09:00 GMT

  This morning has started off bright, and large areas of the sky are blue. Apparently it should be raining. There was definitely rain during the night, and the road is still looking wet, but it seems like it would be unlikely to rain this morning. At this point it is worth consulting the Met Office forecast for a slightly more optimistic forecast (although still possibly wrong). It says light rain this morning as well, but from midday, and the next few hours it predicts it will be dry with sunny spells. It still predicts the afternoon will only be 10° C, the same as the BBC forecast (as seen above). For tomorrow the BBC predicts rain or drizzle all day, but the Met Office predicts mostly dry until 5pm, and then some lightb rain lasting into the evening. Both forecast predict and afternoon high of just 10° C again.

  Yesterday's rain, even if not heavy, and with scattered dry periods, was enough to make me want to stay indoors. The possibility, or even likelihood of chest pains was one negative, and the rain doubled the negative. It was easier, and still productive to stay in the warm, get a few snoozes in, and generally rest, but not exclusively. My day is described more fully in my complete archived page for today.

 08:56 GMT

  This morning has started off bright, and large areas of the sky are blue. Apparently it should be raining. There was definitely rain during the night, and the road is still looking wet, but it seems like it would be unlikely to rain this morning. At this point it is worth consulting the Met Office forecast for a slightly more optimistic forecast (although still possibly wrong). It says light rain this morning as well, but from midday, and the next few hours it predicts it will be dry with sunny spells. It still predicts the afternoon will only be 10° C, the same as the BBC forecast (as seen above). For tomorrow the BBC predicts rain or drizzle all day, but the Met Office predicts mostly dry until 5pm, and then some lightb rain lasting into the evening. Both forecast predict and afternoon high of just 10° C again.

  Yesterday was rather a good day, and the reason for that was that I was feeling good. In this instance "good" really means better than recently, and in a physical way rather than just feeling happy. The big test of this was a walk to and from Tesco. That and other stuff is all described in my complete archived page for today.

 09:37 GMT

  The Met Office forecast showed mist and I think saw fog mentioned for one hour this morning. At about daybreak there was some light mist, but it cleared fairly soon. It was cold enough for some frost on exposed surfaces this morning, but it is slowly warming up. However the best we can hope for is just 7° C for a mere two hours in the middle of the day. No sunshine is forecast for today, but I can see patches of blue sky, and the sun is trying to shine as I write this. It is funny how the headline says light cloud (which it is at the moment) and yet over half of the symbols on the chart show black clouds. It make me wonder how accurate it is. Anyway, it seems likely that this evening will see some rain. That rain could continue through the night, and tomorrow is shown as being mostly wet. On the plus side (almost) tomorrow may see an afternoon peak of 10° C.

  Yesterday was good although it could be described as bad because I didn't do a couple of important things I thought I would do. One was to walk through the park to The Jolly Farmers. All I did end up doing is more fully described in my complete archived page for today.

 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 my 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. The rest of my day is more fully described in my complete archived page for today.

 08:48 GMT

  With just 4° C forecast for this morning I wondered if sheltered spots might see a touch of frost. I didn't see any, and that is because I think the morning started closer to 6° C. It is certainly very dull outside, and it looks like it should be raining. Despite the look of the sky, the first rain may not fall until 9pm, and then only as drizzle. Nearly the whole day is forecast to be 7° C (it is 6° C as I write this). Update: The forecast has been revised, and now the first rain may fall at 7pm. Tomorrow is forecast to be very wet, and a "weather warning" has been issued with warning of flooding etc. The current forecast for tomorrow shows a 100% chance of heavy rain until 11am. After that the rain may start to dry up, and by 4pm it could be dry (until midnight). The morning may start at 6° C, and most of the afternoon could be 9° C.

  Yesterday could almost have been a day of rest, but things did get slightly busy in the afternoon. I might have felt very good in the morning if it were not for some annoying, but not very uncomfortable constipation. As usual, my day is more fully described in my complete archived page for today.

 09:14 GMT

  It was, and still is 7° C this morning, but it will soon rise to 8° C.  This is still not great, and there is the added negative effect of persistent light rain. So far it has been very light rain - just enough to make the road look wet, and keep the puddles topped up. The rain may finally stop at 6pm, but it will still be cloudy, and the temperature will drop to 7° C, and then even lower to just 5° C by midnight. Tomorrow may start at 4° C, and that could be low enough for some frost in sheltered parts. It will be a cloudy day, sometimes with very dark grey clouds, but it is currently forecast to stay dry until 8pm. The afternoon high may be just 7° C, and after a small dip in the early evening, it will be back to 7° C by 9pm.

