A new, very shiny star in the sky tonight.

Hey you,

Tonight I won't do my blog as such, I'll update tomorrow. Tonight I just want to wish Louis farewell after his long and brave fight with CF. A total ledge and trooper who I didn't know for very long, but who I am so grateful to have done. He passed away peacefully this morning at the hospital and will be greatly missed.

Breathe easy and enjoy your ninja batman wings Mr! xxx

I'll pretend like I'm training at altitude...

Glad tonights the last night in because I'm officially knackered in here! Today we managed to get my earlobe blood gases after a running interval and workout on 10litres o2, and also monitored my sats nearly every minute throughout the half hour sesh to get a final profile of what's happening with my hypoxia ect with exertion.
Basically, we got a blood gas taken one or two minutes after I stopped a running interval and was just standing there breathing the 10 litres o2, and my sats had gone up from 81 in the final minute of the 4 minute interval, to 92, CO2 levels and O2 levels more or less fine, and PH quite low, presumeably from residual lactic acid during the hyposix state.
I also went and had a baseline, resting ear lobe gas (my poor ear!) done on room air which, as expected, was all tickedy.
I'm sort of dissapointed that this level of o2 is what I have to stay at for now and I'm still very hypoxic by the end of an interval, but I'm not particulary surprised either as it's just another day. The fact that I'm going home doesn't, unfortunately mean that my lungs have started doing their job properly... SO, 10 litres for running and 4 litres for walking it is.

The good news is though, that although I've already commited myself to the fast I'll need to do the treadmill indoors for the forseeable future, I will now be getting portable O2 cyclinders so that I can do a fair portion of my brisk walking outdoors, using the 4 litres via conserver. So I will be getting out in the fresh air for some of my exercise after all!

Today was my last day of hydrocortisone, and tomorrow I'll have my first tricinolone injection which lasts one month. Brilliant - no pred tablets to take. That's 6 less pills a day lol...

So my workouts today have been the morning 22 minutes covering 2.2km, 10 minutes at incline of 4%, then at 2pm my 3.6km session including a total of 10 minutes jogging. And the rest walked at 6 or a bit higher. So that lot took me 31 minutes. Not bad at all, a pb by the day... shame I'm not getting oxygen saturation PBs also!!

I'll also be waving goodbye to mr venflonny, IV tazocin and IV tobramycin, after 2 weeks five days. Ahhhhh... the blissful return of non-stinging veins and a nice hot bath when I get home.
I'm going to sort out some driving lessons for next week, a mobility car, and also that treadmill. I can't wait to be one of the smart office types who owns a treadmill. How important and time saving of me.

Next time I update I'll not be doing it from hotel chest... I'll be HOME in my nice big bed, with no one walking in and out every five minutes, no IVs, no menus to fill out, no rustly drug stash next to my room all night, no cleaners emptying the bins four times a day, no constant questions of have I taken this med or that neb, no 4 times a day blood pressure, sats, temperature readings, blood sugars, no three weekly weigh ins, and NO BLOOD TESTS. Oh gawsh I'll miss it ;-)

I'll be here all day tomorrow, so I'll get the same workouts in before I go, and then as for when I'll next be able to do a running sesh, it depends when I can get to the gym. Hopefully, Dad will play squash on saturday so I can tag along then with the tank. And then double hopefully, we'll get treadmill sorted within the week.

Byeeeeeee xxx

A plan!! Friday's the day peeps ;-)

Another tres bon jour a la office - we now officially know what to do with me and my body! First and foremost, I will get to go home on Friday. So not too long now at all. And the steroid issue will be managed by me having fortnightly then monthly injections of a steroid that kind of releases slowly so it lasts till your next dose a few weeks later. Or something... I'm not sure exactly what it is but I start it tomorrow or friday so after tomorrow, NO MORE HYDROCORTISONE!!
You should have seen the grin spreading on my face... one happy customer. My Drs are Ledge -ends.
Tbh though, just in time for me to stop it, the IV HC side effects have worn off now - I'm back to what I weighed when I was admitted (kind of skinny but at least I'm not bloated lol) so the fluid retention must have gone, and I don't feel too steroidy really, I don't think I can blame my mood swings on them anymore coz I am naturally quite grumpy lol.
With the whole oxygen issue, basically tomorrow I'm going to redo my sats for a running sesh and see if I'm needing less than 10l now to maintain sats over 90. Which could well be possible as I've been way less lactic-acidy today then I was before...
So we'll reassess just what o2 I need to do my proper workouts, to know where we're at, but whatever it is, it doesn't change whether I get out friday, because Dr doesn't want me to have the portably cyclinders as they're heavy and would kind of make me more worn out if I had to backpack them whilst running outside.
Soooo... the only real way I can get around this is to get a treadmill at home. So I can do my runs whilst using the oxygen concentrator that I've had at home since December.
It's not ideal as I would love to be able to get outside for the runs, and not have any break between getting home and carrying on, but I guess it would be a mare carrying the cyclinders due to the amount I need to get through one 30 minute session.
And we have a large tank that we can take over to the gym, so I guess I'll have to grin and bear it till I sort out a treadmill.
I may also have to get a few of those funky exercise DVDs to do in the living room using the o2 till then, coz that's kind of vigorous if you do it properly... lol bums and tums here I comes.

The exercise went pretty well again today - I did my first session exactly the same as yesterday, and it actually felt easier already! So 2.2 km down by 8.30am, then a little walk to the cafe and back when Mom was here, then later on I did 3.4 km in about 31 minutes!
I did 8 minutes running in total, in one lot of 4 minutes and 2 lots of 2. I got a slight stitch probably from the tea I'd been drinking earlier so it wasn't totally comfortable, but it would have been fine otherwise. And I was cautious of overdoing it and going for loads again when I know my legs get very achey and tired if I overdo it. But it was good coz I upped the incline and pace of the walk during the walking part, to increase the workout without completely overdoing it.
For the first time, I actually recovered really well after the session - I didn't feel heavy headed and sleepy and just stayed on 3 litres o2 for my stretches then came right off, and the legs haven't been at all achey!
Flipping gooood really. Nervous about how long I'll have to wait before being able to do it as well as I have been here, when I get home, but it will get sorted!

