My goodness I've been away a while!!
Thanks aethel and Honey for keeping everyone posted - I am alive and almost completely well now so getting back into the swing of things! And hoping to meet up with both of you 
The short story of my disappearance is that after the appendix bursting in mid-Jan I got a post-op infection so it was straight to A&E, admission again to hospital, reopening the incision, then another two weeks of antibiotics and total exhaustion, then a series of ailments one after another (stomach bug, cold, another stomach bug etc etc) which were diagnosed finally as being unrelated - my immune system was just so zonked by the weeks and weeks of antibiotics and not enough rest that I was getting every bug going round. I also had a few days in London at the Cromwell Hospital having a second round of tests privately just to make sure everything was ok. But with lots of rest, quite a few days where I just stayed in bed, fed Pirran and read my way through all 20 or so of the Patrick O'Brien novels, I'm on the mend and ready to rejoin MN the world.
Luckily Pirran is happy and healthy, and enormous - he was 14lbs at 7 weeks, and MIL said she weighed him this morning and he had put on another pound or so since then 
I feel really proud that we've kept up breastfeeding, even though Pirran had to have formula each time I was in the hospital because the medication I was on was no good for him - he took straight to the breast again each time I came home which has been heartening and enormously encouraging.
And quick tip - if you ever have an admission to hospital for a non-maternity reason, request a breast pump. They will freak out slightly and give you a private room, thinking you need privacy and quiet to express milk, not realising that you will happily breastfeed in Starbucks and have no modesty left!! I couldn't figure out why I was lucky enough to keep getting private rooms until one of the nurses mentioned it!
After a day at the US Embassy in London getting Pirran his US citizenship on Monday we drove down to Cornwall, staying with my MIL for half term - she gets a week of cuddles and laughs from grandson as my mother has had a good six weeks of him and has returned to the States for a rest for 10 days. And now we are about to eat dinner so I shall away - but I will now be returning regularly!
Much love to you all and thanks for the encouragement and pompoms everyone - I will now catch myself up on everyone's news and views. It's good to be back!!