It's been a while since I was here.  In fact one person whom I bumped into told me he'd been worried that 'the worst had happened' and so had hesitated to email or call just in case.
 
Let me put paid to that sort of rumour with the words of Mark Twain: reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated......
 
In fact I had a good chat with my doctor on my last hospital visit (on Thursday).  For those who've been counting - I'm now 6 months post transplant!
 
That's a major threshold and various things change.   Diet - "no restrictions, but be sensible - avoid the sushi".    I'm scheduled for another bone marrow biopsy in 3 weeks. If as expected, everything is normal, I can have the Hickman line out if my chest the following week!!!  That, for me, probably the biggest remaining step on the path back to normality.  
 
My immune system is still suppressed by the meds - but we reduce the dosage a little almost every month.  And its working as expected - my red cells and haemoglobin levels are rising back towards normal levels. I haven't had a blood transfusion for a couple of months now and am hopeful that they are a thing of the past for me now.  Certainly I'm feeling less tired and more able to carry on a relatively normal level of activity without needing to punctuate it with frequent naps.    They still dont want me to spend lots of time in centrally ventilated offices because of the risks of infection - but I am planning to start doing some from home.
 
On the bad side - I learned today that another buyer for my flat has dropped out - and I'm back where I was 6 months ago. Except that the UK housing market appears to be tanking and I have no tenant in the flat to pay the mortgage.
 
But as Deb pointed out - imagine how I'd be feeling if the news had been the other way round - say I'd sold the flat, and the leukaemia had come back?   It's all about remembering what's really important...