At this point it is very much up in the air.

I have had a shocking year. It is a long and complicated story, but the short overview is:

1. I was on statins after my minor heart attack a few years ago.
2. It was, apparently, a stupidly high dose, for very slightly raised cholesterol levels.
3. No Dr. I saw till I moved to Gillingham ever did the recommended blood tests that SHOULD accompany statin use. As a result my liver was affected and my CK levels were 30x what they should be before I had enough symptoms to question why I was feeling so crap (and stop just saying Damn I am getting OLD!)

The statins triggered a (they tell me) rare auto-immune condition that stopping statins does not reverse. It is possible (and now feels probable) that it is for life. Necrotizing autoimmune myopathy (NAM) just sounds FUN, doesn't it? NOT.

Fir far too long I have been as weak as a kitten, with my proximal muscles affected. I barely able to lift an empty dinner plate to pass across the table without it drifting down down down. I am unable to cross my legs without grabbing one and flinging it over the other. Luckily the muscle weakness had only just felt like it was affecting my breathing and swallowing before I was driven to the dr.

Crafters will picture the scenario - down on the floor of my craft room one day and unable to crank my Big Shot, and then almost unable to get up off the floor. The next day I was at the Dr.s saying WTF? Then it was just endless appointments and tests and visits to the rheumatologist and finally a diagnosis.

So that will explain, I hope, my shocking absence. Looking back I suspect I was feeling weak for a while, but just carried on, until I couldn't. And all of a sudden I was pretty much unable to do ANYTHING. It is only in the last week or two that I have started feeling a bit of my strength coming back (a combo of the physio and steroid shots) but still unable to take the more potent meds that MIGHT move things along faster cause my liver has not recovered (and THAT med affects, you guessed it, your liver. <sigh>)

So - my health and family life has to come first. I am happy to keep UKS going for those of you who still love it, with Scrapdolly and Mini Owner taking the lead but until they sort me out, IF they can, I won't be doing much. But open or shut, it depends on the sponsors really.

IF (and it is a big IF) I get enough sponsorship for UKS not to cost me anything (so I can cover the hosting, the bank charges, the insurance, the accountancy fees etc) then I will keep the doors open. If not, I will pay to keep the doors open for a few months so people can grab anything they feel they want to keep then turn out the lights.

I'm not entirely sure what I expect from this post I guess if you still love UKS and want it to stay, reply here and LMK. If you have shopping to do, and can do so at a sponsor shop, let them know you appreciate their support for UKS and that is why you shopped there! This is NOT a request that you click the DONATE button, nor a plea for clicks on ads. I am just trying to take the pulse of UKS before I send out sponsorship emails.

And even when I do that, it is possible that not enough sponsors feel they are getting the benefit from sponsoring UKS that they once did. So if you are reading this as a sponsor, do feel free to reply as well if you want to see UKS still open. I have pared the costs down to the absolute BONE, so I don't need as much as I once did. But I do need a bit

And if you think it is time to pull the plug, hey, don't be shy, I want to know that too!