09:54 GMT

  This morning has started off very cold at around 3° C, and probably lower earlier on because there was a fair frost when I looked outside after sunrise. The forecast says sunny periods now, but it feels like the sun has been shining for the last half hour, and it is even contributing to warming my room. The sunshine/sunny spells could continue until sunset, but they will only help raise the afternoon temperature to 9° C. By midnight the temperature may fall to 4° C, and continue falling in the night. For 1am tomorrow the forecast is saying "mist", and just 3° C. The temperature may not fall any further, but the most may continue until 9am tomorrow. The rest of tomorrow may see some sunny spells, but the afternoon may only reach 8° C. At 4pm it will start to get cloudy, and a few hours later it could get very cloudy. There may be some drizzle towards the end of tomorrow, but the temperature should stay at around 6° C and so too warm for any snow.

  With me very early (4am) start yesterday, I was unable to write anything, and there is no entry for the 26th of this month. It was quite an eventful day yesterday, but sadly it did not end well - except I was home from hospital at least a day earlier than expected, and I treated myself to a very rare treat of Pizza with some (rather expensive) side dishes. It was quite a feast, but more about that later.

  All my preparations the day before yesterday paid off, and I was easily ready to be picked up at 5am by "Patient Transport" to be taken to Kings College Hospital. 5am was the estimated time, but the real time was closer to 6am. It was the start of a very tedious journey. We had to pick up 2 or 3 more patients on the way. One patient was in a new build house in a new estate near the Millwall Football Ground. Those new estates are all cul-de-sacs, and it seems things are poorly documented on many maps. We wasted ages trying to find the little road where the pick up was, and the co-driver had to get out a couple of times to try and find the correct front door.

  Eventually the lady, in a wheelchair was found, and added to the compliment on the bus. There was one more after her, but that was only a short stop. We still arrived at the hospital quite early. One handy things was I was talking to another patient, and he said he was due to report to the Cardiac Cath Lab the same as me. Even better was that he said he knew the route through to hospital well. I ignored the offer of a wheelchair, and walked with the other patient. It is easier to see where you are going when walking, and I am confident I can do that route again unaided.

  We arrived at the Cardiac Cath Lab, and the receptionist ticked us off her list - and then we waited ! Eventually it was the receptionist who guided 2 or 3 of us down the corridor to Cardiac suite 4. It was not a long walk, and the receptionist has a wonky leg, so it was easy for us all to keep up with her - no wheelchairs needed !

  In suite 4 we were given a bed each and gowns to put on. Then the waiting started again. Suite 4 has only 4 beds in it. It was some time, maybe 10am (our appointments were all for 8am) before the first person, a lady, was taken into the theatre on he bed. (not sure if they call it one, but it is a convenient name - and it turned out to be quite appropriate for the unfortunate lady).

  After an hour or two ofboredom I suggested to one of the nurses that it might be nice if we were give some sort of idea when we would be seen. I was told I was provisionally booked for 12:30. That didn't seem such a long wait, and I tried to snooze, but I think I may have only managed a few seconds of sleep until something woke me again. Meanwhile a lot of time was passing, and I had a sort of feeling that something was wrong, and it was.

  The ladies procedure involved a pacemaker wire being placed in the heart. piecing together fragments of stuff I overheard, it seems it had caused her heart to bleed into the pericardium, a sack of skin around the heart. As that fills with blood it exerts pressure on the heart. It meant they had to cut her open to make repairs, and that took a lot of time. Fortunately, unlike what the wonderful nurse Lucy told me last Friday, we were all due to have a general anaesthetic for our procedures.

  With the lady already under full anaesthetic they could go straight in and do what what was needed. The most important thing was a drain tube fitted. I think the lady had quite a surprise when she came around and found her gown soaked in blood, and several nurses plus a cardiologist or two around her bed. What I didn't find out is whether the original work on her was carried out as well. That little emergency messed all the schedules up, and it was the lovely Lucy who drew the short straw to tell me and another woman that our procedures had been cancelled.

  That other woman had come all the way from Herne Bay in G4S ambulance to be there - a very long journey that I think she said started at 3am. She had more to be annoyed about than me. It gave a common thing to chat about about, and she was the only patient I chatted with during my stay there. We compared notes about out journeys there, and stuff like that. I think we were due the same procedure - the TAVI procedure, or fitting of a new heart valve.

  Despite it ending on a disaster (and haven't got to the ride home yet) there was some good stuff that came out of it. One was the clarification that we could drink plain water up to about an hour before we were due in the theatre - the notes we were given suggested no drinking after midnight before. I admitted I had sipped water long after that, but I tried to keep it to a minimum. I was then offered a glass of water, but told not to empty it in one go.

  Before everything went wrong we had ordered food for the day. The usual thing is a sandwich to eat once we came round from the anaesthetic enough, and a full dinner for the evening. I ordered a tuna and mayonnaise sandwich, and it was sitting in the fridge waiting for me. I was rather hungry after fasting from 3 or 4pm the previous day, and so once our procedures were cancelled the sandwiches were dished out straight away. never before has a  tuna and mayonnaise sandwich tasted so good !

