FIRSTLY - have a listen to my new composition at www.myspace.com/sparkychoons.

I thought I would have to spend Christmas hospital bed - hmmm.

Yep. I went youth hostelling in darkest Wales and ended up with a chest infection and fever in darkest Liverpool.

I was in hospital for two weeks… The cottage we stayed at seemed to have just one coal fire to heat the whole place. I just couldn't get warm and suffered.

A weekend in bed and when I struggled to get to my hospital out patients I knew I was going to be in for a while.

My SATS slowly rose from 90 to 95 per cent on air and I slowly to walk about a bit more. But hospital habits die hard (with a vengence) The dietician ordered me snacks every day, which have gone to someone else every day except three.

Meds come too late. IVs too late (I was attached to IV antibiotics) - It is ALMOST as bad as Heartlands (not quite THAT bad, glad to never go back to that hell hole!)...

They come to take blood just as lunch arrives and you have to buzz for all your meds - which should be at your bed surely at the right time...

I can’t believe they tried to give me a drug every day that the docs said would damage my kidneys…. Nurses? Trained?

They couldn't pin down what the nasty virus was - just that it has a rating of 97 (??!!) when I went in and was less than 1 by the last blood test - which means the IVs did their job...

The effect of not being in the outside world and feeling institutionised was worse than I thought - I went upstairs to start to unpack and ended up just laid out on the bed exhausted.

I am glad to be able to eat normal food and not have to ask nurses every time I want toast (a healthy evening snack apart from toast is unheard of in there)..

The hospital cafe shuts at 4.20pm and the hospital has no bank machine...

But at the danger of repeating myself the nurses asked EVERY DAY why I wasn't taking a certain medication - which the docs had stopped two days after I arrived as it was affecting my kidneys….

I was only taken for walks by physios twice in two weeks - good job I had my own motivation.

So at least now I am not a slave to IV antibiotics and will slowly get back to normal.

It was a busy few days with all the people to catch up with and pressies to give out etc..

At least I won't awake to the sound of people carrying their piss pots to the loo to empty them or being stabbed for blood in the early hours....

Anyway I hope Santa came in you sack and you haven't broken your resolution yet! Well things have gone slowly but surely since leaving hospital...

I started at the gym about a week after leaving and am trying to do a little more at whatever I do each day...

My check up on Monday revealed by lung function had jumped from 18 per cent to 22 per cent - so I am doing something right - lets hope it continues to improve for a while...

Christmas was hectic - too much driving, eating and drinking (but not at the same time) - It was perfect timing to recover..

I don't think I would have been too good at looking after myself the first few days out of hospital so it was nice to stay with family and have things done for me for a while..

It also gave me the opportunity to catch up with friends I hadn't seen for a while - former colleagues like Rita and former colleagues I had never actually met like Michelle and John!

I caught up with a lot of Cannock Wood folk - including NYE at the Park Gate - tacky 70s band, too much alcohol, buffet - what more could one want! lol