Sunday, March 16, 2014

Jim Davey

It is with great sadness that I am here to write about another member of our local scleroderma group who passed away yesterday.

Jim Davey and his wife Helen are two of the strongest, most positive people I have ever met. When Jim was faced with the prospect of a double lung transplant just over a year ago, he didn't hesitate and jumped right in with both feet or lungs in this case. His recovery after the surgery was nothing short of amazing and certainly he gained strength from his wife Helen who also amazes me with her strength and positive attitude.

When Jim's name popped up on an email notification this morning, I just knew that it was going to be good news - I had been aware that he was having rejection issues recently. Good news, because that's what I'd come to expect of Jim and Helen's emails. And so when I got around to reading the email later, I was totally taken aback that we had lost him. I didn't know him well, but I did know him well enough to say that he was a good man and he will be sorely missed by myself and the other members of our local group who had come to admire him for his strength, his positive attitude and his humanity.

We love you Jim. Rest in peace.



Friday, March 14, 2014

I continue to gain more confidence in my ability to eat a more varied diet. This past week, I have had chicken fried rice on four occasions, made with fresh vegetables; green, red and yellow peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and celery along with grilled organic chicken breast and rice cooked in organic low sodium chicken broth. For frying I used a tblspn of ghee.  Delicious and no revolt by my GI tract.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to try coffee for the first time in I don't know how long, but it's been at least a year. Not certain of how my body would react, I bought it at a coffee shop and brought it home to drink. Have done that on three occasions as well as made my own and it went well so today I took a leap of faith and bought a coffee while I was out at the market and drank it there. I can't begin to describe what a great feeling that was. Small pleasures reap great rewards.

Aware that St. Patrick's Day is fast approaching I started thinking about a traditional Irish meal. Corn beef and cabbage, what we always called a boiled dinner at home, is always good but not sure I want to go the cabbage route. So, turning to the internet I ended up settling on a slow cooker Irish Lamb Stew recipe. No Guinness  as called for in the recipe so substituted some red wine. This is pretty out there for me as I've only ever eaten lamb once in my life but if I'm going to experiment I thought I might as well go all out. Will know tomorrow what I've got. Here's hoping.

Friday, March 7, 2014

I Feel Good!

Current temperature is + 4ยบ C and I'v spent the afternoon downtown takin' care of business and shopping. It's the first time in months I've put the chair on low speed and actually enjoyed being outdoors. The sun is shining, the wind is calm and it feels downright balmy out there. Yup, James Brown pretty much sums up how I'm feel in'.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Synchronicity

Had an appointment with my rheumatologist today but it turned out she wasn't there when I got to the clinic. I have to admit that I was a bit annoyed but the patient before me had driven in to London all the way from the Niagara Region and she simply took it in her stride. So I took my lead from her and thought "What have I got to be annoyed about when my trip was a ten minute paratransit ride while she'd driven a couple of hours or more?"

But the best part is, when I got to the elevator to go down stairs, she was still there and asked if I had a blog. Turns out that when she'd first been diagnosed she, like so many of the rest of us, turned to the internet and found my blog. Small world. We had a great chat and she was most gracious and generous with her praise about the blog and how it had helped her throughout those early days. I have had close to 10 000 hits to the blog since it started but can count on my fingers the number of comments so I can't express how much it means to get feedback like this.

So, I just wanted to say "Thank you, Sharon" for making my day. 'Twas very nice to have met you and I hope you and your friend enjoyed your day in London.