Whilst walking along the side of the river last week I saw a gentleman I see most days walking along without his dog, I feared the worst. As he came closer I asked him where his dog was and in a tearful voice he told me that he had died two days before. Of course I said how sorry I was as he was clearly very upset. He was walking in the opposite direction to me but I told him I would walk with him and he could tell me all about his trusty companion and also his wife who had died 6 years earlier. He is a lovely man aged 84 and he told me what a great marriage he had had before his wife died. I learned that he had always had dogs and all bar one were buried in his front garden. When I asked why one wasn’t he went on to tell me something I had never heard of before. I feel sure it must be true but wondered if anyone on here had heard the same.
Now it transpires that this gentleman used to be a police dog handler, being in the force for 36 years and a dog handler for 17. His dog lived with him happily and performed tasks asked of him to a high degree. When his police dog died he said he was obliged to do what every dog in the police force undergoes on their death - send it be made into wash leathers! It just seems bizarre but he assured me that it was the case.
His latest dog died from a weakened heart at the age of 12 1/2 and he told me that fortunately he was him him when the end came, a peaceful end. He dug the grave himself and buried him beside his other dogs. He was not going to get another one as he said it would not be fair as he could not guarantee at his age to be able to take care of him for the years expected. I was so pleased I turned around and walked with him. I hope he finds peace but it is sad he will now be on his own without his trusty companion.
Pulmonary Embolism
On another walk the day after I decided to sit down and take in the view. I love this particular landscape, I played here all the time when I was young.
I sat on a bench that was dedicated to the memory of
Beth Claire Smith I don’t know why I was so interested in this girl, we have loads of these benches dedicated to the memory of a dead loved one but I decided to do a little research. I think it was maybe that she had died at such a young age being only 31. It turned out that she died unexpectedly of a PE. Now as I have pulmonary arterial hypertension I felt a connection because though yes - different medical illness - but pulmonary nevertheless - lungs connected us
I googled her and found out that she was full of fun and like me had been a member of a theatrical group. It was incredibly sad that this clearly much loved girl only lived for 31 years before dying so quickly and cruelly. Lungs - can’t live without them. This brings me onto the subject of Tammy Kincaid and her lung transplant.
Transplant
Tammy is a young woman married to Keiron and they are parents to a beautiful daughter called Tia who celebrated her tenth birthday only a day or two ago whilst Tammy is in hospital. Recently Tammy was fortunate enough to receive a gift of new lungs. Of course it goes without saying that all who posted on her website wished her well and that we all hoped for a swift recovery. Well Tammy has done amazingly well and only two days after her op was sitting in a chair attempting to eat a tuna sandwich. Shortly afterwards we heard that she had a lot of pain in her abdomen and it was then found that during the transplant her bowel had been punctured. Once they knew what had happened it was quickly repaired and Tammy went from strength to strength, She is out of Critical Care now and posted us a pic of her room with a view. She is hoping to go home in less than two weeks. Her husband Keiron has been ace at keeping us informed of her progress and Jayne Venables of reposting on his messages to us, I for one was so grateful to them both for this. Tammy is now walking a little doing a lot of physio and her oxygen was at 97 I believe last time I saw a post.
Tammy herself thanks everyone for all the support and says she wishes to remain in the group as she received so much advice, help and support as well as being able to help others herself whilst she was waiting for her transplant. She says she wants to continue to be able to offer it after receiving her new lungs to others waiting for their gift of a different life. I feel sure there will be many who like me will be pleased to hear this.
We know life is not a bed of roses after transplant, ( sorry been told not to lump you all in with we but I cannot call you all by name) and that there will be hurdles to cross but I know I wish her nothing but the best and on the site there are others who have gone down this route, some having more problems than others but I never saw a post where anyone being given the gift of life regretted it. Maybe you know somebody that does but I personally do not. I feel sure these who fall into the category of having a transplant will be able to talk to each other and offer help and advice when necessary. Go well Tammy have a speedy recovery and thank you for allowing me to tell this small snapshot of your journey. What an incredible one you have been on.