  There was one thing me and the woman from Herne Bay had to do before leaving, and that was to give more blood samples, To this day we could not work out why. It was only last Friday when we had given blood samples, bit it seems the rules are that blood samples, even if vistually duplicates, needed to be given before out procedures now booked for next Tuesday (and hopefully we will be the first to be seen this time). The nurse who took my blood samples was possibly a phlebotomist because she was very skilled - blood first time, and very little pain.

  We both had transport home arranged for us, and we parted company. I was walked through (I said I still didn't need a wheelchair) through some staff only corridors that came out to the main Cardiac Catheter Lab Reception which all the drivers are supposed to know (mine didn't last Friday). I knew the man was in the building somewhere because he had phoned me to ask if I was ready, but it was a long wait until he arrived - pushing a wheelchair that I didn't need.

  I had made a decision that if I continued to keep walking, instead of giving in to a wheelchair it would help keep my leg muscles topped up. If I got any chest pains it is easy to stop and wait for a bit. So when the man finally arrived I said I would need to use the wheelchair and I followed him on foot to a lift that goes down to the other big entrance to the hospital - and where all the transport park their mini buses. That was another bit of hospital I think I have learned for another time.

  When we reach the van he gave me the choice of two seats (he already had 3 patients (on in a wheelchair) on board). I had the choice of a forward facing seat in the back, or a rear facing seat in the front. I chose the seat in the back. Despite giving a better view of where we going, it was a poor choice. It was really cramped and my knees were constantly bang the back of the seat in front. I was feeling quite sore before the journey home was half done. I managed to part swivel around despite the seat belt, and that cured bashing my knees bit was a bit uncomfortable in other ways.

  There were three drop off on the way before I reached home by a very confused route. At one point we crossed the south circular, and did a big loop around Dulwich before rejoining it. I can't imagine the direct route being slower, and at about 3pm I am sure it would have been a lot quicker. Eventually we were going through Catford, and getting nearer home. I began to to think of what I had left in the freezer that I could have for dinner when I got in. Then I had another idea !

  We arrived outside my house, and the only way out without climbing over the wheelchair user was to go out the back of the bus. That meant going down the wheelchair ramp. The last time I tried that was when it was raining, and it seemed so slippery I ended up grabbing the driver before I came crashing down. In the dry there is a lot more grip, but the slope is such that I found myself speeding up, and once again I had to use the driver as a brake to slow me down, although I don't thing I would have fallen over this time.

  It was a joy to open my front door, and to go inside....well actually some of that joy evaporated when I found how cold it was indoors. My bedroom seemed particularly cold, and I had to put the heater on full power for a few hours to get it comfortable in just a t-short and trousers.  My other idea for my dinner was to order some pizza. I had had a flyer through my front door a few days ago, and I had not thrown it away despite thinking how all the pictures looked so temptation.

  Last night I gave in to temptation, and ordered one big pizza and quite a selection of side dishes. It was ruinously expensive...or so it seemed. When I realised I had actually ordered enough for two dinners it didn't seem so bad. If I had not been on intent on being a glutton after so much fasting, I could have got three small dinners out of it. That would have made it seem a lot more economical.

  Delivery was fairly quick, and I had just about got my bedroom, where I intended to eat my dinner in front of my PC while catching up on stuff, had just about warmed up enough (although still not very warm) to make eating more comfortable. Part of the reason for eating at my PC in my bedroom was to avoid heating up other unneeded rooms.

  I ended up eating most of the side dishes, and only a single slice of the big (12") pizza I bought. It felt like I had far too much, but not in a being stuffed way, but far too much to go unnoticed when I weighed myself, and checked my blood glucose this morning. In terms of blood glucose, I don't supposed to two or so big spiced rums I had last night did much good.

  During the evening, or some of it, I watched my usual evening TV fare, but by 9pm I was feeling the call of my bed. I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before (with my 4am start to the day) and if I got one second of sleep in the hospital I would be surprised. I expect to get a really solid sleep last night, and in parts I did get some good sleep. I also decided I didn't have to get up at all this morning if it felt better to stay in bed. I did have a bit of a lie in, but I think I still got up soon after 8am (and possibly before).

  This morning I got a surprise. Despite believe I had over eaten last night, I had lost over a kilogram (1.1kg to be precise) since yesterday morning. I think that proves the benefit of some extra walking, and some fasting. My blood glucose measurements were still a mini disaster. The highest reading was 9.1mmol/l, and that is quite bad (although a little short of very bad). The other two were 8.4 and 8.7mmol/l. Although the latter is close to 9, I continue to regard any reading starting with an 8 to be "good enough".

  My blood pressure is pretty good this morning, although only an hour has passed since I had a double portion of instant noodles for breakfast, and eating always lowers my blood pressure. This morning it was 113/57, and I think that could be described as very good, but I am no expert.

  My plan for today was to walk through the park to the Jolly Farmers. Maybe it was my big breakfast, but I don't think I can do that walk with anything like pleasure, and walking home with few pints of Guinness swilling around in me could make for an uncomfortable walk home. What I may still do is a much short walk to Tesco, but as I come to the end ofn this morning's writing I feel like a snooze could be coming on.

   2,531 words today.