My arm is completely back to normal now!!! Can't believe there was no bruising whatsoever!

Had a great week so far in placement, done some sewing with the kids which was fun! All I've got to do now is write a 2,600 word report on my time in placement talking about how I met my targets that I set before I started! I wish they'd just let you enjoy your placement and not have the stress of making you write about it!

There was a major catastrophy on Tuesday, my beloved pink smart car got bashed in the carpark at work! I thought that was bad, but what was even worse was the fact the person that did it, left a note with a bloody fake number!!!! GRRRR!!! Someone must have seen them do it so they didn't want to look like they were running off without leaving a note. I was (and still am) fuming about it! There are some CCTV cameras in the car park but I've got a feeling they won't have picked it up as there are trees obscuring the view! But it's worth looking into!

This is my pride and joy (before the crash) she is fondly known by my friends as "The Fairydust Mobile" as it has a sticker in the back windscreen saying "Powered by Fairydust".



I also sent off for an anniversary present for my bro and his wife and the envelope said "do not bend" and guess what the post man did!? bent it when he put it through the letter box!!!! So I'm going to complain and try and get some compensation for it, cos what was in it (I can't say in case my bro is reading this) Is damaged!!!

No other news really, dialysis has been fine, can't complain! Best get on with writing my report...

Had another really busy week this week, with working, looking after Peter and baby shopping!

I worked all day Monday and then went straight to the hospital for dialysis.All was going well until the machine started pumping my blood around. The needles were in but I must have moved my arm slightly and the pain was excruciating. My fistula had blown which means the needle had gone out the other side of my vein resulting in a swelling on my arm which the nurse kindly went and got some ice for. It also meant the next day there was a huge bruise to match the other one the nurse had given me the previous Monday! So my arm is dark purple at the moment and quite sore but hey these things happen. The nurse has advised me to go for a scan of my fistula to make sure its still working ok. My mum is going to ring up on Monday morning to see if there is any chance I can go on Wednesday as I am already heading up to the Royal Liverpool Hospital to see my transplant surgeon! So will keep you posted.

This is my arm below (not a great photo as I took it myself with my left hand) ... the top bruise is the most recent from last Monday and the bottom bruise is from the Monday before, it's still a bit swollen and quite hard to the touch, so not a pretty sight really... hopefully it will clear up soon!



I Tuesday looking after the little boy Peter again, mum and I took him to Tumble Tots were he ran round like a mad man yet again! We then met my dad at a local park called Walton Gardens, were we had a picnic, played on the park, went round the little zoo and had a ride on a little train, much fun was had by all!

On Wednesday the class I am working with went on a trip Pond Dipping, I kindly offered up my mum and myself as volunteers, we had a great time, the weather was gorgeous and the kids enjoyed getting stuck in finding all sorts of disgusting creatures in the pond! Mum asked my supervisor how I was doing and if I was getting on with the kids ok, my supervisor said I was doing well and had got the balance right, not being too friendly with the kids. However Mum called me by my first name in front of the kids and so they spent the rest of the day calling me Holly and Miss Holly instead of their usual Miss Shaw! So the overfriendly thing had gone down the pan! I worked the Thursday morning including my first experience of watching the class doing P.E, which was fun!

So by Friday I was wiped out, so treated myself to a long lie in!

Today I have been baby shopping with my Mum and my brothers wife Fiona for things for the nursery. We went to a carpet shop to choose a carpet and then went on to Babies R Us to get bedding, curtains, blankets, and lots of other exciting things! Fiona is looking really well and the bump is growing by the week! (I had a sneaky feel today!)

No plans for tomorrow, just relaxing before another weeks work. It's tiring but I'm thoroughly enjoying every minute and I'm really pleased I've not had any time off sick! Fingers crossed it stays that way...


PS. I have added some photo's to some of my previous posts and also a few new links to the right hand side if you fancy taking a look :o)

That squirrel died with a nut in its hand...

Sorry for the lack of blogging, I've had a mad busy few weeks....

First I started my work placement at a local Primary School and I'm loving every minute of it, even if the kids do ask me questions I don't know how to answer in a suitable way!? I'm with year 2's so they have a wealth of information but are still so innocent at the same time, which is just right for their age. I'm doing this for the next 10 weeks and I'm working Monday all day, Wednesday all day and half a day Friday which is great as I feel ok when I wake up in the morning as I have not had dialysis the night before. So all is going well with work, its tiring but great fun and I am impressed with myself that after the 4th day I knew all the kids names in the class (29 of them)!!!

So the topics for this week have been story writing (about a magic leaf) and woodland animals, one of the activities for the kids was them looking at stuffed animals and writing down the features of them! There was a red squirrel, a badger, a fox, a mole, a cuckoo and an owl, I had to pretend these were great, whereas in reality they were pretty freaky! The teacher had to sensitively explain the concept of stuffing an animal, and that they are real animals that were once alive, some children found it hard to grasp this and proceeded to ask me questions like why are they so still? and how did this one die? but the best comment of the day was a kid who said "wow, that squirrel died with a nut in its hand, cool!" It brought a smile to my face but then I had to explain that it probably didn't die with a nut in its hand that the person that stuffed it put it there and glued it in place! Next I was told I looked like the badger because I was wearing a black and white stripy top, So I survived looking at the stuffed animals, and I'm looking forward to going back tomorrow morning and seeing what my next challenge will be!

In other news... to my surprise I appeared in my local paper today (The Warrington Guardian) I had completely forgotten that Emily (from LLTGL) had sent a press release out about me becoming the regional advocate for her charity. The paper hadn't been in touch and so I really wasn't expecting it and obviously it came as a nice surprise and will raise awareness for a great charity, the article isn't online so I will type it up for you to have a look at...



Holly Helps Organ Charity

A life spent hooked up to a dialysis machine is what faces 21-year-old Holly Shaw, but instead of dwelling on it she has thrown her efforts into working for an organ donation charity. Now her hard work has been rewarded and she has been made Live Life Then Give Life's key advocate for the North West.
"I am really proud to be an advocate for Live Life Then Give Life," said Holly, from Westbrook. "The gift of life is so important and a transplant could give me back my life; dialysis is a life saver but also a life sentence. With a new kidney I wouldn't have to do the treatment but most of all I would just feel normal and well again," She said.
Holly has been waiting for a kidney for three years. Her dialysis treatment leaves her feeling tired and nauseous and she can only drink 500ml of fluid a day. More than 8,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant. To sign on to the NHS organ Donor Register go to http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ or call 0845 60 60 400. Go to http://www.livelifethengivelife.co.uk/ to find out more about Holly's campaign.



So thats all the news really... dialysis has been ok, diet is going well and I'm feeling quite well at the moment, I'm looking forward to a night out on Sunday with my friends and family for my 21st Birthday (which is on Tuesday) should be lots of fun, and I'll post about all the antics sometime next week!