An average day

7.00 am - alarm goes off and I don't have the energy to get up - forget all thoughts of trying to make it into the office

8.00 am - clock radio shuts off creating just enough difference in ambience to wake me up from the secondary snooze I've gone into. Pull on a short and long sleeved T-shirt to warm the clothes up so that I don't freeze when I finally get out from under my warm quilt.

8.15 am - Lever myself out of bed and put more layers on. Feel like I'm walking in wet cement. Go to the kitchen and take a probiotic then out to the balcony where I do approximately 60 (who can keep count?!) laps. I like the cold breeze on my face but each lap is a chore this morning. I usually complete 60 in 15-20 minutes. Today, it takes 30.

9.00 am - Back from cycling, ravenous, sit down and eat usual gluten-free cereal with oat milk, checking emails as I go.

9.30 am - Washing the breakfast dishes, I feel a tinge of nausea. This continues while I continue my morning routine, take a couple of phone calls and get dressed.

11.00 am - Pulling on a pair of size 10 stretchy pants (thank goodness for stretchy pants!) I feel rounder than yesterday. This is not unusual, I can go up and down like a yoyo and most likely will have done so by the end of the day. By the time I've added a goose down vest, I feel like getting back into bed. Around this time, I would most likely take a walk outside to get some exercise and fresh air but today is so cold, I wait until after lunch to see if it improves.

1.00 pm - After a couple of hours of additional online reading - if I wasn't obsessive before, I certainly am now - I chance across an(other) e-book which seems like a bargain at US27.00. (The first one I purchased echoed most of what I was able to read online but it was good to get confirmation.) According to those who have read this one, the strategies outlined enable you to have a "happy hysterectomy". Will get back to you on that one!

2.00 pm - Had lunch - leftover from last night - yum! Followed this up with a cup of green tea then a cup of echinnacea tea - concentrating on strengthening my immune system as much as possible before surgery.

3.00 pm - Had planned to go out for my daily walk but had a visitor which resulted in some online research then started reading the e-book and was so engrossed by all the stories that I have only moved from my chair at the dining table for toilet breaks.

5.30 pm - See what I mean? Had a fair amount of intestinal wind following lunch which, having read the aforesaid e-book, could have been resolved by walking. Lesson learned!

8.00 pm - Bolt down dinner as I'm usually starving then regret it as it then starts to push into my other organs and make itself known. Need to sit stretched out so that I can digest.

11.00 pm - Get to bed but abdomen feels like a freshly pumped beach ball with no obvious way to relieve it. To the rhythm of gurgling and shifting, I finally fall asleep.

3.00 am - Awake but bathroom visit yields no relief. Massage abdomen until 6.00 am when finally fall back asleep again. And so it goes ...