Chopped Liver – Holiday In The Sun

So how was my holiday?

Well, very good thank you. Beautiful warm sunny weather, playing with Wee D on the beach, sipping coffee on pavement cafes with B, wandering through the historic and awe-inspiring narrow walkways of old Jerusalem – but hey, this is a blog about health, and liver transplant issues. So, for those of you like holiday snaps, I’m sure you’ll see them in due course, but for those of you keen to know how I got on taking my new liver on holiday with me – here’s your story.

Nothing happened.

As you know, I was a bit nervous pre-flight. What would the effects of the Warfarin be in the compressed cabin of an aeroplane at 33,000 ft? Answer – nothing.

How would I get by in a different country, different food, different climate etc etc? Answer – didn’t notice anything.

To be honest I barely even remembered that I’d had a liver transplant recently. I say recently – of course I can now say that I had a liver transplant LAST YEAR.

So, there you have it. Thankfully, an unremarkable blog post. But one that is all the more remarkable for the fact that it is – unremarkable. If you get my meaning.

So, let me just say a Happy New Year to you – if you’re waiting for a transplant, I hope your wait is a short one.

Chopped Liver – I Believe I Can Fly

So here I sit in the departures lounge Terminal 1 Heathrow Airport ready to fly off to join my family in Israel.

This is a significant day. I missed out on this trip 12 months ago as I didn’t want to come off the transplant list that I was at the top of – oh the glory days of being top of list) but since then I have been given the Gift Of Life in what now seems like the blink of an eye.

I marvel at the surgeon who performed the operation. I marvel at the consultants and the support team.

I thought I would be nervous about this day. I worried about the effects of flying in a pressurised cabin at 33,000 feet whilst on Warfarin – I wouldn’t worry about that says my doc – youll be safer than those who are not on Warfarin ‘cos your blood is thinner so no chance of a thrombosis. Fair enough.

I’ve stopped worrying.

I’m seeing this as an achievement. A personal achievement. An achievement for the medical team.

So with that, I would like to wish those of you who believe a Merry Xmas, those of you who believe a Happy Chanukah, this of you don’t believe, a Happy New Year but most of all – to this of you on transplant waiting list – be patient, try not to worry, the outlook is a positive one.

And spare a thought for the family of the unfortunate donor – who have given the ultimate gift – The Gift of Life.

Chopped Liver – Strangers In The Night

That’s me – a stranger in the night – and the day. It’s only because I’ve had nothing of relevance to post (some would say that happened many months ago!)

Anyway, today was my liver appointment day at the ‘ossy. I saw me old mukka, Smiler, and he looked at my bloods and said – “hey, these results are excellent”.

Very pleasing to know I got good results. I worked hard for them. Well, I took a few pills.

So, paves the way for me to follow my wife and boy out to Israel to stay with the in-laws for a week or so. My first flight with the new liver. A bit nervous. – especially as I couldn’t get insurance – well I say I couldn’t get insurance – the actual truth of the matter is, I could get insurance – at a cost of £1200 though!!

So I have decided not to get ill while I am away.

I have bought a bracelet – inscribed with my condition and the drugs I am taking – some of them anyway – I couldn’t fit cocaine, marijuana and magic mushrooms on the allocated space.

So, there you go – a little update from me. I do apologise to the many of you who now have a large hole in their lives which used to be filled with my daily posts – but I’ll pop in and out from to time – so watch out.

Now…. passport…where the …

Chopped Liver – Unemployment (no Jobs)

What is unemployment?

It’s when we have no jobs.

And that is what we have now, right?

Not really talking about the poor state of the nation’s workforce, but given that lack of song titles with the word Jobs in them, this is my homage to the other Jobs we no longer have – Steve Jobs, Apple Visionary.

Just to put everything in perspective – it is true that he has changed the way the world operates. He changed the way we communicate – just look at anyone who owns an iPhone and try and have a conversation with them without them dividing their attention between you and the device.