I'm really hoping that I can maintain sats of 91-92ish on 6-8 litres tomorrow, but we'll see and I'll not let myself get too worried if I still have to have 10 for now because at least that amount actually allows me to do loads more now. I got the physio to check what my sats were doing when I go up the stairs (big evil three flights stupidly in a specialist chest hospital making us all feel unfit grrrr) and they went to 82, so not great, however... they would have been in the 60s a few months ago and I also walked up them kind of slowly but without stopping at all. And they went back up to 93 within about 2 minutes of stopping at the top and doing some serious breathing! Lol. At least I don't have 3 flights to go up at home...

xxx

12 Minutes! Where did that one come from? >Grin<

Today was so much better. I woke up at 7.30 a little while after IVs, did nebs and then got myself on the treadmill sharpish. And it was a really good old walk too, I did just over 2km in 20 minutes, half of it at 4% incline too! So I was chuffed with that, and knew it was going to be a better day today.
I had a sunny walk in the park after lunch, so that was another (very easy) 20 minutes, then just before dinner, I thought I'd better get on and do my hard sesh rather than have to wait hours after eating. I started off with 4 minutes at 6kph, then turned up the o2 to 10l and went on to do EIGHT, yes 8 (!) minutes at 8.2kph without stopping. I had no idea I was going to do that, as I set out to do 10 minutes total, broken in to maybe 2 fours and a final 2. But nope, I just seemed much more comfortable whilst doing it than last time and it would have felt such a shame to break it up when I felt I could do loads more. I was quite amazed after 6 minutes that I felt still relatively comfortable so I thought maybe I'd last another minute... then by focusing on maintaining my form and not hunching or leaning too much, and taking huge deep breaths in relaly sucking up the oxygen, I managed to go on till 8 minutes.
At that point I was very tired but I got my breath back quite fast just walking at 6, and after a four minute recovery, went for my next 2 minutes. It felt quite short compared, so I just had 2 minutes recovery walking, then thought why not just try for another 2 minutes? So I did!
Bloody brilliant... I can't even begin to describe how much my legs ached after but it was totally worth it! And the coughing only got to be alot right at the end whilst I did my recovery walk.
Covered just over 3km in 26 minutes, which is loads loads more than last week and I wouldn't have thought I could manage it then, especially since I'd already done a fair amount in the day.
Needless to say, totally knackered and after dinner I had the old tempy spikey come back, which meant I dozed off in bed untill about 8pm. Woops. It's come down by itself though, so I'm not entirely sure why I keep getting the little temperatures and chills in the early mornings and evenings. It's odd but I'm trying to not worry tooo much since I haven't had an actual fever and it does always go back to normal after a few hours.
Currently I'm waiting for yet another new venflon for my nighttime IVs, since this one has gone very painful and stiff. After less than two days. I'm getting so annoyed about this now. We had three attempts at a long line yesterday, no-one tried today, and here I am still running out of veins and having 4 stingy lots of medication a day through stupid little pieces of plastic that pack up and leave rock hard stringy veins in their wake. Can't wait till I get out and I can't deny that this is one of the main reasons why!
Still, it's not hindering my little joggettes so there is at least some balance between le bad and le bon.
Mummy bear is also venturing up tomorrow for much scrabble, yummy lunch and cuddles. Which will be loverry and very needed.
Well, less whinging today and hopefully even less tomorrow.
I want to do the same morning workout, then a little walk with Mum, then probably aim to do another jog session late afternoon. And then collapse, probably!

Laters xxx

Once spicy meatball of a bad day. Rolllll on tomorrow!

You know those days where you wake up and you know it just not gonna be a good one? Yep, today was definately one of those.
6am IVs... my venflon had completely tissued overnight and absolutely not one drop of saline would go through, so out it came.
Pissy foreign Dr comes in at 7am to put a new one in (ahahaha her again, bet she regrets last week) but not before going: "What has happened to the other one?" as if I'd DONE something to it because I'm so in love with having my veins stabbed at in the early hours. I just gave her 'the look' and went " It tissued, nothing would go through".
Stabby stabby, new venflonny number seveny... and since I've started doing my own IVs quite alot in here the nurse just handed them over and left me to it. Something was distinctly amiss though.. I felt that familiar shivery, washed out, wobbly feeling and my temp was just slightly up. So I didn't get up and do anything at all till 9am. And then didn't feel like even a walk so just washed my hair and attempted to eat something. Bleh. Lung functions were still brilliant, although that's pretty much a reassurance that my fitness is on the up and that my inflammation in the airways is normal. It doesn't really make me jump for joy anymore (ungrateful as that sounds) because I knw what's going on in my airspaces and that my gas transfer is rubbish... still, at least one thing goes my way now!
Ward round was okay since I knew they weren't going to be letting me out today. So far they aren't entirely sure what to do with me except carry on with IVs for a few more days, and see where that gets my gas transfer and see if my oxygen requirements start going down a bit. My consultant said she hoped to get me out of here by the end of the week but since they don't think I'm absorbing oral steroids and I'm apparently loads better on IV, we're a bit stuck. It seems to depend on whether my gas transfer improves at all this week, whether they can figure out a way to get me continuing to improve OFF iv steroids, and how much longer I'm going to need steroids for.
Oh the ISSUES!! She also keeps trying to gently give me a bit of a reality check over how my lungs will be in the future. Scarring issues ect ect. Like, she isn't sure my gas transfer will ever be normal, even though it'll get much better. So I'll always be more out of breath when I run ect. But that's something I'd kind of figured out anyway really.
Even so, I burst in to tears when she was saying it all because just none of it was what I want to hear. Why can't I get better off oral streroids alone?!! Why have my alveoli thickened up so much that now they'll always be less efficient?! And from that point onwards, I've officially cried on and off all day. All effing day. I hate it when you're like that... and I don't get it often.
But I just felt that way where you just can't hold it back anymore because of being so frustrated and dissapointed at it all. So I've mostly stayed in my room sulking, lol. Safer that way coz I don't want to be walking down the ward and suddenly start bubbling away!
I basically did a load of knitting, to stay relaxed and pass the time. And physio came round and was NOT going to leave without getting me on the treadmill. I explained I was feeling a bit off today and that I was just going to do a decent paced walk. So I had 20 very uneventful minutes walking, but did feel somewhat better having done it so at least I felt I'd done something constructive! 4 litres o2 to maintain sats at 91, at 6kmph, so all stable there.
I felt al chilly and weird again later so had a sleep and then a very easy 10 minutes on the treadmill, so at least I've done 30 minutes walking today. And my legs will probably feel nice and fresh tomorrow so I think I'll just write today off as one of those days, and get myself together!
Just gonna have to stick out this bit now till they figure out what to do with me lol.

Big glassy eyed apologies for the self indulgent drivle that has been todays post. Lets turn over a new leaf tomorrow I think!
Take care cheesies xxx

'appy marthers day, a good one in spite of... well, myself.

