• I went back to work, but not a great deal. Work laid off 200 people and my team was dissolved so there was no sense in working too much, anyway.
• I managed to get into a pretty decent—dare I say, good—headspace about everything. Life befalls you. We get through it. Progress won't be linear.
• I had my weekly checkin with Rheumatology, they're happy with how my rash is improving so we're moving me off the steroids more rapidly so that we can see how my body is doing on its own—has this stopped or paused the immune response? The all important biopsies are still not back.
• I started going on walks to get my strength back up. I went to see the zoo at my local park.
• Ramping down from the steroids has been ok though it seems to be messing up my sleep a bit.
• Any caffeine with these steroids + my usual energy level is dangerous. A couple times this week I was in quite a state!
• I read Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence, which was short, peaceful and a nice reminder, even 4 months into this, that we need time to heal.
• I am reading A Life of My Own by Claire Tomalin. I picked this up at a used book store in North London months ago because I read her Jane Austen biography. I really love reading about people, their lives, especially writers. I also love learning about history and norms through the periods she lived in. What a fascinating life so far: Virgina Woolf for lunch once and childhood friends with the Attenboroughs and so many creative, interesting and very socialist people! So many place names I recognise now, how fun!

Published on — Sun Apr 02 2023