up and then we all went over to Gary’s mum and dad’s in Charlbury for a few nibbles for Emma’s birthday. It was yet another warm sunny evening spent in the garden. Then back to Bitter & Twisted where Emma met a friend for a birthday drink. So a late shower and bed, I needed to be up early in the morning!

Just thought I’d show you a pic of work underway on some new artwork to celebrate organ donation 🙂 

Also I wish I lived nearer to Widnes in Cheshire. I would definitely be going along to watch the Liverpool Transplant FC v #Hollyoaks football match taking place tomorrow. Following my new love of football, do you think they would let me sign up for the team Robyn? 🤔

Saturday 4th to Sunday 5th June

A trip into Banbury on Saturday afternoon followed by some time spent sat in Gary’s garden as the weather was nice! So then the barbecue got fired up and we had a delicious meal 😋

It was so nice I even finished the whole plateful!
Sunday was another nice day and so more time spent in the garden.

Our local pub, the Blue Boar, is closing after today to be refurbished and is going to be under new management when it reopens. So we went down to have our last drink there. It was VERY busy. We stood outside having a chat with our friends, one of them being the drummer in two of the bands we like to go and watch. We are all wondering if the new people will continue with the live music. We will have to find something else to do otherwise It was a nice evening though, which was finished off nicely by having a meal out 😃

Thursday 2nd to Friday 3rd June

Thursday, and this afternoon I had my induction at the John Radcliffe hospital. I had passed all the checks including health and disclosure, and I must have been given good references 😀

We were all handed two tests today which we had to complete before we could actually start our volunteering duties – Fire Awareness and Safeguarding Adults. So I decided to stay on after the meeting and complete them straight away as I knew I would be distracted with other things to do when I got back home. So they brought me another mug of tea and I made a start. For both subjects there was some reading to be done and then a whole load of questions to be answered. My concentration is not good at all, put this together with the fact that I was sat in the hospital restaurant (and I like people watching!) and I was sat near a lady that wanted to keep chatting to me, I had to keep re-reading some of the questions to try to make them clear in my head! I find out my results tomorrow … 😖

I met up with Dr Collier then to update her on things. She briefly introduced me to a man who is in the hospital at the moment and who I think might be my first ‘patient’.

For some reason this took me back to when I was just led in my hospital bed in critical care when I was so extremely weak. I can remember a time when the nurse brought me a pen and some paper as I was trying to communicate (I’m wondering if it was when I had pneumonia and had the really big very tight mask on so I couldn’t talk) but I couldn’t control the pen or was even able to press down hard enough to make any sort of mark on the paper. I wasn’t even strong enough to be able to suck water up through a straw! Even though at times I do get upset when I think back, I do also think it is a good thing for me to do, so I can remember just how ill I was and how well I am doing now, as I am very hard on myself and often think I should be doing more.

I think I eventually got home about 6.30. I quickly ate two small sausage rolls and a few crisps and was straight back out for my evening walk 🚶🚶🚶

Leah and Jack had been a little more energetic than me and had been to the gym 🏋

Friday, and this morning Robyn and Leah went away with their dad to Scotland for the weekend. They were going to visit the town of Dunbar, which is also their surname!

A sad day for me though. I had to be at work early so that I could finish in time to go to my friend Sue’s funeral. She certainly was, and quite rightly so, a much loved and very popular lady – the church was packed full. Sue will be greatly missed.

One tiny bit of good news that was waiting for me when I got back and checked my emails, was that I passed my tests yesterday 🤗 Can you believe that? And I only got 1 question wrong from each test. I’m cleverer than I thought!!

I DID IT 😃 

Tuesday 31st May to Wednesday 1st June

Tuesday was spent at work and at home. Wednesday being the same, but with an extra busy morning in the shop!

Robyn had gone off to London for a couple of days away with Tom, so there were none of her silly antics going on 😦 I miss that.

When I was very ill, as well as being told I had to give up work I was also told that I had to give up alcohol. And not because I drank lots because I never really have. But as I had cirrhosis of the liver I needed to try and give it every extra chance of being able to work that I possibly could  

I was also suffering with terrible cramps in my legs and hands and someone mentioned that drinking tonic water might help because of the quinine in it (it didn’t help by the way, the cramps were so painful. My fingers would just lock up into like a fist at times and there was nothing I could do to straighten my fingers until it passed) and that is what I still drink today. But I sometimes push the boat out now and have it with elderflower!