Hey,

The first thing I thought about this morning when I woke up was "I hope they deliver those flowers okay and quite early" I got a call around 10.30 from the delivery man asking for directions, and they were with Mommy soon after. Phew! And it's a freaking good job they were delivered quite early because apparently the mothers day traffic was a total nightmare. 50 miles as the crow flies form our house to hospy, and it took the rents 3 hours to get here! So understandably they were frazzled when they arrived, and our lunchen in the parken was not to be untill 3pm! Lol, at least we were all ready for it!
I had my 'early' session at about 9am, and OMG did I feel the running from last night in my legs. So. much. pain. And chesty poos was pluggy and horrible for some reason. Still, I decided that since I would not be able to run on them in this way, I'd go for a walky PB instead! Covered my 2km in 20 minutes! At incline of 3-4% as well, so really not a bad little workout after all. I pretty much just whiled away the rest of the morning and chilled till Ma and Pa arrived, couldn't muster the strength to do much else really! And since it was not that warm and we were so hungry when we got to the park, we only walked for about 10 minutes in total. So at least this gave my legs a good chance at recovery before attempting to run again this evening.
7.30pm and off I toddle in to the day room, thinking of roughly 10 minutes jogging within a 30 min workout. And I managed 8 in total. Not overly rubbish but not as good as I'd hoped. My legs were just so painful and I was coughing sooo much all evening that I ended up with stomach cramps and stitch in every single interval I did. Plus the coughing was affecting my breathing rhythm which is never good.
I did manage to cover 3.4km in about 30 minutes though, all on 2-3% incline. Which isn't bad going in context, it's just frustrating when you're as impatient as moi, and you want to make more progress with every work out.
I guess I need to reassure myself that things get easier bit by bit, and THEN you increase the time/intensity. And it won't happen with every single workout either. It wouldn't when I was fast, and it won't now.
I think maybe before I keep getting ahead of myself and expecting my lungs/legs to be able to cope with longer and faster intervals all the time, I should just be positive that the intervals I have been doing are feeling that bit easier, and that running for 8 minutes a day would never have happened a month ago. It's really not that long since I could barely even have a 5 minutes shower without crashing out on my bed for half an hour afterwards.
Maybe the reason I've been getting dissapointed with it so easily is just because with the amount of 02 I'm having to do it, I expect my body to work normally with it... whereas it's just a bit more complicated than that! Just gonna be baby steps... but they're forward steps.

So in light of appreciating the fitness I HAVE got, I think I'll be fairly conservative for now, and aim for not more than 8-10 minutes of jogging everyday. Then hopefully in a week or two, this will feel much easier and I'll be comfortable to up it by another couple of minutes.
Added to this is the confusion about when I'll go home! They just don't let on much. In my mind, I'm good to go but I need the portable oxygen sorting if I'm going to be able to carry on exercising effectively. I don't want to hang around here for much longer just for the simple fact that I'm hypoxic on walking. They've said themselves it's not going to get better overnight, yet they seem to want to keep me here to see how much better things can get through having IV steroids.
I'm so annoyed that they don't see it my way! They said the x-ray had improved when I was admitted, so obviously the oral prednisolone was (if very slowly) doing it's job... and yet they're apparently so impressed with the hydrocortisone that I'm carrying on with it. But they've not said how long for, why and what they're actually wanting to see with me before they'll consider me ready to get home. I need to know what I'm aiming for otherwise how can I possibly plan ahead and plan for fitness type things when I'm out?! Hopefully they'll shed more light on it when I ask tomorrow. See what lung functions ect do... blah, blah, blah.

I'll let yas know! Take it easy guys xxx

Flat as a pancake... but a fluffy american one, not a crepe.

Ahem. I'm just gonna get this out in the open now... I slept in till 9.30 when I was practically shoved out of bed by the day nurses wanting to change the sheets. And it certainly didn't go unnoticed - "You're sleeping late. You're normally the first one up!" Well, at least my weekday efforts have been recognised ;-)
Thing is, I woke up at 6 when someone came in to do my IVs, but the venflon was no more, had blocked and leaked everywhere so it had to come out. And then Dr on call kindly came round for a good old stab at 7.30am. The same Doctor who told me no point in doing a long line on tuesday. Hope she was really annoyed having to do it. HarHar.
I had planned to get up around this time, once obs had been done and I finally had my morning IVs, but promptly fell back to sleep. Oh well, I guess I needed it.
So eventually I got up and very reluctantly did just 10 minutes walking on an incline of 5 to try and make the most of it, since I really didn't feel up to much. In fact, my temperature was slightly raised and I felt shivery, so this might have been why.
Still, that 10 minutes helped with clearance a tadge and it's always good to move around first thing to get this fluid moving off my limbs!
Still felt absolutely knackered and was all pale and faint, so I basically just did all my drugs and had a wash and got dressed ect, then lay on my bed dozing for the rest of the morning! Lushing it up on the weekend, I dunno.

Good thing was that come a doze/telly sesh and lunch and several teas, I felt pretty good again! And after 2pm IVs, I decided to venture oot and aboot in to the depths of Oxford street. I don't know why I do it to myself really... going on saturdays then getting really grumpy at all the other shoppers for just being there. How dare they! Still, I had a good old walk to and from the station, around Oxford street and all that, which I tried to keep going at a really brisk and important 'things to do' pace, weaving in and out of all those wanderers who were havin a faaaggg. Nice.
I did spend rather too much on some new clothes... I just really wanted some nice trendy tees and a little denim skirt. And a jumper. Ahem... Don't tell Mum and Dad.
It did cheer me up loads though and to be honest, my new clothes will benefit many on the ward since I won't have to recycle all my nice clothes as much and smell. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Couple of hours after dinner I did my harder session, where basically I warm up by doing 4 minutes at 6kmph on 4l O2, then ramp up the o2 to 10l and do 2 lots of 4 minutes at 8-9kmph with about 3-4 minutes walking in between and a 5 minute walk to cool down on 4l o2. So 8 minutes running today, the reason I didn't push on for a final 2 minutes was that I want to run early tomorrow since Mum and Dad are coming hopefully, for mothers day pleasantries. Can't wait to see 'em as always. We do have a good laugh together and you know when you just miss cuddles!
So I figured if I manage 3 lots of 2 minutes jogging in my early session, it doesn't matter so much if they are here when I'd normally do the session. However I'm hoping to then also do another 6 minutes in the evening. Aim for PB!!!! 12 minutes I hope! I'll see how the legs feel though. And I'll get a walk outside with the rents too.
I just hope I can get up with relative ease tomorrow! Earlier night maybe will help.

Sees yas xxx

Astronauticus face maskus for thou with the rubbish alveolus

Another rollercoaster of a day here at hotel chest. I'm not totally sure what to make of it all, as usual!
First thing was good, I got up and did 20 minutes treadmilling, quite easy, to limber up for my seshho with physio later. Legs and chest felt good doing that. Just as I'd finished my drainage and nebs and about to go back on the treadmill at 11, the Dr told me to go down to RFU to do my gas transfer thingy.
And that's pretty much where my mood was set in to a bad one... the last, and only other time I'd done a gas transfer was in December when I wasn't quite at my worst, but still pretty bad. It showed the my lung 'effectiveness' if you like (the amount of oxygen you actually diffuse in to your blood from what you breathe in) to be 41%. (Quite shit)
So here's me all... well my sats at rest are dead good now and my x-rays better ect ect so it MUST have increased. And it was 37%. (More shit).
So my effective lung function, despite having regained great volume and flow, is hovering at 40%.
I guess I knew it would still be kind of low since I'm so hypoxic when I exercise... but I just really hoped I could have a better number to look at to prove that things are really improving. So I felt a bit sad, to be quite honest.
After that I came back up and started the session with Physio, who now wanted to see just how much O2 I need to maintain sats above 90 when I jog.
Answer: 10 litres. Holy moose.
And for obvious reasons, you can't have more than 5l through nasal specs, so I'll be using a mask for my running now. Just not quite as neat and discreet, I have to say. But at least my sats were good! I did 10 minutes in total, in 2 x 4 minutes, and 1 x 2 minute intervals. Even though it was knackering, it was more because of my legs being tired and not used to the running then from lactic acid build up, which I was getting straight away before.

