Thursday 21st October 2021
Scheduled Maintenance
Hi everyone hope you are all doing well. Another fairly short update as there isn’t much that has changed over the last week and a bit. I was at the hospital on Tuesday and all turned out pretty well, came off some supplement tablets, such as folic acid and off some tablets to protect my liver as it’s functioning well.
The counts were all stable and the doctor was happy. Again the main issue is the pain in my stomach, I know things are improving, but slowly. The pain isn’t getting worse but I am getting more active and flexible, so they are improving that way. It would be nice to not be sore and uncomfortable though. I’ve been able to get out walking a few times and getting to the point where when I get home I need to lie down to stretch out the muscles. I’ve also been doing some exercises the physio has given me which is helping to stretch things out.
As for the house hunting it hasn’t exactly been a success in any form, Belfast is a bit of a nightmare, there are so many people going for so few houses and once they hear you are on Universal Credit, even if it is just topping up your salary, they completely ghost you and have no interest. I guess they need to whittle down the applicants one way or another but it is frustrating. It certainly not the first time something like this has happened to me and most certainly won’t the last. But it will hopefully give me the opportunity to see if I enjoy and like being outside of Belfast before jumping in and buying and finding out that it was a bad idea.
I have been getting everything organised for the move and been using the rule of thumb of if it hasn’t been used in the last two years it’s getting binned. Considering I’ve not really been in the house the last two years the majority of the stuff is getting dumped. I’ve probably got a ratio of keep one black back to bin four black bags of rubbish. It’s certainly got rid of a lot of stuff which has just been sitting there gathering dust.
I was at the physio this morning who was pleased with the progress I’d been making and was going to discharge me but I would prefer one more appointment with him before that which he was happy with, he noticed a good difference in the movements I was capable of compared to the last time I was there, but there is still more room for improvement. I have been slacking a bit with going for walks and sorting the house out but at the same time it helps with the movements. I’m glad I haven’t aggravated the back which I feel was the main aim of the physio to help build up the muscle to support the back and help prevent it from getting any more fractures.
I guess that’s pretty much it, between a few exercises and walking, a bit of reading and watching tv and cricket there really hasn’t much been going on. I’d just like to be comfortable, not sore and be able to relax properly, I just can’t at the moment. I wake up and feel like crap then get a bit of relief when the tablets take effect and as the day goes on I just gradually get worse, some days it feels like hitting a wall. It will get there some day…
So that’s that, unless I get something sorted, I can see the website going down next week until I get internet sorted in my new place, if I ever manage to get somewhere but I do have a backup of the blog on blogspot which I’ll send the link to when needed, but hopefully won’t need it.
Until next time.Sunday 10th October 2021
Short and Snappy
Hi y’allvreyone, hope you are all doing pretty well. I’ve had another relatively quiet time, although getting a bit busier than what I have been. I need to find a new house by the end of the month so finally got round to booking a few viewings, a couple of nice places but nothing that has really jumped out at me to think I need to move there. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be moving out of Belfast so would be handy if where I move to has Virgin Media, but not essential as long as I have a decent phone signal.
I would quite like somewhere close to or at somewhere with a nice walk/ambience/view so I don’t have to travel to the places I like to go to. I think towards the sea would be a good idea, but then it depends what all comes up over the next few weeks. You never know something I wasn’t thinking of might just pop up and be exactly what I need but haven’t thought of.
Apart from that it’s been pretty quiet, plenty of sport on tv and I haven’t been reading or watching as many films as I have been the last while. When I have been going to view houses I have been making the most of the time out of the house and been going on almost mini adventures, drives would probably be a good description. Nothing extravagant and nothing like what I was doing a few years ago, not yet anyway. I done a bit of a trip up the east coast and sat looking out over the sea for a while and the following day doing something similar but heading south.
The last couple of days the back has taken a nice step forward and the muscles aren’t just as sore, another small step in the right direction. Still a load of painkillers which I’m not looking forward to coming off but would be nice to not have to take them. I’m still incredibly rough in the mornings and still getting pains and easing mostly when I take the painkillers, it’s annoying having to wait a few hours for it to settle down a bit and by that stage it’s nearing lunch, then I have lunch and then because I haven’t slept well I need a nap, then it’s nearing dinner and too late to do anything. Then because I napped during the day I don’t get a good sleep and dreading going to bed cause it’s sore and uncomfortable and I get too warm and then too cold and then too warm and too cold and up every couple of hours to go to the loo. Then I get up in the morning and feel like crap again and repeat.
It was nice this morning that I seemed to get as good a sleep as I have had in a long, long time, I slept from twelve to after seven, normally if I wake up before seven I go back to sleep but after seven I get up, this time I decided to lay on and fell asleep until nine and got up. Normally if I lie on I feel extra rough, but for some reason this time I got up and felt as great as I have, the aches and pains were nowhere near as bad as what they usually are and certainly nowhere near any of the normal morning roughness.
It almost feels like the second day of a two-day hangover, or the evening of a really bad hangover, I think anyway, it’s been a while since I actually had one. Would love to say I don’t miss them but I feel like it every morning anyway and I get the impression if I was to have a hangover I’d just have more to complain about.
It’s the first time in a while that I’ve noticed a real improvement, but it is only one day, I may wake up tomorrow and feel like crap again. I was able to get out with the family today and was able to walk around a bit, slowly, but still able to. I did take extra painkillers before hand too so I’m sure that helped.
Next week for me will be more house hunting and a quick visit to hospital. It would be nice to get out for a couple of walks next week but will have to see how things are and how I feel. I am very tempted to try a walk tonight but I think I shouldn’t overdo it today and ruin the progress that seems to have been made. There’s also stuff to watch for a couple of hours before bed and I am a bit tired too. At the same time I want to make the most of when I do feel good, it has been a while and may not be for another while again. I’m sure you’ll find out on the next update in a couple of weeks.
Until then keep well and enjoy the darker, colder evenings, soon we’ll be watching our breath.