Blog: My halo may not make me an angel, but judging by the week I’ve had, it certainly seems to give me some sort of angelic protection.

I’ve had a difficult week, even by my standards, having my artificial knee replaced at the Orthopaedic in Gobowen. Knee replacements aren’t much fun at the best of times but having my head and upper body encased in a halo traction system at the same time certainly added to the onslaught.

I’m pretty good at looking on the bright side but there have been a few hairy moments lately, a couple of occasions when I’ve felt the old chin starting to wobble . . . But each time I’ve started to well up, voice all squeaky, someone or something has come along to cheer me up at exactly the right moment, its almost like someone’s looking out for me.

Now I’m not particularly spiritual or even vaguely religious but it’s hard to explain otherwise how I was provided with the comfort and reassurance I needed at the exact moments I most needed it – just random kindnesses? Or something altogether more celestial?

The morning I left for hospital, tense about the upcoming surgery and sad to be leaving my comfortable home yet again, for a spell on the ward, I was feeling a little bit sorry for myself. Heading out the door I decided to open my post and there in front of me was a beautiful card from a well-wisher, a total stranger who reads my column and – here’s the real shocker – likes it!

I’m not sure which feels stranger; knowing there’s someone out there reading the things I write, or hearing that they enjoy them? Either way, it really took the chill out of the air for me and put a smile back on my face just when I most needed one.

And then, just at my lowest point, in hospital (I’d been having a secret snivel in the Ladies) I stepped outside to feel a bit of fresh air on my tear-stained face. Though it was more of a zimmer-frame-shimmy having had the knee operation a couple of days previously.

So there I was, contemplating my sorry lot, when a similar, dressing-gowned figure of the male patient population came over to thank me for writing the blog he enjoys reading over a cuppa every week. He asked me — with no hint of a smirk — how I stay so cheerful and I felt like a total fraud as, with bottom lip still trembling, I attempted to give him tips on positivity! I’m not sure he believed me in the end but either way, by the end of our little chat, I really was feeling altogether brighter and more upbeat — I should have been thanking him!

And the moral of the story is? We’re only human, every one of us, halo or not, but with a little encouragement from others there’s nothing we can’t rise above.

Thanks everyone.