"There's a myth that anyone who has a liver problem has brought it on themselves" This quote is from a Crohn's disease patient living with a blocked portal vein hoping for a liver transplant (Independent 31st Oct 2010)

Friday 29 July 2011

July bloods - results today

Picked up the blood test results. An improvement again on June - hurrah. The ones that show inflammation have gone down again: less inflammation. The ones that show how my liver is functioning are balancing out even better within the normal range. Whatever I'm doing in the way of diet, excercise, health supplements, work/life balance seems to be working at the moment.

T and I came home on Wednesday after a lovely few days away. J on his way back from camping, sunburnt and hungry and no doubt with a rucksack full of smelly clothes!

Friday 22 July 2011

July bloods

Third set of bloods taken. Nurse practitioner getting to know my history now! These are sent off to Salford for Dr Al, and I have a 4th set taken when I see him in August. Quite a spreadsheet building up.

June's lot were ok. I'll be interested to see these latest, as the last few weeks I've been extra fatigued. Looked at my diary yesterday and realised that since I went back to work in February I haven't had a holiday. Silly me.


Next week we are on our hols. J to Anglesey camping with friends, T and I driving down South to visit family and then have a couple of days to ourselves.

Have collected all the stuff J needs - tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat (thanks for the tip Dave we now have a self inflating one), cooker, pan, gas canister, plate, mug, washing stuff, boots, socks, waterproofs, basic food rations, beach stuff, spare clothes. Look at the growing pile, look at the rucksack. No way is it all going to fit!

His friend Jack came round and they practiced taking the down the tent. It's a pop-up, so no 'putting up' required - it springs to fully formed in 2 seconds! Getting it back into the carry bag requires 8 extra long arms to hold one side while the other side springs open again. There is an excellent demonstration video on YouTube showing how to fold it up again, but Jack was convinced he could work it out - which he did, it just took quite a long time.

Sunday 17 July 2011

Reason to become a donor - Number 3

Someone said recently 'if you're willing to receive an organ, then you should be willing to donate one'.

Hear hear.

J filled out his provisional driving licence form yesterday and ticked all the organ donor boxes. Not that I'm encouraging him to become a mangled wreck in a road accident, but 'Cheers J'.

Thursday 14 July 2011

Work hours reviewed

Meeting at work last week to review my hours.

I'm now settled at around 10-12 a week, excluding the drive time to, fro and in between clients.
Ironically I'm now covering for a sick colleague who has been off for 2 months with a back injury and is likely to be off for another 2 months minimum.
Makes me feel almost normally fit!


I definitely need rest in between the work shifts. But as long as I eat ok and take naps, I'm then good to go til the evening.

Wednesday 6 July 2011

Action woman

J was recently looking at our old photo albums. As we turned the pages it was clear that page after page showed leisure time filled with strenuous outdoor activity:

Such as, walking the Lakeland fells

Climbing the highest mountain in the UK
Orienteering
Yes, that's me
Cycling holidays
Canoeing
Sailing
Horse riding
Ski-ing
Yet all the time, unknown to me, my immune system was working overtime trying to rid the virus, taking its toll on my liver.
After all the years of activity, now I would struggle to do any of the above. A 2 mile gentle walk is my limit.