Well this is a glimmer of a turnaround day. Rather annoyingly it started at 00.40, which is when I first woke up, having only turned the light out at 11.30pm. Wondered briefly what on earth was going on, as I've slept so well for the last few weeks. Then I remembered the 6 innocuous looking little white tablets of 5mg each that I started taking today. The fucking steroids are back in play. And what else do they do apart from puff you up, turn your face red and make you constantly hungry? They ruin your sleep. Aaaaarrrrgh. So it's 12.45am and I'm watching DIY SOS, without my lenses in, so all a bit blurry. Oh pooh. I've got to take the same dose every day, this does not bode well.
But, on the upside, this is the first day that – gulp – my back feels a bit better. Still a total pain, but I'm moving more quickly and being less hesitant about rolling, turning, standing etc. No idea if it's the antibiotics or the steroids having a quick impact, so can't link one of those definitively to a cause, but very good to tentatively feel that maybe things are on the up.
There was an unexpected knock on the door last night about 9.15pm and I was up and asking 'who is it?' much faster and with much less grimacing than normal. Cue a sweaty Soph on the doorstep, having run 6 miles home from work, only to realise she was minus house keys. (And that's exactly why running is bad for you…) Luckily, her spare set of keys was handed over and she was off to scoff her fish and chips on her own sofa. She'd lent them to us in the summer to give us a quiet, clean space when the builders were wrecking our home, so a nice bit of 'what goes around, come around' karma that her kind act towards us helped her get in tonight.
Oh good, 00.50 now. This night's not going to crawl by at all, much. I'll have to dig out my best IPlayer/ Netflix programmes to fill in the gaps. And maybe the steroids will give me some much needed oomph tomorrow, hmm, make that 'today', to do some of the many little chores that have racked up over these last weeks, we will see.
Dozed a bit around 6am then was up and at 'em. Had the best day since transplant, had energy, back the least sore it's been in a month. Just so nice to feel more like 'normal Scotty'. Sure, there's a way to go, but it was the first glimmer of 'maybe things really are getting better at last', so was hugely welcome.
Janine and Clare G popped round for a cuppa and a bit of Valentina's banana bread (with choc chips, as I'd mentioned this is how Margo makes it, bloody delicious). Then I drove, yes drove, to Waitrose and did my first shop – felt bit tired bit pretty much ok. Greeners, bless her, followed me round, just checking all was good and humped the heavy bags back into my car.
Big bro appeared around 4pm to collect Mum for her first two weeks away at a sibling's house, this year. I asked if he thought it would be the antibiotics working in my back, as I've been on them for 4-5 days now and had only had one dose of the steroids, but he said the roids can also work very quickly, so the jury's still out as to which treatment is helping, and therefore what the underlying problem is more likely to be.
Right now I'm just enjoying having had some energy most of the day, not being in anything like as much pain and having just scoffed a very nice rotisserie chicken done over our BBQ, with Mr H and Nursey. Topped off with something I for some reason thought about in hospital and finally fancied today – butterscotch Angel Delight with Giant Cadbury Buttons on the top. Retro throwback pudding extraordinaire, There was a suggestion of crumbling a Crunchie over this next time, like it.
So have left the boys watching rugby downstairs and my still-peeling skin and I are in bed wondering how much sleep might be on offer tonight. Nice to start the weekend thinking we can crack on with a bit of house sorting tomorrow, rather than another day on the sofa. Long may it last x