Spent yesterday and today doing much needed clearing up at the back of the garden. We have a lot of pine trees and if the needles and cones and leaves from other trees are not cleared away little else gets the chance to grow. For the first time in months I don't feel exhausted after it. One very happy bunny here.

Well I do have to have more tests to discover if there are any further complications (CT scan next week). I am not diabetic (recent tests) and apart from a very deficient vit D count (since addressed), nothing to indicate anything more serious. It sounds like it is Chronic Pancreatitis, treatable with enzyme replacement.

Yes indeed. I had never heard of it before.


Thank you all for your wishes

Thank you John

Thank you. I was actually over the moon to get the diagnosis so I can move forward.

Thank you.

Much appreciated John. Yes the worst part was not knowing, and the tendency of many professionals to blame it on the IBS catch-all. In the end it was my dietician who suggested the specific test which showed what the problem actually was. Once I get the dosing correct, I should be back to normal and have the energy again to pick up the K1

Many of you expressed concern and offered support when I mentioned the reason I have not been posting photos much of late was because of a hitherto undiagnosed health problem. This has dogged me since last summer.

Well at the end of January after many 'oscopies; ultrasounds; x-rays;and scans, I finally found out what the issue was.

My pancreas is not producing enzymes required to digest food properly. I still need further scans to establish exactly why, but there is a simple medication which I have just now started which is enzyme replacement therapy. It cannot cure the underlying problem, but it will get my digestive system back on track. I will have to take these with every meal for life, but I can deal with that and hopefully get back to normal very soon.

Just need to dodge this bloody virus now !!

No...it is a figure that is within our power to influence if we take it seriously.

I mention the number of deaths here in the UK because it is within the power of us all to affect the final outcome, by either reducing it or increasing it. Estimates of deaths without any action are 500,000 in the UK. With adherence to health officials advice there is a chance we can keep deaths to below 20,000.

You seem to want to play down the seriousness of this by comparing it to the flu or other pandemics. Most of us have some general immunity to flu and because it is a well understood viral variant it is easy to produce a new vaccine each year to protect the vulnerable. Flu does not cause the serious symptoms that Covid-19 does to the general population.

Most importantly, because it is a new variant of the Coronavirus family, no-one on the planet has immunity. And a vaccine is many many months away. There is no treatment.

In Italy thankfully the infection and death rate have fallen in the last two days but still 600 deaths today alone. We can only pray that the "lockdown" there is working, and that if enough people here follow the advice being given, we too can cope with this.

I for one do not wish to stick my head in the sand and pretend that the greatest health crisis for decades does not exist.

87 deaths today in the UK.