Hello everyone,
Well, I’m sorry to say it seems that almost every time I reach out to you it’s bad news. Sadly, once again.
A week ago last Saturday I suffered another relapse of the organising inflammatory pneumonia that I’ve been fighting for the past year (hard to believe). This will be the fourth time since my initial bout, and the second time to land me in hospital.
The good news: I was only in for five days, though I feel, even at home, like I’ve had the stuffing knocked outta me. Anyway, the good news is I finally got to see the head of respirology, and there’s a new treatment plan underway. While it is still an immuno-suppressant, it won’t be quite as severe as the prednisone and the objective of the new med is to allow me to reduce the prednisone either completely or to a small enough dose to be ok(ish) for the long term. There are other side effects, but not as bad as prednisone, as long as I can tolerate it. I started it this past Monday (along with an antibiotic I have to take three times/week).So far, so good (well the antibiotic makes me a little nauseous but I've got something for that), though it’s very early days as I’ll be increasing the dose of the immuno-suppressant considerably over the next few weeks.
The bad news: people who get organising inflammatory pneumonia fall I’m into three categories: (a) people who get it, get over it, and that’s that; (b) people who get it, suffer one relapse and *that’s* that; and (c) a much smaller number of people who get it, suffer ongoing relapses and can be dealing with the condition for years. Sadly, I fall into the third category, but the objective, with the new plan, is to at least make it possible for me to avoid further hospitalisations, as long as my oxygen saturation remains ok, along with everything else.
So, what does this mean for the King Crimson book? I am currently two-thirds of the way through writing up book exclusives on the Poseidon, Lizard and Islands session reels, and have one more big article to write after that (I’ll keep that one secret for now). Another planned article is being scrapped, but it’s of lesser importance. After that, I’ve got a few section intros to write and then the first draft will be done.
Given my current strength, I’m now looking at writing into early 2023, but if all goes well and nothing else happens, I’m hoping to get everything wrapped up by end of January, early February at the latest, with an eye to publication perhaps late in the year.
So that’s the scoop, folks. I didn’t want to post about this ’til I was home and more or less settled - though, as I said, I’m still pretty weak. But I’m improving bit by bit, day by day, and thank everyone who has reached out with their concern. I also appreciate folks’ patience with a book that was planned to be finished well before now. But life intrudes, doesn’t it?
Best of the season to everyone, and I’ll try to post a little more often when I feel a bit more back on my feet.
Cheers!
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