I suppose the main reason why I don't update here often is because I feel I have very little to report.  My life carries on, and it feels like nothing changes... but looking back, things do actually change quite a bit.

I am still using a walking stick, but in the last few weeks my mobility appears to be very slowly improving.  I can walk longer between rests, and it hurts less when I finally stop.  I am still way, WAY below the speed and stamina that I used to have, but it's a step (or two) in the right direction.

Also, I am successfully losing weight!  Since starting Slimming World again, I have lost just over a stone.  I've had some rocky weeks, but on the whole the scales are showing numbers moving in the right direction.  This pleases me immensely!  
Also in weight-related news, I am now enrolled on the Barriatric Service's 6-month preparation course, which will almost certainly result in me being offered surgery in the first half of next year.  I was hoping it would be sooner, but apparently the government insists that there is some kind of 6-month program in place for anybody who is planning surgery on the NHS.  The team are all lovely people, and I am feeling positive about the outcomes.  I may do a post on it later on, when my choices are clearer.  But, it's still a positive step towards my goal of being a fit and active hunting dinosaur, able to chase down runners, rather than remaining a tired ambush-predator who can't catch anything faster than a rock.

But, there is one final piece of good news, and that is this:

It should be arriving on Monday, and I am over the moon. <3  I probably won't be able to physically fit in it yet (let alone caper about joyfully), but it has been ordered, and it is mine.  I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to find one in stock by the time that I was ready to use it, that I felt it was worth taking the plunge now rather than waiting. 

I'll consider it my 'carrot on a stick' for this whole thing.  One day, before my 35th birthday, I will don this suit and chase marathon runners. 

Before that, however, my long-time best friend has invited me to take part in the annual 'Glow in the Park' run next year.  It's 6 miles, and it's more of a fun-run than a marathon.  I'm aiming to get fit enough to maybe walk it (preferably without my stick), and if possible, I will be dressed in this magnificent reptile demis.  I'm hoping it will look pretty awesome under all the black-lights. ;)