Weight, a busy day and then paying for it the next day!

My weight was up a little bit to 50.9kg yesterday :D I emailed my dietician yesterday morning with my weight and my concerns about the high calorie drinks and she replied last night. Apparently lots of post transplant patients also have trouble with the high calorie drinks, so it's good to know I'm not alone. It's odd that I used to manage them fine though! My dietician suggested trying them diluted half and half with normal cow's milk and drinking them more slowly, over 30 to 45mins. So I'll give that a try. I'm not sure whether she wants me to have one a day or just on the mornings after I'm off feed though, so I emailed her back to check that, but haven't had a response yet. She said that if I can manage the drinks then I can reduce my feeds to just 3 nights a week, but I don't know whether she means to reduce them now or trial the drinks first. So I also asked that in my response email. I'll let you know when I hear.

After my swine flu jab on Mon eve, my arm was really sore that night and yesterday when I moved my arm at all. Luckily Paracetamol eased it a bit. And it's just been a bit achy today, but I've not needed any Paracetamol for it. I'm not really looking forward to my second one, but at least I'll known that the sore arm wont last long. Mum and Dad's arms haven't been nearly as sore as mine!

Because of my sore arm and overheating under new thick duvet I didn't sleep well on Mon night. But last night I got to sleep before midnight (which is early for me) and slept really well :)

I felt fine yesterday, but had quite a busy day which is probably why I've felt so exhausted today. Yesterday afternoon I attended an appointment at the job centre in town as I'd recieved a letter saying I needed to go to continue receiving my benefit. And the appointment wasn't too bad. What happens next depends on how my ESA medical assessment goes at the beginning of Dec and which of the 2 groups (employment or support) they decide I should go in. If I'm put into the support group then I'll just get my benefit, but if they think I'm well enough to go into the employment group then I'll have to attend 5 Pathways To Work appointments to see what kind of work I would be able to manage. My first Pathways To Work appointment is due in a month but I might not have heard the decision on my ESA medical assessment by then, so I might have to start the Pathways To Work appointments in case I'm put into the employment group. So yesterday's appointment at the job centre was just filling in a referral form to the Pathways To Work in case I'm put into the employment group after my ESA medical assessment. With the advisor I just had to go through how my ME and transplant affect me in everyday life and how they would affect me if I was at work. And what kind of work I might be interested in. I don't think I'm well enough to work at the moment (unless it was very part time and could be done at home via my laptop) but if I'm put in the employment group then I'll have to see what they say. I'll keep you updated.

After that yesterday I went round town (but only bought a Radio Times) and then on the way home called in at the local garden centre with mum (where I bought a couple of small Christmas gifts for friends). Then yesterday evening me and mum went to the cinema to see Disney's A Christmas Carol in 3D which was very good :D

Today I was supposed to be going into the city to meet a friend, H, but had to cancel because I just felt exhausted and had no energy when I woke up this morning :( We'll definitely rearrange though and H is going to see if her and her mum could come to our house, as that'd be easier for me if I was having a not so good day. H's mum is good friends with my mum, so hopefully that'll work. Today I just relaxed at home and am feeling a bit better this evening.

I received some good post yesterday - as well as a rental DVD and some info on what to expect from my upcoming ESA medical assessment, I also got a lovely letter from Lizzy's husband's niece, Mawite, who lives in Burma :D She's 17 and has very good English. I sent her a letter a couple of months go, so it was lovely to receive a response. I'll reply to her soon.

I also received another nice piece of post yesterday. A couple of months ago I received an email from Emily about Jess and her urgent need for a transplant. So I forwarded Emily's email (plus a few words of my own) onto all my email contacts. I got a few responses from people I emailed it to including one from a lovely lady I used to know when I went to church (I used to go with Lizzy because her and her family went, I don't think I've ever actually believed in God and am now definitely an Atheist). She knew about my transplant and asked if she could use part of my email in the church's monthly newsletter to promote organ donation. I said of course. So in the post she sent me a copy of the newsletter with the article in and a little note. I'm hoping that will have encouraged some more people to join the organ donor register :) I sent her a reply via email today to say thanks.

