Interesting

My doctor tested my liver enzyme levels and one was a little elevated, but not as high as it had been, hence she doesn't think my pain is from my liver; however the other doctor who did lots of prodding noticed my liver was sensitive to being prodded.   Either way the elevated levels do suggest a slightly grumpy liver so yesterday I started taking Milk Thistle, it's from the seeds so not estrogenic (the leaves, stems and roots are).  I certainly hope that's right as I don't want to increase my estrogen levels and am in fact tapering out the HRT.   I did notice this morning though that my right side pain was reduced so have taken another one today and will continue to monitor the situation, this all started a month after starting the HRT, my doctor agrees I should taper off the HRT.  I'm taking some of my information from a website called Endo Empowered and some from various forums and some medical websites as well as my doctors.  The plan is to take this for a week and see how things go before adding anything new.  The next supplement will be DIM which is a hormone balancing suppliment best taken with a liver supplement (milk thistle and will add curcurmin which is the active part of turmeric).

My left side pain is still there, but not as bad as it was, suspecting adhesions from the surgery for that one as it feels like gas has got stuck and I've been burping a huge amount and despite the amount I'm drinking I'm having to resort to gold kiwi and prunes to keep the mail moving; this points to something interfering with peristalsis which also won't be helping my poor liver.   Today I've also started taking psyllium again, which means I need to drink even more.  I'm also hoping to get in to see Maree Frost who is a pelvic floor physio and can work on adhesions as surgery for them tends to be a cyclical thing and can cause more adhesions, oh joy!

I've also got back on the bike yesterday, did a 4.5km ride in between rainstorms.  None today as it's cold and windy and wet, but hoping it might calm down enough for one tomorrow as exercise will also help with getting things moving and reducing inflammation etc.

Right, if you've got through all that I think you deserve a reward, so here's my current projects; starting with the one keeping us warm now the weather has finally turned.

For the first time ever this is actually getting the house warm, I'm putting it down to the extra insulation in the ceiling since it was topped up and the double glazing.  We're running it at half at the moment, normally have to have it on full and are still cold!

Not much light for this photo, but this is the singles I'll be plying next; Heavenly Wools in the Great Barrier Reef colourway on light grey Haunui base, hoping it's the final lot for my jersey

and my current spin, also Heavenly Wools this time the Empress of India colourway on dark grey Haunui, this will either be left as singles or Navajo plied.  I'm leaning towards Navajo; it's a gradient.

Part of the new loom, I've got to do some more varnish on the bit on top, there was mildew so I've sanded it back to remove that and I need to do more sanding and 2 more coats of varnish.  I'm missing a couple of bits for it, waiting to hear back from the lady who gave it to me to see if she has them, otherwise I'll have to try to source them myself (hoping it's all metric).  I'll also be changing some parts with the loom I'm currently using, this one is 8-shaft but has some damaged parts in the wood, luckily they're the same parts with the same size as the other loom so I can swap them out seeing as this is the one I'll use most.  Unfortunately the loom maker passed away a few years ago so I can't go to him for parts.

Oh for some decent light!  This blurry mess is my colourwork socks, pattern is Lucy in the Sky and you can find the project on Ravelry.  The yarn is Wandering Cat Yarns Tabby Cat Fingering, which I don't think Val does anymore; loving how this is working up though.  It's one of only three current WIPs.

And this is my current travelling sock using Regia Galaxy; not sure yet if this will be for me or for Ian.  Longer leg than normal and I'm just past the gusset at the moment.

And my big project, this is about about 2 years old now and got put on hold because cobweb weight yarn is so fiddly!  I have to get onto it again though, it'll be my "when I'm feeling better" project as it requires some concentration.

And this even more blurry mess is my older loom which is mostly warped up.  I've just got to get the reed threaded and the yarn tied on to the front and then I can start weaving.  The light out there today is awful though and it's cold so it'll wait till a nicer day.  

More health issues

I'm back to the doctors again with side pain.  My original pain has been dealt with by physiotherapy, but this one doesn't want to leave.  More bloods taken to check inflammation and liver levels; looks like they may be thinking gallstones.
One good thing, apparently I'm easy to check out manually, I don't tense my stomach muscles when the doctor is poking around so she could feel my spine from the front!  She's also told me to start taking Panadol (tylenol to those of you in the US) to help with the pain.  I'm wondering if it's related to me being on HRT, according to some information I've found HRT increases the likelihood of liver issues and this all started after 1 month on it.  Will be checking with the doc tomorrow about going off it if it is liver, not making any decisions till I've got the blood results though.  If it's not then it might be endo back again, so once again I'd need to ditch the HRT (slowly and safely).  Funny thing, I thought after having my surgery all would be well, looks like I was wrong.

On the funny head thing, I've been told it's called "disequilibrium" according to the ENT and he's ordered an MRI to see if anything structural is going on in there.  If not then I go see another physio who deals in balance issues and possibly a neurologist as well.  That seems to have improved, though not gone away on the HRT, however I'd rather that than the pain.

I have managed to get some knitting done through all this though, I finished Strokkur just in time for the first cold snap

You can see how it fits here, a nice flattering line over my hips and it's warm.

and a very unflattering selfie, but the colours are showing up better, pain is not a flattering look either.

I want to make another of these, but a cardigan this time using the same yarn in different colours.  I'm not buying it yet though, want to be all caught up on my WIPs (only 3 left atm) and I also want to be feeling better too.

I've also almost finished warping up the loom, and got the bits of wood and so on that I need to make some Angel Wings to go on it; can't afford to buy them in from the USA with the exchange rate how it is, so going to make my own instead.