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post transplant
Thu Nov 17, 2016 3:28 pm tri3hrs
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Three months after my transplant I started back at work part time two days a week and returned to swimming a triathlete’s favourite lol. Over the next two months I slowly increased my swimming from an initial 8 lengths to half a mile being careful not to overdo it. I have also started back in the gym although again taking it very easy and definitely no weights. The biking has continued and I have ventured out on one short run. I got a strange feeling in my abdomen when running so didn’t do another till after I had checked with my consultant who assures me its normal.
I am now six months after my transplant doing four half days a week, working from home on the other and feeling great. I have entered my first post-transplant triathlon Chirk sprint in April 2017. Also looking at competing in the transplant games in July next year and depending on how the sprint goes looking at an Olympic distance at the back end of the season. The ultimate aim is completing another ironman.
I would not have got this far through this journey without the immense support of my Wife, Family, The Nurses, Doctors, and other hospital staff and most importantly my Donor Family.
Hope to add frequent shorter updates on my progress to this blog as the years go on.
I would like to ask everyone who reads this blog to register to be an organ donor so that more and more people can be given the gift of life and as importantly discuss with your relatives your wishes.
Thanks for reading hope it helps someone.
_________________
IMUK 06 13:21
IMUK 07 grounded by SHMBO
IMUK 08 14:57
IMUK 09 15:51 tough old day next year
New chapter after liver transplant
starting with Chirk April 2017
Have you registered to be an organ donor ?

Transplant time
Thu Nov 17, 2016 3:26 pm tri3hrs
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Eleven days after being placed on the list I got the call it was the first night I had spent with my new wife in relative’s accommodation on the hospital grounds. Well I slept for an hour which was quite good for me at the time. So that was it early hours of the morning I was walking back to the hospital two coats and two jumpers on. I was accompanied by two nurses who had brought a wheel chair for me which I refused to get in until I was so close to the ward that the nurses would get into trouble for not following the rules. Also there was a bit of self-preservation as I got very cold very quickly and took a very long time to get warm again so walking up hill to the hospital help keep me warm.
The operation was an amazing success and two days later I was back on a ward. Thanks to an amazing donor and his brave family confirming his decision to donate at a very difficult time. Nine days after the operation I was discharged and spend the first few days at Fisher House (relatives accommodation for service personnel and their families ), We made the journey home four hours of total agony due to traffic congestion and back pain from my transplant surgery.
The following few weeks were spent recovering and starting to build up my fitness again as well as running round trying to get medications. The fitness started with a simple walk around the block and walks around shopping centres during bad weather. Progressing onto mountain bike rides down the local canal. This all interspersed with regular visits back to Birmingham for check-ups usually every two weeks.
Then suddenly I started to get severe pains in my stomach just as Birmingham contacted me to tell me they had found a CMV infection in my bloods and wanted me to start tablets immediately. A fruitless afternoon followed trying every chemist in my local area and the local hospital. I resigned myself to waiting till Monday morning to contact Birmingham to get the tablets sent to me or going down to collect them. My body had other ideas as by Sunday night I was in absolute agony so my wife took me off to the nearest A + E attached to a hospital with a liver unit. There followed four days of frustration trying to get the correct medication and fluids due to me having severe diarrhoea. Again I was transferred back to Birmingham where I received three weeks of intense treatment.
_________________
IMUK 06 13:21
IMUK 07 grounded by SHMBO
IMUK 08 14:57
IMUK 09 15:51 tough old day next year
New chapter after liver transplant
starting with Chirk April 2017
Have you registered to be an organ donor ?

pre transplant
Thu Nov 17, 2016 3:25 pm tri3hrs
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How did it all begin?
Well started to feel ill in mid January 2016 going off food and feeling tired. By the end of February the smell of cooked food caused me to throw up. So back to the doctors early on a Friday morning and a blood test by half two that afternoon I was on my way to the local hospital.
After several weeks of regular daily blood tests, a liver biopsy, CT scan, MRI scan and my condition worsening to the point I couldn’t walk 20 Meters ( a real shock when I was walking seven miles a day in work right up to the end of January ). The decision came to seek a second opinion from the specialists at Queen Elizabeth hospital Birmingham. They then took over control of my medications and started reviewing all my results. A week later I was in an ambulance on my way to Birmingham.
Once I arrived at Birmingham at 9:30 pm after a small detour to the wrong hospital I was met by a nurse and told just relax get myself some sleep and a consultant would be along to see me some time during the night. She duly arrived at 1:30am and what a breath of fresh air and professionalism opening comment “right let me tell you what has been happening “ such a change from being asked by every doctor I had seen. She then proceeded to tell me exactly what had been happening right from day one. Put a cannula in me took more blood and told me to get some more rest and I would be seen tomorrow Saturday yes a doctors round on a Saturday. Well little did they and I know that they would indeed see me early on Saturday as I was showering my cannula came out and the next thing I know is I am coming round on the shower floor completely naked with a nurse standing over me. I had pulled the emergency cord. After passing out several more times and being attended to by a full crash team I was safely in bed receiving fluids.
The testing continued for the next few weeks along with various drugs and vitamins to support me and help me improve. Then I slowly realised that the tests were taking a different track heart checks etc. as a transplant had been discussed in the early days at Birmingham I realised that they were now getting serious about a transplant and the option of a transplant was actively becoming a reality.
So early May I was put on the transplant list and the waiting began. Actually on the day I got married in hospital. I was not well enough to go home some 100 miles away so had to stay in hospital being carefully monitored until a donor was found. With the help of the hospital staff I continued to do all I could to improve my fitness mostly by short walks. Sometimes overdoing it and returning to bed to immediately fall asleep for the next hour or two. But I could see the improvement day after day 10 meters at a time.
Despite all the testing both before and after my transplant the cause of my liver failure has not been identified something that happens only two or three times a year.
_________________
IMUK 06 13:21
IMUK 07 grounded by SHMBO
IMUK 08 14:57
IMUK 09 15:51 tough old day next year
New chapter after liver transplant
starting with Chirk April 2017
Have you registered to be an organ donor ?

   





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