Half Marathon

Completed the Bath Half marathon last Sunday. Did it in 2 hours 45 mins, not fast but felt fine all the way around. Half way round I had a decision to make - should I try and do it as fast as I can or should I relax and enjoy it- I took the latter option. Have signed up to do the Windsor half marathon in October.

Dialysis ok over the last week, had one needleing problem last week but it is ok. Used a new site last night up the arm and that worked fine.

Still await news from the Docs.

Fistula

Dialysis went well today. Bumped into my doctor and mentioned the previous fistula probelms - he said not to worry about. Then spoke to my nurse and he had recieved the same information from the access specialist - reassuring....

More pictures from the walk...

Boat dredging the end of the River Axe estuary



The fire where I had lunch - very nice - Axmouth Inn




Pheasant?

This walk was part of my push for fitness. I ran 9 miles Saturday, 5 miles Sunday and walked 9 miles Monday. Knees a bit sore... but otherwise ok

Fistula? Problems

My fistula worked fine last night but they did a flow test on it. The test showed that there was no recirculation and that the pressure through the fistula was good. The flow rate through the fistula is much to high according to the nurse and this could be putting pressure on my heart. I had asked about this last month and the doc said it was probably ok - I think now they will scan it and have a bit of a panick about what to do.

Hopefully the transplant will happne in time and they can just tie off the fistula once I am stable. The only problem with this is that I loose a potential access point for dialysis - this is not good for a renal patient as we only have a limited number of places to create fistulas.

I wait and see the outcome- perhaps I will be operated on for the fistula before the transplant??

Better weather

This week has seen some better weather with sun. I love the sun and warmth it seems to make me more energetic. Friday dialysis was good - no problems with the fistula do have some bruising from Wednesday so used one of the older sites. Spoke to the people who organise slots for dialysis and explained that I wanted to go back to the main hospital unit whilst I was potentially about to undergo the treatment for the transplant. The sister knew about it and the lady who does the organisations agreed which was good.

Attended a patient forum for renal with the heads of the department. This was good but I do wonder what effect it actually has? At least they are trying.

Went on my longest run so far. I managed 8.7 miles of quite hilly terrain - In 1hour 45 mins. I felt fine doing the run and afterwards. A bit of aching the next day but ok. I am going to try and do the full 13.1 miles this week to check that I am ready...

Update

Had a problem with my fistula on Wednesday - was at the satellite unit and my venous needle site pressure rose sharply which they tried to fix but it eventually blew giving me a bruise and some pain. The resited spot was fine - I hope that tomorrow goes well. I have a patient forum meeting with the head of the renal department and other managers - the last one seemed to be well run, it will be interesting to see if any objectives/aims have been met.

I also need to sort out the situation of going to different dilaysis units - this is no good. I need to be settled if and when my treatment starts, I think I need to be around doctors and nurses which know me. This will lower my stress levels etc. I will try and explain this to the lady tomorrow - she deals with numbers not patients...

I have started my research for what is happiness and plan to make notes here - my uncle has done some interesting work on this as well which I will use as well.

I need to do some running- have not run since Sunday. Legs have been tired - no excuse.

Orienteering

Stayed at my brothers and sister in laws this weekend. That was nice went to some child clothes sale in which I bought a baby outfit for there soon to be (well 5 months time or so). They seem pretty relaxed about it all - they had a friend/aquantance there who was quite the opposite. I felt that she had got pregnant to hold onto her boyfriend and to have something that she can be in charge of - perhaps I am wrong but I actually felt quite sad for her, her boyfriend/fiance and the child to be.

On the sunday we went orienteering. I did a more advanced course, it rained during the whole event which took me 1hour 25 minutes. I arrived at the finished drowned but having thouroughly enjoyed it. A good work out giving me the desire to do more. I found it much more challenging because the points were hidden so much more than the previous light green course.

Second show - the retreat

Watched the 2nd of 3 od the retreat - the bbc programme on religion and islam. It was once again fascinating. They all visited morroco to see how islam is brought into the daily life within this country. The most interesting thing was the way the most traditionaly religious person was telling them that they were doing it wrong and would not accept anything. It just showed me how some people are so focused on themselves that they cause harm to other people. I believe that her selfcentereness was harming the group and hurting the people around here - it was not a good advert for her form of belief.

The group were exposed to the sense of self and death. This was interesting to watch and challenged many of them. One excerise was to go and sit out in the outdoors for a few hours - alone in contemplation. I used to do this a lot and found it both refreshing, calming and energising.

I need to set a day aside to do this again in the next couple of weeks. It needs to be good weather - perhaps on Dartmoor or on the coast.

Purpose of the blog "Specific topics"

I am getting into writing this blog and feeling it could be a very rewarding experience. I am going to add some discipline and try and tackle different topics each week. These topics will be related to my thinkings on the medical treatment, my health and keeping happy. I feel this will allow me to learn and to be more coherent in my blog. I will try and undertake research around the topic and note it hear. At the end of each week I will try and put together resume of that topic.

I will set the following topics.

1. What is happiness. What does the research say. What are my thinkings. How can we achieve it, why do we strive for it?

2. Religion and health including death.

3. Transplantion. Where it stands at present. What are the hopes. How do patients see the future?

I will try and think of other topics. If you have any to suggest please comment