Along with all of the health worries, in the months leading up to the transplant I also had some pretty serious financial worries.  Although I was working, it was as a temp, which meant that I wasn't going to get paid for the time I had to take off, or indeed all of the days off I needed in the run up for tests and stuff, and I also wouldn't know if I would have a job when I was ready to go back.  (See Getting Back To Work.)

Although my family wanted to help they weren't in a position to do so.  Some bright spark suggested I rent my flat out for the two months I would need to take off work and stay with them, but as this would have involved me moving all my stuff around when I could barely pick up a Harry Potter book it struck me as idiocy.  In the end I took out an online flexible personal loan with very good rates so that I could just transfer money to my bank account as and when I needed it.

Sadly money was one area where I didn't feel very supported at this time – I won't go into details, but it did put an end to me lending money to certain people as they weren't prepared to do the same for me.

But… hoorah for the NHS.  Although there are no financial inducements to donate, they do also feel that you shouldn't be financially penalised for donating.  So, as I was officially self-employed, they actually paid me for the eight weeks I had to take off work.  Even better than that, they based it on what I had earned in the previous tax year, so I was actually getting more than in my current temp job.  It made me so glad to live in the UK which really does have the most incredible health service – can you imagine living in the States, where not only would I have been using that online loan but we would have been mortgaging our houses to pay the hospital bills!