Friday 14th November
My journey in today was a little bit eventful. If you follow me on Twitter, you may have spotted me mention something about Kamikaze Swans. I wasn’t kidding in the slightest.
Author Archive
South West Thames Kidney Fund
I have joined the SWTKF and now a fully paid up member. I intend to take part in the various events organised by the charity and also to help raise funds and awareness of kidney research. I have a number of ideas on my mind but don’t wish to reveal any of them just yet.
Category shuffle
I am currently changing the categories and re-assigning posts to the new ones, so please hang on, they will be done soon. In the meantime, the best option is to use tags. Eventually categories will be used to separate the main areas of the blog as:
- Photojournal
- Naturewatch
- Travelogue
- Internet
- and others
This will make the blog easier to navigate and help raise our Google visibility, to draw in more traffic.
Oobject - Stereo Cameras
I have today discovered a wonderful website called Oobject and in particular the page relating to Stereo Cameras. It is a wonderful example of how Wordpress can be used as a CMS and not just a blogging platform or of course both as we do with this website.
How can you describe Oobject? Well as already suggested, it isn’t quite a blog! It is all about design both in terms of general objects (buildings for example) and or gadgets (such as the stereo cameras shown here). Oh heck, I am not explaining this very well, clickety click on http://www.oobject.com/about-oobject/ to learn more about it and why I am going to make it a permanent link on our new links page!
Am I 2 months old or 103 years old?
Two months ago I was in the Theatre, under the surgeon’s control, my life in their hands as they got on with the job of giving me a new kidney and a new lease of life to boot.
The question I have is - Does this make me 2 months old? Considering that my life “re-started” on that day? In which case can I go back to pre-school and play with Tonka toys, action man etc?
On the other hand I now have one of my Dad’s kidneys and he is a very healthy 67 years of age. So 36 plus 67, makes 103. Am I 103 years old? Should I have had a letter from the Queen? A free bus pass? Special concessionary entrance fees for attractions around the UK?
Nah I am happy being 36 and living the rest of my life as it is, a happier, fitter, far less worried person…
Back to work today
Well after the longest break I have ever taken off in one go during my working life (apart from when I was made redundant a few years ago), I am back at work and glad to be. Well so far anyhow! I am sure that novelty will wear off by the end of the month. It is strange because I feel a lot better, in some ways I feel like I have had a break although I haven’t. The past 2 months has been spent entirely at home and hospital, most of my spare time has been limited by a number of factors.
Love your local patch
This image has been published before here on nicklewis.net but I just wanted to use it to illustrate today’s post which is about getting the best out of your local “patch” and how to look for the things that aren’t immediately obvious. A theme that we shall revisit from time to time here on the blog. I would also like to let you know that I am currently scheduling a bundle of posts to leave the blog in “auto-pilot” for a little while. Today I return to work and nope I am not really up at midnight writing this and this is the first of a series of automated posts…
Monday 10th November
Tomorrow I return to work, my extended leave of almost two months comes to an end. Off to the hospital today for what may well be the last 2 day week there, as they are happy with my progress at the moment.
So time to reflect on the past near 2 months. Phew! Wow! Blimey! What a journey it has been! I feel really good about life both physically and mentally. The scar is healing well too it is a nice smiley face on my belly! It starts just above my groin area on my right hand side and is semi elipsical in shape. It is just visible above my boxer shorts.
Christina introduced me to a young lad (and fellow “webist” )who is going in on Wednesday for his transplant. He also has FSGS which was interesting as I never have met someone else with the same condition as I. I was more than happy to talk to him as I could see he was apprehensive. Christ I was myself! He asked about the pain and I was honest. There is some but it is managed through very effective pain management and once you get back on your feet it gets a lot easier.
I may help the hospital put a website together, a forum for fellow patients. A book is going together at the moment featuring St Helier patients stories and photos. I have one going in there which I published here a little while back.
Over the weekend I joined the South West Thames Kidney Research charity and made a donation. This will be one of the charities I plan to support over the years to come and I am looking at ways of generating funds through what I do as in photographic work rather than internet. I could put a donation link on here perhaps?
I did well today and they are happy with my levels. It looks really stable now. No changes to make just need to sit tight.
As an aside, I have just noticed that the lights here in the canteen are motion sensitive and only come on when people pass them by. Clever!
Tomorrow the blog will change pace as I return to work. It will continue but may be sporadic for awhile. I shall tell you about my day back in the office as part of this diary as it is important to share the whole and not just part of the experience. Bye for now.
