Decluttering my bedroom, voting and the orthodontist

On Tuesday I made some more progress with my big bedroom clear out when I sorted out my wardrobe. I put around 50% of the contents out in a charity sack :) When I used to have a stoma following my transplant I wore very baggy clothes to hide it. After I had my reversal last summer I bought lots of more fitted shirts and t-shirts, but didn't throw the baggy ones out, just in case. So on Tuesday it was fantastic to be able to get rid of them all :D That evening one of my friends who I'd not seen for a long time came round for a catch-up, which was lovely.

On Wednesday morning I was quite productive. I completed the long (15 page) M.E. questionnaire and sent it off, confirmed the date for my teeth extractions (27th Aug) and sorted out the antibiotic cover I'll need for the extractions (the volume of antibiotic is quite large, so I'll need to take 6 tablets that morning just 1 hour before the procedure). I relaxed for most of the afternoon as I was very tired, so played on my Wii, read a bit... I really enjoy playing on my Wii and DSi so had a look on the Internet to see what Nintendo had announced at the E3 conference. Apparently a sequel to Super Mario Galaxy should be out on the Wii next year and later this year there will be a New Super Mario Bros game released for the Wii. And there are some good DS games to look out for too.

I read through the latest magazine from PINNT (a support group for people on artificial feeding) and was surprised to find an article from some nurses I used to know at Hospital G (my old hospital before my transplant) who had been to the USA (to meet the doctor I met at the intestinal study day earlier this year and who has also invited me to help at the summer camp) to find out more about small bowel transplants because they're hoping to start doing them! So that's quite exciting :)

I felt a bit better after tea on Wednesday and had a bit more energy, so decided to tackle a big project in my bedroom. About a week earlier I'd sorted through my many novels and decided to get rid of all the ones ones I didn't want read or wouldn't read again, so that the remaining ones would fit better on my shelves. On Wednesday I decided to sort through my non-fiction books of which I had loads (craft books, books about animals, biographies...). Before I started I had too many for my shelves, so some were piled on my desk and some were on top of my wardrobe! I pulled all the books off my shelves and onto my bedroom floor and sorted through them all deciding which to keep and which to get rid of. Then I organised the ones I wanted to keep and put them back onto my shelves. It took about 2 and a half hours, but I was really pleased with the result - they all fitted on my shelves with room to spare! :D My mum works at our village library, so all the books I don't want any more will either be donated to the library or sold there :) I was very tired after that so enjoyed watching a special programme about The Apprentice, followed by the penultimate episode of the series and then You're Fired. I was very disappointed at the firings though, as I wanted Debra to win the whole thing. I'm still looking forward to the final on Sunday though, but don't really mind who wins (preferrably Yasmina though, as I don't like Kate).

Thursday was quite exciting as it was my first experience of elections :D From 10 til 11am me and my mum helped out with telling in a neighbouring village. We support the Liberal Democrats, so for an hour we recorded the voting numbers of the people who voted, so later that day the local Liberal Democrats could see who hadn't voted, work out from prior talking to people who might vote for them, and then remind them to vote. After that we came back to the village and I voted for the first time. When we got home I didn't feel too tired, so did some productive things for a while. My friend Sarah who is currently doing the Gifts of Life photography project has been asking transplant recipients to try to sum up their transplant story in just 6 words (which is more difficult than it sounds). So that afternoon I thought of a few and emailed them to Sarah. My favourite ideas were '2 steps forward, 1 step back', 'So many memories, happy and sad' and 'Received the greatest gift, a future'. After that I emailed my donor's sister a long overdue update on my progress and also sent her some photos of me.

After that I went very tired again, so relaxed - played on my Wii, watched the music channels and watched a film. Later when I felt a bit better I did a bit more sorting of my bedroom - I found some books I'd missed the day before, so sorted them as well as a few cluttered surfaces and drawers. I then played on my DSi, read and watched some TV before bed. Room 101 was funny with Sir Alan Sugar :)

This morning I had an early-ish start to go to the orthodontist. I had the wires on my braces tightened for the first time since I'd had them fitted. My teeth feel ok at the moment, but I expect they'll be sore later. While I was there I also found out a bit more about what to expect on the day I have my extractions (such as seeing my orthodontist first to have the brackets removed from the teeth I'll have extracted). I've just been to the surgery to pick up some tablets and I asked them if they'd received the prescription for my high calorie drinks from my dietician. They'd not got the prescription yet, so said I should ask again next week. But I've just received a phone call from my GP saying that he has got the fax and will order me in loads of them for the start of next week. But they do have some in stock, so I'm going to pick some up later today so I can start drinking them over the weekend. Later today I hope to do some more sorting of my room as it makes me feel really good when I get rid of some of my clutter :)

Tomorrow I'm hoping to go to Strawberry Fair, but it'll depend on the weather, as I don't want to be cold and miserable and I suppose it'll also depend how sore my mouth is. And then on Monday I'm going to see Mika in concert again with my mum, I'm so excited :D I have more exciting things planned after that, but I'll mention them nearer the time.