  Yesterday was generally a day of relaxation. As such there is not a great deal to say about the day. There is a bit to say about my eating, but that only to tally with my blood glucose and weight this morning. I seemed to spend most of the time doing very little. All I did do, which was probably mostly eating, but there was other stuff like dreams, is described in my complete archived page for today.

 09:09 GMT

  This morning is a bit cool at just 6° C, but there are some sunny spells. The last of the sunny spells will be around sunset, but then the clouds will thicken and there will be light rain that will continue into the night. Once again the afternoon temperature will be a semi mild, but not warm enough to be comfortable, 9° C.  Tomorrow may start at 7° C, but it will be a slightly colder day with only 8° C forecast for the afternoon. There will be scattered showers. The last shower may be at 4pm. After that the clouds will thin, and there could be just light cloud for the rest of the day.

  Yesterday was a far better day than I imagined it might be. There were some mild downsides like travelling to and from Kings College Hospital, but my assessment went really well, and it is confirmed that I will have my TAVI procedure on Tuesday 27th January at the very early time of 8am (or at least that is when I have to report for it). The full version of today can be read in my complete archived page for today.

 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. More about this, and a few pictures, plus more about my day and last night, and even this morning, can be read in my complete archived page for today.

 09:09 GMT

  This morning has started with some drizzle, but light rain should take over soon, and the light rain should continue until 9pm. The rest of the day should be dry. This morning the temperature is 9° C, and for a few hours in the afternoon it will be 10° C. After that the temperature will slowly fall, and reach 7° C by 11pm. The highest temperature tomorrow could be just 8° C, and much of the day will feature more light rain or drizzle.

  An early start tomorrow will mean I may not be able to write anything until much later in the day. I am being transported to Kings College Hospital for another pre-assessment for my TAVI procedure. That should take place on Tuesday 27th.

  Yesterday was a satisfactory day, or maybe it was a bit better than satisfactory. I did some useful stuff, and did some stuff that made my chest hurt, but being at home it was easy to take a rest for as long as needed when my chest hurt. My day is described more fully in my complete archived page for today.

 09:33 GMT

  This morning has started with rain, and the rain will continue until the end of the day (and most of tomorrow). Today's temperature is rising from 7° C this morning to 10° C by 5pm. It will stay there until it falls a single degree in the night. Tomorrow starts at 9° C, and will peak at 10° C by 1pm. Like today it will rain all day long (almost, it may be dry by 10pm). It is possible, although unlikely there could be a few brief bright intervals between showers in the afternoon, but that may be clarified tomorrow with the latest forecast.

  I was going to say that yesterday was a mix of good and bad, but maybe bad and not so bad would be more accurate. I guess there were some good bits yesterday......The good and bad, or as much as I can remember of them, are more fully described in my complete archived page for today.

 08:18 GMT

  To the west the sky looks dark and cloudy, but to the east the cloud is broken enough to let through some nice sunshine. The forecast says the sunshine will improve, although still only sunny spells, just after midday. It will only take the temperature up to 10° C, but depending on the wind, that could feel OK. From 4pm the chance of rain increases, and light rain is shown from 9pm. That may turn to heavy rain by 11pm. It looks like tomorrow may feature rain all day long, although all of it is shown as light rain. Tomorrow afternoon may see 10° C by 2pm, and most of the late afternoon and evening will be the same.

  Yesterday was good and bad - and much of it was bad. I guess the day started fairly good apart from the annoying weight gain. It felt like the sort of day when I would have a shower and go shopping in Tesco. That is exactly what I did, but that walk made my chest hurt. The complete version of today's piece can be read in my archived copy for today.