I was still grouchy and dispondant after the result of lung function, and then to really help things along, dr came back and told me to go for a ct scan to make sure that the pneumonia wasn't flaring up (they weren't impressed with my gas transfer). Of course I knew that it wasn't, coz I know how I felt when it was there badly.
Nonetheless, it was quite good to do a CT since I could have a sneakery peakery at the images and could instantly see that it was better. Much less grey all over the place.

Later on my consultant popped in which was a surprise, to tell me the good news - she'd been over the CT with the other consultant and they were both really chuffed at the difference!! Apparently there's a load of scarring which we knew, and still some shadowing which explains my unimproved gas transfer. BUT, there is far less of the shadowing and no more consolidation which means that the pneumonia is 'there' but not active. So yeah, a good cheer up that I definately needed.

I also had my walk outide, lovely as per, and glad it was nice and sunny still when I finally got the chance to get out! So there was my 3 sessions totalling an hour all done by 5pm, so I've had the evening to relax and recover. Good stuff.

Plans for the weekenders... hrm. I'll aim to get the morning walk and mid morning run sessions done at the same times as today, then probably will go for a little wander in London to go round the shops for a bit. Just to break it up a bit because weekends are sooo quite here in Bethnal Green!
Maybeeee topshop. Hahaha. But probably only to try on stuff, complain that topshop gear 'never fits right, and is made for people with really long bodies and really teeny ribcages' conclude that H and M kids is the only place I ever find anything decent to wear, then lurk in the sweet section of Topshop and buy something I know I'll actually get some use out of.
Sounds a laff! Righto poppets, take it sneezy!
xxx

No freedom... yet.

Allo,

I appear, as usual, to be VERY much mistaken in my judegements. Just because when Drs and Nurses keep telling you you'll be getting out/finishing your IVs ect ect... it's quite customary to believe them. But nope, apparently the only person who I should listen to from now in is my consultant. Having not had a long line put in on monday or tuesday because the registrars kept telling me I'd only be on IVs till the end of the week, now it seems I really should have got one in to last till monday. Very grrr! So many unneccessary and painful venflons later, I'm still having IVs till monday. As planned... I wish people would get their facts right before just giving false hopes to us!
Never mind though, as all in all it was a good day and my chest is still pretty good. Mum came up and although we had to hang around for late ward rounds and an x-ray before finally getting our walk in the park, it was worth it and we did have an action packed game of scrabble while we waited. And tea and cake after... yummers.
I got up rather late compared to other days, as in 8.30! Woops... and by that time someone was already on the treamill for a bit, so I basically just decided to get up and chill out rather than my usual 2k morning sesh. Later on the physio wanted to do my oxygen levels whilst walking anyway, so I had a 10 minute brisk walk then.
I put it on 6kmph, 2% incline and started with no 02 at all just because I like to see what I'm working with. And 1-2 minutes in, sats were 78. Which is always a bit sad when they go in the 70s, especially since I was only walking. Ho hum though... at least it was a fast walk! So slipped the old nose specs back on on 3-4L, and maintained sats at about 90-92. Lovely and helpful and scarily knowledgable as the physio is, she did keep asking me loads of questions whilst I was doing it, even though she'd told me to focus on big deep breaths through the o2 pipes... so yeah, understanderbly, my sats dropped to 83 right at the end of the 10 minutes coz I was trying to talk! Waste of my valuable oxygen!

After a little natter with the Doc just after, and a quick x-ray (which I must say is a HUGE improvement on the last one I saw - just a load of scarring... but hardly any solid white chunks), we went for our 30 minute jaunt round the park and to the little cafe. And did it all fairly fast and chatting, so a good workout really.

I planned to do my little running sesh at about 8.30pm to allow food to go down... then had a teeny temperature spike so fell asleep untill that time, when someone else went on the treadmill for a while, so I kind of hung around till about 9.45 to do it. I did 3 minutes brisk walk, 2 minutes jogging, another 3 minutes walking, another 2minutes jogging, then 6 minutes walking to cool down. So only 4 minutes jogging tonight... short and sweet. However, the physio is coming at 11am tomorrow for my session, where I want to do 10 minutes, so at least my legs won't be too tired. I'll do 20 minutes first thing to stretch them out a bit first and make sure I'm awake!

And I mean it... finished by 8am latest to ensure that I actually get on it, and that I'm recovered in time for the big one! I think I'll try and push really hard for the running bits, as I really want to get that 10 minutes again. I'll have to see what my sats do and how tolerant of low sats the physio remains! Then to the park if it's nice... will be in order.

So... more IVs, more IV steroids (boooo) and then a firm "We'll talk" on monday. I shall let you know how my sesh went... oh the excitement.

xxx

It was a day of recovery. Sunny recovery though ;-)

Hola,

Well, as predictimondo, my legs remained pretty tired and achey from the massive increase in erm... my using them over the past few days. Which is fine, it means I'm getting WORKOUTS!! Not physiotherapy... workouts. Ha. So I basically got up early (7) first and foremost to wash my locks before the severe drought that was to be in Caplin. Then on to business - a 21 minute walk on the treaders covering 2km. So a PB of late, since it's normally been taking me about 24 minutes to cover the 2k. AND I did it at 3% incline so nerrr. The legs kind of held out but I pretty much could tell that today was not going to be a running day lol.
Instead, I decided to just go to the park after lunch and do 2 laps at a decent enough pace (no O2 remember!) for a 40 minute 'sesh'. So I'v still done an hour's walking today, much more than I would have been doing a few weeks back and this was an 'easy' day!

Other than the two walks I've been totally knackered feeling all day... not in an ill sort of way, just because of doing loads but that's ace anyway because I've pretty much got most of the day to do these self indulgent exercise, rest, eat, repeat type cycles in here. Passes the time nicely.

And I reckon just the whole thing of being in the ward makes you feel a bit jaded too, coz it's just not home! The waterpipe crisis was not too bad like I thought it would be... and I got to have a little recky of rivierer ward too. It's shite! Well old fashioned and not as clean looking as caplin... and the staff were giving me the eye for walking in... as if they hadn't been told people from caplin would be using the loos...tsk tsk. Glad I'm over here in the posh unit even if we do have momentary water shortages!

Chest wise, I'm doing well still, I'm coughing away but it's turned in to more of a dry, loose tickly sort of cough not all tight and gluggy. My sats are totally awesome at rest still, like I've been getting 98!! I mean that's bloody good. It's just the old overnight and exercise thingy where they drop away to the 80s. Ah... I'm a child of the 80s and I can't hide it! I've been doing all my sessions alone so no pulse oximetre of late, but I imagine I'll be sticking with the same 02 requirements for a little while - 3-4 litres for exertion and 1 litre overnight. S'all good though. I reckon come the day where I take the old portable cyclinder out for a proper run, people will think I'm some astronaut in training or something. Cooool.

