Wednesday 15 October 2014

A Whole Year



Well, it is amazing how a whole year has flown past; it was a year ago this week (Oct 16th to be exact) that Tim and I were operated on at St George's.

Tim's latest news a couple of weeks ago was that his eGFR was 53, which is exactly what mine was when last tested in June.  In other words, he is very well!  He had a couple of ups and downs in the first three months as the hospital tried to find a balance for his Tacrolimus, but he's been fine since February and has made great progress.  Since June he has been down to just one visit to the clinic every six weeks   He recently gave me another example of how well he is: he and his wife went for a cliff walk whilst visiting her parents in Cornwall; last year he was having to stop frequently in order to catch his breath and rest his aching muscles, and his wife had to wait for him to catch up.  However, this year on the same path he had no difficulty at all; in fact, he strode on so well that when he did stop, he looked back to see his wife trailing far behind!

I personally am very well and have had no real issue at all.  The operation was two days of discomfort (as opposed to actual pain) and that was followed by a couple of weeks of feeling delicate.  Since then I have returned to what I was doing before - lots of lifting and other energetic activities that go with doing things around a house.  This year I built a shed (from scratch, not a kit) and a low brick wall, plus a brick barbecue and some concreting, quite apart from doing lots of energetic things in the church when we had a building project.  One of these included helping to place our mediaeval stone font onto its base - this was a six man job as it probably weighs about 300kg!

My only downside is that although I have regained my strength, I do not seem to have the same stamina that I used to have.  I get fed up with a job quite easily after a couple of hours and have a rest for a while, then a couple hours more and that's it for the day; consequently my productivity is far less than when I was doing full 8 or 9 hour days a couple of years ago.  Perhaps this is just a sign of getting old?

Following my experiences in June - see this link - I have also changed my GP.  Although I complained about the treatment, they basically brushed me off and expected me to get over it.  Moreover, they wouldn't admit that there was anything wrong with their processes - yes, the doctor had seen the letter and no, the HCA was not expected to know what tests were required - so shouldn't the doctor have told her?  Also, the HCA was dressed the same as a nursing sister (and the same as my transplant nurse!), which I feel was misleading as she doesn't have that qualification.  I wouldn't be too happy if this was just a normal illness I had, but having donated a kidney and been treated so well elsewhere, I felt quite let down so I voted with my feet.

I have just sent Tim an anniversary card - unsurprisingly they don't sell them specifically for this, but Jane found one that was very suitable - something about him "being my type", with good wishes for many more such anniversaries.