 08:07 GMT

  Another mostly dull day, but this afternoon looks like it will be wet. The afternoon may see 11° C for a couple of hours, but it will soon fall to 9° C by 5pm. Despite the weather symbols for midday, 2 and 3pm, it seems unlikely we will see any sunshine today. It is possible that a few hours tomorrow may feature some sunshine, but dull and dry is a fair description of most of the day. Tomorrow afternoon may rise to 10° C, but most of the morning will be just 8° C, and most of teh afternoon and evening will be 9° C (pretty much the same as today)

  Yesterday was yet another day when I didn't feel like going shopping in Tesco....and it was more the case that I couldn't be bothered to try rather than any great conviction that I couldn't actually do it (although I will admit I had my doubts). It was still a semi productive day. My day is more fully described in my complete archived page for today.

 09:32 GMT

  The temperature did not fall much in the night. It was 8° C according to my thermometers, although the forecast said it was 7° C. It was all thanks, if that is the right word, to thick cloud - cloud that will make most of today rather grey, although the forecast does say 3pm, and only 3pm, may have a few sunny spells. Once again the afternoon will only be just 10° C, and by midnight it may be just 7° C. Tomorrow morning may start at 6° C, and once again it may warm up to 10° C at lunchtime. The whole of tomorrow may be grey, but no rain is shown, although the chance of rain does rise to 27% in the evening.

  Yesterday had the potential to be a good and useful day, but it didn't happen. There were two sides to the problem. One was that I could not raise the enthusiasm to do stuff I thought I would try and do. What is did do, and more about my day is all described in my complete archived page for today.

 09:40 GMT

  There was evidence that there was rain in the night. The road outside looked wet, and I could see some rain drops glistening on the leaves of some succulents in my back garden. The rain seems to have passed now, and the forecast says the rest of today will be dull, but dry. The afternoon will, once again, reach 10° C, and like yesterday will slowly fall away to just 6° C. There will be a small chance (21%) of rain by then. Apart from some drizzle at 9am, tomorrow is shown as dry, but grey. Once again we will see a similar temperature range - the afternoon should reach 10° C, and it will be just 7° C at midnight.

  Throwing off my Covid infection has made life seem closer to normal. I still have to contend with my faulty heart valve, but while I avoid too much effort/exercise (basically being mostly lazy) it has no bearing on my life. This means that some normality has returned to my life. Yesterday was another day when I was happy to do a few normal things. My whole day is described in my complete archived page for today.

 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. More of my day is described in my complete archived page for today.

 10:24 GMT

  During the night the temperature may not have gone below 8° C, and although not really mild, it was enough that my bedroom, with heater running all night on low, was very warm this morning. It is sometime hard to tell if it is actually raining, or whether the puddles are from earlier rain, while indoors. I think it is raining now, and the forecast says it will rain all day long. Some of it may be heavy rain. Most of the day will be a constant 9° C, but by 9pm it will start to fall. The rain could stop quite early in the night, and clear skies mean that tomorrow may start at 5° C. Most of tomorrow could be dry, and the afternoon could see some sunny spells, but the temperature may only be 9° C again. Rain could resume at 9pm, and the temperature then could be just 7° C.

  The day before yesterday I said I was beginning to see some improvement in how I felt. This was both true and false. I definitely seem to have thrown off the effects of Covid - far less coughing, and very little mucus - but It still left me feeling a bit tired. The rest of today's writing can be read in my complete archived page for today.

 11:21 GMT

  There has been some lovely bright sunshine today, and it should continue until just after midday. The reason is clear skies, and that has let the temperature fall low enough for a frost that still remains on some sheltered shed roofs. The forecast says it was just 1° C at 9am, and I would guess even lower before that. As I write this my thermometers say it is barely above 4° C. From 4pm rain may return, and although only light rain is shown it could continue well into the night. Tomorrow's forecast shows rain all day, and the temperature no higher than 9° C.

  I began to see some improvement in how I felt yesterday, but some hours were better and some worse. It definitely felt that I was coughing less, and coughing up less mucus. If nothing else it showed hope for the future. I still felt very tired though. My complete writing for today can be read in my complete archived page for today.

 09:34 GMT

  This morning it is most definitely wet. So far I have only seen persistent light rain, but heavier rain could be starting soon. Once again the afternoon temperature should be 11° C, but tonight the temperature is shown as falling to just 4° C by 4am. Tomorrow could start very cold, maybe just 2° C, but the sky will be clear, and once the sun has risen it should be a bright sunny morning. From mid afternoon tomorrow rain will resume. Most of it should be light rain, and some may be just drizzle. Tomorrow's high could be just 6° C.

