birds

Andy still no better today ,his very tired and week and keeps feeling dizzy and sick ,his sleeping well lately ,but still got a bad cough ,after five days off antibiotics i thought he would be better ,he looks awful today ,i went shopping today i brought mother in law a bird bath she loves watching the birds in fact as soon as she opens the curtains in the morning they all fly down from the trees ,and wait to be fed ,she feeds them sultans and nuts and fat balls ,she's like bird lady lol,i had my grandson last night and took him shopping he was good as gold ,not got much to say today ,so ttfn,xx

earthquake

what a bad night ,was woken by the bed shaking and the wardrobes banging against each other ,i just looked at Andy and said were going to die ,lol, i was so scared my heart started pounding .so i went down stairs had a fag then another ,i couldn't calm down , i looked out the window and saw loads of house lights go on and people in the street ,i went back up stairs to bed Andy just said were be alright ,well after ten minuets of getting back into bed Andy was snoring ,lol ,it took me ages to get back off to sleep what with heart still pounding Andy snoring ,lol,the kids slept through it all when i told them in the morning they didn't believe me till they saw the news ,I'm glad they did sleep threw it because i think they would of been worse than me ,anyway Andy got back about 12 today from dialysis and went to bed for 2 hours or so ,i had my grandson kye today he feel asleep eating his lunch in his highchair,lol,so i went to sleep as well ,must of needed it because we slept for two hours,i went to my normal Wednesday night bingo with me bids and won 65 pounds ,lucky again ,going shopping tomorrow so mother in law will get a nice present this year for mothers day she deserves it anyway,ttfnxx

dialysis at worksop

today Andy has been really tired ,his been asleep most of the day but coughing allot,a bit of a temperature as well,recently when Andy was in hospital we was asked if Andy would like to dialyse in our own home ,they would of trained us both to put Andy on dialysis in the comfort of our own home ,it would off been brilliant Andy said if only we had another room or even a conservatory ,so we decided that we couldn't have dialysis at home ,unless we moved to a bigger house ,which is not a option at the moment .Sheffield northern gen is great but its a long way to go ,when Andy was in hospital his dad drove to Sheffield every day ,which was really tiring for him ,anyway we have been told that next year Andy could be going to bassetlaw hospital worksop for his dialysis treatment which would be great for Andy ,not so far to travel and when you have just had dialysis and not feeling to good then you got that long journey home it makes you even more tired,and also if Andy is not feeling to good after dialysis then he has to wait until he is OK to go home which holds up the driver and other dialysis patience,if he was at worksop it would be easier to get home and to travel to worksop ,there is allot of other people on dialysis that also have to travel from worksop to Sheffield ,and I'm sure they would benefit if they didn't have to travel all that way ,Andy gets picked up at 6 15 in the morning three times a week and he get home by 12 that's on a good day ,on a bad day could be 1 o'clock,so we really hope that this time next year he will be at worksop for his treatment .ttfn xx

insulin error ,

the safflower ,

andy well today ,a bit better any way ,he did see the doc at hospital and the doc gave him yet another dose off antibiotics ,you think after having four lots another dose is going to clear it .will see ,if i didnt have friends and family round me i think i would of killed myself by now ,lol, just fed up with all the illness ,,but then again i dont go threw it ,,but i do because it gets me down ,its very worring and stressfull when someone is ill,people say to me how do you cope ,i used to say i just do ,but now as im getting older i dont ,i dont no its been a long time andy being ill we have been together ten years this year for most of that time his been very ill ,we used to talk alot about our feelings to each other andy used to realy open up when he had a few drinks, but now he dont drink we dont talk or should i say he dont talk .and i realy miss that ,and i do feel that being a diabetic has changed him abit ,loosing his kidney was bad enough but this has hit him more ,tonight before tea andy done his blood suger and as normal done a insulin injection,but as he pulled the needle out off his leg it all dripped out off his leg so i told him and he done it again ,and again he took the needle out and it just spurted out off the needle ,this has never happened before so i said try it in your arm ,so he did and it went in ,so we think this is why he was having lots off high blood sugars ,so i will watch him when his doing insulin ,i wonder if anyone else has had this happen to them it would be intersting to know,the picture is a safflower ,which in april 2007 it was genetically modified safflower has been bred to create insulin,ttfnxx

