Day 146: Thank you Keep The Beat!

Just a quick post to say thank you to the wonderful charity Keep The Beat for sending me my amazing 'Team Glenfield' hoodie! I've included a couple of pictures for you lovely people to see, some of you will be seeing my face for the first time, it's lovely to meet you properly. And it turns out there's quite a few of you lovely people. The stats tell me that 68 of you visited this blog after I posted the last entry! Thank you all. 

Another huge thank you to Keep the Beat though, as they have agreed to publish the blog on their website so that other young people going through the same/ similar operations can read it. I really hope that I help out some of your other lovely supporters. 

It's my 21st birthday on Saturday and I'm having a big party and have asked for money to donate to Keep The Beat as an alternative to birthday gifts, I really hope that I can write another post on Sunday or Monday saying how much I'm able to send to you guys

Check out all their wonderful work at www.keepthebeat.co.uk or follow them on Twitter @KeepthebeatUK. 

By the way, I never look good when I take photos of myself, so the goofy smile is a cover up! 

P.S. I'm on Twitter too! @CHDHeartWarrior

Day 145: Support and Recovery.

Support:
I have to write about this, because I am so grateful and so thankful for the support I am receiving from so many people. It's wonderful to know that people really do care and that I will be well looked after when it comes to having the surgery. 

No one can deny that going through something like this is emotional, so I've realised it's so important to make sure that you have people to talk to about it. This could be other patients, your friends and family, people you've met through charities or online through communities such as Twitter and Facebook, or, probably the best option, a thorough mix of all of the above. There's no point in trying to hide away from it all, you may as well embrace it as a stage in life and ensure that it goes as well as it can.

I have been totally open and honest about my surgery to anyone who I happened to have talked to about it, it's not an embarrassment therefore I've been honest and frank about what's going to happen, and people are very understanding and supportive once they know what's going on. My close friends and family have been absolutely wonderful, and knowing that people are going to be there for me during the whole process is a real weight off my shoulders. One of my best friends told me last weekend that he's going to come and see me in hospital, he lives a long way from where I'll be in hospital but it meant so much that he's thought about coming to see me. Others have promised to come and stay with me whilst I'm in the first few weeks of recovery and won't be able to drive/ take myself to do things. 

Other people online have been really kind and given me words of support, especially a lady I met on Twitter who has just had the surgery that I'm about to have, it's been great being able to talk to someone who actually knows what I'm going through. The doctors and nurses are fantastic and all know a lot, but they don't always know exactly what it's like to be the patient, so talking to someone who does has been really helpful. 

Reading advice on various charities and support groups websites has also been invaluable. It answers questions you haven't really thought about, or seem a little insignificant compared to lots of the other questions that you have for staff at the hospital, it also helps you to understand that you're not the only one and that when you feel a certain way about things, that's normal. 

I am so grateful for the support that I receive from each and every one of you lovely people.

Recovery:
Anyone who knows me knows that I hate sitting still, especially when the weather's nice. I like to be out and about, doing something and so being told that I'm not allowed to drive for 6 weeks was a bit of a devastation, especially since my operation is planned for the summer when the weather is meant to be nice (ha... we'll see). 

Due to this I have decided to think about things that I would like to do during the time that I'm not able to do a great deal, instead of just sitting at home on my laptop all day or watching films or something. Some of them are an actual day trip, some of them are just really simple things that I'd like to do to get me out of the house.

So here's my recovery list: 

1) Shrewsbury Flower Show: I've toyed with the idea of going to this for a couple of years now, a friend of mine has been a few times and always says how much she enjoys it, and this year it's going to be in the middle of my recovery time, and Bellowhead are playing. It seems this year it was meant to be, it will provide me with a nice day out and my favourite band will be there. I have already talked to my parents about this one, and it's more than likely that we will go down for it. Shrewsbury is close to where I go to Uni and I have to say, it's one of my favourite towns and I am looking forward to going back.

2) Foremark Reservior/ Branston Water Park: If there is a day of nice weather, I really hope that someone will be able to take a few of us either to Foremark/ Branston Water Park (two local reservoirs back at home), sitting by the reservoirs with music on and just generally relaxing was something that my school friends and I loved doing, and I have some fantastic memories from there, but the problem is, I usually drove! I'm really hoping a few of us will be able to go down there and someone else will be able to do the driving.

3) The Zoo: Please can someone take me to the zoo! I love love love the Zoo and really want to go, ideally Dudley Zoo, as I've never been there.

4) Walk down the canal: It's simple, but something I'd like to do, but not alone if possible.

5) Take me for a picnic: I LOVE  a picnic, I don't mind where, I just want to go for a picnic one lunch time.

6) Take me to The Mug Tug (or another paint-a-pot place close to home): I just love being able to sit and paint there :) for some reason I'm hopeless with paints and paper, but ask me to paint porcelain and somehow I manage it... plus it's fun!

7) Go to Bolsover (not Belvoir as it first said, castle confusion...) Castle please!: It's a fabby day out and will fuel my obsession with Castles nicely. Hopefully this one will be with my parents because Daddy is still the best History teacher I have ever and will ever have.

8) Birdwatching: I love it and find it very relaxing so I'd just like to go to the woods or something and relax for a few hours.

9) A Museum that I haven't yet been to: I'm not really fussy as to which, but I do like going to museums and would love to use my time during recovery to go to another one.

10) High Tea: I'd love to be taken out for a bit of High Tea, with flowery cake stands and delicate china. Surprise me on the location!

Let's see how much I can get done in 6 weeks!