December fun

It seems ages ago now that we had our Christmas meal at the Royal in Tankerton. It was once again a jolly occasion and the food seemed to go down a treat – as did the raffle which had lots of items most of them alcoholic! Thanks to everyone’s generosity in not only providing prizes but also buying tickets we made a profit of £87 from the raffle. Also in December, the group purchased a set of medical scales, a portable height measure and a small trampoline for the Pulmonary Rehabilitation team. Several committee members went along to one of the Pulmonary Rehabilation class in Tankerton to present the equipment. The team were absolutely delighted and the class and committee members wasted no time in trying out the equipment.

Peps and Flutters

In November we had a very interesting talk from Samantha Sladden, a Physiotherapist from the Thanet Pulmonary Rehab team. Sam came to talk about methods and devices to help bring up mucus (phlegm). She reminded us that that everyone's phlegm is different but it should not be hard and lumpy. Sam’s first advice is to drink plenty of fluids to thin the mucous and make it less "sticky". We should all be drinking 2 litres a day but remember that fruit juices contain lots of sugar and also NOT caffeinated drinks such as tea and coffee which are dehydrating. There were howls of protest when she suggested we drink a max of 2 cups a day but the good news is decaf tea and coffee are not a problem so have as much as you like of those. It’s important to use the active cycle of breathing (huffing) as demonstrated at Rehab talks. If you are still unable to clear your chest and are getting repeated infections, a respiratory physio can assess and help you, starting very simply by putting a straw into 4 inches (10cms) of water in a glass and blowing through it. If you can manage this you may be supplied with a flutter device which looks like a clay pipe with a ball bearing which is raised by blowing the pipe. Both methods set up a vibration through the airways which helps loosen phlegm in the chest. The flutter device she showed us costs £56 to the NHS so it’s definitely better to "train" with the straw and glass of water first - probably healthier too as there will be no issues with cleaning it between uses! A flutter device is a PEP (positive expiratory pressure) device. There are drugs which can help loosen mucous but not everyone gets on with those and she reminded us that they can take a month or so to show any results. Sam also showed us a salt-pipe which is not supplied on the NHS and explained how these may help. (Hers cost £50 and lasts 5 years) She also showed us an inspiratory muscle trainer. If you think one of these devices may be of help to you do talk to your respiratory nurse about it.

Quiz Night 2014

We had a very lively and successful Quiz Night in September, including a nail-biting tie break question. We made a profit of £345 and had a lot of fun in the process.

Raising Awareness

We ran a couple of Awareness Stands this summer. The first was on Tankerton Slopes as a part of the Fun Day - and it was a fun day! We were very fortunate with the weather that day, in fact I ended up slightly sunburned! We had lots of plants and some books and bric-a-brac to sell. The plants attracted plenty of attention and raised us a fair bit of money.

We were helped tremendously on the raising awareness front by Sheilagh McCrossan and two of her fellow Respiratory Nurses, Becca and Mel, who came along to offer Spirometry testing. They did a grand job of selling our group too, signing up a number of people to our newsletter mailing list and encouraging people to come to our meetings. We were very grateful for their help and it was a real boost to have them there. Between the books, plants and donations we made a profit of £168 and had a good day in the bargain.

We held another Awareness Day at the end of August at Asda in Canterbury - and thanks to everyone who took a turn helping including the Respiratory Nurses. It was very successful, with us giving away something like 150 balloons to the many children who came through the doors and collecting £264 in the process. It was well worth it.

Strawberry Tea 2014

There was a lot of laughter and chatter at our Strawberry Tea. The table was beautifully decorated with pretty posies and piled high with strawberries, scones, jam and lots of cream. The weather was lovely and we all tucked into the food with gusto. We had quite a few of guests to swell the numbers, including a couple of new members, some family and friends, members of the choir and three of the Specialist Respiratory Nurses – and everyone seemed to have a good time.

When everyone had had their fill we had a couple of games to keep the fun going. Linda had prepared a dice throwing game and Jim had brought along a big plastic skittles game which caused quite a riot and a lot of giggles. We were quite glad there were a few younger people present to keep picking up the fallen skittles though! Jim and Linda kindly provided prizes for the winners but the joy was very much in the playing rather than the winning.

The Summer Bonnet competition was won by Val Hicks who had covered her bonnet with an abundance of pretty flowers. We also had a raffle with plenty of donated prizes, and that along with the charge for the Tea brought us a profit of £100 for the event – our most profitable Strawberry Tea to date!

Coach to Brogdale

We were very fortunate with our coach outing to Brogdale in Faversham. The sun shone the whole time and we pottered around the craft shop, the butchers, the cheese and pie shop (a particular favourite) as well as the craft shop and the garden centre. Quite a number of us were quite laden down by the end of the afternoon – and I’ve already been back with my other half!

The cream tea was delicious, they gave us a mixture of plain and fruity scones and some extra fresh strawberries too.

Breathe of Life Choir

We had a terrific time when the Breathe of Life choir c

ame to sing to and with us. After an initial half an hour performance we took an extended break to socialise, have tea and consume the lots of lovely homemade cakes which were made for the occasion. We also had a raffle run by Jim, a competition run by Linda, a ‘guess the number of eggs in the jar’ from me. All that and the ever popular Bring and Buy raised a total of £80 for the meeting, which was brilliant. After the break the choir mingled with the rest of us and we all sang some well known songs like ‘She’ll be coming round the Mountain.’ Everyone who came said they’d had a lovely time and I must thank everyone who contributed to the afternoon and made it such a success.