Sunday, October 6, 2013

back on my pins

My goodness, it's been a long time! I can't remember how much I said earlier in the year, but in March I went on the transplant list for a pancreas and kidney, and since I was the only person in the UK with my blood group waiting for both organs, in the first week of June I made it into the operating theatre! ... and to cut a long story short, that's been the story of the last 3 months!

... well mostly. The op took about 19 hours, so a pretty long ordeal and I was a bit zonked for a few days after. It turned out the pancreas wasn't working very well so a couple of days later they opened me up a second time to investigate. All seemed OK so they didn't do much and that was that. ... until a few more days went by and I got really ill. They said it had become life-threatening and rushed me back into theatre to remove the pancreas. In all honesty I was so not-with-it that most of those days are a hazy mix of events and weird immaginations!

But the really good news is that despite a slow start, the kidney seems to have settled in and be working well. I certainly feel significantly better than I have for what must be the last 20 years. ... That's not quite the end of the tale though, because after I was discharged I was home for maybe 5 weeks and then got pretty ill again. I lost all my appetite and my weight plummeted, so the doctors put me right back in hospital for another 2 weeks!

But I've been home again for a month and have regained almost all the weight I lost (nearly 2 stones or 30lb) and with the help of weekly physio I've regained much of my strength ... I still have a wheelchair for anything more than short walking distances but I can walk further every week :) ... and my appetite is now enormous compared to how it has always been!

As for quilting, well I haven't been near a needle (well not a quilting one anyway) or thread, but I am rather thrilled that for my 40th birthday (which fell exactly a week after the surgery!) I got one of those die-cutting machines, like the Baby Go-cutter but a different make as recommended by The Littlest Thistle ... I'm yet to try it out but the time is fast approaching! ... Just before the transplant I had dug out the top for a Rainy Day quilt that I started, oooh must be 2 years ago now! and I had begun to start hand stitching all the rows together, so I'll crack on with that very soon now :)

I'm not quite back up to full speed online yet, but am getting better at reading blogs, and hopefully I'll have updates on not one but two quilt projects that I hope to at least begin before the end of the year! :)

9 comments:

  1. Welcome back! Hope you're soon sewing again and making the most of that new cutter :-)

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  2. I'm glad to hear you are feeling better. What an ordeal!

    The die cut seems like a great idea - no risk of cutting off fingers with a rotary cutter. I'm looking forward to seeing what you create!

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  3. I've been thinking about you and wondering if you had your transplant yet. Glad to hear the kidney is working and that you are feeling better. Looking forward to hearing about your quilting adventures.

    Cindy

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  4. Glad to hear you're up n attem again! Watch out for those chocolate covered snails!

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  5. Holy smokes, Giles! You've been through the wringer. Sure hate hearing the troubles you've had. I'm glad things are looking up and here's to better times, eh!!?

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  6. Well hello again!
    Nice to have you back Giles, been thinking about you loads in your absence, glad to hear all is well at last and you are thinking about stitching once more.
    Lorraine.

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  7. Sorry, who are you again? Tee hee :oD Welcome back anyway! BTW, did the needles and thread ever find their way to you?

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  8. So glad your health is improving! Love to see you around more!

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