An update

It's been a while since my last post, this could either be interpreted as an extremly good thing or something worriesome. Fortunately I consider it a good thing. Things have been steady for me, no chest infections no flares up, no feelings of depression or need to get any horrible thoughts down on the page. Everything is ok. Also my absence could possibly have meant I was ill which is not the case, just extremely active and busy.

I have resigned from my full time job at the radio station to pursue an opportunity working part time at a magazine as a journalist, which is really exciting for me. I am also returning to uni this year for a few night classes to complete my post graduate studies in Journalism.

It turned out that my sinus surgury needed to be postponed due to work committments and I still haven't gone in for the operation. Luckily I have only had a few minor problems with the nostrils over the last few months. I am now having the surgury on the 26th Feb. Will blog about how it goes as I will need to be admitted for several days in the lead up to the surgurgy to make sure my health is good, reducing any risk of infection. I find being stuck in hospital is enough inspiration for me to write.

One thing I am very happy about right now is the wonderful people I have in my life. I cherish my friendships of those I see often and those that live far away but are atll very close to me. Without them life would be very different through my eyes. My family are also extremely wonderful. My mum, my dad and my brother, even though I don't live with or near any of them anymore, they are a phone call away and always keen for that all important chat. My love to them all.

If I Only Had a Brain

Today is BLOG ACTION DAY and it's about time we raised some global environmental issues. On my way to work today I walked past a busker who was playing 'If I Only Had a Brain" from the Wizard of Oz on his trombone. If I remember back to the days when I played dorothy in my year six primary school musical the words go a little like this... "I would while away the hours conferring with the flowers, consulting with the rain. And my head I'd be scratching while my thoughts were busy hatching if I only had a brain". Well I'm just going to point out that he was a scarecrow and he had some pretty good ideas, you might say they were no brainers but I would say he was onto something. Unlike my unfortunate friend the scarecrow who didn't have a brain, we do. We can put our brains together and take a stand to inform ourselves an d those around us about the severe impact us humans can have on our environment if we don't think. I don't hear anyone these days saying they would like to confer with the flowers and I think there should be more of it! More appreciation of what mother nature provided for us. We certainly have flowers even if it takes a bus ride out of the city to discover and I mean a bus ride, you don't need that 4WD to get you across town everyday do you? What we don't have much of in this beautiful country is rain! and while I wish I could while away the hours conferring with the flowers and consulting with the rain, I think I should be consulting with you and the rest of the world on this issue. Lets conserve our biodiversity with simple things like saving water, saving energy and keeping you cat in at night...

Take note of what goes down the drain: Don't put oils, fats or harmful chemicals down the sink-they will eventually end up in the rivers, lakes or oceans and harm our water quality and wildlife. Use a strainer in the kitchen sink to collect solids from your washing up water. and another tip just in case you needed another idea... Conserve water: Install water conservation devices in the home, school and workplace. Triple A shower heads, flow restrictors on taps, and dual flush toilets can more than halve the amount of water you use, which will save you money too. (This last Paragraph info c/o the department of environment and water resources)

Blog Action Day

Tomorrow is blog action day and I will be be blogging along side thousands if not millions of others in order to raise important environmental issues. Please Join US!

So this is reality

I have had to discontinue my part time university studies. I am working full time and now I'm being asked to write more and more as a freelance journalist. I can't keep up with my studies which i wanted to do my best at, since last semester I got distinctions in all my subjects and I did so well. Now that a lung transplant has been laid out on the table like a shifty deck of cards I've decided that the less stress in my life the better. That is why I had to return to the hospital tonight to pick up a letter from my specialist explaining my reasons for taking a break from uni as to avoid the financial debt. The hospital haunts me. Every time I am sitting in that hospital I am extremely overwhelmed. As I was made to wait for my letter tonight I looked at the blank off white walls and I craved the noise that I left behind when I walked off the street into the cavernous hospital. These were my thoughts. The silence. There is no music here. No smiles in the corridors, just the echoes of footsteps. It's so quiet I can hear the blood pumping through my head. There is noone living here. This is not my life. Everything is foreign and I'm in mute. Please let in the voices from the street. I want to cry, in fact there is already water in my eyes.

As I left the hospital with my letter I was handed a big brown envelope with a pink fluoro sticker saying please open at home. When I got home I sat on my bed, the envelope in my hands with the pink sticker looking up at me. I put my favourite record on and opened it. Inside I found a brouchure said Cystic Fibrosis and Lung Transplantation.