sunday,s

,today andy is not well ,we had our sunday dinner at his mums today ,love it when i dont have to cook ,but andy didnt come not well enough ,so his mum sent some round ,enjoyed dinner though,hopefully andy is going to ask to see the doctor at dialysis tomorrow but sometimes they dont get to him ,i wouldnt be suprised if they keep him in ,you can tell his breathless ,coughing bad but still managing to smoke ,he made me laugh he said i think i need a week in hospital to get away from fags and bugs ,so i said andy it doesnt stop you smoking when your in hospital and you always end up getting some sort of bug in hospital ,well its true ,every time andy is kept in hospital he always ends up with something ,apart from me dinner i hate sundays there so boring ,i like to go to bingo tonight but cant go no money ,trying to save some for holiday ,kids are ok they dont realy get bored and andy always sleeps ,sometimes he dont no ive been out ,lol,anyway going to my friend rachels for a cuppa and home made rice pudding, had some of her mums not so long ago and was realy lovely .ttfn xx rice pudd was lovely thankyou rachel ,when i got home the cat had ripped through the foil that was covering andys dinner and ate his beef ,lol .i thought to myself andy would not of eaten it anyway cos he was off his food ,he hadnt eaten anything all day so about six he had some off rachels home made rice pudding that she gave me earlier ,he ate it all and said it was nice ,but later he went upstairs for a shower next minite i hurd he was being sick ,(it wasnt the rice pudd rach,lol) i had a feeling this was more than a cold ,hopefully we will find out tomorrow,ttfn,xx

bonfire night !

today has boring ,andy still not any better ,i went house sitting this morning for my daughter kelly so she could shopping ,she was expecting a plumber round but he never turned up ,while i was there got bored so i ended up hovering the whole house ,and cleaning everywere .then when she came home i went home and done my cleaning in my house ,and done loads off washing aswell as kellys cos her washer not plumbed in yet ,ive then cooked dinner ,then i went out the back garden and decided to have afire because i had so much rubbish pileing up ,didnt think it was that windy so i lit it ,then all off a sudden the wind picked up and sparkes were flying ..lol.and burnt paper flying round ,,i thought id be better off watching the fire indoors ,at this point i stunk of smoke so i went in the shower ,hair smells better now ,fire still burning a little ,lol,ttfn,xxxxxx.

headaches who needs them

hello friends didnt make it last night ,was realy tired and had a mirgrain which always last about 25 hours ,im still worried about andrew he seems tired and his seems abit weeker today he even said he feels week still coughing well and saying his chest hurts ,i just wish that he would tell someone at the hospital he goes three times aweek but i think he has had enough of hospital and tests and tablets ,he hasnt felt well since he had his operation last month, so if he is still ill on monday i think i will have to phone hospital myself and tell them which i have had too loads of times because he just wont, his even lied to me before now and said he had a word with the doctor when he didnt ,i think he gets scared ,iv never known him to be this down or should i say up and down but mostly down and very tired he sleept for three hours when he came back from dialysis today which is normal but he said he could fall asleep now ,blood sugar highs and lows again ,i felt a bit bad last night leaving my friend after she had a panic attack because she was home alone but i had a realy bad headache couldnt even stand the light in the end ,i felt sick aswell ,i thoght i was hungry so i tried eating crisps but every crunch realy hurt my head ,so i went to bed ,anyway hope you had a better day today rachel ,ttfn xx