I'm really hoping they take me back off hydrocortisone tomorrow and maybe even finish IVs and get out before the weekend... I don't think there's anything else that can be achieved with more antibiotics now since my infection levels are totally stamped now. And you guessed it, I still hate IV steroids!! My weight is a joke - 44 this morning, 46.3 this afternoon, and then probably somewhere in between now. Proper yo-yo-er me. I can feel it when I'm bloating out - my fingers are all puffy and my shoes feel tight lol!

My loverly Mum is coming up tomorrow, which is always fabby. Totally breaks up the time when we can have loads of chats and cuddles and dinner at the nice veggie restaurant!

Exercise for tomorrow... I think today will have done my legs a world of good to get over the past few days, so I think I'll go for 10 minutes jogging again. And the usual 40-50 minutes walking. Bring it onnnn xxx

And since I gone this far, I figured I'd just keep right on running...

So there I was all geared up for the afternoon sesh, getting kind of nervy and sweaty like you do, and it started like all my other sessions this week: a few minutes brisk walking. But no, today was different for my first running interval, which I was thinking I'd do the same 2 minutes as before, I ended up doing 6 whole minutes without stopping. After the first 2 minutes, I was getting a bit tired but just felt like carrying on for another minute and see if I could do 3. After that I was like, well that wasn't too bad, why not try for 4? And then as the 4th minute passed and I got cocky, I just thought... hang on, I'm on to something here. I'm just going to do another whole 2 minutes and THEN I'll have a walk. And I freaking did!!
I was a bit too knackered and full of lactic acid at the end of this to actually utter any form of exitement physically, but there were some right fireworks going on inside. Hooo. Yes.
So I went on and had a good long 4 minute walk after that, before doing two more 2 minute intervals, slightly faster, which means I have done 10 minutes jogging today! 10 just sounds so good compared to single digits. I'm really surprised at the speed it's been coming on fitness wise this week.
The big session overall was 3.4km, in about 30 minutes, and I had also done my morning 2km, plus a 20 minute stroll in the park which was well worth the wait. So I've covered about 7km in total today. It's a definate thumbs up, but I reckon tomorrow, I'll aim to just do the same again rather than adding again.
Just because I've increased the training every day for the past few days and just as anyone's who did this in training would be, my legs are getting very tired and a little bit achey from lots of wear and a bit of lactic acid stuff. I was also very sleepy and slightly shakey after the session, and my temp was slightly high - which is probably my body trying to get used to all this exercise by revving up my metabolism and all that shizzle.
So if I can equal today, I'll be happy, and if my legs are tired and I half the running, that'd be fine too. I mean realistically, I know that to a seasoned and fit runner I'm doing very little, but I would never have run everyday and pushed hard everyday when I was fit, so I think the same rules apply now. It's all relative I spose.

Oh and in regular LCH madness style, I've been prewarned that between 7.30am and evening, there will be NO RUNNING WATER ON THE WARD!! Erm... yes, in a hospital. No hand washing... all day... yep. And for each pee, I will need to venture to rivierrer ward where the elitist members will still have fresh water. I'm going to have to plan ahead with the toilet trips, then. I mean, like at least 5-10 minutes before I envisage it getting serious... especially since my kidneys have now decided they DO know how to get rid of water, and I'm losing a pound or two a day in fluid weight. Oh what an interesting day I've got ahead. I can't wait to see how all the nurses will manage... presumeably loads of clorohexidine wipes and hand sanitisers.

Right, I'll have to be up early to wash my hair! So nighty night and I'll be back for nattering soon. xxx

65%??!! Ha. Ha. In the words of Bush, I was grossly misunderestimated!

Oh today was a gooood health day. Like, unbe-freakin-lievable. I blew 88% in lung function! I was so surprised when I saw the print off that my mouth was hanging open and then I was grinning ear to ear for about 3 hours lol. So lets just get this right... I have had just 1 week IVs and IV steroids, and my lung functions have shot up 30%. Literally the whole team were shocked by it too cause they (and certainly me) didn't really imagine they'd go much above 70-75% at least a good few months from now. And I was all ready to accept never going above 80-85% EVER!
The Doc asked me what do I think has made so much difference... and to be honest, I reckon it was getting back to some intense cardio exercise again, even though I've only been doing it a few days. This combined with a shitload of antibiotics before and during the admission has cleared my chest no end, and what I'm bringing up is the cleanest and thinnest I've seen it since forever.

Now, of course, there's always one or two things that bring you back off of cloud nine, and if I could write those bits in teeeeny text then I would. Oh wait... there you go... hahaha:
My effective lung function is still probably only about 50-60% due to poor diffusion from the alveolar damage... the fact that I blow 88% means that my lung volumes have shot up and the rate I can empty and fill them is much faster - so they are getting stretchy again. This diffusion issue is the reason why I need so much oxygen to do proper exercise... but it is improving all the time.

Doc said my lungs sounded really clear, which is the first time since all of this, that there has been no crackles!! So there is almost no lurky crappy pluggners or fluidness at my lung bases.

What was quite funny today was that the venflon nightmareishness is rearing it ugly little needly head again.... Since I was scheduled for a long line insertion today for the rest of my IVs, the venflon in my wrist was taken out (3 day rule anyway) after 2pm IVs. I then patiently waited for the registrar to come round and do her thang... and waited, and waited, didn't get a walk in the park... waited some more, then when 6pm rolled round and nurse came to do my steroids, I'm like... er, you're going to HATE MEEEEEE.... AHAHAHAHA. No liney in armey. Houston, we have a problem.
And in all her trust in me, she asks "Well how am I meant to give you your hydrocortisone then?" Like I would magically remember some emergency venous access I had just for times like these.

But alas, no. So on call Doctor comes round and kindly inserts yet another venflon. In my hand. So now I'm a grubby grubber too with only partially washed hands. They had better come and do a long line tomorrow or I'll smear my filthy unwashed hand all over EVERYWHERE before they can shtop meee.

They also did my pre-tobramycin levels earlier and told me to make sure I was around for 3pm for post levels. And no-one came. My antibiotic peak was wasted huh. Which means they have to do post levels tonight. So a blood test at 11pm. I'm so going to do a really good impression of being asleep so they feel really guilty coming in at that ungodly hour, and then in return tell off the day doctos for neglecting me and leaving their dirty work the night staff. What goes around comes around. Yeahhh I'm nasttty.

Anywhom, a good day at the office, I'll be carrying on with this exercise program. In fact, I was so busy rambling about my veins that I forgot to tell you that I have done 8 minutes jogging today!! 3 lots of 2 minutes, and 2 lots of 1 minute at a faster pace. Get me upping the pace lol. That was within a 3km overall session, the rest of it I walked at about 6kmph. Wicked.

xxx

All oxygen cylinders firing... 6 minutes running... GO! GO! GO!!

