Post 301: A bright start to a gentle Friday avoiding pothole-pox.
Six o’clock I got up. Ahead of us was a busy morning if we were to be back for my Darling’s normal Friday schedule.
I had overdone the early start because I had every right to think that if I was at the surgery early I would have got seen quicker and consequently moved onto the second appointment earlier. But, you know what thought did; he didn’t turn up.
I was in the shower after weighing myself. It’s not just the ladies that can check their weights today (at Slimming World) for their weekly group meeting. It was only 12.4 stone and that’s mid limit that I set myself.
I had gained a new-found strength and confidence which is needed in cleaning my body thoroughly without falling or finding new ways to hurt myself. So I jumped in with gusto and enjoyed a good wash.
I was towel-dried afterwards which was a right palaver due to the frozen shoulder but I adjudged myself fit enough to do such a simple task. In fact it was at the limit of my reach to dry my toes but I got there when I pushed myself.
This all sounds too mundane but as it happens it’s the biggest thing that’s happened to me lately that has scared me and set me back. Not being able to clean and dry myself is at the heart of my, and everyone’s, test of being alive.
Anyway I was ecstatic.
My toes got another pampering with moisturiser and I had a big smile on me when my Darling pushed my bedroom door open revealing her ever slimmer body and yawning self.
She asked me how I was and if I needed help, which I didn’t — except for a kiss and little cuddle.
By the time she was out the shower I had cut up all the tablets from their plastic and foil homes and bagged for today’s morning jaunt. I continued to get ready and get downstairs and ready to shoot off.
By the way my hand and finger are in especially terrible form this morning with their dancing about unchecked. It’s really hard to write and make any headway on this post.
Also on my iPhone update recently I’ve lost the redo button at the top of the screen, only the undo arrow button is there. Where did the redo arrow go?
There’s always a simple answer and after asking this online I got a simple solution to the problem.
Press and hold the Undo arrow.
A small pop-up menu appears with Undo and Redo options.
Tap Redo.
So there I have it. The buggers at Apple HQ are hiding things now.
I feel like a gorilla in a zoo with keepers using different ways every week to keep my interest in life, and all it does is annoy the heck out of me.
Yes, puzzles are great for the soul and intellect but really, hiding the redo button is frankly too stupid to handle.
We had water and pills and got in the car happy that we could get ahead of the schedule and get home earlier so my Darling’s normal Friday was untouched.
The surgery was not yet open when we got there today but I wasn’t alone in getting there too early. I followed the gentleman into the waiting room at 7:30am as the lights came on but the log-in screen was turned on and looked like it was in service but the rotating circle of death was saying otherwise.
Both he and I gave up logging in but we could hear the dulcet tones of our formidable practice nurse who took my new friend into her care after he made himself known.
I did the same when he disappeared and left me alone in the waiting room.
By the time I got on the bed in the clinic room I was able to relax but it wasn’t as early as I thought it might be. The nurse — I’ve known her these three years and more — is a bit of a chatterbox. Some of this is to break the nervousness of the patient that’s about to be speared by an enormous needle. It’s so big you could climb into it. Anyway, any thoughts I’d get away early were dashed right here and now but there was no pain at all in her mastery of that huge needle.
With more talk about holidays and sunshine, the next Zoladex in three months time was booked, and I left her kind and experienced ways to her next victim.
I jumped in the car with my Darling already raring to go with the engine running and a few questions about how to get to the far away hospital chosen for the infusion and more importantly, today’s blood-test check-up for a blood match.
We set off the twenty miles to the Day Ward with slightly steamy windows (go on Tina, shake them there legs).
This hospital is not the usual one thus we had various routes that suited the situation but which one has fewer potholes? A challenging question around here and everywhere I suspect.
My Darling chose the longest but safest route avoiding the one-horse lanes that are suffering with the tarmac’s very own chicken-pox; a pothole pox.
The barrier on the hospital car park was up so we parked up with a warm glow of satisfaction about not having to pay for the parking. Oh the small joys that make my day.
The long walk to the Day Ward took longer than my blood test once I’d got there, I was out in minutes, such was the efficiency of the nursing team.
See you tomorrow was my farewell greeting as I picked up my Darling’s hand to head back down the long corridor. She stopped twice in agony, holding the left side of her leg but wouldn’t let me piggy-back her to the car for some reason. Oops! I’m no help.
“Can I drive home?” I asked half-heartedly.
“No,” came the answer from her as we jumped in and wondered how we were going to get out the car park without a ticket, but as luck had it the barrier rose manually snd a smiling lady in a hi-viz jacket waved us through.
The route home was the same smooth ride as we had earlier avoiding the worst of the tarmac-pox.
When we arrived home my Darling chose to have a while in bed recovering from the early morning’s run-around I had sent her on, but as she was going out for 11 o’clock I could understand her need for a nap.
I was making a single mug of decaf when my Darling came down and hugged me before she disappeared to the town and her usual Friday leaving me to my coffee and my Big Sis who had decided to pop down for lunch today.
Sis arrived and we chatted for hours as we unravelled near and far problems and looked forward to weddings and birthday parties.
Her mother-in-law is 90 next week but her old age has come with Alzheimer’s. It’s so sad.
Although 90 and living with my sister’s sister-in-law it’s apparent that it’s exhausting her now and she needs a nursing-home soon that will suit her one problem, because she’s otherwise very healthy.
The family know of a local specialist nursing-home, where another family member is now, that would suit the M-in-L but her poor nephew Brian is only 65 and has early-onset-Alzheimer’s. It’s really cruel. I used to play snooker and darts with him years ago and it’s harsh that his memories should be wiped out so soon.
Big Sis brought another refilled bag of goodies for me, which I’ve now hidden away like a squirrel would with his nuts. I can retrieve those treats at a later date.
My Darling came back with a big smile and a certificate clearly showing her achievement of losing 1.5 stones at Slimming World.
Well done my Darling.
Big Sis went with a careful hug and a big kiss but I didn’t stand and wave her off this time, it was Baltic outside and I needed to stay warm and cosy. I don’t want anything to stop me getting on that plane. 
️
We both had an early night because of another busy day tomorrow. The infusion after an ENT consultation both in different hospitals twenty miles apart then the long trip back past the first hospital and along another 30 miles to visit Byron and our youngest and his fiancée. Lastly another 30 miles home at a total of 110 miles driven by the time we get home.
So good night, sleep well.
