July 17th, 2025

Dear visitors (yes, you there!),

You may have noticed that my website is undergoing a complete makeover! It’s getting a fresh new look to improve visibility and boost its SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). The goal? To help search engines better understand the content and, most importantly, make it easier for you to access my articles.

To do this, I enlisted a company based in Kerala, India (https://www.comentor.io/), who completely redesigned the site. I really like the result so far: it’s not quite finished yet, but the structure is in place and it’s starting to take shape! That’s why I’ve been a bit less active these past few weeks, the site was very much a work in progress.

As for my health, things are continuing… In mid-June, I suddenly felt sharp, stabbing pains in my foot ,  like needles piercing the flesh. At first, the pain was localised, but soon spread throughout the whole foot. Painkillers didn’t help at all.

One Saturday, unable to bear it any longer, I went to the emergency department of the hospital where I had my surgery. After several tests and a blood sample, the diagnosis came through: it could be neuropathy, a neurological problem. I was prescribed medication and the relief was almost immediate. At my check-up the following Tuesday, the improvement was confirmed. The internist will now discuss the next steps with my surgeon.

Guess who I bumped into in the hospital car park? My surgeon, arriving in his splendid AMG 6.3! Surprised to see me there, he listened carefully and insisted on seeing me again soon. An appointment was made for the very next day. Good news: no infection detected. But he referred me to a neurologist to better understand the origin of the pain.

Last week, I saw the neurologic (https://nzbern.ch/en/home-english/) in a beautiful villa in Bern with a view over the old town. After a battery of tests, including an electromyogram, the verdict was reassuring: no serious nerve damage. All my nerves respond, although some are a bit “lazy”. It’s possible a nerve is being compressed by the orthosis, or that the many surgeries affected a nerve branch. To refine the diagnosis, an MRI of the foot is scheduled next week to examine muscles and nerves and hopefully pinpoint the exact cause.

Another concern: since my last course of antibiotics, I’ve been suffering from severe diarrhoea. Several treatments haven’t really helped. My doctor suggested a colonoscopy. The procedure went well (the hardest part was drinking all the prep liquid!). The result: no irritation or inflammation detected. Next step: a gastroscopy next week to explore the upper digestive tract.

Thankfully, my vegetable garden keeps my spirits up! It’s bursting with life: the potatoes are ready for harvest, a real treat, especially this tasty variety. Peppers are growing, beans climbing… but most of all, the zucchinis are becoming gigantic! From one day to the next, they grow from normal size to enormous. We have so many we don’t know what to do with them all, but what a satisfaction to finally see the hard work pay off ,  literally! do with them, but it's very satisfying to see our efforts bearing fruit – literally!