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.

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!

Christmas Lunch 2013

We certainly finished last year in style with our most successful Christmas Lunch to date. Forty people, including Michaela and Anne from the Respiratory Team, came along to The Royal in Tankerton to celebrate, enjoy the food and generally kick off the festive season. To help things along we had a successful raffle which raised £73 and a competition as well. Linda had challenged us to convert an old BLF T-shirt into something else and there were 4 entries for this: a door-stop doll, a trophy, a cute snowman and a bobble hat. Michaela judged the entries and declared the bobble hat the winner. Jim provided a ‘Pointless’ prize which was well received.

AGM and Bingo

In October we had our AGM where we discussed events of the past year and came up with some ideas for the next year. We elected our new committee who are: Carol Hakimian – Chairperson and Treasurer; Rosemary Barden – Secretary; Jim Harris – Publicity Officer; Chris Moore – Minute Secretary and two new committee members Chris Bennett and Linda Hurst. ‘Thank you’ to Janet Curtis and Brenda Biggs for their work on the committee last year. Loraine and Bill Church are continuing to sort out the refreshments and Laurie and Linda will continue with the Bring & Buy – both essential parts of the meetings and much appreciated. We followed the formal business of the AGM with a few games of Bingo courtesy of Karen Cotter which was good fun.

The Annual Strawberry Tea

It's that time of the year again; our treasurer's beautiful garden in Chestfield saw twenty five members and guests turn up for our annual strawberry tea. We were particularly pleased to welcome six members of Thanet Breathe Easy and three from our specialist community Respiratory Team which is based at the Whitstable and Tankerton Hospital.

Collossal amounts of strawberries and cream were consumed, along with scones baked by several members, with amiable banter about whose were the best! The weather held up and a brilliant time was had by all with lots of jokes and laughter.

Every year Carol, our treasurer, and her loyal and helpful family allow us to use their garden, and assist with organising food and creating a welcoming environment for the event and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts. It is also a time to be grateful to the British Lung Foundation for setting up the Breathe Easy network, and for the support of our own Canterbury & District group gives to all of us. We would like to thank Rupert Mitchell, who also attended the event, for again donating what must be the best strawberries in Kent, which is really saying something! And the raffle raised £102 thanks to everyone's generousity.