Might as well start things off with a bang

So, recently I was having back pain I thought it was from the gym but a visit to the Hemophilia Clinic revealed I have both a kidney infection and perhaps a knee bleed. I'm on antibiotics and received 4 units of Fresh Frozen Plasma. Blood work showed that all of my levels are good and I had an ultrasound showed everything is normal. I had an allergic reaction to the plasma and had to have benedryl which is never fun because the hives are so itchy and the benedryl really knocks me out. Anyways, the good part of the day was that my Dad came up to visit me. I was transferred over to the ward and Dad and looked at pictures on his laptop. Looking at the pictures made me feel like a person, like someone who travelled, who had good times and has people who love  them and reminded me that I have a wonderful full life and I am not just some diseased thing sitting in a bed with cords and drugs being pumped into me. 

While I was in the hospital I spent an hour with two other roomates one older man with cancer and another older lady also with cancer. 

It reminded me of the last time I was in the hospital in August, in the exact same room in the exact same bed unfortunately my roomate at that time has since passed away. She was a wonderful roomate, so warm and friendly.

It brings me back to my notion that I am very lucky to be here, we are all very lucky to be alive and while I am here I want to do the best I can with the short time we have! I don't know what that is yet but I'm working on it! 

Inspired 2012

So, tomorrow it's back to work for me! I can't believe it really. Christmas vacation went so fast I wish it could just go on forever.

Anyways, with the new year I have been thinking about things I can do in my every day life to make myself happy. So far I am looking forward to my trip to Paris and my trip to Newfoundland. I am also looking forward to planning my wedding which is set for 2013.

A lot of times in our lives we do what we have to do, we work day in and day out at jobs we don't like and we just get through things one day at a time. I am proud to say that three people that I grew up with in my home town of Stephenville, Newfoundland took the time to figure out what they really want to do in their lives and have started a snowboarding company. Their passion for all things snowboarding really shows and if you are into snowboarding I strongly recommend that you check out their site maginesnowboards.com.

Happy New Year!

So, last night we rang in the new year with good food and good friends! Since it's the new year I thought it would be a good idea to take a moment and look back at the year we've had. First of all we celebrated New Years 2011 in Newfoundland which in my opinion you can't ask for any better than that! February was a bad month in that I ended up in the hospital for a few nights with a leg bleed, then in March Zane tore his calf muscle and was off work for three months. I started working full time in March so that was good Zane also became a Journeyman Electrician in 2011. In August I had a ruptured ovarian cyst and ended up in the hospital for a few days and in November I had one of the hardest things I ever had to deal with my in my life. I missed my darling sisters wedding because of my health. I was never so disappointed and hurt in all of my life. December was also a very hard month in that I had to work 12 days straight leading up to Christmas and I found it very stressful However, after work finished up for the year things got a lot better we have a beautiful Christmas with our families and rang in the new year in good health so although we have had lots of ups and downs I have hope that 2012 will be a great year. I'm looking forward to good health, to going to Paris in July and to going to Newfoundland for my wonderful friend Stephanie's wedding! I am also praying that all my friends and family have a healthy year!

It's as far away now as it will ever be

So, Christmas this year was very special in that we got to spend time with all four sets of parents for the first time ever!

It was so nice I must say. And at the risk of speaking too soon I must say that I stayed out of the hospital the entire time. 

I head back to work on Tuesday and I am already having anxiety about it. I just love sleeping in and spending the whole day in my pjamis.

I'm not ready to head back into reality yet. I want to hide out underneath the covers a while longer. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and stayed healthy. 

I love Paris in the Springtime!

So, I am very pleased to say that I am the recipient of the 2012 Karttik Shah Fellowship. Which means I get a paid trip to PARIS for the World Federation of Hemophilia World Congress in 2012, July 8-12. When I first got the news I was excited, then nervous, then scared and now I'm back to being excited again! As you know, I have never left Canada so the thought of travelling all the way to France is a bit scary so I spoke to my Hemophilia Clinic and asked them for advice. It turns out that both of my Hematologists will be there and they will be setting up a Hemophilia Treatment Centre on site. I am also going to the gym three times a week and I am trying to get in the best shape I can before I go to try to be as healthy as I can. I am so excited about travelling to Paris, I have been in French Immersion ever since I was 5 years old and I also took some French Courses in University so I am glad I will get a chance to put all those courses to good use. I really want to go to the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre and he Eiffel Tower. I am also looking forward to meeting other Hemophiliacs and Volunteers from around the world. I know other people who have attended the world Congress in the past and they said it is a wonderful experience. I feel so blessed for this opportunity! For more information check out www.hemophilia.ca.

Ryan White

So, today is Ryan White's Birthday and besides the Alexei the Tsarevich he is one of the most famous Hemophiliacs ever. He had a song written about him by Elton John, he drove a sports car given to him by Michael Jackson and has been on countless TV shows and talk shows but Ryan White's life was hard and I don't mean, I have acne and I didn't make the basketball team hard I mean having not one but two terrible life threatening diseases hard. Ever since I heard about Ryan White I felt like we had a lot in Common, his name is Ryan, my name is Ryanne, we both have Hemophilia and we both have moms named Jean! Ryan was born with severe Factor 8 Hemophilia and was later diagnosed with HIV from tainted blood. He died just months before his high school graduation. His story is so sad and heartbreaking but instead of taking it lying down Ryan spoke out about Hemophilia and HIV and made things so much better others. The fact that I was unaffected by Hepatitis or HIV during the tainted blood tragedy is a miracle. and I sometimes feel like I was spared and so I have to do something fantastic or extra special with my life and as of right now I'm not 100% sure what that is but I am a very active volunteer in the Hemophilia Community and although I don't know if I will ever make an impact as huge as Ryan has, I am certainly gonna try. I just pray I don't ever have to go through what he had to because I complain enough now with my life the way it is and I have a great fiance, family and friends who are nothing but supportive and kind to me and I don't know how he did it. But I am so grateful that he did. 

Christmas Party

So, we just had our annual AGM and Hemophilia Society Christmas Party. I have to say it went really well. We raised about 300$ for the Calgary Chapter so that is always good news. We also had fiddlers, great food and a visit from Santa! It was so nice to see how excited the little children got when he walked in. I was really excited too because this year my Dad was Santa which was a lot of fun and its nice to have such great support from my family. 

The party went until about 9 pm and by the time I got home I was so exhausted from laughing and talking to everyone that I went right to bed. Even thought we don't know each other and we all come from different backgrounds I find we all get along really well. It also got to talk to some of my Zoo Girls which was so nice, They are so beautiful and sweet its always nice spending time with them. Since the Christmas Party I am now looking forward to our Volunteer Appreciation event. Spending my whole life without being around other people with bleeding disorders made me feel like an outcast so I now delight in being around other bleeders!