Hi to you all but let me first say:

A Happy New Year to everyone

I’m sure some of you might have started to wonder where I had got to since before Christmas and especially those of you like ‘Norrms and Helen’ that had sent me PM’s or personal E-mails with Christmas and New Year greetings to which I have not yet replied so I will try to explain as best I can.

The fact is that neither Christmas nor the start to a New Year has been good for me; it all started about 4 weeks before Christmas when I started to get some discomfort in my back and hips but did not take to much notice of it at the time thinking it was sciatica or maybe twisted muscles from moving furniture at the time of stepdaughters engagement party, but the pain slowly got worse so much so that I was flat on my back in bed unable to move so I went to the doctors who said she thought it was a sprained back and gave me pain killers which have not helped as the pain is still there and now I can hardly walk, the only relief I get is when sitting or laying down and the discomfort is now moving into my other muscles and bones so hopefully when I go back to the doctor tomorrow she will send me for X-rays and blood tests, but my disorientations did not just stop there as on the 23rd December my computer decided to crash so I lost all contact with the world, I managed to struggle to the computer shop in town who said it would take 2-3 days to repair but in fact took until yesterday to get the computer back and set up again, I should point out that shops out here are open 365 days of the year!

Being without the computer and the constant pain in my body has completely sent my mind into absolute confusion and disorientation and to be honest I have no recollection of what’s been happening over the past few weeks it’s as though 2-3 weeks of my life have just disappeared and that Christmas and New Year never existed.

It’s been the weirdest feeling I’ve ever experienced within my illness of the past 5 years and made me very anxious as I can tell my condition has taken a sudden down turn and I’ve never felt so confused as I still do at this moment in time but hopefully that will pass now that I have the computer again for my brain stimulation, as for my back and hips well I’m pretty sure it’s not a sprain and don’t even like to contemplate what the problem might be but I keep having visions of either a Zimmer frame or even a wheel chair since that’s how bad my walking has become!

I know I have a lot of catching up to do with TP and all the different threads that I’ve missed but hopefully within the next few days I can put that right.

So that’s my reason for being away for so long but I have a great sense of relief at knowing I’m back amongst friends.