Steve Jobs - Thank you for the music

He changed the way we listen to music – the iPod has enabled each of us to have upon us at all times a random selection of our favourite music.

Changed the way we watch videos, play games, read newspapers, download “Apps” for every occasion – he has changed the way we operate.

So, yes, he has changed the way users of his products operate, but he as also changed the way producers of his product operate. It is often highlighted – and equally often overlooked – that in order to produce the vast quantities of his product to the global market, he had to use Chinese child labour sweat factories running round the clock churning out the products. Not the only global company taking this course of action, but a sad indictment of capitalism that the only way to succeed is by oppression and slavery.

He apparently ran his company, Apple, with a bit of an iron fist. Perhaps understandably in order to keep the secrets of his future products and plans… well, secret. I don’t think he took too many prisoners.

So whether you loved him or hated him, you cannot deny the significance of his output. And to consider he changed the world we live in whilst in the knowledge, since 2004, that he was dying of cancer. Perhaps it was his immortality that drove him to be so ruthless in his endeavours. Whatever, still an incredible achievement.

Which brings me to issue of his liver transplant of a couple of years ago. In one last chance to stave off his cancer, he tried for a transplant in California. However there insufficient donors, so, perhaps by using his considerable influence he managed to attain one in Tennessee – and I have to say he has since gone some way in raising the awareness of liver transplants around the world, and equally raising awareness of the plight of many millions of sufferers who are waiting, or dying waiting due to lack of donors.

So, to conclude, I would like to say that I admire Steve Jobs for what he has achieved and in honour of this, I am asking you to give £1 to my British Liver Trust charity fundraising which you will find by clicking here.

Thank You

Chopped Liver – Me-La-No-Ma (Da da da da da)

Me-La-No-Ma (Da da da da da)
Me-La-No-Ma (Da da da da)
Me-La-No-Ma (Da da da da da)
Me-La-No-Ma (Da da da da)
Me-La-No-Ma (Da da da da da)
Da da da da da da da da da da da da
da da da da da da!

So sang The Muppets. I think.

Two blogs in two days – who knew?

There is a significant increase in melanoma (skin cancer) amongst transplant patients. More so amongst kidney transplantees rather than liver transplantees – due to the dosage levels of immuno-suppressants usually required by each.

As you may know, whenever I venture out into the big bad world between the months of April and October (unless this heatwave continues until November) I have to be covered up – factor 50 suncream and a cowboy hat. I try to convince myself it makes me look cool – but I am aware of the reality. Still, small price to pay an’ all that… I suppose… no, I don’t suppose… I know… it has to be better to look silly than not to look at all!

Not silly. Cool.

Anyway, I have been keeping the little secret for the past 7 weeks when I last saw my consultant, that he saw some marks on my back that he said needed checking out by a dermatologist. And it was today that I had that appointment – 7 weeks of slight uncertainty in the back of my mind.

And so it was I saw the derma lady today. She was very nice. She checked me out. She said my marks were nothing to worry about. The hundreds of little blood specs on my arms and legs were little hemorrhages probably brought about as a result of my low platelet count. The ever-increasing lump on my forehead – a lipoma (not a Lymphoma, pop-pickers – that would be a not-good thing) that is a benign growth that can be removed – but not by the NHS as they are no longer allowed to remove it due to cuts in the service. I’d rather have cuts in the forehead.

But anyway – today is a good day. One of many I have had lately – well, to be honest, everyday is a good day these days. They took about 20 photographs of me to act as a kind of snapshot of this point in time so they can compare me in the future – which is 6 months time.

I will need to be checked annually for this though, as the possibility of melanoma increases with the passage of time – but hopefully as I am being checked, if it does happen it will be dealt with in a timely manner.

I am NOT going to worry about.

They did say, however, that if you did sunbathe and got sunburn at any time in your life then you are always susceptible to succumbing to melanoma during your lifetime. I say this merely as a warning, not to go back in time to undo any sunburning incidents, but more to say that if you are still in denial that exposure to direct sun can be harmful, then I’d say, think again.

