Monday 26th to Friday 30th September

Monday – I was very lucky today as I got to have a lovely cuddle with a tiny baby 👶 We met Robyn’s friend in Caffè Nero for a cuppa and baby Daisy came along too. Gorgeous. Hurry up with my grandchildren girlies 😘

It was Gary’s mum’s birthday today so later we called over with Emma for a visit, to take the presents and to have a cup of tea. I wasn’t feeling well and hadn’t eaten all day but I did manage to have a bit of birthday cake! 🎂

Tuesday and Wednesday – I just went to work as usual but it was a bit of a struggle, I still didn’t feel well. I had a terrible constant headache, unsettled tummy and just didn’t feel right.

I did manage to read an article about this though – I am sorry to say that we definitely do not have a plastic-free existence  We have SO much plastic from all sorts of different products (but I must say that most of it does seem to come from food, and probably mainly the plastic tubs that fruit comes in now, as Robyn and Leah eat so much of it 🍇🍓🍑🍅) but I do make sure that by the end of the week our recycling boxes are always full …

Thursday – I got up and got myself ready to leave for the hospital for my volunteer work. Robyn then said to me ‘are you sure you should be going today?’ No I shouldn’t, but I was trying to make the effort. But this brought me to my senses a bit, I really shouldn’t be going, for myself because I just didn’t feel well, but also for the sake of the patients there just in case I was contagious 😷 So I didn’t go, but I was VERY upset about this.

Friday – I just happened to have a day off from work. I felt a little better. More packing and sorting and jobs around the house.

A difficult week. On top of not feeling well I was still dealing with everything to do with the house move which is still ongoing but just not going according to plan, VERY stressful. Then receiving a telephone call from someone completely changing what they had told us they were going to do previously, setting everything back even more. We have been ready to exchange for months now, we are being very patient. 

I don’t know if it is all this stress that is starting to affect my health?

Saturday 24th to Sunday 25th September

This morning I noticed this bizarre bruise. Where on earth did that come from? 😏

A trip to Banbury with Gary this Saturday afternoon. We just had a nice wander around the shops. 

On the way in we noticed that one of the car parks had started to be knocked down. So on the way back we stopped to take some pictures! 

It seems silly that this car park should hold special memories for me. But on a Saturday afternoon when I was a child, I always used to go into Banbury shopping with my mum and dad and sometimes my sisters or a friend. We used to walk around to White Lion Walk and buy some freshly made jam doughnuts from the bakery there (you could actually watch the machine that injected the jam into the doughnuts!), my dad used to like to go into the deli that was also there and buy some ham off the bone! I never used to get any pocket money but I was usually allowed to buy a book (which almost certainly would have been Enid Blyton as I had a great collection of her books). And so this was the car park which we always used to go into. 

So yet another piece of my past that is now disappearing 😦

Happy Birthday Hannah 🎁 But she wasn’t around to celebrate her day with us 😦 She had gone away camping with Julie 🏕 (yes camping – at the end of September! so rather them than me 💨🌧) so Sunday was a day spent not doing anything too exciting. 

But then there did turn out to be a bit of excitement in the evening. Unusually I found out it was going to be a curry Sunday 😁. Haven’t had one for such a long time, and then it was on Saturday evenings!

A chicken, cauliflower and green bean pasanda with sweet potato in mustard seeds as a side dish, rice and a garnish of chopped tomatoes 😋

I want to do a sponsored walk/trek for my chosen charities. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time and especially now after having my transplants. This year has kind of just passed me by, especially after getting the news that we had to leave the house we are in now and at first I really had no idea what we were going to do 😦 It’s kind of turned our lives upside down again. But I am now starting to tell myself that next year could be the year when I will actually achieve this 🤔

Here are some long distance paths that the British Heart Foundation recommend for their walks. Will I be found along one of these next year? We will see …

Monday 19th to Friday 23rd September

This Monday afternoon Robyn told me that we had better not go for our usual Costa visit as we should really get on with ‘jobs for moving’ 😩 So that’s what we did. A bit later we called along to Julie’s to drop some stuff off there only to discover that Hannah had come home from work not feeling well and had just been sick. So we made a very quick exit!

I was worried about going into work on Tuesday. I had heard that there was a sickness bug going around and I was thinking that as Hannah had been ill it might have found its way into the shop. I DID NOT want to catch this, I hate being sick, apart from the fact that I simply haven’t got the time to be ill at the moment

Back to work again on Wednesday. No sign of the sickness bug for me yet thank goodness but I was feeling particularly exhausted with not much energy to spare in my body 😵

I didn’t manage to go to volunteer on Thursday. I was tired, I was stressed, I wasn’t particularly feeling in the right frame of mind for it and I also had so many jobs that really needed doing today. I didn’t feel too pleased with myself for making this decision but I think it was probably the right thing to do.

While I was at work on Friday I noticed a lady walking through the shop carrying a toy pushchair. I recognised it immediately as being the exact pushchair Leah used to have when she was little.

Here it is, but this is the tandem version, Leah had the single. 

