Journal Entries
A Long Weekend Away....
Posted May 9, 2014
....and a fabulous time had by all.
It started Saturday with a drive up to Yorkshire to the Profs house. After a few hours looking over his pc attempting to upgrade him from XP to Windows 7 I came to the conclusion that typical of the Prof, nowt so straight forward can be done on his pc.
I've no idea why but his version of XP had 'greyed out' all the utilities/tools such as disk management and the like. I couldn't partition, format nor do any of the usual things one does with disk management tools. As an aside, since Jan this year I've updated/upgraded 9 pc's from XP to either Win 7 or Win 8.1 along with 3 laptops, all with no issues whatsoever. Nice one Prof.
Having stayed overnight at the Profs it was then a trip across the Pennines into Cheshire ready for the main event, the christening.
This was the christening of VV's daughter along with their family, Auntie Lil, Virtueouschuffed and the whole ensemble. It was then off to the pub for a rather splendid buffet and a chance for everyone to meet up informally and catch up with friends past and present.
It was then off to our hotel to get booked in and that concluded day 2.
Day 3 was to be an open event at Lil's house in which another scrumptious buffet was laid on and this was the relaxed informal occasion. We stayed the extra day so's to avoid travelling in bank holiday traffic especially as the weather was fine and dry most of the time and hence traffic to local theme parks and suchlike would be heavy.
Day 4 was a trip back over the Pennies to the Profs home and this is where I'd decided I wasn't leaving Profs till we had his new Win 7pro system up and running on his pc. We made sure he'd backed up all relevant data to his external hard drive and USB Flash Drive and 2 hours later he was up and running with Win 7. YAY Result!
The only hiccup on the technology front that I couldn't deal with till I got home was the stooped sat-nav. Prior to leaving I'd done a mega update to the sat-nav as I have one of those lifetime map/software update features for it. It threw a real wobbly on the 3rd day. All I did was literally turn up the volume slightly and boy did it go mental, hence me tag. To start with it defaulted to Afrikaans, then when I sorted that it told us to take various turns but no matter which way it said all routes led to a motorway which we didn't want. I ignored it in the end but it then told us to take a left turn immediately followed by the following, "at first opportunity do a U-Turn" followed by "recalculating" then taking us back the way we had just come. I decided to ignore altogether in the end though when we got back to the hotel I decided to turn the volume back down to where it was and lo and behold, all errors gone. To cut a long story short, when I got home I reloaded to pc and was greeted on the sat-nav site by an apology about an error in the last update and a patch was now available to correct it.
Needless to say, the lesson here is never rely 100% on a sat nav, stick to good ole fashioned paper maps as well.
So all in all, an excellent 4 days, I must pass on thanks to the Prof and to Lil and family for being excellent hosts and also for such an enjoyable break.
Its back to reality check here now, I have a few days and then a real mix of various medical appts to sort through, from blood tests to Cardiac clinics, MRI scans to Physio.
Hope everyone else is ok. Take care, ttfn. 
Discuss this Journal entry [9]
Latest reply: May 9, 2014
What a week that was....
Posted Mar 23, 2014
....starting last Sunday, (16th Mar),on which I had a nasty bout of Angina pain which took a little time to sort and settle with use of the emergency meds. What didn't appear to stop however was the permanent pins and needles and numbness that occured from left shoulder down
into left arm and hand. This was unusual as normally any such feeling clears when the meds work. I monitored it into Monday and Tuesday, I'd had no more chest pain but still this pins and needles went on. Wednesday morning I decided I'd better get some additional advice so
rang and arranged for a telephone consultation with my GP as an appt. wasn't immediately available. He phoned me back fairly smartly, listened to what I said then basically told me to hang up as he was calling an ambulance.
6 minutes later, (yes 6) the court manageress was knocking on my door with a paramedic in tow. Boy, that was quick. The paramedic went through his procedures and suffice to say, there was an abnormality on the ECG so he basically called for ambulance transport and that was it, I was enroute, at a high rate of knots, to hospital. 
On arrival all the usual procedures were instigated for patients being admitted with heart problems. I was connected to all the usual machines, bloods taken, injections given etc etc. After a couple of hours they moved me onto the HDU Cardiac Ward where further checks/tests were done.
Cut a long story short they concluded that a heart attack wasn't imminent, the second batch of bloods did show some raised enzyme levels but the 3rd batch showed them to have dropped off again so just a blip. What they couldn't work out at this stage is why I still had the
numbness and pins and needles. A CT scan and X-Ray was ordered. At this point I was moved from the HDU to the standard Cardiac Ward to await the results of the CT Scan.
This is where things started to go a bit pear shaped. In the move to the different part of the ward, a distance of perhaps 30yards, they managed to lose both my notes and my meds. They had all my heart related notes etc on the computer so that wasn't an issue, however the report from the CT Scan and X-Ray hadn't been entered at this stage and no-one knew where they were.My cardiologist contacted the CT Dept herself and asked who had done the report and can they tell her what was in it even if they couldn't find it. She needed to know for obvious reasons.
