Blimey, it's been over three weeks since I last updated this blog. Time is all of a wizz and days are spinning by. Can't believe it is almost November. Clocks go back on Sunday. Today is stunningly blue. There is a three quarters moon sitting clear in the sky. The wild winds have stopped and the trees are taking a much needed breather from all their swaying. Plenty of leaves gone.
Since I last wrote things have been pretty good. I have visited HOP Clinic once a week for blood tests. Results for whites and neutrophils have been slowly improving which has cheered me greatly. Though neither have made it up to normal yet. Haemoglobin and platletes are holding fast and steady, bang in the middle of where they should be. That's very good news. At last they have begun to reduce some of my medication. Steroids first. Once I am off those they will start to reduce the immune suppressents. It's a slow process but hopefully my body will respond favorably. I am mightily tired of swallowing pills night and day. I am also fed up of having a monkey-moon face (fat and hairy). Looking forward to riding myself of all miserable side effects...
My strength is returning bit by bit. I can now walk up the stairs properly and some days even manage without having to use the banisters. I am still troubled by tremors though - feel a bit like a wibbly jelly constantly shivering on a plate, which is exhausting. Best news is that I have started to drive again! I am thrilled at this development. My world has started to expand. Walking round the roundabout is almost a thing of the past. Took myself down to Dulwich Park the other day. Me and my trusty stick kicking through the autumn leaves (tottering would be a more accurate description). Drive to sainsburys, the GP, even the hospital (which saves a fortune on taxis). Life is beginning to take on the shape of normality. This does a lot of good for my head too.
Last week I went with Luisa and Jan to the 'Multiplied' exhibition in South Kensington. This was my first major trip out for almost a year. Just driving through London streets was a treat. Crossing the Thames. Battersea Power Station. Kings Road. Everywhere alive with people. Everything just as it always was. What a buzz! It's so easy to forget. I have been so confined to a world of corridors, harsh light, needles, pumps, wheelchairs. Everyone I know dealing with their disease. Sickness, exhaustion, limp bodies. Consultants, doctors, nurses. Appointments, waiting rooms and plastic tea machines. The joy of stepping away from this world and starting to taste life as it used to be, is just so damn good. I am so happy to be here again.
Yesterday Pip drove me to the Serpentine to see an exhibition by Adrián Villar Rojas, 'Today we Reboot the Planet'. Worth a visit. Another wonderful afternoon out too. Perfect weather. We stood on the bridge in Hyde Park and looked across the lake to the vast selection of trees, all splendid in their autumn colours. I was suddenly hit with the notion of what a handsome park it is, right slap bang int the middle of London. I had a thought of kings and queens of centuries passed riding through burnished autumns, just like this one. Time is a funny old thing. Keeps on ticking. How fragile and fleeting life is. Yet how fantastically solid and reassuring the rhythm of nature.
And almost out of the blue, Luigi turned up a couple of weeks ago! He was here for six days. That was an unexpected treat. He cooked me saffron risotto, roast chicken and spicy sausage pasta (not all at once). I was hoping we could have gone to the Australian exhibition but got knocked sideways with a nasty asthma attack which kept us at home. He got busy in the garden instead. Not much colour left now - a few sad stalks of late lavender and the occasional passion flower. The fuscia is still blooming though. Hosta leaves have turned banana yellow and geraniums have got all damp, brown and floppy. The grass needs to be cut. I have a list of 'things to do'.
Hope everyone good. Sorry it's been such a long time between updates. Thanks as usual for all messages, emails, texts etc. I wish I could hold a big party and invite everyone. Will write again soon, meantime, love and greetings north south east and west. And Australian cousins, hope you are all safe. Back soon. tch xx