Seeing this brought back so many memories. Leah used to absolutely LOVE playing with her dollies in that pushchair. She would literally spend hours and hours dressing them all up so carefully, feeding them, cuddling them. I felt a bit sad that this stage of our lives was all over. Happy times. I just wait for the grandchildren now I guess 😏

he’s very cute 😃

Saturday 17th to Sunday 18th September

I was spoilt on this Saturday morning with my favourite bacon and poached egg on a toasted Warburtons giant crumpet 😋

In the afternoon we went for a walk around Charlbury Street Fair where there are craft, food, tombola and other stalls to visit, there’s a few classic cars to look at, there’s a small fair with children’s rides, a fire engine to clamber about in, Morris dancers, fancy dress etc. All the usual things you find at events like this. The highlight for me was the piece of carrot cake I bought to take home and eat later, it definitely was one of the best I’ve had 🍰

In the evening me and Gary had another walk back through the fair in Chippy but as there was no one about that we knew really we went into the pub right in the centre of town and managed to get a window seat overlooking one of the fair rides, so we spent the evening people watching. It was quite good fun actually!

Look at this young man who had a liver transplant when he was a child, he is now going to be competing in 19 sports! in the Australian Transplant Games 🏅

On Sunday we had a little trip out to Heythrop Zoo where the Amazing Animals live! It is not open to the general public like a normal zoo so we took the opportunity of going when we found out they were having an open day. It was a warm sunny afternoon and I had a really nice time. I haven’t been anywhere like that for a long long time. You could get so close to the animals too.

As you can see it was a great photo opportunity for Gary 📸

And then I got to hold a snake … 😀

Here are 20 foods to eat when you are stressed! So – Leah’s okay with her quinoa, Robyn’s not too bad with her apples (but she needs to get some Tahini to spread on them) but it seems like I definitely need to change my favourite Cadbury’s Dairy Milk to some dark chocolate 😳 
But somehow I just don’t think even eating these foods will help with the way all of our stress levels are at the moment

Thursday 15th to Friday 16th September

A volunteering morning. I was feeling pretty fed up, probably mainly because I hadn’t been well again and was still not feeling quite 100%. I didn’t stay for too long anyway as there didn’t seem to be that many suitable patients I took myself off and went and sat in the hospital garden as it was a nice day 🌤 to try and cheer myself up a bit.

The fair had arrived in our town today 🎡 On our evening walk we had a very brief wander through it, bumped into Robyn who was with her friend and watched them having a go on this very scary looking ride! She loves things like this, I don’t, and I don’t even like watching her on them too much 😖

I just wanted to show you this – four Paralympians ran faster. Quite amazing!

On Friday I worked and in the evening I walked through the fair with Gary. Robyn was there again with some more friends, so we walked around with them for a little while watching the fun they were having (Leah doesn’t like fair rides so she avoided the whole thing!) and we also came across Laura and Tom with Oliver, who seemed to be enjoying himself as he was trying to knock the stack of tins off the shelf!

And this – is very clever!!!!!

Monday 12th to Wednesday 14th September

Monday, spent doing jobs and later there was a good excuse for a crafty coffee and blog with Robyn in Caffe Nero in the town. We were waiting for my sister Julie to finish work so we could meet her and pay a visit to the building society next door (yet another little thing that needed doing in preparation for the house purchase 🏡)

I absolutely LOVE this 😍

I think this could very soon be me!

And look at this. 

A man holding his own old heart after undergoing a successful transplant. I would have loved to have been able to hold my own old liver like that and have a good old look at it. I do have a photograph though 🙂

Robot does 2 kidney transplants, blimey! 😮

I have the whole week off so no work for me this Tuesday morning! 

Earlier in the year me, Robyn and Leah had tried to plan to have a week off together to do something nice. Then the house move came along so we thought we could just use the time for that. That didn’t work out either! But in the end I had completely booked the wrong week off, Leah was off last week and it also turned out that Robyn didn’t have enough holiday to take the week off anyway, so that all worked out well didn’t it! Always the way it seems in our house 🙃

So more sorting of junk was planned for me this week instead I did arrange to meet my friend Jackie in the afternoon though as I knew I would be wanting a break. I haven’t seen her for ages. As it was warm and sunny we sat on the patio outside Bitter & Twisted for a while instead of our usual cafe. That was nice. We had a good catch up. But while we were there a massive thunderstorm ⛈ seemed to appear from nowhere and we had to dash inside! Back at home all my washing was out and I had left the lawnmower out too as it wasn’t working properly and was waiting to be looked at. Oh no But when I eventually got back the washing was hardly damp! Weird and confusing 😕

Have you ever had your colours done?!

I woke up not feeling too great on Wednesday. Really? On my week off. Can’t I have a break? Obviously not 😷 I had a headache, unsettled tummy, an aching and wobbly body etc etc which lasted all day. I had arranged to visit a friend in Banbury in the afternoon (when I was a childminder I used to look after her daughter Sian and we have stayed in touch) so I still went. At least I would be sitting down and resting there! It was good to see her. And Sian had finished college early and was there too – even better!

