The waiting is over; the MRI and chest x-rays were done on Monday and on Wednesday, after an hour of relaxing yoga to de-stress me,  I am back seeing professor Thomas. The past few days have been almost unendurable with anxiety, punctuated by treats to try and keep an even keel. So on Saturday we went to Garsington opera with Tommy and his girlfriend Olivia, who prepared a most delicious picnic which we ate while sipping champagne by the lake; Sunday we had some dear friends round for a Thai feast in the garden. Both days were glorious and bathed in sunshine.

Monday I had my first B 12 jab, expertly administered by Dr Evadney (many people said they had never heard of Hinge and Bracket, so here we are: http://www.hingeandbracket-official.co.uk/). After the scans we celebrated friend Janie’s birthday in grand style in Vincent Square – ladies lunch – and I caught up with a few old chums. Tuesday dinner with Ross’s father and stepmother and a visit to the latest Cattell addition, young Finlay aged four months, full of smiles; and then the dreaded appointment.

Prof is running late of course, but when he spots me in the waiting room he rushes up and says, ‘Let me see you walk! Down the corridor. Faster!’, and then disappears. The preceding patient eventually emerges and then there is a rather long wait, in which I trust he is reading my notes so we don’t have a scrabble of checking them as we wait anxiously, as in the past.  The first thing he does when I enter is ask me to lie on the bed so he and the nurse can admire my leg (I am wisely wearing a skirt for this!|). He is overwhelmed by the strength I have in my ankle joints, and when I tell him I have been diving and walked the Great wall of China, he says ‘I never asked you to do that, you know!’ but he is impressed! After all this activity, heart pounding with anxiety,  I sit down and say timidly that I was hoping to have my scan results today. Oh, he replies airily, all clear. All clear? I repeat in amazement. Oh yes, all fine, here is the letter. Seeing it in black and white makes it real:

No sign of disease activity in left calf

Normal chest x-ray

Next scan in 6 months…

But he is concerned about my B12 and the cause; we still don’t know the answer to this one.

 

We celebrate by another visit to Garsington with Dr Fi, writer Hilary and their lovely men, Richard and John. David Mellor is at the next table and offers to take photos of us (he manages to make a video instead!) – we engage in banter and chat about his new career as opera critic for the Mail on Sunday (in addition to advising on investment in China – he had picked up Singapore by ear-wigging, hence his approach to us). Lady Cobham looks gorgeous, and between them they down two bottles of fizz before the opera (Cunning Little Vixen), will look forward to his review, although we had to lend him a pen…I see him striding out after the Act I; he had already told us he doesn’t like this director and directors in general: ‘they get in between the music and the audience’. So I guess it might  be a foregone conclusion!

A perfect end to an auspicious day. Louise really was with me from the moment in the cab to the hospital when I heard Bob Marley singing one of her her favourites, I’m a rainbow too,  the lyrics so heartening.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DmLIUKZB7I

Sun is shining, the weather is sweet yeah

Make you wanna move, your dancing feet now

When the morning gather the rainbow

Want you to know, I’m a rainbow too

To the rescue, here I am

Want you to know y’all

Can you understand