She's back!

Almost three weeks later and I find myself returned home. Oh how I missed home so very much with all its creature comforts and its unique sense of belonging. I am a part of my home as it in turn is a part of me. I have missed my computer and blogging and you guys too although I wasn't sure if I would feel that way while I was away!

So what's happened?
I received a letter telling me that I was to undergo a new treatment for this on-going health problem that I have suffered for some time now.
I was given my room in the hospital on October 1st and had several tests most of which involved very long and painful needles. On Saturday 3rd they put me to sleep while they withdrew bone marrow from my hips. When I woke up several hours later the pain was dreadful. It was as if I had fallen downstairs and landed badly.
Hitomi spent that night with me so I had a very brave face and it eased considerably after they gave me my pain-killers.
I had a few days of boredom after that while they worked their magic potion with my marrow as their base-line. I had a few books and magazines and a TV in my room but I could not access the internet where I was and so Hitomi took the laptop home. Hitomi printed all my messenger off-lines and e-mails and brought them to me. When I was alone I'd write down replies and dear Hitomi would send them on when she got home.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank very much everyone who sent me messages - Thank you so very much and if I missed out anyone's reply then I am truly sorry - please forgive me.

Bone marrow - why bone marrow?

Apparently bone marrow is rich and full of that wonderful stuff called stem cells. You may have heard all the ethical debates about stem cell research using material from embryos - but that's not the case here - these are my very own cells and so we can forget any ethical debate. It's all very complicated but all I need to say here is that from the solution that is refined from the marrow, they insert a drip feed and the active cells within it find their way into my brain and once there they can chemically identify the damaged cells and either repair them or replace them.
I am simply amazed at the science of medicine today and sometimes I feel that I can witness what just a few years ago would be called a miracle. I didn't know what to expect this month and I tried to cover all possibilities or eventualities. "This is where this blog stops" was perhaps a dramatic statement looking back on it but I didn't know if I would even feel like returning to my writing desk but it seems to be a part of me that no chemical changes have removed and as I said, I really missed being here. All I can say on this matter is that despite all of the uncomfortable procedures that I have undergone, I feel once more like the old me and not only have none of my fears materialized, I have been given new hope for the future.
I can talk of many things but this topic is just too close and personal to me so I won't go into detail or answer questions on my health. Suffice to say that I am thankful and grateful to my Doctors and to my supportive family, especially Daddy who made this possible and of course my beautiful lover, Hitomi, who has looked after me unquestioningly and without whom I may not have had the drive or the desire to try my best.

So once more I'm home and I have orders to recuperate slowly and not do anything too strenuous. We will do nothing more this week than eat real food, not the hospital's approximation of it and soak in the hot baths and take the first of my weekly check-ups.

Search

I can see from my logs that people have been on this site and have tried in vain to use the blogger search function. I tried it and no matter what term I entered I was returned zero results with the rather sad header stating "No posts match your query." So I edited the html to bring back the blogger 'navbar' with its own search function but that too proved ineffectual. I then tried Google's new search widget and again was disappointed and so in frustration I 'Googled it' and found that it is apparently a known bug and either Google don't seem interested in fixing it any time soon or perhaps they don't know how to fix it!
It is a bug within the Blogger environment and hundreds of Bloggers are affected by it and it is discouraging to have a tool sitting there that cannot do the job it is intended to do!

So for anyone who wants to get past this situation until it is (Laughs) resolved, I can only recommend moving outside the blogger environment and using the normal Google search!
Using Google - to search my blog you would enter Site:Url (space) Keyword
Just like in the image below. I hope this helps anyone with this issue, both bloggers and readers.

I have added the relevant information with links to open in a new tab or window next to my own search input field for the future reference of this sites visitors.