just another day

sorry was too tired to do post last night its tiring looking after a 18 month grandson ,he isnt naughty his just into everything at the moment ,andy was very down yesterday i just dont no what to do all i can do is be there ,his still coughing well,and still having realy high blood sugers ,,its worse having highs than low blood suger because high ones do the damage to your eyes feet skin ect,andy has been to dialysis today and went to bed not long after he got back ,i have a friend who lives on the south coast she has just had a opperation to remove her gallbladder ,hope your feeling well sam and still winning ,xxmy daughter lauren is off school because she has a infection in her eyes and it keeps going but coming back ,we have booked a caravan for the summer hols and managed to get dialysis at skegness for a week so cant wait ,hopefully my friend rachel will be joining us for five days with her daughter ,we went two years ago and the weather spoilt it rain rain and more rain ,we hope it dosnt this year but you never no with this english weather do you ,easter will soon be upon us soon it gets earlier every year march 24 ,iv got a extra one to by for this year might make them instead ,lol ,i cant even bake a cake let alone make chocolate ,ttfn xx

lost for words,

well today has been a normal day ,andy went to hospital for dialysis came home had a cuppa tea then went to bed for three hours ,this morning i went to our local cafe and fancied a bacon roll because when i walked in all i could smell was bacon ,so i ordered one because they are lovely ,,but today when i got it the bacon was burnt and there was no butter on the roll ,well i was not rude but i just said excuse me but i cant eat this the bacon is burnt and no butter on the roll well i couldnt beleive it the person who served it took it off me and said dont eat it then ,,then she came back and put one pound fifty on the table ,lost for words i just turned to my friend and said can you beleive that she just looked at me and said disgusting,i dont think i will be going there again unless they sell up or change ownership ,i had a incedent at the weekend when my 11 year old son came in with a opened bottle of whisky and a womans bag with make up and so on stuff u would take on a night out ,he found it on wasteland behind a house and said there was other stuff ,so i told him of and said not to go back there and i decided to phone the police just incase anyone had been burgled or anything ,anyway i couldnt beleive the response i got when i said my son had found these items his reply was were not the council its not our list of duty to come and collect rubbish with that i said well for all i know someone could of been mugged or burgled and there is more items there so then he said well its one thing finding things but taking it home to your parents he shouldnt of touched it in the first place,well i could off sworn ,so i said at least my son was sensable to not drink the whisky if a younger child got hold of it then god knows what could of happend,lost for words again i couldnt beleive,i dont no why i bothered,ttfn,xx

good day ,

well today has been better ,,no hypo,s ,we had our frinds round for a sunday roast which went well ,over cooked the beef a bit but was still nice ,tonight i went to bingo and won 45 pound ,im lucky latley on the bingo,and enjoy going ,andy still not a hundred percent better ,but he does look better ,he is feeling the cold alot at the moment so thats a goodish sign because when he was ill he was always hot ,not to bad with the night sweats at the moment ,and managing blood sugar no realy high ones or low ones today ,kids go back to school tomorrow ,cant wait..peace for abit.well its been a long day so ttfn.xx

better day

today andy is a bit better ,he had one hypo today but was fine ,my daughter kelly and boyfrind marc moved up the road from us today ,im glad shes nearer because she works and i have my grandson it just makes life easier ,kelly had a scan of her baby yesterday and i was amased how good the picture was ,she is due to have the baby on 18th of august which would be a nice anniversery present ,anyway back to andy ,,after all the lazor and opps on his eyes and will always have a blind spot in one eye ,which is known as optical nerve damage,in 2004 andy was very ill and rushed into hospital we found out that his kidney stopped working,he was in hospital for two monthes after getting a realy nasty bug he was so ill we thought we were going to loose him he lost a lot of weight ,i remember him having mrsa but he also had another bug but im not sure what it was called,he was still very week when he went home but there he was again back on dialysis three times a week ,then in 2007 this time last year andy kept being sick alot and felt very ill in the end he went to a and e at bassetlaw hospital they done lots off blood test then the next min he was wired up on a heart machine and the doctors said they were supprised he was still here because his pancreas has stopped working and his blood sugar was over 60.they stabalised andy then they transfered him to the northern gen ,,today he is still trying to cope with being diabetic again ,but was really greatfull to his donor ,and hopes he will get a nother chance ,so really number 13 was really unlucky for him.xx

