...and back to work

Well I've made it back to work and have to say I'm really enjoying it so far! It is so great to be back in the swing of things - I feel like a real person again after so long stuck in a very insular world. I seem to have so much more energy these days too! And enthusiasm, and even a bit of brain power! It's quite amazing, and I'm really loving it!

I am well into my music these days - playing lots of violin and piano and have noticed a huge improvement since this time last year (have had lots of time to practice). Listening to a lot of dub reggae at the moment, intersperced with David Bowie (I've got his piano songbook so play along with the CD's!) and I've just ordered a Del McCoury (bluegrass) CD to play violin with. Last night we went out for dinner - had a delicious fig, tomato and shallot tarte tatin - and then to the pictures to see 'Thumbsucker' which was really good. Great story and full of all sorts of interesting messages. I recommend it. Oh that and Napoleon Dynamite which is just hilarious!

Of course tests loom, as does Christmas, but I'm trying to take things one day at a time. I must say I was encouraged by some news I heard that live liver donation is on the cards - where they take part of the right lobe of someone's liver, and it regrows to full size in the donor and the recipient in 12 weeks. My 'worst case scenario' doesn't seem quite so scarey with that in the pipeline, and I always have my fingers crossed for stem cell research coming up with something feasible one day.

My sleeping is so much better these days - it is quite joyous to go to sleep, stay asleep then wake up comfortable and cosy well into the morning (9.30 today!). My appetite is now much more steady, I'm enjoying food a lot but don't seem to be putting much weight on considering how much I eat. I have less of the 'hot eyes', still a bit of the hot feet at night but not so bad now that the temperature is that much cooler. What I do have which is a bit pesky is a problem with my joints, which started about a month after finishing treatment. My knees really hurt on top when I crouch down (getting things from low cupboards etc), and my wrists and hands, ankles and feet are just generally a bit achey, like when you've got the flu or something. It's not too bad and I'm hoping it will pass but it is a sobering reminder of what my body has been through over the last year.

My mood is so much better, everyone around me is very thankful I'm sure! I do think I have changed a bit over this last year - I feel much more able to be open and assertive, I am much clearer about what I think about things, and I think I feel generally a lot stronger in myself. I had a small filling done on a broken tooth last week, and opted for no anaesthetic as it didn't seem worth the injection and the hours of numbness afterwards. It was so much quicker and easier than having all that injection malarky. I just felt like it would be OK and that I could handle it. Also I started violin lessons again this week with a really good teacher. I thought I would be nervous playing in front of her (it will have been 24 years since my last lesson...), and I really wasn't. It was fine, I felt fine, I felt comfortable and confident, despite my rusty screechy violin playing! I think I have always had courage, but rather than doing things despite the fear, the fear now seems so much smaller.

And along with the llama lashes which have revolutionised my daily mascara experience, I think I can say that this last year on combination treatment has really had some positive side effects!