Cellulitus

Last year wasn’t a great year for us, with two family deaths and myself having a nine day spell in hospital. It all started with a red rash on my remaining leg, I watched as it grew bigger. Eventually, my two daughters insisted (and actually took me) on seeing the doctor. So I got up the surgery to ‘sit and wait’. Unfortunately, when I arrived they were ‘short staffed’ and the one remaining was about to go for lunch.  I was told to come back in an hour. I said I wasn’t going to come back, if I left that would be it. The kind receptionist had a word with the doctor (I explained the problem to her), and he agreed to see me. Immediately, he drew a line around the edge of my growing red area. He prescribed antibiotics and told me to go back if it didn’t improve. By 6 pm, my daughter was getting more concerned as I seemed a little ‘spaced out’. So she rung 111, explaining my temperature was hitting 40. the NHS hotline said I needed to go to hospital, and arranged an ambulance. I shan’t go into the ambulance drivers attitude, as this isn’t about that. Having spent four hours waiting in A & E I finally got seen, and was told I could go home. Great I thought, “But I need to just check the results of your blood test”. He returned “There is no way you are going home today” he said, “Your infection markers are very raised, and it seems you have sepsis” I was eventually moved to a ward, where I recall a doctor clearly saying “We need to try our best to save this leg” I must admit I never realised this was even a thought. I stayed in hospital for nine days, and hated every minute of it. I came home with another two weeks of antibiotics, on top of the intravenous ones I had had for the past 9 days. Moral of the story: Go to the doctor if you suspect anything BEFORE it gets too bad.

Eye say!

Since being diabetic I have without fail gone for my annual eye screening, it also coincide
s with my usual eye test, both are done in the same month. Last year however, I got a bit of a shock with both eye tests. The results for my diabetic screening came back with showing signs of ‘Background retinopathy’. To say it scared me to death was an under statement. I laughed because I didn’t know how to react. I did a google search (who doesn’t?) and found it to be not a serious as I had imagined. However, it is sign that my control isn’t good and I need to improve. I hate being diabetic, there really is no sense in the disease. Could I have prevented ‘catching’ it or was I always ‘meant’ to get it?

My other eye test (the one with the normal optician, showed I had the start of a cataract on the other eye. My world fell apart slightly, eye operations worry me more than most others. Why? Because you’re awake watching the surgeon cut your eye open.

Being diabetic is hard! I get down from the constant testing and refusal of food stuffs I’d love to indulge in. My levels have recently got stable, so that is a good result. I believe this ‘down-ness’ is called diabetic burnout. I currently inject five times minimum a day, testing almost as many times, trying to maintain a healthy relationship with food, watching out for infections (something I was hospitalized with last year). So you can see why and how it can drag people down – even those that are normally cheerful and happy-go-lucky.

Do feel free like, follow and share.  Do you have diabetes burnout or retinopathy? Why not contact me

The missing months

It’s been six months or so since I last managed to access my Coad account to make a post, or check things. So a lot has happened in those months so I will try and remember what to make this post.

I have had two hospital appointments, nothing worrying but need to attend none-the-less. Then each and every one of my grandchildren were referred to hospital with their tonsils, and they have all subsequently been put on the list for the removal of the said offending body part. It’s a 20 minute operation we wee told, although the youngest one will stay in overnight as she is under 3. The first of the removals begins next week, and we had some discussion whether to tell Kristian. i said why worry him, other members of the family said he needed to know. In the end he was told he was having an operation soon – but not how soon.

Then of course my laptop ‘broke’, and boy do I miss it. I couldn’t afford a new one so ordered a tablet which although adequate for most things, it is not as suitable for my needs as a laptop. So time will tell whether things improve enough to get a new laptop in the new year.

Then we had a hole in our roof, which was leaking through to our bedroom. And trying to get someone to fix it was a nightmare. It took a week before someone could come, all that time my stress levels were as high as the London Shard! I musty confess after my stress period I felt myself thanking God for getting through it – because believe me at times I just wanted out.

Next my back went, and boy did it go i could hardly move. Luckily enough on the day of my dental visit (which was nearly cancelled but my back eased up enough to let me go), my dentist was down stairs,I am pleased to say it is much better – but not right.

My brother-in law announced he was getting married (we didn’t even know he had a girlfriend) and would I be his best man, and the grandchildren the bridesmaids. I refused (a nerve thing), and then we got a call last week saying we weren’t even invited to the wedding. Needless to say, emotions run high with my wife.