under the weather,

this week andy has been unwell ,not sleeping much,coughing bad ,tummy troubles ,and having realy bad night sweats,,really bad waking up in the morning to soaking wet bed,yuk,and just lately he is having high blood sugar or very low ,,on wednesday he had 3 hypo were blood sugar was 1.5,ect ,he seems to be a bit down aswell,friends have noticed and asked,but he just says im ok ,when he knows his not ,he had a operation about a month ago to remove his parathyroids,he was in hospital for ten days because he got a cheest infection he has just finished his fourth lot of antibiotics and still coughing,i woke up thursday morning and found a big box of chocs and a card on the table 4 me ,it was realy nice .about two years ago andy managed a trip to the shop on his own to get me a valentine card (this is when eyes were worse than ever) well i got a card but not a valentine card it was a BIRTHDAY CARD so thats a standing joke every year ,,now he asks his mum to get it ,lol , x

not a dibetic anymore ,1999

this is a pic of me and andy now

first few days at home was hetic everyone came to see andy ,he was ok for about a week or so then he got a water infection but soon cleared up ,,one day he said to me i wonder whos kidney and pancreas iv got ,andy started to get down and a bit depressed he siad i dont deserve this transplant if i had looked after myself i might not of been in this situation ,so i told him to talk to a doctor about his feelings ,although we talked i didnt have all the answers ,so andy did talk to a doctor, the doctor told him some patients do feel like he does and he will be ok and gave him antidepressant tablets,a few weeks later andy decided that he wanted to no about the donor,he did find some things out but no names was given all i can tell you is this person had a long term illness and was aware that he was going to give people the gift of life,it did make andy feel better knowing that this man helped not just only him but others too,andy had to attend follow up appointment at the kings collage hospital which was a long way from home ,,i remember walking to the train station we got about ten minuets down the road and andy had to stop he couldnt breath properly so we slowly walked back home and i phoned a doctor out ,andy had a bad cheast infection but the doctor sent him into hospital for test ,every time andy was ill he used to test his blood sugar levels even though they were ok he couldnt get over not being a diabetic ,he could eat anything he wanted but was still carefull he did get better and stronger for a while then he he started getting infection after infection in and out of hospital very deprressed and then we split up i couldnt cope with his illness and depression ,andy left me and went to live with his parents up north ,we split on bad terms and after a while i missed him so much and relised how much i loved him so me and the kids moved up north to be with him it was a big move for all ,and it did change our lives ,,but then after andy started to loose his eyesight it was very bad ,he kept bursting blood vessels in his eyes ,he had lots of lazor treatment and cataracts ,we can laugh about things now what andy done when he couldnt see anythingbut it wasnt funny at the time,i wouldnt of coped if it wasnt for andys mum and dad who lived ten mins from us ,im stopping ,your right lisa i could of wrote a novel,x

transplant day

this a pic of kings collage huspital .

it was 14th october 7am and i remember saying to andy i love you as he was counting down from 10 as they were putting him asleep,he just about said it back ,,my heart sank and all of a suden i was crying i couldnt help it ,a nurse took me to the canteen and cheered me up and showed me round the hospital and told me that andy will be ok and that i would be able to see him in six hours with a new kidney and pancreas ,,then she left me ,i went to the shop and brought a magazine to get some change for the phone so i could ring the family ,,i must off rang everyone to say andy was having a transplant ,i was excited at this time ,after five hours of walking round i went and sat outside the operating room after six hours i was starting to panic ,then after 11 hours someone came out and said the operation was a success but andy had a bad reaction to something but he will be fine ,he was took to a intensive care ward and let me go in as soon as i saw him i started crying iv never seen so many tubes and machines even though they warned me and said dont be alarmed at the amount off tubes and wires ,,i was more than alarmed my heart sank again but i pulled myself together and sat down and held his hand ,they were keeping andy sadated because off bad reaction,i sat with andy for hours watching doctors coming and going and not one of them talked they said hello and that was that ,,i never felt so alone and scared,that night i sat in the corridoor but didnt realy sleep ,in the morning i went to andy and they were slowly waking him ,he woke a couple of times and saw me sat there and smilled ,,then he called me he said nicola (ex wife) looking at me then he went back to sleep ,but i let him of because then a doctor came in and said andy might not make any sense for afew hours because of all the medication he was on ,he told me that his kidney was sleeping and his pancreas was already working ,it was great news ,after a couple off days his kidney was working and andy was passing water and got better every day ,then on the 31st of october andy was home ,,i remember puting a sign up outside no trick or treat please,read tomorrow how it affected andy after the transplant ,ttfn,x(ta ta for now)

