Burton’s Soothing Balm

Many thanks for your comments, stars and hearts for yesterday’s West Shore blip, and for your kind good wishes in terms of my health and the start of my treatment. 

It’s slightly surreal to find myself at last on a programme designed to eradicate the ‘mystery’ disease I’ve  been suffering from for over 5 years now, and I leave Liverpool with what seems a vast supply of tablets to get me through the first two months of a six month course of drug therapy - which might or might not work.  

Arriving back from an extensive tour of South America back in April 2018, I little thought that my embarrassingly located abscess would lead to so many symptoms, surgeries and hospital visits. And even further from my mild was the fact that I would find myself being treated for TB - an illness I thought more or less eradicated in modern life, surely not found outside those living in extremely poor conditions. Yet here I am. Extra pulmonary TB can be notoriously difficult to diagnose - and my diagnosis is still tentative; it’s the best they can come up with and I’m more than happy to go along with this in the hope that things improve.

So there’s all the information on the drugs to take on board - the possible and likely side effects like bodily fluids turning red (red tears will be interesting ….).  There’s a possibility my sight will be affected, and so my vision’s tested as is my ability to distinguish colours as the drugs can cause colour blindness. I have an ECG and yet more blood tests. The drugs are likely to cause nausea and might impact on the liver causing jaundice; alcohol’s off limits for the next six months at least. I must admit I’ll miss those glasses of wine. G - bless him - says he’ll give up too in support. 

Not surprisingly, all this is daunting and exhausting, and I need some quiet restoration. We opt for a brief stop at Burton Mere on the way home - just a slow walk around the lake. As usual, the soothing balm of nature’s beauty works its magic  as I watch Greylag geese and moorhen chicks on mirror calm water, gazing out at water lily meadows and rich green reflections. 

For Jen’s Tiny Tuesday, I’m torn between the tiny moorhen chick with mum in the deeply dappled shade beneath the trees, and the army of tiny tufted duckings (I think) following their mum. And there’s extras of water lilies and Greylag geese. 

I’ve made a decision to catch up with journals by just awarding stars and hearts but minimal comments, rather than falling further behind. I know you’ll understand. And of course, with catching up, I just don’t have enough hearts to go round …..