In the meantime the cardiologist was happy at the way the heart had now settled again and was quiet happy for me to continue with current levels of meds and that if they don't find the CT Report before lunchtime on Friday she felt it would be okay for me to return home as
she was confident it wasn't heart related and that it looks more like, and I quote, "Nerve Impingement from Neck to left side/shoulder, resulting in numbness and the pins and needles traversing down Left Arm to fingertips", in other words she wants me referred to an Orthopeadic surgeon pdq.
The problem is, being stuck with this currently means I have lost one of my warning signal/indicators for the heart issues so on Monday I see my GP and if the hospital haven't found and faxed the CT report to him then he will be requested, (as in a letter the cardiologist gave me on discharge) to instigate immediate and urgent referrals accordingly.
So, I'm back home with the cardiologist telling me, well, reminding me, that there is no change to procedures or meds, I still have serious heart problems and to try and accept this and stop over doing things. All meds remain at same levels for the foreseeable future, slow down with the dieting, there's no need for me to lose weight at a rapid rate of knots, slow and sure is the best way.
I'm not deemed to be in any way 'dangerously' overweight but if I can lose at least another stone and a half over the next 6 to 12 mths or so all well and good. This would take my weight down to around the 8 stone mark.
That leaves me with various outpatient appts to attend/sort next week to get this pins and needles/numbness down left arm sorted.
Many thanks to everyone who sent me best wishes, much appreciated.
's all round.
Discuss this Journal entry [6]
Latest reply: Mar 23, 2014
There's consistency for you...
Posted Mar 13, 2014
...5 weeks again since last journal.
Not a lot has happened really in that time. It appears our new windows are due to be installed imminently, as in, the next 2 to 4 weeks. The contract has been awarded to some firm or other, measurements taken so not long to go now.
I've just been through the govt's welfare review system again, no change there, I remain on current levels of benefit with next review due 2017. That also means I collect my new Motability car next Tuesday, (18th), so looking forward to that.
I'm also waiting on an appointment with the cardiologist as the ole Angina has been playing up of late. The GTN spray is still doing it's job but I'm having to use it more frequently of late which isn't a good sign. I seem to have permanent 'pins-n-needles' in my left arm even when the chest pains stop.
The diet I've been on seems to be doing ok though the medics seem to keep moving the goalposts as to what weight they want me to be. I'm down to a 30" waist from a 34" in just over 2 months, equates to a loss of some 2 plus stone. If I stick to what the GP wants then that would mean I need to lose at least another stone and a half which would take me below 8st. Seems a lot to me but then, what do I know.
On that cheery note, time for a 
refill and me afternoon meds.
Hope all is well with everyone, toodle pip for now.
Discuss this Journal entry [8]
Latest reply: Mar 13, 2014
Strewth, 5 weeks since....
Posted Jan 31, 2014
....I did my last journal?where does the time go?
Right, well, same ole boring routines really though getting replacement glasses turned into a bit of a saga after having laser treatment.
The laser did its job, no issues there, had a follow up eye test, prescription for new reading glasses issued. So far so good. Distance vision fine, just readers required.
After a couple of days get a call to say glasses ready. Great. Err, not so great, put them on and frankly have no idea what the prescription was but it certainly wasn't for me. They were awful. The technician checked some things, re-checked prescription, apologised and said they'd get them re-done.
Two days later, another call, glasses ready. Lo and behold, they'd got the lens wrong way round, left lens in right and vice versa. Oh well 3rd time lucky, got a call yesterday, (Thurs) glasses ready again and I picked them up today. I'm happy to say, they're superb, it was a case of 3rd time lucky.
The difference is amazing, I can read fonts as small as ยท4 without any straining so no need fer me ole fashioned magnifying glass now.
The order for my new Motability car has been placed and approved so that's sorted, delivery is 18th March, nothing else much has changed really. The medical issues are ongoing but currently under control at current levels of medication. My diet is going well though according to the 
he wants me to lose at least another stone. I've got till May to achieve that, (next cardiac clinic) though the cardiac 
seems to think losing another stone would make me under-weight according to the new BMI system Have to see what happens on that score.
That is about it I think, weather is awful, so much rain of late we'll be getting webbed feet soon.
Hope everyone is ok and staying well, warm and dry, tis time for a nice mug of and put me feet up again. ttfn.
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Jan 31, 2014
Christmas and New Year is....
Posted Dec 21, 2013
....nearly upon us once again. 
Its been a mixed bag of events for me over the last 12 mths, what with problems with heating and suchlike after moving here but overall not too bad. I attended the god-daughters wedding, saw my older brother take early retirement and buy his first house as result and the family doing well.
My own health issues haven't got worse but certainly not better so I guess a no change is better than a change for the worse.
The govt don't do much for anyone's mental or physical well being with all the changes they keep making to the welfare system, I've been through two of their re-assessment/changes so far and there's still more to come from 2015 through to 2018 but I'll worry about that nearer the time.So it just remains for me to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
I hope 
brings you what you wish for. Stay well and safe over the holidays and enjoy the festivities. 
Discuss this Journal entry [2]
Latest reply: Dec 21, 2013
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