Me and my journey through kidney disease . . . .

I haven't updated the blog for a few weeks as everything has been going to plan!  I had been feeling better and better everyday that passed.  My appointments at Derriford have been reduced to once a week and my date for transferring back to Treliske had been set. However, this week I have literally been knocked off my feet!  Sunday evening I had a somewhat restless nights sleep and I had a tickle at the back of my throat.  Here we go I thought, my first cold since my transplant.  I had already been told that a cold would floor me now due to the immunosuppresant drugs, but I was not prepared in the slightest for how I have been feeling!! Monday I carried on as normal but Monday night I had no sleep whatsoever as I was coughing all night.  Tuesday all I managed to do was lie in the dark all day with my eyes closed.  Wednesday, after another sleepless night I called the hospital and was told to go to Derriford straight away (with my overnight bag packed...

Very little of any interest has happened this week and for me this is a very good thing!  I like boring as that means everything is going well!! Monday I was in Derriford again for one of my check ups.  On this occasion I saw a surgeon rather than a renal consultant.  As with every appointment I have, I mention my wound which is still open and I am always concerned that if they don't check it, it may become infected in some way.  Well, the surgeon took one look at it and said it needed stitching up, otherwise the scar would be huge.  This will be done sometime next week. I am still not allowed to go to work in any "public" offices but I have been told I can do a little work at home so I have tried to do some this week.  I am concerned that I am getting far too used to not doing anything and maybe getting into bad habits!  Six months ago I wouldn't have been able to waste the day away and now I manage it with no problems whatsoever!!  Most days ...

In my blog I have been writing about Mum's experience as much as possible, however, for the operation and recovery, I have been unable to write about what Mum has been through as I was not with her as we were in different wards.  I therefore asked Mum if she would be willing to write a blog of her experience: Angela’s personal account of Kidney Donation Monday 10 th January Up to muck out the horses at 7.30am for the last time, then off to Tracy's to work. Tracy and Trev picked me up at 2.30pm, giving us plenty of time to get to Heartswell Lodge by 5pm.   We all went for a meal that evening at the Jack Rabbit, but couldn’t eat a lot, as we were all thinking about the next day. Tuesday 11 th January Woke early after an awful nights sleep.   At 6.45am. Tracy, Trev and I made our way to Fal ward, where I was sent to the yellow section of the room, and put a hospital gown on. Tracy and Trev moved on to the Renal Department, where they had quite a long wait, Trev kept poppi...

On the 26th January, I had a call from BBC Spotlight to see if they could do a feature on Mum and I on the local news.  It was a surprise I can tell you!!  They had seen the article on the front page of the West Briton and thought it would make a great good news story. The reporter Eleanor Parkinson and the cameraman arrived at 12:30.  Mum and I had no idea what to expect!  Well they were with us for an impressive two hours!  The bit Mum and I found funny was walking around the garden and sitting on the sofa having to pretend to talk to each other!  All of a sudden we had nothing to say! If you click HERE  you will see the report online. Or please see it below: This was shown on the 18:30 and 22:30 news and was the first item or main news story of the day!! Hopefully our little bit of publicity will help to promote organ donation, especially on death, as people like me would have a very long wait in normal circumstances if I didn't have a v...

Another week has now passed and it is now just over three weeks since I had my transplant!  How time flies!!  I am beginning to get much more mobile and my insurance company has confirmed that I am able drive again!  It feels great not to be reliant on others all of the time! On Monday I was booked into Derriford again for another operation.  This was to remove my dialysis catheter and to remove the stent which was inserted during my transplant operation.  Dad and Jen drove me to Derriford where I firstly had to visit the pharmacy to pick up some of my drugs, whilst waiting I was over the moon to bump into the "kidney cousins".  The "kidney cousins" are Val who is also from Helston and Jennifer from Bude who both had kidney transplants a few days before me but from a dead donor (we call them cousins as they had a kidney each from the same donor).  It was great to see them looking so well and I hope to see them again at my twice weekly outpatien...

On the 19th January Mum had a call from the West Briton to see if they could do an article about the amazing gift that Mum had given me.  We were extremely surprised when the article came out the following day on the front page of the Helston and Lizard edition and also included inside of all of the other editions! Please see the article below: If you are unable to read the article above, please click on the following link  for the article online.