The day came!! I did the 6 minutes - broken in to 6 x 1 minute within a 20 minute session with the physio on today. He was all up for getting me running too, so after predictable sats droppage with certain speeds (same as yesterday), we just whacked up the 02 to 4L, and went right ahead with the intervals! I felt good all in all. Knackered like I used to feel after running a 5k race, but good. My sats were at 83 by the end of the last rep, but they were higher than that (84-88) for the other runs, it was just the cumulative oxygen consumption I think. It was so good to 'feel' the running again, even for what it was. It was still running, I still ran for 6 minutes in total, and I'm still chuffed about it, so nothing can take that away.
Physio was pleased with it and is keen to do the same sesh tomorrow. So in total today, I had my 20 minute (2km) walk first thing, then a little stroll in the park with Mum and Dad, who bought a great picnic for us to have in the sunshine (I felt so civilised lol), then a bit later, 'THE session', which was tha 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes walking to recover (Another 3km done). Hehe... got to say I'm so proud to say I walked to recover. I used to collapse on my bed for two hours to recover. So about 1 hour of solid exercise again.
I sarrrrpose I'll aim for an hour in the same format tomorrow, although times may be skewiff because Mondays are ward round days too. I guess I'll have the early walkies done by 8, so that I can be scrubbed up, nebbed, and breakied in time to go for lung functions. I'm gonna put the funk in lung function as well. That spirometer will not know what to do with itself when I blow in it. Whahahaha.

I reckon since I've been so well exercised for the past few days I could blow about 65% now. I reckon my volumes will be up, so we'll see. And to be honest, I don't really care what that piece of paper says as long as I am feeling good. What. Ever. Is all I can say... the spirometry had my lung functions as 75% a couple of months ago and yet gas transfer showed my effective lung function to be about 30-40%. So I'll not be too anal on numbers.

Well, I'll be updating with the thrilling Drs verdicts and my blows, and hopefully more hardcore TRAINING!!! Seeyas xxx

Or just don't do it...

Ahem. So today WAS a good day overall, I have done an hour of pretty good exercise in total. Hoooever... my dreamy dreams of doing 6 minutes of jogging during the session, were not to be today. I was allowed... wait for it - ONE minutes. One poxy minute, then forced to go back to a walk because my sats had gone to 84 on 2 litres. So we put it up to 3L for the rest of the sesh so I could carry on with a brisk walk and keep my sats at 89-90.
It was a bit dissapointing but at least I know exactly where I'm at with the running now, before I was unaware they would go quite as low. So the plan is to repeat that session tomorrow with whoevers about, and probably put the o2 up to 4L when I do a minute or two of running, then back to brisk walk and recover, then hopefully be able to do more running intervals. So as before, it's very much work in progress.
If the physio on tomorrow is a bit more leniant and lets me, then I'm just going to keep the o2 at 3-4 L and try and get those 6 minutes in to the 20 minutes session.

So after the 20 minutes morning session, I had that other 20 minutes quite intense with Physio, then after recovering with the O2 till heart rate had gone down and sats were normal, I snuck out to the park for 20 minutes and had a nice briskish walk (no O2, but I don't really different without it with the walking now).
I got back and conked out on my bed so obviously I'm very very well exercise today!
My Ma and Pa are coming tomorrow, so I'll be having a nice walk in the park with them, plus a morning session of 20-25 minutes. Can't wait hehehe.
In other news, I still hate hydrocortisone. It's making me bloat like a trooper. I was 43kg on monday, and now I'm 47! So nearly a kg a day. And given that my appetite has gone back to normal now, methinks this fluidiness is not healthy! God, I've never been so eager to get back on steroid tablets for their lack of side effects!
I'm now refusing the overnight fluids as when I think about it, I certainly don't need any extra salt to make me retain water. The litre bag you have overnight is isotonic (0.9% salt), so contains a whopping 9g of salt overnight! On top of my regular food salt intake!! No wonder I wake up bloated... Jeez. So I think cutting that sodium injection and just having lots of plain water may ease some of the puffiness and make me feel a bit more normal , although I doubt my weight will be normal till a few days after coming off IVs. It's funny really as they've been on at me to gain weight for ages, now it's out of control and not the right kind! All or nothing, me.

Righto, I'll update tomorrow with more enthralling exercise bloggage. Till then take care xxx

Just DO it

Hey hey!

Last night, I did 4 minutes in total of jogging at 5mph!! 4 minutes, and straight back to brisk walk, no stopping! Had to tell you that coz I'm so chuffed. Best part was not just the being able to do it, but the fact that when I was getting puffed out, I starting taking these big deep breaths, and it DIDN'T HURT! And only made me cough a few times and right at the end. I've been doing my draining/ active breathing cycles before and after exercise recently which seems to help stop me coughing and bringing up stuff the whole of the workout. I mean, I can handle a bit of a cough every few minutes, but when it's constant it really affects my ability to catch my breath. So that's another thing that's right back on track!

Plus yesterday I had done 30 minutes on the treadmill earlier, a walk in to town and back with mum, and some walking either side of the jogging. So that's about an hour of exercise. Brilliant. I'm aiming for the same today -I had my first 20 minutes done at 9am (fancied a saturday lie in lol), then I'm doing my oxygen levels with running with the physio today, so that'll be 20 minutes (probably aim for 6 minutes total of jogging and 14 of brisk walking). Then probably not too long after, while it's still light, I'd like a walk in the park for 20 minutes. So yep, plannage, and I expect if yesterdays anything to go by, I'll be shattered come 10pm! I could barely keep my eyes open last night hence the lack of update in the evening...

My chest is so clear compared to a few weeks ago and much better than when I came in. I'm hardly bringing up anything! And I've had no temps at all since coming in, and just loads of energy really, like I actually want to get up and get started with the day. Which sounds so... 'huh so what' but I really really missed my old energy and feeling up to doing things. It wasn't like I just wasn't up to doing parties and sports, it was everything - I could only just manage to be up and showered by midday on a good day, had to lie down and catch my breath after a shower, got tight and felt like having a heart attack going up the stairs, couldn't have proper conversations, and could only walk for 10 minutes before needing to fall asleep and recover for a couple of hours. So when I think of all that I keep realising that I've come so far now and it just makes me really determined on carry on and beat this. Like, the fact I'm going to be using oxygen again to get my exercise back on track seemed like a set back, but actually when I compare how much I'll be using to get such good results, it's brilliant. At one point, 5Litres o2 would get my sats to 81% whilst walking at 1kph on the treadmill, and then I would be forced to get off by the physio. Now, 2 litres keeps my sats nicely above 90% whilst I walk at about 5kph for as long as I like. And 3 Litres allows me to run almost comfortably.

With this progress I just can't wait for say, 6 months down the line, when I doubt I'll need any oxygen to run, and may be able to run for 20 minutes or so in one go. We'll see, if it takes longer it takes longer, but now I feel so much more positive about the future for my sportiness.

XXX

I'm not going to lie. It was a less than perfect day.

Sorry for bad news here... I hate always being in the shizzle. Here goes.
Firstly, lung functions were up 4% which was the good part, however sats have been smarmily sticking to 90-92 first thing in the morning and 80-88 with exercise.
Secondly, Adam and I have to give things a rest for now while we are both struggling a bit with chest infections and frequent relapses/IVs. We were individually given the talk by our consultant who pointed out some things that had been in the back of my mind but I didn't want to admit to, and in the end, we've been responsible enough to just be grateful that we have eachother even though it's not practical to be an item for now. Doesn't rule it out for when we're healthier though so I'll at least try to be positive. And will still be there for Adz no matter what. I hate him being sad though, makes me so sad too. I wish there was a way to make the problems go away but I suppose life is like that and sometimes you just have to accept things and get on with it. So for now we'll both be working on getting superfit and healthy and making our lungs the best they can be.