And earlier week both my in laws were taken into hospital, father-in-law with pneumonia and mother in law with two infections. They remain there to date although they are getting better.

So amongst some quite ‘low points’ there have been a few good points. i won the lottery twice £20 the first time and £50 the next (on the same ticket). My grandson won a ‘mathematician of the week’ award at school. We had a lovely time going to see Father Christmas with my grandchildren.And I haven’t burnt a dinner since either 😉

It all seems doom and gloom, and for the most part it has seemed that way, but it’s in the past now and the future is looking brighter.

Take care

 

Britain has some talent

I’m not a fan of reality TV shows – the talent type such as X factor, Pop idol etc. But there is one exception to this rule and that is Britain’s got talent! Don’t get me wrong I can miss it without any fretting, but on the same token I also like to catch up. This year I have seen some of the people I hoped would get through go through and am shocked by  other who have go through – how did they do that?
This is one from last nights show, and how he got through is a wonder?

This little girl has got through to the final, and is well deserved.

These brothers were the outright winners of the first live show (closely followed by the little girl mentioned above)

Another disaster to get through was Philip Green, his audition was funny but this proved he couldn’t keep up the show

Finally a man of mystery failed to get the public support

 

Stay safe

Bad things

The last few days have been a storm of media output about two specific events. Firstly we heard of the terrible news that 91 people were dead from the dreadful tornadoes in Oklahoma. Fortunately the next day this number had reduced to about 22. Twenty-two too many of course. It makes one question why does God allow this to happen doesn’t it? But he tests us, and that in turn makes us stronger. Our love, prayers and thoughts go out to those involved particularly  Kelli. I can not imagine what it is like to avoid a hurricane like Kelli did, and I will try my hardest not to complain about the British weather again.

The second thing to hit the headline (yesterday) was the terrorist attack where two men run over a serving soldier and then stabbed him before trying to cut his head off. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22634468). It annoys me that these people are living in and usually living off the British tax payer, while at the same time planning to cause disruption in such an awful way. I was saying to Mrs Dave, that to me this attack is perhaps in some ways different from the dreadful bombing attacks we are used to. It makes you worry about walking down the street, this time the attack seems personal if you know what I mean.

And then I heard of a friend who lost their fifteen years old grandson in an accident, a dreadful thing to happen to anyone. Please pray for Sandy and her family.

And lastly (one a slightly lighter note) I had an accident on Sunday with the dishwasher! We were loading the dishwasher so the door was down. I stood in front putting some cups in, and went to step to move away but realised Lily-May was there, so to avoid hurting her I stepped forward and banged my shin bone straight into the corner of the door. Boy did it hurt, and now some days on its still hurting. My fear is cellulitus, as it is the same leg I had that infection in before.

Stay safe

Diabetic survey request

If you’re diabetic www.diabetes.co.uk are asking people to complete this short survey http://bit.ly/YEuzeP

They say Have you taken our Diabetes.co.uk survey yet at http://bit.ly/YEuzeP  ? This is your chance to have YOUR say on better treatments and preventing diabetes issues! Plus we’re giving away 10,000 diabetes wristbands to some of our lucky entrants!

 

Best wishes

Auto pilot

I’ve missed the last few days for some reason! Oh yes the reason is grand children, I remember now. We baby sat Saturday, Sunday, and Monday for all three of our grandchildren (5, 3 and 2). And as you are probably aware I’m no longer as youthful as I once was, but I never really expected that grandchildren would make me sleep as well as I did. OK my sleep still isn’t brilliant, even with the grandchildren, but it was a bit better than I’ve had in the past years. I gathered this was from sheer exhaustion. So the past few days have been made through ‘auto pilot’. In fact the only way I heard about the Mothers day shooting in New Orleans was through my son!
You’re probably aware that our wonderful prime minister (I say that with the slightest hint of sarcasm) is having a break in America, courtesy of the British and American tax payer. So can I ask my American friends to keep him there! I’ll give a reward, let’s say an English penny, OK I’ll stretch to two! Seriously I won’t miss him if he doesn’t come back for ever.
For my British readers I am afraid to say that rumour has it that ‘summer’ is over. Yes remember those gorgeous few days we had a week or so ago? Well, that’s it allegedly… Can you remember last year (as if you can really forget). We had nice weather until they declared a drought, and then rain, rain and more rain with added rain! I have been told ‘they’ (the secret organisation with people who know weather things) have said we are in much for another year. Well, let me tell you Mr forecaster, if it rains when I am away I will sue! If police people can sue innocent people for getting hurt while doing their job, and prisoners can sue for the comfort of their mattresses, and an American man can sue God, then surely I can sue the weather man! (I joke of course)
Today for dinner I have cooked from scratch (it didn’t take that long honest), Chilli con carne. yes my culinary skills have been tested, not by the cooking but by the fact I had to open a bottle of red wine and not drink it. Good job I am tee total I guess, not sure if Mrs Dave will be able to resist quite so easily though… It (the chilli) is being eaten with jacket potatoes and you may well be aware of how ‘into’ jacket potatoes I am currently.

