Has the whole of September really slipped by ? I keep trying to do more than my body will allow... bursts of frustrated energy followed by a day or two recouping.
The month started off with a big venture out into crowded places for the first time since the transplant. Christine and I went off to Kendal for a weekend of Samba playing with a large group of drummers from all over the country. We stayed nearby with her brother Philip and wife Chris, and her sister Elizabeth and son Patrick came up from Nottingham. They all took part. We practised a new piece on the Friday evening and a large part of Saturday and Sunday morning before taking it to the crowded streets and finally ending up on stage at the Old Brewery Arts Centre.
To survive the long practice sessions I had to sneak off back to the car and lie down and sleep for an hour after a quick lunch, but the whole thing was so enjoyable and challenging and totally enveloping it was worth every minute of it. Inevitably we ended up with sore throats on the way home on the Sunday evening.
This turned out to be a rather nasty, energy sapping cold which lasted a full week (or a little more in my case) but no fever or other complications so well done immune system ! It was a great excuse to sit quietly and listen to the recordings of the weekend, transcribe the music, edit the bits on my laptop to make up a CD, and finally work out what everyone else had been playing while I had been focused on learning my own parts.
Meanwhile outside in the garden Autumn was moving along rapidly: a tree full of Victoria plums beckoning. I planted the orchard over 30 years ago and feel a strange obligation to harvest its fruits. Perhaps something I learnt from my mother and her experiences of the city under war conditions back in the 1940’s. Maybe I’m just a child of my time, an old hippy wanting to stay close to what it feels like to produce a little of your own food; wanting to keep in perspective how remote we have become, as an urban society, from the natural world and the simple basics of keeping warm and well fed.
So to act out this fantasy I made plum jam with half the crop and bottled the rest using the last of my stored honey (from my bee keeping days) as a syrup. By then the damsons were ready for similar treatment; and meanwhile the eating apples were beginning to drop. They have now been picked, bagged and crated and should feed us throughout November. Disease on the plum tree meant some major pruning was needed and this lead to the chain saw coming out and in turn lead to a sort-out of the log pile for the winter fuel which was clogged up with various lengths at different stages of seasoning. Is there more ? Well there was the courgettes and sugar peas but enough ! Why do I do this to myself ?

Thursday was Dr. Clark’s clinic in Dumfries and the first time I had seen a consultant since the end of August. I had been a little dismayed back then to learn that my chimerism had become only 89% donor but it was 90% this time so it appears to be fairly stable. I did not think it was possible for the two systems to live in peaceful co-existence but it appears I was mistaken and my chimerism may settle down to this particular percentage balance for a considerable period. As long as the lymphocyte count remains low the chances of the CLL returning also remain low.
Second positive news was that the haemoglobin count was still rising steadily and was now 124, so most encouraging. All the other blood results were similarly positive. I do NOT have to go up to Glasgow next month and I next will see Dr. Clark in 2 months time.... they must be pleased with progress ! I keep wondering what that snail/slug? was contemplating as it did its midnight dance.