I feel like I've been quiet here but perhaps that's simply a part of my idea that some days are longer than 24 hours. I have spent the last few weeks quietly nose-diving into the ground with very low iron levels. Not that I knew it. Suspected it but wasn't sure.
And I have to admit that I have never been so glad to have a diagnosis of anemia. I left New Zealand with terribly low levels, 10 years ago ... imagining, perhaps, that moving countries would magically fix them. It turns out that this was wrong-thinking and these last few weeks have been so very difficult.
Ignoring the problem didn't work either.
I'm on my second day of serious iron medication today and, although it's probably some kind of placebo effect, I feel stronger this morning. My testing ground is the stairs to my office. They've taken on an
Everest-like aura of late and while I was reading 'Summit Fever' I really got a feel for the high altitude, thin air feeling. Puffing my way to the top.
And so I am back, tentatively excited about all that is ahead. There's the photography exhibition at the end of the month but before that, a much-loved old friend is coming to stay next week. Murray was one of my favourite people back in those days when I was an officer's wife and living on the airforce base in New Zealand. It will be good to catch up with him. We have Flanders Fields plans and I hope to introduce him to some of the special people I know there.
Then I'm turning 50 next week but the big party is happening in November although ... I haven't sent out all the invitations yet. The anemia exhausted me organisationally, and I'm already not superb in that area. I hope friends forgive me for being so late.
Logistically I've had a lot to do and no energy to do it with.
I'm back in Genova at the end of November, with much planned. And then a lovely friend has offered me her house in another part of Italy early in the new year and so, I need to organise flights and plan that too.
But mostly I've been exhausted and unable to think. Here's to a return to 'normal', or perhaps something better than normal, if I fill up on iron :-) and Vitamin D (so the blood says). The doctor also prescribed daily antihistamine for allergies to dust mites and grass. I think I'll take a rain check on those pills though. My body, the one that was formerly only familiar with mild painkillers, is taking in enough that is new. I'll keep the allergy pills for emergencies ...
So that's my news. I'm sure there's more to follow as the energy returns. The image that opened this post was taken back home in New Zealand. I used this path often when I lived in Dunedin. It led to my favourite beach and I was most often found there following my dog as we made our way to and from Long Beach.