And the ganache on the gateux was that I've been told to stay in for the full two weeks I'm on IVs, so that a) we can carry on with IV steroids to be sure that they are definately getting to where they need to; and b) so that Dr can make sure that I'm as good as possible before going back home. So there we have it - I learned to do my own ivs, got all cocky about getting out on home IVs for the weekend, and now have been put right back in my place. Harrumph, is all I can say. Oh the boredom... now I know I'm in for the two weeks, I'm all twitchy and bored. Soooo - my masterplan is to not give in to boredom. I shall construct my grumpy bitchness to ultra-hard working physio womanness.

First IVs and disconnecting fluids is at 6am, so I've already been getting up quite early, at about 7.30 to do my hair and morning meds before breakfast, so I figured I'd carry on with the routine and get my first physio sesh on the treadmill at about 7.15 for 20 minutes. This will be the first time in AGES that I've done exercise in the morning due to lung stiffness and being so out of breath, but now that I'm less tight and I have the o2 on anyway, it seems like a really good way to improve my morning erm... functioning. Then have a scrub and wash my barnet, then breakfast and pulmozyme, then probably tea and chatting in the corridor with Adam, then some studying for an hour or two, do any financey stuff to be sorted, then chill/wait for dr to come round, then lunch, IVs, then more chilling and studying, do some more exercise, like 20-30 minutes, then dinner. And IVs. Followed by some phonecalls, chilling, internet, telly, yet more IVs before bed and finals nebs/pills. And I think I'm exhausted just writing that! Which is shocking as it's not really that much to do LOL. I don't know how I'll ever do as much as a normal person again!

I did get a very good long chat with one of the physios today who I'd not met before and she was really helpful, like went through my active breathing cycles (that I currently do with physio instead of accapella due to chest pain) and shoed me a few things to add in. And also since we've found that I'm still quite hypoxic with walking, and this could be the reason why I'm not making fast progress with my fitness, we chatted about portable o2 again. Basically it's a teeny generator that you can carry in a rucksack allowing you do wear it for more vigorous exercise without it weighing you down much/ being bulky. And depending what the oximetre shows when I do a proper exercise test next week, I think I may take her up on it.

I don't like using it, but I've realised that being anal and ignoring the fact you need it doesn't make the hypoxia go away. And lets be frank, I wish I could jog for more than 1-2 minutes without having to stop for 10. We shall see.

Med wise, I've been given NAC sachets to help thin the sputum more and I think it's really helping me clear stuff. Plus I had a word with the dieticien about my tummy and the fact that I am throwing up in my mouth again quite often these days where the lansoprasole used to stop all that. So I'm doing ranitidine as well now and hopefully no more messy sick-burps. Mmm I love my body.

Anyway like I said, sorry to have a negative post, but hopefully soon I'll have loads of good news to waffle with! Take it fleasy xxx

Yep, another uneventful yet pleasant day at the Inn.

Howdee. Not too much to report since I don't do an awful lot in here, and can't go out much since iv meds are four times a day at the mo, so not a big enough gap! I am however feeling fairly well compared to how I was a couple of months ago, so it's like a walk in the park really this time. I decided to split my exercise in to two sessions so I could do more with less tiredness. So in the morning I did 20 minutes at 4.4kph, on 2 litres O2, then in the afters I did 20 minutes at 4.6kph followed by 5 minutes at 3 to cool down a bit. I was breathy but felt good for it so all in all, it could me much worse fitness wise!

Tomorrow holds the day of reckoning where main consultant comes round after lung functions, weigh ins ect ect. So I'm hoping she's in a good mood and will let me do home IVs asap. The dr today said that the IV steroids can prolly stop tomorrow as it looks like the pills are going in okay, although the proper levels need to be checked. So hopefully back to minimal side effects. Having said that... I'll miss my enormous appetite if it goes back to normal after. I have eaten more in the past days then I have been in a week recently! Today I've had:

Bran flakes with milk, orange juice, and a yoghurt
One of the fresubin supplement drinks (400kcal)
Shephards pie, peas, swede, and pear and chocolate crumble with custard
Some little cake thingy that lovely cake lady (louis' mum) made
Beef goulash and dumplings, salad, more swede, more crumble and custard, and an apple
Another fresubin drink, crisps, and two more yogurts. And loads of water of course. And ahem... creon. LOL.
I mean.... I know I need to eat loads of calories but jeez!! I don't know what's come over me and to be honest, I could carry on if I weren't concerned for my stomach's ability to suddenly have so much! Absolute fatty. Nom, nom, nom.

So I'm thinkinnn, lung functions would look dazzling at about 65% tomorrow. Yes perlease... Cummonn drugs, exercise and food work your magic.

I'll have news tomorrow on my escapage. Stay cool amigos xxx

Hmmm. Good weekend followed, in typical style, by not very good week.

Sorry for the lack of updates this weekend. First reason was a yay one in that I was with the boyo, celebrating his bday, seeing avenue Q, and going to his fancy dress party then staying in Southend with him. Was a dead good weekend!! Untill sunday morning where despite not being hung over (I only had 2 units), I felt like poo left to go a bit cold then reheated and served as shephards pie filling in a questionable cafe by a lady called Doreen Mingeton.
I didn't, if am honest, get any exercise in the weekend other than walking around Covent garden for a bit on Friday and some dodgey dancing at the partaaay (as wilma flintstone). And I kept needing to have a sit down rather than dancing as I was either hacking away or quite out of breath. All because of a stooopid cold I caught last week. I had nearly got quite good again on the cipro, then with the cold went rubbish again. Thought I may get away with it because I was on day 10 of cipro, but come Monday, I gave in to the endless bubbly cough and called the trusty CF mobile. And came up that afternoon, my plan really being to check my lung functions weren't down, get checked over, and get more orals to see me through.
Hooooever, even tho LFs were 58%, so only down a tadge, I decided I'd mix it up and get a temperature heart rate of 140 JUST in time to have my obs done. The registrar sort of seemed not too concerned untill the nurse took my sputum sample off me, took one look and went 'errr... oooohhhh' Now, to me, I didn't think it would raise much concern because although green and unnattractive it was, chunky and pluggo it was not, for a change. It's quite thin for me now at last, but apparently they thought it was too thick and have started me on another med to help thin it. Which I wanted anyway so woo. Goody.
On a tres plus side, my resting sats were, and have been, 96-per-fecking-cent!! Blimmin ace that. (86 when I walk so need O2 for exercise but ho hum) and chest x-ray has cleared a bit at the left base, which would be why I can't hear nearly as many crackles! Exciting stuff really.
Bad news was because tempo was up despite all the cipro and steroids, I have had to stick around for IVs. And I mean IV antiBs and IV steroids... which trust me, have MANY more side effects than my pills.... hahahaha. I shall look back and laugh I'm sure.

