I am still alive, honest......

I thought I should let you know that I am still alive, although blogging has been a lot lighter than I thought it would be.

Healthwise, it’s been an interesting, in the Chinese proverb definition of “interesting” time. Recent tests have revealed that my body is doing some strange things, so these have to be investigated some more. In a way that’s a good thing because it will hopefully show up some answers, but there are elements of it which are also a bit scary.

Ironically, though, and fortunately, I have had some flashes of feeling if not exactly good, at least a good bit better. The latest change to medication seems to have pushed something in the right direction, anyway. The other day I had so much energy that I very stupidly thought it would be a good idea to clean out the rabbits’ hutch, given that my long suffering husband complains at great length about doing it every week.

Well, by the time I’d got to the end of it – and that’s a job that once you start, you really can’t stop – I was pretty much collapsed in a heap and it took me 3 days to recover from the exertion.

The good thing is that I haven’t caught anything else since I had a really heavy cold about a month ago – it took me ages to get through that. That’s been part of the problem – the last few months have been punctuated with me catching other things which seem to bring the whole Glandular Fever nightmare back again.

I’m conscious of not wanting to sound like I’m whinging too much given that others have much more serious and life threatening conditions, but it’s now nearly a year since I last actually felt well. It was the Saturday 9 days after the Glenrothes by-election, when I was sitting on the settee watching tv that I very suddenly started feeling very poorly. Although they didn’t diagnose the Glandular Fever until February, that was the start of it all.

It’s also been school holidays up here and while I’ve not been able to go to far afield, it’s been better than the Summer holidays when I could barely get off the sofa. It’s been fantastic to spend time with Anna and I can’t believe that they’re as good as over already. We’ve had a lot of fun and laughter these last few days.

My sister came down on Sunday with her four children and we went out yesterday to the local farm park. I don't think I'll ever be allowed to forget that one because I slipped on some mud and ended up on my backside. I'm only grateful that my lovely family were too busy laughing to record the moment for posterity. I'm very proud of Anna for being able to stop laughing for long enough to actually ask if I was ok. I was - the only thing seriously injured was my pride - not helped, of couse, by my sister asking on Twitter if anyone else had felt the earth tremor in Livingston at around 3pm.

Anna loves seeing her cousins and is particularly close to my nephew, who is 10 weeks older than her. If I write this, I’m slightly worried that it’ll tempt fate, but there has never been a cross word between them and they really enjoy each others’ company.

I'm particularly pleased that I'm up and functioning today - only a few weeks ago an exertion like yesterday would have put me in my bed for a couple of days. Still, I reckoned it was wise not to push my luck so I've stayed at home while the others have all gone off to the Glasgow Science Centre.

My husband's mobile phone was flat and there was no way he was getting to take my Blackberry (aren't I nice?) so he took his work mobile with him. He actually doesn't get this mobile phone thing at all. He hardly ever uses his and he has maybe sent two text messages in his entire life. The thing about his work mobile is that he's not allowed to make any calls on it, so the only way of communicating with him is to call him. Helps if he switches it on, then, isn't it? At one point I had my sister complaining that she'd lost him and two of the children. Like I could do anything about it when he had his phone switched off! And then, when she did eventually find him, did she phone me to tell me all was well? Of course not!

Anyway, apart from that, they seem to be having a fine time while I've been taking it easy.

I'm hoping, broadband connection permitting (I'll post separately about that particular nightmare in a minute), to get back to more regular blogging soon, but in the meantime, thanks to those of you who have e-mailed, or tweeted, or facebooked to ask if I'm ok.