Fun, Family, Flights

So, there are some F words that are good!!! This has been an interesting few weeks - when "they" said that life begins at Forty they weren't kidding:-) I wonder if I can meet "them" one day, or maybe by having a blog I am actually one of them - anyway I digress (must be the age). So to focus where was I, oh yes the F words.

Fun.... Thanks to Marizanne who took me cycling at Meerendal Wine Estate for the first time. It was such fun and then I followed that up by going with Ang, Teresa and Margie the following week. Ang was testing out her newly acquired cleats (clip on pedals) and shame she tasted the dirt a few times. But what a trooper she just got up and tried and fell and tried again. What an inspiration!!

I did my first orientation to wild fire fighting at Newlands Forest near the beautiful University of Cape Town and Rhodes Memorial on Sunday. It involved going for a 4 km hike carrying a back pack with 4 L of waters and a beater. It was awesome!! We then learned some basics of using a GPS navigation system and how to handle the hoses. The power of pressurized water is quite something I had images of me flying around in the air behind a crazy hose - but it wasn't that bad and my partner for the day was supporting me.

Family... "they" (see how clever they are) say that friends are the family that you choose. Well, I have certainly made a few fine decisions on that front lately. Some friends have donated to Brooklyn Chest Hospital fund at TB/HIV Care and some haven't quite gotten around to it yet, but the support and encouragement they give in sharing in my excitement is fantastic. Even the patients here at Brooklyn Chest Hospital know that I am climbing and will give me the thumbs up when walking past. Many have already asked me for my boots that I am busy walking in around the hospital grounds - but I am going to need these babies.
 My fantastic brother and his wife have kindly made the biggest donation to date! He truly is a legend.
Happy birthday to his beautiful and amazing wife Helen

I am so so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends

Finally flights... I HAVE BOOKED MY TICKETS TO KILIMANJARO!!!!!!! How super duper exciting!!
So - this is all really happening!! Thanks again to:
www.souladventures.co.za
www.tbhivcare.org

Please consider making a donation for these patients! For some of them we may be the only way that they can get to visit with their friends and family while in hospital. Our patients need the psychological support and motivation that only loved ones can give.

40 years

Wow, well I have had a great few days holiday. My brother and his wife and three wonderful children visited from Dubai, and my Mom and Dad came up to stay in Cape Town. What a spoil to have them, my very special friends and my "cape town family" all together to celebrate my 40th birthday on the 1st April.

Having all of my family and friends with me was a very real experience of how valuable support and friendship is. The ink on my divorce papers dried almost 6 months ago, yet still celebrating this milestone as a single person without my spouse at my side was a challenge. I found myself sitting in an amazing setting in Noordhoek just outside Cape Town both missing the life that I had, and at the same time enjoying the life that I have now. Looking at Silvermine mountain, and discussing my Kilimanjaro attempt naturally led me to thinking about some of "my" patients; the young 10 year old boy who was not able to go home for the long weekend in Easter as his family can't afford the travel expense,  a 35 year old woman crying because she was too sick to go home, yet did not have funds for her family to visit her. Its hard not to just whip out my wallet and pay for them, but I know that this all had to be managed properly with the assistance of our brilliant social workers.

Most of our patients qualify for a disability grant of around R1000 per month. But would you be able to still purchase personal items and provide for your family on that?? In the type of situation spending R50 on transport to go home once a month or have family visit you is an extraordinary expense. So I am asking anyone who is reading this to PLEASE donate via www.tbhivcare.org. The moment you donate you will see that line towards our progress change. Even just R50 (that's not even 10 euros) will help a patient get to his or her family, or allow a family member to visit. This can really improve quality of life especially if you consider that many patients are here for up to 6 months and some even more. This money will all be spent with care and consideration and will not just be absorbed into some huge organisation.

Please encourage your friends and family to donate and Like my profile on facebook - kileighmanjaro.vs.tb.

BIG THANK YOU TO SOUL ADVENTURES AND CAPE UNION MART
www.capeunionmart.co.za
www.souladventures.co.za

Motivation

Different things drive different people. As a clinical psychologist working in an environment where adherence to treatment and healthy lifestyle choices are paramount to cure, motivation of people is often high on my priority list when it comes to therapy. This is not however, always what the people diagnosed with TB focus on. Their concerns are often more about worry about children at home, is their spouse being faithful and the unfairness that no one visits them bringing treats while others get lots of visitors. Problem solving capacity and cognitive abilities also vary - and so the content of sessions is often very different, yet the process is often very similar. We are all trying to cope with the varies challenges we face, and trying to stay motivated to keep trying every day to do the best that we can.

We all need to find what drives us, what for us is gas for our tank, because without knowing what we need to put in to fill up, we can't stay motivated to succeed. My motivation to climb Kilimanjaro is that I want to feel that I am making a practical as well as psychological difference to the lives of the people who pass through Brooklyn Chest Hospital. I hope that more people will say things like "getting TB was the best thing that happened to me, because it helped me become a better person". If we can teach life skills and work skills with the money that we raise, and can assist with travel grants to facilitate families visiting patients we can go far to achieving this goal. Please consider making a donation at www.tbhivcare.org

If you, or someone that you know has any of the following symptoms: Appetite loss, Chest pains, Tiredness, Night sweats and fever, Ongoing cough or coughing up blood, Weight loss without dieting then please ACT NOW. Tuberculosis CAN be cured.