I had a couple of glasses of rose wine with my family on Christmas Day and I haven’t had any other alcohol since. Apart from one mouthful when I was in the pub recently and I picked up my friends drink instead of my own, which I did not feel happy about. I feel I owe it to my donors as a mark of respect.

So I wonder if I will be tempted by any of these non-alcoholic drinks that I have found being recommended on the British @LiverTrust Twitter page.

Saturday 28th to Monday 30th May

I’m a bit in the wars again at the moment. I’ve recently had the mole removed from my shoulder which is still sometimes a bit sore, I’ve just been able to remove the tape from my lip but I’m still having to walk around with the small scab there which has yet to fall off, the male nurse that took my blood on Monday very kindly left me with a bruised arm this time, and to top it all I now have gained a black eye to go with it!

When we got back after our day out yesterday Leah had asked me what I had done to my eye as I had a black mark on it. When I woke up this morning it looked like this.

How on earth did that happen as I hadn’t knocked it or anything

I was feeling miserable, fed up and sorry for myself so I had a bit of a cry 😰 then I pulled myself together and started to get the final things ready for the car boot sale in the morning (yes I finally made my mind up!) I was going to be leaving straight from Gary’s house very early in the morning so I needed to be super organised and remember lots of things – something I’m not very good at doing 🤔

So the alarm went off at a stupid time for a Sunday morning, I picked Robyn up, met up with Julie and Hannah, and we all set off to the car boot sale. It was freezing but at least it was dry. Car boot sales are not one of my favourite things to be doing. You spend ages sorting the stuff ready to sell and pricing it all up, load it all into the car, have to get up early, get it all back out of the car and lay it out on your table, haggle with the customers because they never want to pay the full price for anything (even if it’s only 50p), pack it all back into the car when you have done, get home, unload it all from your car again and then have to decide what on earth you are going to do with the stuff you still have left!!! 

By the time I got back of course the sun had decided to come out and it was really quite warm. So I sat in the garden and sorted some of the things that we had brought back straight into bags ready to go to the local charity shops. 

Bank Holiday Monday and I was still feeling pretty fed up. We had a very quick trip in to Banbury, I think I went in two shops and came home. A bit later in the afternoon I called round to Julie’s and had a cup of tea with her, and that was about it.

Bank Holiday over and back to work in the morning. And nothing had really been achieved and no exciting places had been visited. How frustrating 🙃

I did find three interesting articles for you to have a read of though.

‘alive’ organs, 50th kidney-versary and low donations.

Happy reading 👓

Friday 27th May

Two years ago today my wonderful mum died. We all miss her dreadfully, so on this anniversary day we have decided that we will spend the day together doing something that she would also have enjoyed doing. And we’ve named it Nanny’s Day 😍

So this morning we had a trip to the grave first. We put some fresh water in the flowers and Robyn, Leah and Hannah left their new little trinkets which they had bought for her 👼

Then we set off to Bourton on the Water, which is probably only about half an hours drive away from us. Ideal!

It’s a lovely place to visit and again we were lucky with the weather, a warm and sunny day. Last year we went to Bibury Trout Farm and the weather was gorgeous then too. I think maybe Nanny is helping us out in this department 🤔

Our first visit was to the Dragonfly Maze (have a look on their Facebook page). It was really good, a bit different to a normal maze. You had to work out the rebus type clues that you came across on the path as you were trying to solve the maze, and this spelt out some instructions that you needed when you got to the middle of the maze, so that you could find the dragonfly! So if you miss some of the clues (like we did) you have no idea what to do. Luckily we ended up in the middle with two other families and between us, after quite a good few minutes, we pieced our answers together, so in the end we got the full instructions and we all at last found the dragonfly 🤗

Time for an ice cream, a bit of people watching and a relax on the grass after all that hard work.

After a bit of a wander around it was time for our afternoon tea. We went to Mary’s Rest Tearoom & Cafe, just off the main street. As it was so nice we were able to sit outside ☀️

Unusually, but a good idea I think, you got to choose your own filling for your sandwiches, although I would have liked to have been able to choose more than one filling so you got a bit of variety and you also got to choose which cakes you would like. So egg sandwiches for me. Carrot cake (recommended by the owner) and coffee cake. The scones were warm and came with jam and clotted cream. We also got a little salad and some crisps. And of course a lovely pot of tea. Just delicious 😋 I took my cake home with me in the end so I could enjoy them at a later date. I was full.

