- Walking. I used to walk for miles, in fact I used to walk four miles, swiftly but not with much style. Now walking to the end of my road is beyond me.
- Stairs. I used to climb stairs without so much as a backward glance. Now every staircase I see looks like the North Face of The Eiger to me.
- Standing. These days I can barely stand for more than about 1 minute without the feeling that I am about to collapse. This makes standing in supermarket queues challenging.
- Appetite. Before it was lovely, if I was hungry I would eat whatever I fancied. Now my appetite is somewhat erratic. I do eat my 3 meals a day, but quite often I cannot finish even the smallest of meals.
- Digestive system. My digestive system used to work as prescribed, eat, digest and excrete. Now I eat, the food seems to sit sluggishly in my intestines, and as for excreting well that's a real lottery.
- Work. I used to do my contracted 2 full days a week. Now my appearance in the office is random and quite often short-lived. I am very thankful that I have such an understanding and accommodating boss.
- Sleep. My sleep was never that good beforehand, but now it is pretty much non-existent mainly due to steroids. My lack of sleep is almost certainly a major contributing factor in all of the above.
My immediate family have put up with my general grumpiness and occasional irrational outburst with kindness, understanding and good humour. They have also provided endless practical help, such as getting me up off the floor as my legs simply don't do that anymore.
I hope that people realise how very important communication is, generally electronic, be it Whatsapp, email, text, facebook, or possibly even the telephone. Given my ability to plan for anything is quite problematic, these communications mean that I can be in the loop, so to speak, and that is hugely important as it means I feel slightly less isolated.
