May 1st. - Spring really getting underway at last. Almost a fortnight has gone by since I got out of hospital; felt rubbish for first few days after 5 days confined to a wee hospital room hardly big enough to swing a cat. I suppose I should have tried to exercise in it somehow but it wasn’t very conducive and I wasn’t feeling all that brilliant anyway.

However a bit of fresh air and a gentle bit of pottering around the garden soon revived and de-institutionalized me. The visit up to the Glasgow clinic the following Monday was fairly routine; recommence reduction of the ciclosporin was recommended. Another 3 weeks or so and the immuno-suppressant will be stopping completely.

The 2 units of blood have been making me feel a lot better; so nice to have enough energy to walk up the hill without gasping. Even tried a short loop of the mountain bike route (pushed it up the steep bits - didn’t want to overdo it first time out). The new grass is suddenly enriching the green fields...
and the first birch leaves are showing....
.....meanwhile the ash remains a ghostly skeleton.

Unfortunately, mid way through the week, the gut problems reared their ugly head again. I held off for nearly 36 hours but Christine insisted we left it no longer. Tests showed it really was C.Diff this time; so I’ve been started straight away on a 10 day course of Metronidazole which should slow the little blighters down a bit. In a normal person the other gut bacteria would keep them in check but my internal workings are far from normal yet. However, I haven’t had a temperature with it, so as long as I can keep my self hydrated it shouln’t cause too much of a problem - more an exhausting inconvenience.




Way back in early February we booked seats for a concert in Edinburgh to hear Africa’s Rokia Traore. The fourth of May seemed a long way off then but next Tuesday sounds suddenly close. Hope it all works out.