End of lockdown.
For us we have decided that though we intend to live a little we will not be going mad. Colin and I think we need to take things slowly. One thing that pleases me is that funerals can allow more than 30 for those that wish it. This news is very personal to me and I feel sure it will affect many others too. Hugs - well apart from family those will not be on our agenda any time soon. Though we have been advised that our Pfizer jab will give us 97% protection I do not believe that it is guaranteed with everyone and until all the no vaccine die hards change their minds we are nervous about the Indian Variant and the speed of its spread. I still wear my mask around my ear when walking and move it to cover my face when passing somebody even at a distance of around three metres ( just in case) and in my pocket is always the hand gel that I use often.
There is no doubt though that life will change and I refuse to stay indoors until such a time as covid is no more, I could be dead and buried by then and our lives are precious and need to be lived, albeit carefully but still we need to enjoy it and both of us agree on this. We have even begun as I said in my last post of seriously thinking holidays though not going anywhere by air. Nothing is set in stone but if the opportunity is given we shall take it and take as much care as we are able. I do wonder how those headed out to Portugal will cope having to wear masks when sunbathing on the beach! I wonder to how many will comply.
I was not impressed with the time it took to lock down planes arriving from India when it could be seen just how bad the covid was. In my mind there is no doubt that not acting swiftly enough has made the variant spread more quickly. I hope that those offered the jabs now decide to take it up and get vaccinated for all our sakes. We shall see and I was pleased to note long queues of young ones lining up to accept it in certain areas. Long may it continue.
An overnight stay
Izzy is staying with us tonight. This is the first time she has been allowed since she went home after her four month stint with us. Both parents are working late and I am looking forward to a busy though tiring time. I asked her what she wanted for dinner and her quick response was “your spaghetti” . This is easy as I generally make two batches of sauce and freeze one. Dessert is easy too, strawberries and raspberries, always a favourite as indeed is any kind of fruit salad. She came round on Saturday to sort out her games cupboard and send off the ones too young for her now to her cousins. All are as new so even if Marcus has a similar one they can then go to a charity shop. We are gradually going through cupboards and drawers and being ruthless. We both love the feeling after it is done and more “stuff” is cleared out. We are both over the top with things like this and hate clutter so our charity shops do ok out of us.
Still walking
Just returned home from my walk before the heavens opened so not done as much as I would like as I have walked 6.68 miles. I was smiling as I walked because I found myself as I often do asking Alexa to add something to the shopping list or a question about something I think of on my walk. Of course Alexa is at home but I do this often. Colin and Izzy look at me as if I have gone mad when sitting in the car talking to her! I wondered is this me going loopy or do others do it as we now live in such a world where all we do is talk and give orders to her and our wishes are carried out. She cannot understand me saying “ right” though and it drives me mad as she keeps on telling me she has done something and right and I am supposed to answer right. She hears my “right” as eight and I say it about four times before giving in though I have begun to say OK now and she appears to approve of this.
I feel blessed to be able to walk and I really do thank Alex at Sheffield and his team and the team from Israel that did my Denervation. My hope is that when all the study is over and I do not think it will be long this procedure will be offered to more people with ph and help them to keep down the pressures in their lungs.
I am also grateful to all who always offer me help and support as I go through this pah journey. The support sites are a huge help to me when things are going wrong - we have many twists and turns on this road we travel - and when the twists take me down a path I fear I will never find my way back from you all offer good advice and I am blessed to have such loyal ph friends as indeed family and friends outside of the sites too.
So another walk over and I collected some leeks I had ordered to plant out but rain has stopped play, a job for tomorrow I think. Marigolds have been planted in my veg patch to try to keep the insects away from my cabbages and broccoli. Now I just have a small space left to plant something but not decided what yet before I begin to invade the flower beds and plant veg between the lavender and tulips!
Well all I can say now is please enjoy your freedom but take the greatest care too. I fear it will be a long time before lots of us feel really safe out in the big old world.
Warm love and thank you for any comments
Carole xxx
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