It's 10 years today!

I know I've stopped adding to my blog, but just in case anyone is still out there, it is 10 years to the day that I originally got sliced and diced.

In fact, at this very time 10 years ago I would have been lying on an operating table, having been on it for several hours already and with several more hours to go. It must have been a horrible wait for my friends and family, but I slept thought it all peacefully!

Since then there has been more surgery - some to help me eat and more on my spine. I now have 5 metal rods, 2 cages and 22 screws inside me, which is kind of a lot. I can't twist or bend and I have had to discover a whole new way of putting my shoes and socks on...

....but...and it is a good but...I am well. In fact, I feel very well. I no longer live on a diet of industrial strength painkillers, constantly looking to the next dose and eating them like they were Smarties. Of course, I am not pain free and probably never will be, but I regard my pain as somewhere in the 'normal' range for someone with a niggling spine problem. Am I just putting a positive slant on it? Maybe I am - but I am so much better than I was it all feels like a miracle.

The list of people who has supported me through all of this has been immense and I can't thank them enough. I find I am looking for new opportunities wherever they arise and know that none of this would have been possible just a few years ago when medical science could not do what it does now. I hope that anyone out there who needs just a bit of hope for the future will see my story and know that there is often light at the end of the tunnel..sometimes when we least expect it.

Maybe I will update you all in another ten years time...but until then - have a great time doing whatever you can in a way that makes you happy.