Category: Hospital

Lung-Transplant-Appointment-QE-Hospital-Birmingham

Lung Transplant Clinic – What to Expect at your Appointment

Lung Transplant Clinic – Pre-Transplant Appointment I visit my Transplant Centre (The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham) every three months as I am on the ‘active list’ for lungs. This means at any point I could be called and told they potentially have some lungs that may be suitable for me. I mention the word ‘potentially’ as there are still many reasons why the organs might not be transplanted at

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Cystic Fibrosis Hospital Admissions in Covid 19

CF Hospital Admissions & Covid 19 | What to Expect

Cystic Fibrosis Hospital Admissions & Covid 19 Hopefully this post will be helpful for anyone considering a hospital admission for their CF. These are my own views and related to ward 26 at Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham and only really relevant to people with Cystic Fibrosis. On this ward patients have their own individual rooms with an ensuite bathroom, so obviously a different kettle of fish to other wards.  It’s a

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Stopwatch

Lung Transplants Are On Hold

Lung Transplants Paused Currently my whole life revolves around being in hospital, whilst permanently living in fear of catching Corona Virus. I’ve been unable to escape it; it’s all anyone talks about. And what else is there to do in hospital but feed the fear by watching TV and going on social media? “Try not to worry about it!” and “Distract yourself from what is going on!” is the well-meaning

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Hand Sanitiser Shortage in Hospitals

Being On A CF Unit During Covid-19

Cystic Fibrosis and Covid-19 I am recovering in hospital after my Sinus Surgery as Covid-19 really starts to take hold of the country.  Although the ENT team are happy with me to be discharged, I am still recovering from the operation. My balance is a bit all over the place. This is no surprise as I have issues with it due to taking Gentamycin as a youngster. Whenever my body

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CF patient wearing NIV after surgery

Sinus Surgery Recovery

My Experience of FESS – Part Two If you have read my last post you’ll have seen that I got back to the ward in one piece after my sinus operation and enjoyed being high as a kite for about an hour. Afterwards I started to feel quite tired so decided to put my  NIV (Non-invasive ventilation) on. The NIV is a machine which does the hard work of breathing*, which

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Gowned up ready for sinus surgery

Sinus Surgery – The Day of the Operation

My Experience of FESS – Part One After seeing the sinus surgeon, I had a marvelous ten days out of hospital. It truly felt like a holiday. I caught up with friends, walked the dog and enjoyed some fresh air. I ate a lot of delicious homecooked food! Steak, roast dinners, sausage and mash. I did miss out on the Supergrass gig at Ally Pally, but this may have been

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Sinus CT Scan

Sinus Surgery – Meeting the Surgeon

Sinus Surgery – Meeting the Surgeon I write a little dairy in hospital. This was the entry for meeting the surgeon and confirming sinus surgery will take place: The surgeon takes my medical history, which takes longer and longer these days. I describe my numerous sinus infections. When I told him which IVs I was on, he laughs and says “Ah, yes, Domestos!”  I had another camera shoved up my nose.

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Sinus treatment for chronic sinusitis

Chronic Sinusitis – Gimme A Break!

Chronic Sinusitis = Constant Chest Infections I have spent weeks in a vicious circle. Coming down with a sinus infection, this going onto my chest and then needing a 2-3 week course of IVs (intravenous antibiotics) to help the chest infection. Then come off the IVs only for me to get a sinus infection again. The current cycle length is approximately a month. 3 weeks of IVs, struggle to manage

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Leave from Hospital for CF patients

Going AWOL | Overnight Leave From Hospital

Leave from Hospital Actually that should be Absent With Leave from hospital but it doesn’t sound as fun. When you are an inpatient for a long period of time, it goes without saying that you miss home comforts. Not to mention becoming institutionalised! There is nothing better than your own bed, even if they aren’t motorised like the ones in hospital! The CF team is usually quite happy to let

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Sinusitis mucus

Sinus Issues in Cystic Fibrosis 

Sinus Issues in Cystic Fibrosis  Not content with fucking up impacting on almost all our organs, cf also likes to mess with our sinuses. It is said that around 90% of Cystic Fibrosis sufferers have sinus problems. I’ve never really given it much thought. For years I have always had a bit of a runny nose, post-nasal drip and the feeling of having a frog in my throat. (Better than

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Christmas Dinner in hospital

What’s it like to spend Christmas in Hospital? – Part 3

What do you eat on Christmas Day in hospital? Everyone seems obsessed with food – especially over Christmas! And people are very interested in what hospital food is like over Christmas. Do you get a full Christmas turkey dinner? Glass of wine/port? My Christmas Day Hospital Menu Breakfast was just the standard offerings. No fancy smoked salmon and croissants here (unsurprisingly!!). Toast and/or cereal and a cuppa. Christmas Lunch in

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Christmas-Day-Hospital

What’s it like to spend Christmas in Hospital? – Part 2

Christmas Day in Hospital My partner came up to visit and we hung out. He pushed me down to the hospital cafe at the entrance, which wasn’t open! So we got some snacks from M&S and ate them across a table in an empty canteen. A romantic festive setting if there ever was one – with a bag of Sprouts on the table as a decoration. Yes, those infamous sprouts! 

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Christmas carol singers in hospital

What’s it like to spend Christmas in Hospital? – Part 1

Christmas in Hospital When people realise how long I spend in hospital (usually the majority of the winter), one of the first things they ask me is if I’ve ever spent Christmas Day in hospital.  Then where I am with my transplant. What’s it like spending Christmas in hospital? There is actually quite a lot of difference in the run up to Christmas and Christmas Day itself. I’ve spent several

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