  There were a few times yesterday when I almost felt normal (whatever that is), but at other times I was feeling quite ill - tiredness, a lack of energy, and my chest lightly congested with mucus. Considering I am fighting two things, my faulty heart valve, and the continuing, but lessening effects of my Covid infection, I judge I am doing fairly well. The full account of yesterday can be read in my archived page for today.

 09:51 GMT

  There seems to be some fine drizzle as I type this, and that is almost as forecast. Compared to yesterday it is almost not cold, although an afternoon high of 11° C can't be regarded as warm. The current rain may continue as light rain or drizzle until 2pm when there will be a small respite until another single hour of drizzle at 4pm. By midnight the temperature may drop again to just 9° C (but still better than the day before when it seemed to be perishing cold). Tomorrow is going to be dull, and with mostly light rain later in the afternoon. Most of tomorrow will see 9 to 11° C.

  While there were some occasional improvements in how I felt yesterday, I still felt physically low. Although much of it could be blamed on my faulty heart valve, it also felt like I had a cold. The Covid I had still rears it's head as chesty mucus, with some coughing. It is now more like the common cold, and so includes some sniffles.

   The overall thing is a feeling of weakness, and lack of stamina. Some of that can be blamed on being fairly inactive at hospital for around 3 weeks. My big project remains unfinished because ao that lack of energy. It was to hand wash quite a big pile of underpants and a couple of t-shirts. I got as far as the second rinse before I had to lie down and have a snooze. It is very easy to have a snooze in the current circumstances. I was getting practised before this latest health episode started, and now with the added weakness of my faulty heart valve, it is stupidly easy to close my eyes and snooze.

  The only thing I did too much of yesterday was over eating - not always in quantity, but definitely in naughty stuff. For instance I ate far too much chocolate. It is good that I have eaten much of the chocolate in the larder, and so unless I go to the shops to buy more, my consumption will drop sharply. I hope I have better control than yesterday and my consumption will drop very low by shear will power (!!).

  One thing I have to do today is to assess what might still be edible in the larder portion of my fridge/freezer. Much of it is past it's use by date now. Some, like some Pannini rolls will be stale but unless covered with green, they can be toasted and revived. The fish pie ready meal could be a lot dodgier. Being fish it will be very obvious that it is now fox food. I don't feel like going out shopping just yet, but fortunately I have quite a bit of stuff to use in the freezer.

  One reason, beyond feeling weak and tired, for not going shopping is that after being home on my third day today, I still have not had a shower for over a week, and I know I must stink. Once I finish washing my underpants and t-shirts, I look forward to a good scrub under the shower. Washing and conditioning my hair will also feel good, but I have to get the hand laundry big buckets out of the bath tub first.

   I expected to show a lot more pictures of my stay in hospital today, but some are still on my phone, and some are not that interesting.


  This picture, taken on 8th January, is of me looking cheerful/content/bright eyed, or something, while sitting in the chair beside my hospital bed. I can't remember what inspired me to take the picture unless it was to attach to a message to someone like Angela to show I was still alive, and could see the funny side of the situation.

  I have to say that for most of the time I did indeed feel cheerful. I seem to be well practised at sitting around in hospitals these days, and have almost acquired a Zen like patience about it.

  There was one occasion when my cool slipped a bit. All the blood thinners I was on caused some internal/intestinal bleeding (black stools !!). I was scheduled for an endoscopic examination to see how bad it was, and where the bleeding was coming from.

  An Endoscope is a long tube with a camera at the end. It can go down the throat or up the bottom. Going up the bottom is rather undignified, and probably a little uncomfortable, but I did not consider it a problem. I did consider it a big problem for it going down my throat, and it was all to do with a childhood memory.

  I was probably around 10 years old when I was hospitalised with suspected appendicitis for a few days. It was actually wind and or constipation ! The children's ward was full and I was put in an adult ward full of old men with their smokers coughs and terrible snoring. Opposite me was an old man who I am guessing needed some sort of feeding tube inserted into his stomach. He kicked up a hell of a fuss about it, and it really scared 10 year old me.

  I remembered this on the morning I was due to go to the endoscope suite. Knowing why I felt so scared about it helped to keep me calm. The only insertion was down my throat, and it was not nearly as bad as I feared. It was almost comfortable. I was able to see the pictures the camera was sending back as I laid there, and I do remember the view settling on something pink, but nothing I could identify.

