09:04 GMT

  The forecast shows a couple of spells of rain this morning, but so far it seems to have stayed dry. There has been a lot of blue sky so far this morning, maybe as much as 50% of the sky. Of course that still means clouds getting in the way of the sun, and so it is not as sunny as it could be. The day started at approximately 6° C, but the afternoon should see 10° C, and in any sunshine that might feel pleasant. Towards midnight the chances of rain increase, but most of the day should be dry. There could be light rain in the night, and it may continue until about 8am tomorrow. No sunshine is shown for tomorrow, but most of it is shown as dry and cool. The temperature may peak at 10° C for a single hour at 2pm.

  A lot of yesterday felt almost normal. I still had an occasional dry tickle in my throat that cause a bit of coughing, but I seem to be completely over the Covid style wet coughing. That probably made me feel better, and closer to normality, but there was still my underlying heart valve problem that acts as a brake on anything more than very light activity.

  Maybe the most significant thing about yesterday morning was a finally got under the shower for a very long overdue wash of both my body and my hair. I can't understand why I put it off for so long. The washing itself used a small amount of effort, and towelling myself dry afterwards used more effort. Maybe I was avoiding that effort, but the reality was that it was not hard at all, although that is not to say it left me completely unscathed. I really wanted to lie down and snooze afterwards, but I had other things to do.

  Those other things were to talk to medical people on the phone. I mentioned yesterday that I had spoken to the Group Practice pharmacy expert, and that she had read my discharge papers from Lewisham Hospital, and had sorted out my repeat prescriptions to have all the right drugs at the right strength. The first prescription has been sent to the pharmacy in the Group Practice building, and I hope I will pick it up on Monday. It can be one of the short walks I want to do to get some strength back in my legs.

  I also had a call from the Lung Cancer Screening programme wondering why I had not responded to a letter sent me a week or so ago. I explained to a very cheerful sounding lady about waiting for my heart valve replacement was my primary objective. She said that was fine, and has recorded that I do want the screening, but maybe in 5 months time. One interesting thing is that the old mobile Xray vans, originally for checking on TB have been retired, and that lung screening is now done with mobile CT scanners.

  I asked if it was done in Lewisham Hospital, where they do have some fixed CT scanners, but was told I would ultimately be going to a large supermarket carpark where the scanner lorry would be parked. I just hope that when the time comes it is somewhere local on a good train or bus route.

  The chat I had with the lady was amusing to me, and I am sure it was amusing to her. The prime thing was my odd situation regarding smoking. I said that I had not smoked a cigarette since 1st September 2013, and so could be considered an ex-smoker, but then I told her about my pact with the heart surgeon who did my quad bypass operation. In that pact I said it would be too much of psychological to just stop, but it would be easy to pause smoking until my 80th birthday. I told the lady that on my 80th birthday I fully intended to smoke one cigarette even though I would probably cough so much that it might kill me. The amusing trouble was that the questionnaire she was reading from had no answer for "paused" - it wanted either current or ex smoker. I think she put me down as ex.

  I also spoke to someone from Kings College Hospital (at least I think I did it yesterday, but it might have been the day before). The good news is that on the 23rd I have an appointment at Kings to assess my suitability for the Tavi procedure to replace my heart valve. Now the odd thing is that I thought I had already done that, and that is why I was on a 3 to 4 week waiting list. If the assessment proves OK I may be offered the procedure on the 27th.

  My afternoon was close to normal - after some tidying up in the dining room, and washing some glasses, I had a fairly typical "beer club" session with Jodie and Michael. Michael suggested he might only pop by to drop me off some bottles of Diet Coke I asked if he could get me, but once lured inside he stayed the usual time. We had some good and not so good beers. With a few of the beers being as strong at 10.8% I should have got quite drunk, although it has to be remembered that all bottles are shared three ways.

  When the drinking was over I had a very special dinner to look forward to. I wanted something a little healthier, and maybe a bit less fattening than some of my recent meals. I found the answer when I investigated what I had in the freezer. (I had wanted to eat the non frozen food first before it went off (although two things that had only been stored in the fridge half of the fridge/freezer were past the point that I would dare eat them.

  What I found in the freezer was a bag of sprouts with bacon and (I think) maple syrup. I cooked the whole (smallish) bag in a foil container in the oven. I followed the suggested 25 minutes cooking, but they were still a bit chewy. This morning I had some evidence I had made a good choice. I ate dinner, as usual, watching TV, and I continued to watch TV until about 10pm when I very much looked forward to going to bed.

  I think I made a tragic mistake when I went to bed. I felt a strong desire to have an erotic dream about some of the very nurses who had cared for me in hospital. I concentrated on all their good points, and started storyboarding a plan for a dream. The plan failed when I started thinking about aspects of being in hospital. My brain got into a sort of loop, and I could not get to sleep until about 3am - which is a stupid time to try and get a good sleep. This morning I feel very bleurgh.

  Despite getting to sleep so stupidly late, I still woke up around 6 or 7am, and I think it was for a pee, but I was so bleary it could have been a dream. On the other hand I did refresh the weather forecast on my web browser before going back to bed. I confirmed I had done that when I got up a few hours later, and so that bit could not have been a dream.

  Having those sprouts for my dinner last night did have at least some of the desired results (as well as one not quite so desired). My blood glucose readings were particularly good this morning. The three meters read 6.9, 7.9, and 6.8mmol/l. That averages to 7.2mmol/l. Yesterday the average was 7.6mmol/l, and so this morning was a small improvement. It was also the lowest average this month.

  The beer was probably responsible for no reduction in weight, and in fact I seemed to gain 300gm. I am hoping that once I am able to exercise I may be able to get back on track with the weights I was when in hospital - as much as a whole 2kg lighter. Of course things could have been worse. Those sprouts have passed right through me, and after three visits to the toilet I have to confess my bottom is rather sore.

  This morning my blood pressure is a fairly decent 120/44 with a pulse rate  of 58 bpm. One curiosity is that there is a little symbol on the blood pressure meter screen that indicates some flutter detected in the heart. It has been showing up most times since I my heart valve started to "mis-fire", but is absent this morning. I am unsure why, but I am very certain that my heart valve has not repaired itself....although strong Belgium beer has some remarkable properties.

  It is still nice and bright, albeit rather cold outside. I had been thinking along the lines of trying a short walk today. Maybe it might be just to the station to pick up a copy of The Metro, or possibly even a small shopping trip to Tesco. It is not going to happen straight away. Once I have finished writing that I want to flop down on my bed and have a snooze. After that I want to have a shower. This time there is the added incentive of washing my bottom which is a bit too sore to fully scrub with toilet paper (although I did as much as I could tolerate it).

  Once washed I could go out for a short walk, and one part of me says it has to be done to try and restore the muscle tone of my legs, but the other half of me says it will be too hard, and I don't want to do it. I shall try and think of some incentive to tip the balance, but for now my bed awaits me.








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