So this is reality.

The good days and the bad

The week that has just ended was a pretty big week. I started the week with no voice. I lost my voice from being out on the previous Saturday night. It was a late night and the next day... no voice. I took the morning off work on Monday. It was also the week of my birthday so I was out almost everynight, I even skipped my two evening classes at Uni because I was taken out. I also had the most incredible sinus pain beginning Monday. I'm booked in for a sinus operation on the 23rd of October so until then my sinus' might flare up giving my striking headaches and pain in my nose. Despite the pain I still went out, my nose dripping like a tap. My voice started to come back on Wednesday which was a relief becasue I had to present a radio show on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, the day of my birthday. This weekend I have been so run down and lethargic. It didn't help me that on Friday the pharmacy at the hospital was closed for the apec public holiday and I had run out of medication. Since then I have had to take it pretty easy, no going out and no drinking. Instead I have been cramped up in the house with the cat. I'm at the point where I really need some medicine. I can only wait til tomorrow morning when I'll have to go to the pharmacy early before I start work at 10am to get my medicines. I hope I'll be feeling a bit better this time tomorrow night.

What are the odds

I was talking to a person the other day who I hardly knew. We were talking about organ donations. I was telling him that I had produced a feature radio doco on the topic of transplant. I asked him if he was a donor and he was opposed to the idea because he was 1. A jew and 2. He thought the world population problem was bad enough.

I didn't tell him that my brother's life was saved because of an organ donor and how heartbreaking it is to see someone you love become so sick that they need a liver transplant. I did however continue the discussion saying that people should be given the opportunity to have a transplant should a donor organ become available. He then said to me 'a person has no right to a transplanted organ'.

My brother has CF as well. Two kids in the family... what are the odds? Since your asking, it's 1 in 16. Anyway his liver failed and he was put on the list for a liver transplant at the age of 17.
My family never believed (out loud) that he was going to die because we like to think we are optimists. My brother was and still is an inspiring person, he is extremely positive about his situation whatever it is.
I watched the months go by and the weight drop off my (little) big brother before the transplant. His body diminished, we became rather desperate. After 9 months and two false alarms the hospital called my brother in to the hospital. The time finally came for him to get his new liver.
7 years on he's thriving. He's leading an incredible life. Travelling overseas with his band twice a year. He received the gift of LIFE. How can you take that away from a person? How can you say that a person does not deserve to live? Is not entitled to the chance of life?

I fully understand the consequences of carrying capacity and over population. But it's not only just a matter of over-poputlation but also over-consumption. Do you really need that plasma tv screen or that 4WD? Climate change is something that people are cottoning on to and it's a topic that people are starting to take seriously. Also If were going to raise the issue of over poulation I think that educating women AND men on contraception for instance, is far more important for the sake of over population than donating your organs.

In Australia the organ donation rate is eleven in one million (11 in 1000000). Let me repeat that, 11 in one million. That's about rate of the USA and a third of the rate of Spain. Australians Donate say that most Australians wish to donate but they are not officially registered. In NSW there is a box on your drivers license that you can tick. BUT don't get confused this only indicates your INTENT to donate it does not automatically mean you have CONSENTED.

I WILL need a lung transplant sooner or later. I have now actually started to come to terms with the possibilty that it's not too far off. What hope is there for me if there are some people out there who are opposed to the idea of donatingf their organs? I didn't tell this person that I would one day be on the list for a transplant. I expect one day, even though I might be waiting a while that I will be given the opportunity of NEW LUNGS. But I know of people who have DIED waiting.

Swooped by a pie

I've been trying to do a little exercise everyday before I go to work. I live in a gated apartment block so there is a shared pool. I usually go for a swim in the morning but this morning i decided it was such a beautiful sunny day that I wanted to go for a walk. I got swooped by a magpie. I heard somewhere that magpies are threatened by eyes so I looked at it and walked backwards until I was clear. Yeah that's right I stared at that little sucker and willed her to leave me alone.

Anyway I'm finally experiencing the benifits of exercise. If I'm stronger I can withstand colds and other little headaches better. My chest muscles are stronger when I've been swimming so when I cough it doesn't hurt. I feel as though I'm making really slow progress and am gaining my health back since being discharged from hospital.