andys transplant

it was just before christmas 1998 when andy started to feel unwell ,he visited the doctors and then sent to hospital for further test ,the day before newyears eve andy was addmitted with kidney failure ,we remember sitting on a bench outside brighton hospital on newyears eve watching the fire works at midnight ,new years day andy had to have emergancy neck lines in so they can do dialysis but his veins kept collapsing but they done it in the end ,andy got better and was allowed home after aweek or so.andy had to have a little operation so they could dialise him properly ,he had a fistula in his arm ,were a vein is joined to a artery so they can put these needles in which stays in his arm while he was on dialysis, after that he had to attend hospital every monday, wednesday,and friday for dialysis ,he was very ill alot off the time and had to give up his job which he loved ,he used to drive around the country and deliver hire tools ect,as time went on the hospital offered andy dialysis at home,so i went to hospital with andy for about six weeks so they could train me to put andy on this dialysis machine ,it was very scary,the dialysis needles was huge ,we both learned together andy learned to set the machine up and i learned to connect him to the machine ,i had to put two big needles into his fistula,i couldnt do it at first and i even popped it once but it wasnt long before i got the hang of it ,we had our bedroom adapted for the dialysis machine and all the s medical stuff deliverd and had a date set to dialise at home ,it was the 13 october and we were watching tv when the phone rang andy answered it it was the hospital they said to andy get your bags packed if you want this transplant ,we were amased because he wasnt on the transplant list that long ,a ambulance came for us as i went with him we arrived at kings collage hospital at midnight and was put on a ward for blood test ect ,funny thing is he was in bed 13,a few hours later the doctor told andy he was a perfect match and that he was going to be the 13th patient to have this double transplant at that hospital,we hoped it wasnt going to be unlucky ,anyway im going to leave it there and come back to this tomorrow hope who ever reads this dont find it to boring and read tomorrow,x

Sleeping Troubles

last night andy didnt sleep well he was coughing bad in the night and ended up on the sofa ,then this morning he had a appointment with the diabetic doctor because his blood sugar has been realy high,the other day it went as high as 33 ,should be between 5 and 7 ,he has also had realy low blood sugar at least once a day so the doctor wants to do some blood tests on him ,after that he saw the chiropodyist because he has bad feet due to being diabetic which he attends every week,just to let you no andy suffered kidney failure due to being diabetic for 27 years ,andy had a little sleep today ,hopefully he will have a better night tonight ,we had our grandson kye today we love having him but it can be very tiring at times ,kye is 20 months and full off beans and trying to talk at the moment ,,very funny,,he loves kicking a football about if his not doing that he is dancing with tigger ,,and tigger drives you mad after a while and you have to hide it ,lol,,,anway im going now because i have a cold and need my beauty sleep,if you read tomorrow i will be writing about andys double transplant,x

Hello to all, well here is our first post...here goes....

Andy woke up early this morning as he had to go for his dialysis at Sheffield so the taxi comes for him at 6.15am, he gets to hospital by 7 and then he is put on dialysis for three and a half hours ,,he sleeps most of the time he is there because he dont sleep well at night.and when he comes home he has something to eat like today he came in had lunch and went to bed ,i dont no why but he is always tired when he comes home from a dialysis session and he will sleep till about 3 ,i hav my grandson today so he might not get much sleep today,,lol..plus its half term and we have three children a daughter 15 and a son 11 at home then another daughter 20 who lives with boyfriend,they have a son 20 months and they just found out she is pregnant again . Picture is of a dialysis machine as some may have not seen one before.