I used the title of this post as the subject line for an email I recently sent to a group of friends. It was to update them on my post-transplant recovery, and it's such an apt description of it that I'm reusing for the same purpose here.

The recovery from my transplant has been exactly that: a road that I'm going down which has had its periods of nice straight driving, but also some unexpected turns, speed-bumps, and obstacles mixed in.

Things have largely settled down, but the recovery hasn't been totally smooth. In August I was admitted to hospital for about a week with a small bowel obstruction. It was probably caused by the way they had to rewire my insides during the transplant (which needs a diagram to explain properly), but it eventually mostly settled down on its own.

A series of bad colds has also slowed me down (mainly thanks to my virus-spreading spawn 😅), so I think I'm definitely feeling the effect of the immune-suppressing medications with me contracting these kind of things that I previously repelled.

It hasn't been all bad.

In the past few months I have returned to work full-time, and have restarted working from a co-working office in the city a few days a week. I can't adequately express the immense satisfaction I have felt at returning to work and being part of a few big ships in time for GitHub Universe. I've been immensely well looked-after by GitHub and my team there throughout this, and I'm so very grateful, especially considering I only started there a few months before my liver started heading south.

When I've not had a cold (or a bowel obstruction!), the amount of energy I have now compared to earlier in the year is phenomenal. In March I had to have a 45 minute power nap at around 11am to be able to get through the rest of the day. Now, I don't need any naps! No naps given!

I never appreciated there is an actual difference in feeling between different types of 'tired'. Like, 'liver failing, need a nap'-tired feels completely different to 'I've done a great day's work'-tired.

Other than continuing to physically recover, there is also a lot of recovery needed for my mental health, too. I've been fairly housebound since about February, and I'm needing to regain a lot of confidence for going out and socialising, and also for travelling in the future.

All-in-all, these are fantastic problems to have compared to six months ago. Even if I wind up in hospital again tomorrow, I am so blessed and grateful to be where I am today.