Take care

Watch this and be amazed!

That’s better!

You may recall I was writing about the state of the garden following the demolition of our garden shed and a good old sort out! Anyway we ordered a 6 yard skip,  anf after paying for it I saw one for £50 cheaper than what I had paid with a different company! Still, no good crying over spilled milk is there. So the pile of junk in our garden was nothing short of the UK’s number one eye-sore to see. Honestly, I can tell you that I have muttered under my breath about gardens that were not in such a bad way. I guess now you’re probably thinking I’m a snob? I am no such thing of course. But I do like to see things in some sort of order, and our garden was not.

Our skip was soon full, and Mrs Dave decided there was still room for a few more bits. So she began filling it as I shouted: “They won’t empty it if the level is above the top of the skip”. Now at this point I am not sure if she had her ‘selective hearing’ or whether she genuinely didn’t hear, I will go with the first option! As luck would have it the skip was a nigh on perfect size for our rubbish, and it has now gone! The garden looks so much bigger without the shed, not to mention tidier!

I think I may well have annoyed some of our neighbours though as I did decided to burn some of the old shed that had broken down into ‘burn size pieces’. I did this over three nights in a small bin incinerator. The last night we had just a few sticks and I thought I’d finish the job, so put the wood in the bin and lit it. I didn’t expect the dense smoke that came from not only the chimney but the edges of the lid too. It was in fact so thick that it blocked out the sun from the clear blue sky (I kid you not). So I decided to leave it, and I sneaked out to find room for the remaining few sticks.

Now I happy to say the skip has bin collected (see the pun there), and the garden looks a whole lot better, and with the blue skies and warm temps due to stay for the bank holiday weekend some members of the family have mentioned the dreaded ‘B word’. Yes Mrs Dave suggested we might have a Barbeque on Sunday. Does she not know after 31 years of marriage that I am not into BBQs? Yes they are OK occasionally (like every six years or so). But then live-at-home daughter said the same sole thing, it worries me to think the flames may still be rising from our back garden again this weekend, what will the neighbours say?

Our garden looks like we’ve had a burglary!

Last weekend our garden shed was demolished and all the items with that we wanted to keep were relocated into storage. Of  if your shed is like ours then you’ll probably have ‘other stuff’ like old kids toys and things you keep because ‘they’ll come in handy’. Anyway, if it had just been the shed it might not have been so bad. But our back garden is jam-packed with rubbish and broken wood. I bought an incinerator in the shape of a rubbish bin with a lid chimney! I thought that won’t take long to burn that – how wrong I was! After changing all our neighbours normal white net curtains to a shade of grey (and we’re not talking dirty books here), we thought we’d take stock. And guess what? it doesn’t look any different! Nope, the only slight difference is the pile of broken woods is slightly dented.

The first time we lit the fire had me worried, as the bin started to ‘melt’ I joke not. The silver soldering/welding literally ended on the paving slab we had stood the bin on. Panic stricken I decided we needed to let the fire go out, (it had nothing to do with the person over the garden wall shouting ‘fire, someone call the brigade). Next on my ‘to do’ list is booking a skip, a larger skip at that!  So if you see smoke blowing over the pond into your state, don’t worry it’s only me burning some more wood!

We have a visitor, and boy is she annoying! OK she’s only small, but she has one voice that gets right under your skin, not to mention she smell! She is my daughters dog. My daughter has gone away with her friends, and we have this ‘thing’ that we dog sit each others dogs when the other goes away. Little did I remember that Tia was quite so smelly, not to mention her problem with rear end wind, which just adds to the distasteful aroma! And her bark, well it’s not a bark it is a yap! Anything gets her going, a knock on the door, someone passing by our garden, any sudden noise, in fact anything. So I am sitting here waiting for my Asda shop (Walmart), and with Lily asleep I just know Tia’s yap will wake her up! Fingers crossed they might turn up a little later…

Take care