Then it was time for our day to end ☹️ Back to reality. I went back and did some washing up, Robyn went to meet her friends briefly and Leah went off to do the food shopping with Julie and Hannah!!! We’d had a good day though.

On a completely different note, imagine going into work one day and ending up doing what Dr Um has done. I think you should have a little read. Some of the comments people have made at the end are I think ‘interesting’. I don’t think some of them know what it’s like to constantly be feeling unwell and have been desperately waiting for something to come along that would make them feel better. I can understand their concerns but I think they might change their minds if they found themselves in that situation don’t you?

Wednesday 25th to Thursday 26th May

No work for me this morning. I was having a trip out to the Churchill Hospital in Oxford for a follow up appointment from my mole being removed.

Good news. Everything was fine and the result is that it wasn’t cancerous. Just a ‘build up of cells’ I think was the way they explained it to me 😀

The problem I did have though was still with the wart on my lip. Yes it was still there, no it still hasn’t dropped off! It was starting to annoy me now. So I asked yet again if something could be done about it and yet another doctor came and had a look. He said that they would cut it off for me as the cryotherapy had already been done twice and hadn’t worked. I couldn’t bear the thought of having to come back yet again as there’s always a big issue for me of trying to get the time off from work, so I asked if they would be able to do it today. Always worth a try! The doctor said if I was prepared to wait, they would fit me in as he would like to get it removed for me today if they could. 

So I decided to go off and get something to eat as obviously that might be a bit more difficult after I had the procedure. I went to the League of Friends cafe and had a freshly made cheese salad roll and a mug of tea. It was really good actually! I sat and did a bit of blogging and then I got the call to go back. Much earlier than I had expected, not too long a wait at all.

I was a bit scared. As it was on my face I was wondering what I was going to come out looking like 😏 I ended up having the same doctor who had removed my mole so she remembered me! She was very good. I find her voice very gentle and soothing, and even tiny things like that help I think. Well it helps me anyway! It hurt a lot when she put the anaesthetic in but then obviously I felt nothing.

The nurse put some tape over it which I have to keep on for 48 hours. I’m not allowed to get it wet for that length of time either. I also wasn’t allowed to drink anything hot for a while as my mouth was numb.

I then waited around for a bit longer as Gary was on his way up to the hospital. He was bringing his mum, so they could visit his dad, who was in another part of the hospital following an operation, so we met up and I went with them too.

So a whole day spent in the Churchill Hospital for me!

My day off, Thursday, was a day of jobs. I needed to resist the temptation of taking myself out for a coffee and a blogging session. I had a lot to be getting on with. Loads of washing and a bathroom that needed a good clean as well as a sort out of all the hundreds of almost empty shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and goodness knows what other bottles that are left all around the bath 😱

I had almost decided that I was going to do the car boot sale on Sunday so I thought I had better start to get it all ready properly in case my final answer to myself was ‘yes’!!! So the lovely Hannah called in on her way back from work to help me load it into my car and then I drove along with it all, so that Julie and Hannah could give me their advice as to what price to put on things 🙂

I finished all this just in time to get back home and then go straight out again for my evening walk 👣 (3 miles it was this week). We were lucky to have another warm sunny evening. We walked all across the fields and could look down on our lovely town.

After we had made our way back into the town and were coming up a lane round the back of the church, we came across a young girl trying to push her dad in a wheelchair, but they were completely stuck in the mud. They also had 3 little dogs with them getting all tangled. We offered to give the girl a push to help them out and ended up pushing the wheelchair all the way back to her house! Well two of the group did, the other two (which included me!) looked after the dogs. It was very hard work for them – apparently he weighed 18 stone, they were very friendly and chatty!!  They were both very grateful, I really don’t know what the girl would have done if we hadn’t come along 🙃 This photo doesn’t look too bad, it is on the flat and nearly back to the house, but we had just come up two steep hills!!!

Well that was a good deed done for the day wasn’t it. Something different to add to our walk this evening. I don’t know, the things we seem to get up to 😂

Here’s a bit of reading for you, click on Liver donors. I find it very interesting that you can be affected in different ways for many years to come, when you were being extremely kind to donate in the first place. Thank goodness more than 90% said they would make the same decision again.