Oh, and apparently we are heading for a cold snap – so I can put the cowboy hat away for 6 months – Yee Ha!

Chopped Liver – Fuel To Cry

It must be the heat – it’s addling my mind – makes me wanna blog. There was a tweet the other day – it read “Hey Greece, we’ll give you back your weather if you pay us back your debt”.

But I don’t wanna Talk About The Weather (ah, an R.E.M. song – I see they’ve finally split up – 15 years or so too late if they wanted to preserve their cult status if you ask me – actually they’d long lost their cult status – but still had cred status… for a while.)

But I don’t wanna talk about R.E.M.

Y’see what happens when you stop blogging? Things happen in the world of earth-shattering proportions and I don’t give my take on them and when I get round to blogging again, I have to play catch-up. Sorry about that peeps – any other stories you want my take on – you know, just ask).

What I want to talk about is fuel. I had a visit from a friend of mine who lives in Brazil. We were chatting about the differences in lifestyle etc and i asked if fuel prices in Brazil were as bad as they are here. He said the cost of running your car is not an issue in Brazil as the vehicles all run on LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) or AutoGas as it is also called and is not affected by rising oil prices from the middle east – in fact it costs about half the price, is cleaner for the environment and everyone uses it! And if your car is not set up for it, it can easily be converted for a few hundred quid.

I thought, wow, if only we had something like that here – in this country we are held to ransom not just by the greedy OPEC countries but also by the greedy oil companies who transfer the oil into fuel for our cars.

But then what do I find? The UK IS INDEED a main producer of LPG! We export it!

You know I find this fact so incredible I feel I should repeat it – but I won’t I’ll just let you read it again.

So, we produce the gas, but have no cars to run with it. It costs half the price of petrol. It is cleaner for the environment – but we prefer to pay for the more expensive and dirtier fuel imported from the middle east.

So what if you wanted to use this gas in the UK? The answer is you can. In fact there are over 1400 filling stations around the country that dispenses it. And you can convert your car to run with it – however it costs over £2000 to convert your car! £400 in Brazil. £2000 in UK.

Even that price, if you keep your car for about 3 years you will start to see a return on your investment – you will save an average of around £750 on an average annual usage.

Yet we choose to import cars that cant run it. Choose to import petrol. And choose to ignore what is on our own doorstep.

Why?

There is a recent article all about this subject in The Guardian by a guy called Miles Brignall – you can read it here

Chopped Liver – Buzzin’ Fly

Still buzzing!

Chopped Liver – How I Wrote P-lastic Man

I’m still here.

Still alive.

Still feeling grreeaatt!!!

And still moaning.

Went to Whipsnade Zoo at the weekend. Went with Wee D, Canny K and his two boys. It was a lovely day (bit of advice if you go there with young kids – take scooters! they all have them).

As you know it’s nice for kids to come away at the end of the day with a little gift – a little toy – just to round off the day and give the kid something to remember the day by – oh, and to play with on the way home.

But there was a time, was there not, when you could go into a gift shop and select the quality from the tat? Not any more. Not at Whipsnade. I have never seen such a pile of kak in all my days.

And what they charge for this kak? Unbelieveable. A piece of plastic rod with a plastic animal head on it.

£3 to you sir?

No, not 3.

How about £4?

No. Not 4.

£5? Nope, not even £5. This is your lucky day sir.

What, you mean £6? Hey, since it’s you sir, I’ll add a little bit more on top – £6.50 to you sir.

Wee D – I am not paying £6.50 that piece of rubbish. So he starts picking up other things to see what else he could have. £6 for a crappy plastic car. Corgi? No. Dinky? No. Matchbox? (I really am showing my age). No, these are Made In China.

That well known make that is on the bottom of every last piece of garbage in this shop. £1.75 for an eraser? Yeah, right.

