07:20 GMT

  Most of today wills see light rain or drizzle. The afternoon high may be just 9° C, and the ends of the day 7° C. Tomorrow may start a little colder, but it should reach 9° C in the early afternoon. There may be some sunny spells.

  I didn't do a lot yesterday, and the highlight of the day was the "Thursday Club" beer tasting session with Jodie, Alan, Michael and Mark late in the afternoon.

  There was one thing I did do yesterday, and that was to try and eat sensibly. My lunch was a single Pannini roll that I part toasted, and filled with cheese, beef and mustard. My dinner was a single little pot of Ramen with chilli and coconut. I did have a dessert after dinner of ice cream. It was all generally satisfying.
   I started my beer drinking with two 0% beers - an alcohol free (Aldi) supermarket lager, which tasted a bit like fizzy pee, and a can of alcohol free Guinness. Previous times I have tasted the Guinness it hasn't seemed too bad, but it was mildly unpleasant last night. Next to the lager can is a very small glass that was probably for serving some liqueur, or something like port. It is just big enough for a mouthful and a half of beer, and I used that for tasting the real beer. At other times I just drank chilled water.
  I was joined by (left to right) Michael, Mark, Alan and Jodie. It was getting quite cozy in my small dining room ! If I put the table in the middle of the room I could have got more around it, but the table is against the wall. It was good to have others as well as Jodie - she does does disappear into her phone a lot, and that can be boring.

  I think we finished at about 7pm, and I had my small dinner (the little pot of Ramen noodles and stuff) while watching Star Trek on TV. I watched TV until 10pm. By then I was feeling really tired. I was soon asleep, but I woke up quite frequently to pee. I am unsure why, but I peed an awful lot last night. I wondered if I was suffering from very high blood glucose, but that didn't turn out to be the reason. Another possibility was the powerful diuretic I am prescribed was finally doing it's stuff. Prior to last night, if it was that, I barely noticed it doing anything.

  This morning I had to force myself to get up extra early so I am ready for my Patient Transport to hospital that should pick me up around 8.45am (it is why I am trying to keep this very brief). (just had a phone call to say my transport will be here in about 55 minutes). All my peeing in the night meant quite a useful weight loss - 1.2kg - which is a lot. My blood glucose is not hight, but nice and low. The average of all three meters was 6.43mmol/l. That is very slightly higher than yesterday's 6.17mmol/l, but that was one of my lowest days recently.

  This morning I do not feel very good. Some of it is stress about the visit to Kings. That has driven up my blood pressure to 146/64. That is described as "Mild Hypertension" on my blood pressure meter. It is high, but not disaster level. There are two other problems. One is that I really wish I could have had more sleep, and the more annoying thing is that I feel constipated. Yesterday it took until almost mid morning before I went for a poo because I felt constipated then too. On that occasion it felt like I had passed half a house brick ! I don't think that will be the case today, but I would really prefer it is I could do the needed before my transport arrives.

  I was not sure I would have time to write this, but by somehow managing to keep it briefer then usual I seem to have finished it with some time still to spare. Now I have to upload it all to my server, and wait until my transport arrives. As far as I know I will be home again today, probably by early evening, possibly even earlier. The next major thing should be having my heart valve replacement procedure on the 27th. That will need several days in hospital, maybe less than a week, but it all depends.....








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