  Much later I learned that it was a bleeding ulcer. The Endoscopist "photographer" seemed happy he had found the problem and I didn't get the endoscope up my bottom. I am surprised that the ulcer could have bled so much without causing any pains, but I am now on a regular dose of Esemprazole (name from memory, and probably spelled wrong) which "protects my stomach" from ulcers.
  One exciting thing was a ride in a CT scanner. Actually, compared to the MRI scan I had last year (approx) it was not very exciting. Within the circular tube, that goes around the body, is an X-ray tune that whizzes around on sort of train tracks that also feed the very high voltage and a fair amount of current that the X-ray tube needs.

  It is an elegantly simple idea, but the real secret is the image procession to turn the X-ray imaging into a 3D picture. Originally that would have cost a fortune in computing power,  but these days could probably be done on a laptop. The machines still cost a fortune for something that a good engineer could knock up in his shed from scrap.

  The CT scanner was actually in Kings College Hospital. I had a day trip there to be assessed for a heart valve replacement. The heart valve is mostly metal and folded up like a bit of origami. It is pushed through an artery in the upper thigh to the heart itself. It is how stents are fitted, but it is bigger than a stent, and the CT scan was imaging my arteries in the groinal area to see if they were big enough - I later learned they are !

  I had two results from that visit to Kings College. The first was that I was a suitable candidate for the replacement heart valve, and I am now on a 3 to 4 week (roughly estimated) waiting list. I will be sent a letter with the details as and when. The other thing was that in the estimation of the Kings College cardiologists there was no need for me to be kept in hospital. My vital signs were stable, and they recommended that Lewisham's cardiologists should release me.

  Lewisham's cardiologists agreed, and after nearly 3 weeks (I haven't bothered to work it out accurately) in hospital I was discharged. That entailed a long and boring wait in the nasty "Discharge Lounge". Much of the wait was waiting for the hospital's pharmacy to dispense all the drugs I needed to take. It was around a 2 hour, very boring wait, until the doors were flung open, and I headed out into the freezing cold.

  I had hoped that it would be a pleasant walk home, but it was very arduous. had it been warm and sunny it could still have been pleasant because I could have stopped frequently to take a look at the park, and to have a breather. Unfortunately it was freezing cold, with an added cold wind, and i did not want to stop. The cold made me feel worse on top of my aching legs and aching chest. I was not happy when I finally got home, and to make matters worse, it was freezing indoors. I had expected that after there being no heating on at all since the 15th December.

  I think I had the option of "patient transport", but I was stubborn and wanted to prove to me and the world I could walk out of there. With hindsight.......   When I got in I turned on a few fan heaters on low, and the fan heater in my bedroom on full power. It seemed to take ages before my bedroom, where I would, and still do, spend most of my time, began to feel comfortable.

  I seemed to spend most of the evening catching up on emails and the like before watching a bit of TV, and then going to bed. I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, and it did not disappoint, although I did have one very strange thing happen. I fell asleep easy enough (if I remember correctly), but after a couple of hours I woke up, and couldn't work out where I was.

  I needed a pee, and my first thought was to call a nurse to disconnect me or something. Actually it was worse than that because I thought I was in a locked room (or cell). I cautiously got up, and went to where I thought the door should be, and then opened it. I was most happy to see I was looking down the hall towards the bathroom, and I could see the fan heater blowing warm air through the bathroom door. That was the final clue, and from then on everything was normal.....

  ......or almost normal. Even a couple of days later I don't like to do what was previously normal when on my own - not bothering to dress to go to the bathroom. I keep thinking there is a nurse lurking somewhere who will catch me doing something I would rather not be caught doing.

  One curious thing is that while in hospital, where there were some very attractive nurses, I never had any sexy dreams (or much in the way of daytime thoughts of a similar nature). Since sleeping in my own bed, in my own house, I have had two erotic dreams, and one did get as far as physical contact. I can't remember any context to it - the background was completely blank - but in front of me was a woman who I did not find attractive. She wanted to kiss me. I was not enthusiastic about the idea , but I said "go on then", and she clamped on my mouth like a limpet. I could taste what she had recently eaten, but it seemed sort of nice, and the whole kiss was very enjoyable.

