My parents came to Sunday Lunch with us yesterday and, as is inevitable at any family gathering with us at the moment, the conversation came around to Nick's immanent departure to the Southern Hemisphere! Nick wants my Mother to be with me when he leaves. He has arranged for a mate to pick him up and take him to the airport because he doesn't want me driving if I'm upset. I know he is only thinking of me but I'm not sure if I want my Mother around or if I just want to sit and sulk for a few weeks! Who am I kidding I'll probably have a good weep on Mum's shoulder then she will very quickly tell me to buck up and get on with life. And as per she will be right - Mum's usually are.
Thinking about Nick going (13 days and counting) is probably why I am awake before the birds this morning - in fact it is still pitch black and any sensible bird won't be awake for another hour.
Nick is also wide awake so we are going to dialyse early to leave the rest of the day free. This is what I will miss when I have to go back into the hospital. There is very little flexibility with changing your slot because if you need to dialyse early for any reason that means you have to find someone willing to swap for that session. Which all credit to the nursing staff if they can do it for you they will. However there are only so many times you can do this without taking the mickey - so you tend to plan your life round your hospital times/days rather than the other way around! So much for the Renal NSF "A time and place of the patients choosing" Yep and the Unicorn is saddled and ready to ride in the Pixie Parade. Oooooh I'm getting cynical. Oh well t.t.f.n. I am going to dialyse for the next 4 hours and you never know I might just catch up on my sleep. We can always hope!!!

Since the ceremony on Friday to lay the Donor Stone in Alexandra Gardens I have been trying to find the right words to express how I felt. Following what was an extremely moving ceremony I was asked to do press interviews which I did the reasons why I will explain later. It wasn't until I was sat in the car park of the flying club where I had just dropped Nick off that I broke down and cried. If I am honest I didn't just cry I sobbed and it was only then I realised why. I haven't grieved for the loss if my transplant; I just got on with life back on dialysis. It was there sat in that car park that I realised how guilty I felt that I had failed to keep that precious gift a stranger had given to me safe. No mater how hard I tried - I took my tablets on time, went to all my check ups, I ate properly and kept fit and active. Non of this stopped my kidney disease from coming back. What I have to remember is that I did have 71/2 wonderful years before it failed.
Kidney disease is no respecter of people it will attack the young, old and all ages in between. You only need to attend an outpatients clinic in Suite 18 UHW The Heath to see the diversity of people who suffer with some form of Renal Disease. All ages and every element of the social scale. A hotchpotch of humanity. In the words of our campaign they are "People Like Us". Please don't ever forget that people like me aren't just patients. I am a wife, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a cousin, a niece and a friend but most of all I'm a human being that deserves a decent standard of treatment.

Back to the reason I agreed to be interviewed by the press. I felt very awkward being photographed by the Donor Stone as I felt a bit of an impostor. The ceremony on Friday was for the families whose loved ones had donated organs to save the lives of others. The only reason I did it was I believe it is vitally important to get the issue of organ donation and kidney disease into the newspapers and to public attention as often as possible.

I am still feeling emotionally raw after Friday and I expect I am not the only one. I would like to once again say thank you with all my heart to all the families that say yes to organ donation.

I feel I had a very productive day today. I spent most of today writing letters for the People Like Us Campaign. I really believe that if we want things to change for renal patients in Wales we can't just sit and do nothing. I read a very interesting comment today on a website I accessed

1 person is helpful, 10 people are influential, 100 people are powerful, 1,000,000 are invincible.

How true this is. I want the People Like Us Campaign to become invincible. Please help write your letter of support for the Campaign today and get your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to write too. Examples of letters are available if you email me melwager24@msn.com or mel@kidneywales.com

You can also indicate your support for the People Like Us Campaign by logging on and completing the online form.
http://www.kidneywales.com/index.php?interface=formParser&formID=262

Thank you to Nick for running the Cardiff Half Marathon to raise money for Kidney Wales. Anyone who would like to increase his sponsor money follow the just giving link.

A big thank you to everyone who ran to raise funds for Kidney Wales - I spied a few familiar running vests.

Hello once again. Many apologies for being away for so long but I am back on form and raring to go.
On Saturday I attended the WKPA (Welsh Kidney Patient Association) AGM. It was a new experience for me as I have never been before. I was so pleased to meet so many different people from all parts of Wales; including West and North Wales. It was heartening to have such a positive response to the request for letters to be signed and sent to the Health Minister. We collected 50 letters on the day and had a request for many more to be sent.
Allison John had the opportunity to introduce the campaign to the meeting and the response after the meeting was over was positive and encouraging. We just have to keep up the momentum until the end of the Plus campaign in January and then the WKPA can hopefully take over the torch and carry it further. If all the patient groups across Wales work together I really believe we can make a difference. We have a Welsh Assembly Health Minister who is genuinely interested in Renal Issues but we need to continue campaigning to keep our interests in the forefront of the political agenda; this means writing to your AM and MP. I am going to sound like a broken record soon but I think it is so important that I am willing to repeat myself!
I was lucky enough to be elected onto the WKPA commitee; I hope I can do a good job and serve patients well.

Once again sleep is a rare commodity. I get periods of extreme insomnia when I may go for days with only a few hours sleep and then I'll hit a brick wall and collapse and sleep for 10-12 hours solidly. One of the worst things about the sleepless periods is that although I can't sleep (for lots of different reasons - pain being one of them) I don't have any more energy than normal so I can't do lots and lots. I use the time to catch up with my reading or knitting if I can concentrate enough; I am knitting a pair of socks at the moment so I need to be aware of what I'm doing. If I don't count stitches and rows I could end up with one sock for a giant and the other a toddler!
I wrote a letter to my AM today asking why a new transplant unit hadn't been built in Cardiff even though it has been under discussion for the last 3 years. The wheels of bureaucracy move ever slower! Apparently as I understand it there is some dispute over who should fund the day to day running costs of the new unit as and when it is eventually built. If anyone out there knows any more details I would be really pleased to hear from you. I will also be writing to my MP and MEP's over the next week and I urge everyone interested in supporting the People Like Us campaign to do the same. There are copies of letters available to give you a general outline if you want one - drop me a line on mel@kidneywales.com and I'll send them to you.
Please write with your support it is vital to show the politicians that represent us that the PLUS campaign has the backing of the people.