I reckon though, that if the LF is up a bit, temps stay away, and I still feel okay by thursday, I should get a kick out. On home IVs, but out of here. Good news is with the hydrocortisone, I am HUNGRY. Like, so hungry I actually cleaned all my plates of food and then WANTED the fresubin carton after. And I don't even really like the supplement drinks, I'm just flipping hungry! Nom, nom, NOM. It is a very nice change when I've spent the last two months forcing myself to eat just to maintain my weight, and would have rather lived off air. Hope it lasts!

The plan, exercise wise is to hopefully have high enough sats on the treadmill to reassure myself this is a blip and I can continue as per next week.
I planned a couple of very gently interval running sessions this week if I was feeling fit, but obviously that's gone out the window, so I'll just be doing my 40 minutes walking a day on 2l O2, and seeing how it gooooes!

Maybe if there was a high flow O2 tank small enough for me to run with I would be able to get back much sooner! LOL. Unless anyone fancies carrying it for meee?
No? Okay then... I'll wait.

Ah well, I expect I shall have hospital addendumcomplexcomplainmodedirtytalk tomorrow if you'll join me. Till then, take care and have a decent cup of tea on me. xxxx

Happy Birthday Dad and Adam!!!

Heellooo. Today was the day of Adz and Dadz birthday, which was very nice in the end! We mainly chilled out and played some scrabble (cause we're clever university people), and had tasty lunch and dinner that my Mum cooked. And an EPIC walk. Well good. We went up the road to the place where I go to for my 3 milers, then a bit further past that so we probably did between 3-3.5 miles I'd say. And we BEASTED the hills. Those hills were gobbled up by our feet like, well, gobbled up things by scary gobbling gobblers. Hom nom nom.
And we both seemed to recover after the efforts fairly quickly, like hardwork breathing but got it back fast. And also this is good since it was very chilly which before made me wheeze away like anything, but today it was just the normal cough cough cough (and both of us at it- what must those quiet neighbours have thought?!) Admittedly we both cheated by taking a load of ventolin before but needs must...

The only weeny downer was that that temperature was not nothing. I have a cold. Sore throat, blocked naso and another low grade temp. So yeah - good old virus-ness has got a foothold just when the bacteria are being kept in check!
So I feel a bit rough - nothing majooro, but annoyance nonetheless.
We will, however, be moseying along to the theatre tomorrow night to see Avenue Q!! Hehehe. Rather exciting and looking forward to a good laff even if it means plenty of coughing thrown in for good measure. And after that, on Saturday night, it is Adams fancy dress birthday party!! Fred and Wilma might be there... taking Adam and Michelles place >wink<

Oh and some serious thought is being given to a RACE IN JUNE. Yes you read me correctly - a race!! It's the London Chest Hospital trust 10K, but there's a 3km fun run too so even though I don't think I'll quite be up to running a 10k, the 3k certainly seems achievable. Which would be a lovely way to start back with a bang. Of course I'll have to tackle running for like... half a K first... but yeah - mid June gives me Over 3 months to train!! Rather exciting thought indeed.
And on that bombshell, I'll update very soon. Adios!
xxx

She's got the FEVAH

Ahhh... so I had a lovely evening, quiet drink with my mates up in Uxbridge ect ect... slept well and chest held up, then woke up with a temperature. And you can imagine what conclusions my mind jumps to when tempy goes up.... eurgh. So after paracetamol and loads of hiding in bed feeling like poo, I just about got myself together for the train journey back to sussex. And slept the whole way. Pah. The temps stayed down though so hopefully just a one off.
My walkage de la jour was really just the 20 minute walk to and around stations and trains. So a little something but not much since I was under the weather.
If all's fine tomorrow it will be a 3 miler. And it will be with ADAM hehehe. And do you know what's kewl-err? It will be his and my Daddios birthday. So much celebration to be had. Oh it will be fun filled indeed. Hee. Hee.
I had the nicest dream the other night that I was running... like ran 2 miles with someone's dog (thats the random dream bit) and was all cool and like I used to be after a run after. Which in some ways I guess is sad coz I don't know if I'll ever have such brilliant breathing with exercise... but in another way, I think is a sign that I'm much better, because I actually get running urges again and can visualise myself doing it. So kinda cool really. Shows how much of it is psychological which keeps me motivated to stay positive and keep trying.

Just a quickie really, I'll update after the big day tomo!
Laytas xxx

My village is full of pyromaniacs.

I was apparently very mistaken for thinking that the unspoken ettiquette of living near other humans was NOT to have bonfires in the early afternoon on warm and sunny days. Because alas, every single walk I've been on over the past two weeks, there has been someone along the route having a great big bonfire in their garden... I mean, what are they playing at?!
Is it now obligatory to burn your garden waste by turning it in to great big piles of infernal blazing carbonised shite?
Are we the only family that make use of the nearby tip to get rid of our unwanted green matter? And the only family who if we do fancy setting alight to our garden we do it when it's cold and in the evening?
Is it also only acceptable to do it when the weather is pleasant and your neighbours happen to venture out for a walk up the road?
Oh, oh - and is there some rota or agreement between all the other people in this village to ensure that the possibility of said bonfires being held on the same day is safely reduced to zero because heaven forbid there should be ONE nice day when the air isn't filled with smoke?
Because it seems a tidgey bit unfair that my lovely scenic route has been cut short because I'm not really keen on walking through a cloud of ash and smoke when my chest is already tight and there's another 2 miles to go. But then I am picky aren't I?

So I walked 2 miles today, enjoyable if a little smokey.

3 Miler number 2 is completement

Just cause I'm too excited about it to actually wait till tomorrow to post again, you've seen it here first!! I did 3 miles for my walk today, very hilly, only stopped for a chat when a mate passed in his car, and generally felt flipping good.
I ran for about 200m as well, which totally knackered me out but I could do it!! Won't be long before I can run for a bus again without thinking about it... hehehehehe. Ace.

She Lives.

Hi all!

Hope everyones good. It's been a pretty cool couple of days inspite of things - friday was my Grampy's birthday so a load of us went out for a steak dinner. Adam came which was cool, not at all meet the fockers. He also came to spend the day, watch DVDs, go for a drive, an help me ice Grampys cake! Good effort all in all really. It was another no-exercise day as both of us weren't having great luck with our breathing, what a pair.

However in spite of getting nearly no sleep after the meal and feeling rough, we braved a nice walk yesterday afternoon. Actually it was pretty good as far as the walks have been going, we both seemed to recover fairly quickly from the hills and keep up a decent pace.
So I'll try for a 3 miler today, take my time ect ect as long as I keep getting those steps in!
I think that as far as the chest infection goes, I'm feeling okay in myself but the cough is still slightly rubbish... coughed alot yesterday morning and all night the night before. I did however, sleep REALLY well last night and even though I was tight and congested when I woke up, this is the norm right now when things settle over night. And it clears quite well after I've done nebs. But, not too bad considering I've only had the cipro on board for 3 days. No IVs for me hahahah.

It was really cool spending a couple of days with Adz too, we had a laugh and he even (very patiently) let me do some parking practice in his neato renault megan! Action packed.

Laters!