  I think the other dream did involve a nurse. Actually I can't seem to tell if it was a dream, a lucid dream, or just imagination as I laid in bed awake. I can't remember if she wanted to get into bed with me, or just seemed willing to get into bed with me. I told her to strip off everything that didn't cover anywhere she would not want me to touch. Of course Sod's law meant I woke up just as she started removing her clothes.

  This morning I don't feel that bad, but I definitely don't feel that good either. Most of the problem stems from the Covid I caught while in hospital. As illnesses go it is not the spectacular killer as reported in the papers 6 or 7 years ago, but is more like a bad cold. I have a cough that perks up every now and again, but is often not noticed. From time to time I get a very drippy nose, but worst of all is the typical lack of energy you get while using all your resources to fight the infection. Just typing this has drained me enough that I expect I'll be having a long snooze soon.









   2198 words today.

 15:21 GMT

  Today is another very dull, and very cold day. There was a good frost this morning, and it will be 10pm before the temperature reaches double figures - a mere 10° C. Tomorrow may reach 11° C during the early afternoon, but it will come at the expense of some light rain. The weather icons at the time are the weird ones which suggest there could also be a few rays of sunshine, but I am not optimistic.

  There has been a big gap in this record, and the reason was I have had another stay in hospital from the 15th December last year until 9th January. I could have written something yesterday, but I felt too busy catching up with other stuff, and also rather tired to bother fighting my web server to generate a new year. A couple of good sleeps later and I have at least had the energy to get the web server up to date (I hope) and to write this. Thank goodness I won't have to do this again until next year.
  
  As I write this. my memories of the night of 15th December are getting quite vague. I went to bed, and I fell asleep for about an hour, but I woke up with cheat pains. I can't really remember what they were like. I don't recall they were very strong, but strong enough to tell me something was wrong.

  At first I thought it might be heartburn, and I took some antacid liquid as a precaution. Then I checked my blood pressure meter. The picture on the left shows what I saw. Very high systolic pressure, and even worse, a very high pulse rate. I knew something odd was going on, and that I needed some professional help.

  I already had a spare rucksack filled with some essentials for an occasion like this. I added a few extra pairs of clean underpants, and called 999. First on the scene was a nice lady paramedic who confirmed my blood pressure and pulse rate results, and also a 300mg tablet of soluble aspirin. I had already taken my own aspirin earlier, but she said another dose would do no harm. I am unsure if it helped or not.

  Incidently, the picture showed it was 3.43 am, but it was at least an hour before that (the clock is wrong on the monitor). In this case it was time that was the healer, but only to a limited extent. After a while an ambulance joined the party. They thought I must be in terrible pain, and offered morphine, but I thought that completely over kill. The pain was still mildly annoying, but was less than when I woke up, and that was far from terrible. As I say, it was enough to serve as a reminder that something was wrong.

  After a ride in the ambulance I ended up in Lewisham Hospital A&E - a place I am familiar with, and I am also familiar with how boring it is. There were long periods of just waiting interrupted by occasional bouts of intense activity. One such interuption to the boredom was a test I have never seen before. By this time I was fitted with a cannula so they squirt various drugs into me.

  One drug was supposed to (almost) instantly drop my heart rate right down. It was very unpleasant, and felt like I was dying or something. Fortunately the effect was quite short lived - good for me, but the doctor was not happy about it. I can't remember much more of my time in A&E - most of it was just laying on a trolley (in a bay rather than a corridor !) just waiting. Eventually it was announced I was going to a bed in a ward - Chestnut ward on the 5th floor. The higher the floor, the more serious things are.

  Chestnut ward has individual heart monitors, and you end up "chained" to your bed. Fortunately previous experience allowed me to unhook myself and to go and use the toilet. I'm not sure this was really approved of by the staff, but they allowed it. In fact it was quite handy in that it proved that I was able to do things independently, and so was less mollycoddled. This was essential for "opening my bowels" (as they say in medical places). I had no intention of sitting on a commode, and I can't use the silly cardboard pee containers without making a mess (don't ask).

  Tomorrow I will try and describe more of my stay, and include a few more pictures (I have just discovered I had a load more on my phone). I may even have the patience to describe how I "escaped" from the hospital twice to walk home. The second time was really hard work because by then I was suffering from Covid !! I'll try and say something about that too, tomorrow.








   857 words today.