You know I think maybe Wee D realised what a load of rubbish it all was – he genuinely seemed to struggle to find anything he really thought was worth either a) pestering me for or b) more than two pence.

Which leads me to one of my persistent bugbears in life. That of the continual demand for cheapness over quality. It happens in all walks of life. In business especially. There was a time where you could go to the stock room in the office (yes, there was a time when an office had a stock room) and pick, say, a pack of Post-It Notes. That was until Mr Supplier came along and asked Mr. Purchase Manager how much he pays for his Post-It Notes. Mr. Purchase Manager says “x”. Mr Supplier say “x divided by 2″ and voila! Mr. Supplier gets a new client (he’s happy), Mr Purchase Manager saves money (he’s happy) and Mr User is totally hacked off ‘cos the replacement to the Post-It Notes does not do what a Post-It Note should do – STICK.

And the same goes for the pile of kak to be found in many shops up and down the land, toy shops, Stationers and Gift Shops,  like the one at Whipsnade Zoo. Mr. Purchaser at Whipsnade Zoo says – why pay “x” for a piece of kak to be sold at “10 times x” when you could pay “half of x” and sell at twice the price?

"heh heh, who's laughing now?"

In short, we don’t get the choice of quality anymore. It’s tat or nothing. We have to accept that. As long as there’s a massive country like China willing to exploit its own workers by crowding them into sweat shops for meagre reward and as long as there are western countries willing to choose cheap over quality and as long as there is a significant and silent world populace willing to purchase the tat (except me) (on this occasion at least) then the equation will stay the same.

The question is – can the tat get even worse? Or have we reached the nadir?

Chopped Liver – Time Passes Slowly

Bob Dylan - a source of inspiration (if only for his song titles)

Hi there folks. Still there?

More to the point – I’m still here.

Not that you’d know ‘cos I’ve been a bit quiet lately. That, my friends, is a good sign. When you are writing a blog about health issues and you have reported nothing for a long period of time – you are either dead or doing well.

Em… it’s the latter.

And still I have not much to report – except to inform you that today is 8th august.

I had my transplant on 9th February.

Which means I have completed my first six months with my new liver.

Unfortunately Bob did not write a song called Time Passes Quickly – beacuse that would have been apt. To say the least.

When I look back on it all, I do find it hard to believe it’s already 6 months – but it is and I feel good.

So let me just take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you who read my posts and supported me and thought about me – it has helped me a great deal. Writing this blog has been a great experience for me. Not a chore. Just a great experience.

Chopped Liver – Another One Bites The Dust

A few months ago I wrote a piece about rock stars dying at the age of 27 (Death Is Not The End) and here we go again – another one.

I guess it’s only coincidence. Or is it? Maybe there is something about the lifestyle or state of mind about that age – maybe the onset of 30 approaching – where you are supposed to have embraced adulthood and left behind your carefree youth. I dunno, it’s just a curious thing. Such great icons too – Hendrix, Morrison, Joplin, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain and now Amy Winehouse – all, apparently, succumbing to a reckless lifestyle at the tender age of 27.

26-year-old rock stars all over the world are anxiously looking over their shoulders.

And this death of a young woman, apparently unable to face the normality of everyday life, seems to affect people as much, or more perhaps, than the unfathomable cold-blooded mass-murder of dozens of young people trying to embrace life in its fullest form on a holiday island in Norway.

Amy Winehouse. For Ever. R.I.P.

That’s the thing about rock stars like Amy. We watch their lifes unfold in the media. We buy their records. We play their music in our homes, our cars, our parties, our weddings – they become, in effect, part of our extended family, part of our lives. In short – we relate to them as if we know them.

And that, in a nutshell, is why we are affected so much when they die.

But, as I stated in my previous post, alluded to earlier, their music lives on. The image we had of Amy performing at her height is the one we will keep forever. And her music will last for ever – Death is, once again, not the end.