Life with new lungs...

***Update 1st May***

Ahh, first day of a new month and a first for Rachy since her Transplant :-D


Last night, Rachy, Myself and a few friends spent the night chatting via webcam. First time Ive seen her in person since before her Transplant 7 weeks ago hehe.


It was absolutely fantastic to see her moving, smiling and chatting away, I wont lie, I've missed this ALOT and so had she.


She looked fantastic, such colour in her cheeks and huge smile on her face :-D


She was saying how she now has 3500 emails to sort through...So apologises if she misses one or two of them haha! (Although most of them were facebook notifications...) eerrmm, what else? I'm guessing she will be updating the blog again herself soon :-D With me just posting when she is too busy to do so


And thats about it!
Hope everyone reading this is well, and id like to say that if Rach starts blogging herself again, then its been more than an honour keeping you guys up to date on her progress over the last 7 weeks, and if I had to, id do it again in a heartbeat for her, no question



***Fantastic Update 29th April***


Rach FINALLY has her Trachy out and can speak ! She has been waiting AGES for this step, and its finnally happened. This means, she can now SPEAK (And as a result, her Doctors and Consultants have said they want to take their Annual leave haha!)
Hopefully this will also mean she can go on the Transplant ward soon, which will mean less intensive treatement (but still alot of work to do) and a bit more freedom, and of course, its one step closer to the front door...


She is clearly VERY pleased with this, and in her words, she says she *Feels more human* haha yay :-D


And there it is. The update so many people have been waiting for, least of all,Rachy herself of course !


***Update 26th April***


Rach has had a busy day today ! Another Bronch today, took it out of her a fair bit (Completely understandable, its certainly not a walk in the park) Her pseudo is being stubborn so they are thinkign of trying another IV to kick its arse, which although Rach isnt keen on them doing that, she knows they know best !


Not really much more to report im afraid. They plan on getting that Trach out this week but they need to build up to that, and we will only know if thats viable if all goes to plan, so in no way is it certain ! But fingers crossed guys.


I realise she is taking a long time to recover, but please remember that this is a HUGE thing she has been through. Whole new lungs, a whole new body part. Every new thing has its gremlins in the works right? No new buiseness has ever been flawless, no car has ever been built and not had defects that take time to work out. Thats all this is right now....think of them as just bugs in the system. When the docs and Rach know what do do about them, she will fly out of there :-)


Night all, long day !

***Update 24th April***


Rach has just sent me a GORGEOUS pic of herself, so I thought it was time for another mini update and PICTURE :-D


Rachy needs (In her words!) *Sticky up lung thoughts* as her right lung refuses to stay inflated when she breaths on just O2, damn naughty lung ! So send her those please ! Cant hurt right?

Other plans are, overnight vent until they can come up with a plan to get that right lung working, and she had another blood transfusion today ! Busy day for her (Arent they alwasy busy!!) but she clearly has a huge smile on her face !

And here it is:

***Update 23rd April***

Todays Update is in Rachys words, as it very simply explains how she is ! So:

And they wonder why I'm not hungry! (See picture)
Bronch yesterday went well, no real changes it just left me feeling a bit sore. Team are cracking the whip now keen to press on pushing me to do as much breathing on my own again (so far I've managed 4hrs in a day) and of course eat and get back on track with physio! All in all is steady progress and their happy the lungs are getting over the latest infection and functioning well!

Clearly she is ready to start working on getting out of there after her minor setbacks of late, so here's hoping she continues that way ! Im sure she will :-D

***Update 22nd April***



Today is Rachys 6 week Transplantaversary!


Hey again all !


Rachy has had another good day today. She seems to be on the right track in beating the psudo on her chest, and they are hitting it with a whole barrage or antibiotics which should do the trick ! Xray is much improved on last time,a nd she is having a routine Bronch tommorow just to see how things are. After that, they should be pressing on with getting her trachy removed from her throat so she can finally chat !



She is her normal smiley, VERY cheeky self again it seems, which is obviously a huge indication that this massive risk was all worth while (of course!) .


Head of transplant popped in to see her, and made a comment of *Leave that feeding tube in, it suits her* (Jokingly) to which she replied with a...hand, gesture back to him, having the entire medical team, and Head in Tx in fits of laughter hehe :-)


Thats the Rach we know and love i think!



***Update 20th April***


Hey all


Pete back to blogging again, as Im out of hospital and Holly is away for now!


Rach had a good day today, Xray looked better so no need for another Bronch (See earlier mention of Bronch to find out more about this!)
She has started walking and being weaned off the vent again after the last few minor setbacks in doing so.
She says Microbiology are happy she is on the right Antibiotics for Pseudomonas, which i know from personal experiance, can be a pain in the .. bum, to get rid of ! But in Rachaels own words on FB recently:

"Feeling better, kicking some pseudomonas butt"

Hehe and why not indeed !

We also found out recently that a VERY nice person has offered her free driving lessons, as a result of reading about her story in the paper, for her to take up whenever she needs ! What an amazing person huh?

I sent a message to him thanking him and saying it will mean ALOT to Rachy when she is out of hosp, as she is VERY independtant when she can be (Read that as stubborn hehe, but in a good way!) and his reply was this:

"It is a small thing Im doing compared to all Rachael Rachel does. I am so happy to help such an inspirational Lady. Thanks for the Message"

Cant get better than that right??

Anyway, keep well all, and I'll update next time I hear anything :-) and of course will keep those pictures coming as and when she sends me them!

***Update. 15th April***

Hey Holly here again... Not much news since the last update really, Rach still has a bit of infection in her new puffers but the fab transplant team are onto it with strong antibiotics and regular bronchoscopies. The doctors still remain happy with everything and Rachy is keeping the physios on their toes by working on improving her lungs.

I am in regular contact with Rachy and her Mum, they are both in good spirits and are grateful for all the well wishes. Rachy is being her usual mischeivious self and was telling me how she managed to cough out an NG tube this afternoon, which of course she found hilarious, not just at the fact of coughing it out but for getting the physios in trouble for it! Typical! So Rachy's naughty antics continue.... Stay tuned...

Even from her hospital bed, Rachy is still doing fab work in promoting Organ Donation. Click Here to read an article that was in her local paper today!

Just a last note, please could you try and refrain from sending private messages to Pete/Kiz as he is in hospital himself and cannot keep up with them, so the sole point of information will be this blog. Please do comment and leave Rachy some nice messages, I know that she will read them when she can, and it will be lovely for her to look back on when she is home and back in the blogging world!

Watch this space for updates, Much Love

Hol x


***Update. 9th April***

Hey everyone, It's Holly Shaw here! I am responsible for Rachy having the magnadoodle (see the picture in the below post) I bought it for her as I thought it would be useful while she has her tracky in and can't communicate as much as she would like to... although I do hope she hasn't been writing too many rude messages on it!

I'm in regular contact with Rachy and she has asked me to update you all... which I am only too happy to do!

It's one month since Rachy had her transplant surgery and she is constantly thinking of the donor and their family, knowing that its only because of them that she has been given this second chance. She is spending more or less all day breathing for herself on just oxygen with a small amount of ventilation overnight. The fantastic transplant team at Wythenshawe Hospital are working hard and encouraging her to eat. Rachy has a little bit of an infection at the minute which is not uncommon at this stage of the recovery process, so nothing to be concerned about.

As above there was a new article in the Manchester Evening News about Rachy and you can read it here, she looks fabulous don't you think!

Here is another photo for you to keep you going... What a super smile!


So all in all, she is a superstar and is doing fantastically well! Keep doing what you are doing hun, I am so pleased and mega proud of you! Much Love x