Progress

The slog has produced some progress yippee!!! I am now officially linked to www.tbhivcare.org and you can log on to donate to Brooklyn Chest Hospital. I have also managed to finalize the printing of 500 flyers - which I think Terry from Print Plus in Cape Town is rather relieved to have behind him. I will be doing a woman's only mini triathlon for +cansa on World Aids Day (24 March) at +Val De Vie Estate and Anthony the event organizer has kindly allowed me to put flyers in the goodie bags. One frustration is that I still haven't figured out how to get my facebook page up and running, but hey I will get there. In the meanwhile email any comments to www.kileighmanjaro.vs.tb@gmail.com

The patients, mainly the children had a great day yesterday when the Kick TB truck came out. Thanks to TB/HIV care for organizing it and for the soccer balls, cookies and juice that was given to the children. Seeing those sweaty little faces with huge grins brings such joy. Sometimes I really wish that I could just wave a magic wand and TB will be gone. All diseases are tough, but the infectious nature of TB means that months of separation from family and loved ones is an added hurdle.

We keep going though, one day at a time, helping one person at a time. It is amazing what the human spirit can overcome as long as hope is kept alive

The Slog

Wow, we had amazing weather in Cape Town over these last few days! Saturday morning saw me at the Two Oceans Aquarium where I am busy training to be a volunteer. What an awesome place and I am meeting some great people. So much to see and learn there - did you know that a Blue Bottle (portuguese man - of - war in Australia) is not actually a single animal, but a colony of smaller animals! It is really incredible what a sea urchin looks like under a microscope... Like life I guess, perspectives are totally different depending on what it is you choose to focus on and how closely you study something.

My title is the slog - and thats where I am at in this journey at the moment. I went home early yesterday with a massive headache, which was rather frustrating as wanted to go for a run as I am doing a mini triathlon on 24 March which is World TB day. Thanks to my wonderful housemate who went out and got me some headache tablets and a chocolate. She truly is a blessing in my life.

My Kili plans are slowly fumbling along and I am trying to keep a broad perspective and not become too stressed.  There is still lots of things to organise and I am waiting for the link to TB/HIV care website so we can start with some fund raising.
Darren at Soul Adventures has been awesome, but I need to wait and see what date my climb will be based on when he can get a group of people together... So if you are reading this, and have ever had a desire to climb Kilimanjaro DO IT NOW!! Contact Soul Adventures, at this stage the two options are around the 19th September or 18th October. Don't study it too closely, just jump in there and make it happen:-).

I hope that you all have a great day and remember to zoom in and also out when you analyze life. How things are now are not how they will always be, nothing stays the same.

Please drop me a line: kileighmanjaro.vs.tb@gmail.com

Challenges

We all faces different challenges in our daily lives. For some (like my housemate this morning), its dealing with the chaos of waking up 20mins before your child should be leaving for school !GULP!. Was all good they made it on time. For others the challenges are longer lasting like living with type 1 diabetes or the pain of loosing a loved one. All challenges, those that seem small and insignificant, and those that test us a little more are all part of life and training for bigger challenges.

When I train for Kili, I will need to start with smaller hills (like beautiful Lions Head in Cape Town) before attempting a bigger challenge like Table Mountain so as to increase my chances of success. The TB patients at Brooklyn Chest Hospital also face different challenges. Its Friday today, yet for many that makes little difference as families live to far to visit and weekends are just a prospect of boredom. Getting through a weekend might be tough for some... but they also know that if they want to be cured from TB they must take ecah day as it comes, taking their medication, dealing with side effects and keeping hope alive.

Today I count myself as lucky!! My biggest challenge is trying to encourage people to donate to this cause, and providing therapy to my clients aiming at installation of hope. The most frustrating thing that I am facing in the fact that I have a pimple the size of well, Lions Head on my lip... and today of all days when my gorgeous ex is visiting - thanks Murphy!! But hey if thats my biggest stress for the day, well then my life is pretty good I would say:-)

Thank you to those of you that are reading this.... watch this space for a chance to make a small contribution to the lives of our patients as we will be creating an online donation option soon.

Thought for the day: Life is not what it is supposed to be - It is what it is

Step 2

A friend came around last night - she did Kili last year. We looked at photos and spoke about the experience... could hardly sleep knowing its all actually happening. Darren at Soul Adventures, www.souladventures.co.za is an absolute star! He is looking at options of reducing my costs significantly, and my friend has offered to lend me some of her Kili Kit. Its all slowly coming together. Next step is to have my profile linked to the TB/HIV Care web site so that people can start making donations. STOP TB in our lifetime. Know the signs and symptoms, get tested if unsure and TAKE YOUR MEDICATION UNTIL THE DOCTOR TELLS YOU TO STOP!! Have a beautiful day