Elly’s Tour de Forth souvenir

There are glimmerings of recovery! As mentioned yesterday, I can now sit for a while before guts-ache drives me prone again. I have apparently been more interactive over the past week. (I’m not sure of this – I still think I’m an antisocial so-and-so.) I’ve certainly done more than I could in previous weeks, even though that ‘more’ is still almost nothing. I even have plans to do more towards the great clear-out. And the pain, while still constant (and still moving around unpredictably), is moving from unbearable to very annoying. It was even possible to talk about our much-postponed cycle-adventure this morning without falling into despair.

I’m still on far more medication than I’d like, I walk and speak gingerly, my sleep is still interrupted every couple of hours (last night I slept for no more than 4 hours), I’m still very fatigued and my cognitive processes are still very poor. I’ve also lost a bit more weight (I’m down to 54 kg = 8 stone, 7 pounds), which is slightly concerning.

However, possibly the most significant glimmering is that this morning I cycled for the first time in weeks. It was only to the GP surgery and back – just over half a mile (cyclemeter map). But I was wearing almost my full ‘plumage’: SPD shoes, cycle shorts, wild print tights, baked beans jacket and hi-viz helmet. It was weird to grasp Lev’s handlebars, and even more weird to cycle wearing a rucksack*. (I’ve not done that in years but I couldn’t be bothered with panniers.) I didn’t clip in – that’s still a long way off. But I can imagine sitting on a spin bike and gently pushing the pedals around in the not-too-distant future.

So while I’m still far from being ‘me’, it’s quite possibly in the post!

I should admit that as soon as I got home, I crawled into my nest, put Dark side of the moon on autorepeat through my sleep-phones and was unconscious before the end of The great gig in the sky.

*I took my ‘will they send me to hospital’ kit: iPad, iPhone, cables, cuddly toy, wallet and medications.