Journal Entries
Traumatic Times
Posted Dec 5, 2003
A few days ago on my way home from I work I get a message saying there is a gas leak outside the house and the gasmen are coming to cut off the supply
I go and get a takeaway meal as the cooker ain't going to work when the gas isn't on.
After getting home and seeing the gasmen digging up the garden to get at the supply pipe we start eating tea. Unfortunately after just a few forkfulls I can't eat, I can't swallow anything. I hope that eventually it'll pass but after the gasmen have gone away for the evening and I'm still having difficulties I'm told I'm being taken to hospital by MC. After some protestation I guide her to the local A&E where I get bundled through fairly quickly. Several people came and talk and try and work out what's wrong with me. I wonder if it's an allergic reaction or something stuck. I'm given something for the allergic reaction and it doesn't work.
Having had my normal sort of tea time meal shot of insulin I'm feeling decidely wobbly at this point and so I'm hooked up to a glucose drip and when my blood sugar levels are more normal I'm put on a sliding scale (a syring pump with insulin that they vary depending on blood sugar levels) and taken up at a ward to spend the night.
When the 
s all come round to have a look in the morning I'm asked to try and drink some water. No such luck. They have a brief conversation to decide what to do. Eventually one of them comes back and has a look down my throat with a small endoscope and thinks it's most likely blocked and the blockage will have to be removed. Much later in the day while MC is visiting a couple of all dressed in green come to see me - the anethestist and the surgeon they go away after I've answered some questions. A short while later I'm led over to theatre for them to do their stuff. I'm glad it was all done under a general anesthetic as I'm not sure I would have wanted to know what was going on while the passed tubes and stuff down my throat and brought out the blockage- a piece of meat, must remember to chew before swallowing.
The next morning I still don't feel right and still can't swallow water all the way down. I've got a 
sore throat and wonder what will de done next. The s decide to put my name on the list for three things and see which one turns up first! In the afternoon I'm taken all the way across the hospital to see another surgeon for him to have another look and see if he can fix it - this even jokes about how he's always bailing out the ENT guys 
This time it's not done under a general but a local anasthetic is sprayed on the back of my throat and I'm given a sedative - much needed as I've spent the last day and a bit rather fightened and stressed! Afterwards I'm told what the problem was - more food and a narrowing which this doctor has fixed. I'm taken back to the ward and just sleep while the sedative does it's stuff.
Later on I try and drink some water and by golly it works! hurrah! I'm taken off the sliding scale and glucose drip and given some food. But manage to go hypo so the glucose is turned back on again. It's decided I should stay in overnight again and be discharged in the morning.
Yesterday morning I manage breakfast with ease and relish the feel of food. Eventually when the follow up consultation has ben confirmed and I've been given some drugs to take home I'm allowed out. Rather groggy and feeling a bit spaced by it all I manage to leave the hospital and get home.
Now suitably rested I feel much better.
Thanks MC for being a bully when I needed it and for coming to see me inside 
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Latest reply: Dec 5, 2003
The Wheels on the Bus
Posted Dec 1, 2003
Sometimes go round and round. They weren't going round too fast this morning when I was waiting for busses. I waited and waitied and waited. 25 minutes the first time then the journey took over half an hour - not bad for a bus that goes every ten minutes for a journey that should take 15 mins max! After I'd got to where I needed to get to and done what I had to do I then waited for another bus to start my journey to work. Another 25 minutes (with busses that should turn up every ten manutes as well) wait.
The trains that I got today were bang on time, why couldn't the busses be?
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Latest reply: Dec 1, 2003
The Numbers Game
Posted Nov 5, 2003
A quick visit to see the to find out what my blood test results were when I visited the hospital clinic a couple of weeks back.
the results were:
HbA1c = 6.3% (3.9-5.9)
Chol = 4.69 (0-5)
MicroAlbumina = 3 (0-30)
Creatine = 77 (40-110)
A:C = 0.3
So looks like I passed this set 
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Latest reply: Nov 5, 2003
Spaced on Sugar
Posted Nov 3, 2003
Well that's the first time I've felt like that for a while.
The story went something like this...
A family gathering for my parents ruby wedding aniversary was happening at my sisters, each of us to bring something for the buffet. Sooninsh after getting there I feel the need for a quick raid of the cakes as I was going low (3.4mmol/l). Then things are moving along and I've been at the buffet with the usual range of finger foods and cakes and not thought further about insulin or testing. I decide to do a quick test to see how it was going and there I was at 17.2! bung some fast acting insulin in to cover, 8 units should do to start with. More bits of food and drink and as the evening goes on I'm feeling very lethargic and thirsty as well as a bit spaced out. When we get home I test again and I'm down to 15.2 so probably better than if I hadn't shot some insulin earlier but still not good. Another 8 units and I go to bed as I really am shattered and not with it. A couple of hours later I do my usual evening shot of intermediate and I'm on 9.2 and go to bed till the morning.
Thankfully this morning I was back in the 'normal' range (6.2) and got a perfect score before lunch so I know it was just transitory but I don't want to be doing that again in a hurry. It didn't feel nice at all and even just short periods at those numbers aren't good for diabetics 
Still nice to see all the family together though
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Latest reply: Nov 3, 2003
It's all happening at the zoo
Posted Oct 29, 2003
So the Wildlife Photographer of the Year has been announced. Unlike most other years the winning photograph wasn't shot in some far off exotic location, the african savanah, the south american or asian rainforest or even the blue depths of the south seas. It was shot in an enclosure at Miami Zoo.
The picture shows a gorilla looking at the camera and in the background shadows a small boy is looking towards the beast intently while leaning on the enclosure.
I like the picture, I think it shows a level of interaction that you don't normally get with 'big animal' wildlife photos. It also shows that photos are there for the taking wherever you are. Of course there will no doubt be those out there somewhere that will decry it, with it being a picture of a beast in captivity rather than roaming free in the wilds. It is though a picture showing how most people in the westernised world see such animals, in zoos, aquariums, safari parks and other collections.
Of course ALL the photos shortlisted are visually rich and stunning, they have to be in this competition and any of the category winners would be worthy winners.
I wonder if the exhibition of shortlisted entries will be coming round here or if I'll need to have a look at the book to see what they were.
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Latest reply: Oct 29, 2003
Phil
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