I'm quite private about my transplant and usually wait til I know people well before telling them. But I'm now making an effort to be more open if it might encourage more organ donors. So yesterday I revealed that I'd had a transplant on the AYME forums because there was a discussion about organ donation going on. I got some lovely responses :) I'm not feeling ready to go to the media with my story yet, but might do in the future. Tomorrow will be my 3 year transplant anniversary, but I'll probably blog more about that tomorrow.

I think I said in a previous blog post that at the weekend I sent my first letter to my new AYME buddy, a girl called Katie who is severerly affected by ME. I want to buy her a little something for Christmas, but because I've never been severely affected by ME I'm not sure what would be appropriate and the last thing I want to do is give her something she's not going to be able to use. So today I wrote a letter to her mum asking for her advice because she'll know Katie best. I'll post that off tomorrow and hopefully her mum will get back to me with some guidance.

Over the last couple of days my concentration hasn't been very good, so I'm getting through my Official Nintendo Magazine (which came on Mon I think) more slowly than usual. I received my other monthly magazine, Focus, today, but haven't even attempted reading that yet as it's a more difficult read. And I've flicked through the Which magazine that mum brought back from the library on Tue too.

The DVD of the second series of Absolutely Fabulous which I'd requested came into the library on Tue, so I enjoyed watching an episode of that today :)

I've watched a lot on TV again, but not many whole problems, more just the interesting bits of long or boring programmes! :P I can't remember which day it was, but earlier this week a friend in the transplant community said on Facebook that her daughter (who has had a heart transplant) would be on Jeremy Kyle that day. I can't stand Jeremy Kyle and think his programme is awful, but recorded this specific programme about inspirational children and then just watched the feature with the girl I know in :) I recorded and then skimmed through Film 2009 for the interesting bits and also recorded and skimmed through Graham Norton because I wasn't interested in 2 of his guests (and don't like him), but wanted to see Dawn French because I think she's great :D I've got sucked into I'm A Celeb despite saying I wasn't going too, so I've been watching that each night :P

And there have been loads of good music things on TV too over the last couple of days. I've seen Mika performing his new single 'Rain' on GMTV and being interviewed on BBC Breakfast, Pixie Lott performing her new single 'Cry Me Out' and being interviewed on This Morning, Little Boots performing her new single 'Earthquake' on GMTV and Taylor Swift performing her new single '15' and being interviewed on the Paul O'Grady show! :D All these great singles are being released this week or next week, but I think it's sad that none of them will stand a chance in the charts because 'You Are Not Alone' by the X Factor Finalists is without a doubt going to shoot to the top of the singles chart and stay there for weeks. I know it's a charity single which is great and I'll be buying it myself and I do watch the X Factor, but I just think it's bad that the X Factor is now so powerful that no other artists stand a chance.

Taylor Swift was promoting her new single and rerelease of her latest album (called Fearless Platinum Edition) on the Paul O'Grady Show today. Last time I looked for Fearless Platinum Edition on the Internet it was only released in America and sourcing a copy from there would cost too much money, but today when I looked I discovered that it has now been released here in the UK. I have the original Fearless album, but the Platinum Edition has 6 new tracks plus a bonus DVD featuring music videos and behind the scenes tour footage, so I just had to buy it! I'd been doing so well with resisting buying things, but couldn't resist this :P Because it's such a new release it cost me £12.99 though, plus postage to ensure that I receive it before the concert as I'd love a chance to listen to it before then incase she performs any new songs :D Yay, can't believe it's just 5 days til I see Taylor Swift at Wembley. I can't wait :D Roll on Monday!!!

A new Wii game (called New Super Mario Bros Wii), which I preordered a few months ago was dispatched to me today so I'll get it for release day (Fri). I've got my fingers crossed that it'll arrive tomorrow though ;) The downside of a fantastic new Wii game though is that it has cost me £35! Eeek!