Saturday 10th to Sunday 11th September

I had our local PBC group meeting to attend today. I still didn’t feel too great but I made the effort to go. I was only able to eat a few mouthfuls of the buffet lunch Trixie (the organiser) had prepared for us all. I wasn’t really ‘with it’ but it was nice to meet up with the group again. None of the other members are anywhere near the transplant stage with their own PBC journeys. They all seem to be reasonably ‘well’ at the minute, mainly suffering with itch sometimes and tiredness. So I do actually feel a bit ‘different’ to all of them. Trust me to get so much more severely affected by it 😏

When I got back I picked Gary up and we called down to Julie’s for a cup of tea and spent a bit of time with them.

Then an evening spent watching the Paralympics which I loved to watch, and later on the boxing. I have mixed feelings when I watch this, I hate to see it when the boxer is getting smacked about really badly and is cut or almost knocked out and staggering about, but I seem to have to keep watching to see what happens in the end 😳

I think this must have been a particularly interesting fight as I can remember that I actually stopped my blogging to watch!

Now here is something that I really would love to be able to do! Afternoon tea tasting 😋 like Little Miss Katy has done here.

I would like to give the ‘cool afternoon tea’ a try, but I do think the ‘classic afternoon tea’ would still be my favourite.

Have a look at this lovely idea. If only all nursing homes could be more like this one.

Sunday. International PBC Day:Movement as Medicine.

To celebrate this the PBC Foundation were asking for photos to be sent in showing how people were being active! What was I going to do today to take part?

So I walked into town with Gary and we met up with all the others for a bit of lunch. Well I actually had a cooked breakfast!

They all went off to do their own things so I walked back to Gary’s and as it was a nice afternoon decided to clean the inside of my car 😱

A bit later in the afternoon Gary decided he wanted to go out for a drive and we ended up at the nearby Rollright Stones. Sunny but cold. Brrr!

And that was my active day 🤗

And finally! Why not have a read about Richard Branson’s thoughts on organ donation.

Thursday 8th to Friday 9th September

Volunteer day.

What do you think about this new trend ‘doughnut walls’ then?

So ‘the walkers’ went for a meal in a local pub this evening as a change from our usual walks. It was veggie chilli for me 😬

This photo of the partially completed Queensferry Crossing @NewForthBridge in Scotland for some reason caught my eye! I like some bizarre things I know!

Friday morning, I hadn’t had much sleep as it was and so the last thing I really wanted was to be woken early by the noise of Robyn ripping paper in her bedroom! She had got up early to do some packing before work!

And I felt ill. I had an upset tummy and felt sick. (It did cross my mind that maybe it was from the food last night? 😏) Anyway I made an effort and got ready for work, but I can tell you it was certainly a big effort. I probably shouldn’t really have gone in the first place. I tried my best but I just didn’t feel well at all. I stuck at it for about 2 hours but then I just had to leave work early

Eventually I did a bit of pottering around but I just couldn’t do too much for the rest of the day.

As its Organ Donation week, the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust published ‘a snapshot of the work their transplant and organ donation teams have done this year’

And also ‘the winning patient experience poster showing the transplant journey by the Liver Transplant Coordinators’

Both very good 🙂

Monday 5th to Wednesday 7th September

It’s Organ Donation Week – 5th to 11th September.

So on Monday we were in the local newspaper again! helping to promote organ donation. (They used a bit of an awful picture though 😱 If I can remember correctly it was taken pretty early in the morning and not many months after my transplants, so that’s my excuse for my puffy face!)

Leah had a few days off from work this week. The aim was to try and get some jobs and packing done ready for our house move. 

This afternoon we had a meeting in the Halifax building society in Banbury. We needed to sort out an old child’s account that Leah still had (and which we have been meaning to do for literally years!)

And then as it was a Monday of course I had to have a visit to Costa with Robyn, and this time also Leah was able to come. Oh, they both seemed to be so thrilled with that 🙄

How about this for a good idea? Go ahead and get your tattoos! 🤔

Tuesday. A day to be spent with Leah for a change 😬 We did some jobs at home in the morning and then Leah needed to have a trip into a place in Witney so they could give her some advice about the broken camera on her iPad. So off I went too. We also donated a bag to the charity shop there, did a tiny bit of food shopping, paid a visit to yet another building society and then – had a very delicious lunch together.

Homemade chilli and chips for me and a slightly more healthy jacket potato with salad for Leah 😋

I was also able to take my ‘high protein’ liquid sachets (which I had to add to drinks to try and help build me up) to the pharmacy for them to destroy as I don’t need to use them anymore. Well I haven’t for a while actually, they have just been sat in a cupboard. That was a very good feeling I must say 😃 I always did my best to avoid using them anyway!

In the evening it was time for a walk. Yes I know it’s only Tuesday but us ‘walkers’ were going out on Thursday for some food so we changed the day so we could still get a walk in as well! But maybe I shouldn’t really have gone – as I fell over! 😫 No damage was done thankfully. My family thought it was highly hilarious though when I got back and told them what had happened. Meanies!

Wednesday was just a work day.

I have seen many clever things in the past that have been made from Lego, but I do think this is probably one of the most unusual – Lego leg 😀