January Chatty - Happy New Year!

[merry]

I didn't flag up Chat today because Juliet is here for one final evening of Christmas jollity. I'm not taking that tree down until the very last minute, I missed out before Christmas!

We'll revive Chat next Friday and hope for a good turnout. Of course anyone who fancies it can go in there tonight, or indeed at any time.

Wow Eccles, that's pretty amazing!

I am coughing like crazy again. I don't feel ill any more though.

In other news I took out a free trial of YouTube Premium early in December, thinking it would be useful for Christmas music etc. I used it quite a bit but I've cancelled it now. I just wasn't using it enough to make it worthwhile, and I feel £11 a month is way too much! I'd pay £5 but not £11.

[dianakc]

Happy New Year everyone. I shall try to be on the chat next week x

[mimosa]

I checked the chat 15 minutes in. And so maybe I missed people who came in. But it's fine. Take advantage of having your daughter, merry.

ME

[eccles]

I was lucky, Furby - the broken pin didn't stick in the socket because I was able to use the socket with the new charger. I haven't the slightest idea where the broken pin is - I can't find it.

You'll probably find it when walking around the house barefoot at night.

[Furby]

Just wear slippers that will solve that problem.

[merry]

Hope to see you on Friday, mim, Di, and the usual suspects

After trying and failing with a bird box suckered on to a window, I had the great idea of tipping the feed out onto the patio table so I can watch them come and go while washing up.

I even got a couple of photos, though beside Babs' and Eccles' bird photography they are nothing special! He is a cutie, isn't he, and see he even has a little blue-tit friend in pic 2:

[dianakc]

Here is my friendly squirrel.

[OurCreature]

Nice pics of the squirrel and the birds.

I am back to Knightwood this morning. I am not sure whether I am looking forward to it, because I still don't feel 100%. I can always come home if necessary. It should give me a good idea of how well I really am.

I had my ECG on Saturday and a text message later. I was weighed as well and was 93.5 kg or 14 stone 10lb in old money. I can't remember when I was this unheavy. As for the ECG the message, if I understand it correctly, said that things weren't too much different since the last one in 2011, but that they were going to arrange what they call a 24 hr ECG. Apparently I had one of those in 2022 but I can't remember it. Meanwhile if I get palpitations and/or chest pains that make me feel unwell I am to call 999 which I find slightly alarming. On top of that they are putting me on a different statin and doubling my dose of amlodipine. It is all making me feel sometimes as if I am an old crock heading for the scrapyard despite remedial measures.

But not today! Knightwood today and I'll see how I go.

[eccles]

Good luck at Knightwood OC.

[OurCreature]

TY Eccs!

One of the carers had started the water jug round so I let her get on with it and tidied the trolley for the kitchen staff when she finished. That little task involves emptying the overnight jugs and tumblers and stacking the jugs in threes (they fit inside each other, less space when storing) and the tops of the jugs. Then I went round to see who fancied a hot drink and at 11:00 I played the word game with another volunteer and some of the residents. Everybody was very pleased to see me.

I went to Morrisons on my way home, and now I am feeling tired. But KW went all right, for which I was grateful.

[merry]

I'm so glad you got back to Knightwood, OC! I can imagine everyone was very pleased to see you

Palpitations are horrible aren't they? I get a LOT after Covid, and sometimes after flu. But apparently my heart is fine, and I hope yours is too. I hope you feel truly better soon. I'm still coughing but feel ok again.

Di, I LOVE your squirrel!

This is the story of my day in a picture......... It was all hell at the horses' today, I couldn't tie the proper knots for the haynets because my fingers were so stiff and cold, and the horses crowded me to get to the hay which made it even harder to hang and tie, with a great hungry horse hanging on the other end of it. The mud was deep and everywhere, great sucky sinkholes of it, eight inches deep and my boot got so stuck I couldn't get it out and so I had to do the rest of my chores in the field in one boot and one sock, squelching in icy wet mud.

This was not the worst of it, as after I limped back to the car over sharp pointy gravel in my wet sock, Mr M said I couldn't get it in the car with it on, and as he had parked close to the hedge and I couldn't get round to the passenger side, I had to walk around the car with a BARE foot on said sharp pointy gravel.

And then he said that his feet were jolly cold too, "despite sitting in the car the whole time with the heater on."

[OurCreature]

Merry wrote

apparently my heart is fine, and I hope yours is too

I forgot to mention that the ECG showed a regular heartbeat.

I looked up the 24 hr ECG and this is what the British Heart Foundation has to say about it.

What is a 24 or 48 hour ECG?

This test a way of continuously recording your heart rhythm
and the hearts electrical activity over a period of time. The
doctor will decide if you need to have a heart recording for
either 24 hours or 48 hours. The tests can help diagnose
various symptoms that do not happen very often or have not
previously been picked up by an ECG (heart tracing).

What can a 24 or 48 hour ECG recording show?

The heart produces tiny electrical impulses which cause the
heart muscle to contract. These impulses can be detected and
recorded by an ECG. This test may be recommended to help
diagnose symptoms such as infrequent palpitations.

How is it done?

Sticky patches are placed on your chest and attached by wires
to a small tape recorder which you wear on a belt around your
waist. The recorder will continuously record your heart rhythm.
You will not be able to feel anything as this happens. You will
be asked to keep a diary or an activity log while you are
wearing the ECG recorder and make a note of any times you
have symptoms.

Can I continue with normal activities whilst wearing the
ECG recorder?

Keep to your normal routine and do any activity that would
normally bring on your symptoms. You must avoid getting a
bath or a shower as you must not get the recorder wet.

Well, I'm now convinced that I didn't have this in 2022 and that there is an error in my medical records. I'm sure I'd remember wandering about for 24 hours with all these pads stuck to me and a little tape recorder on a belt. If it did happen and I can't remember it then there is something going wrong upstairs. I shall make enquiries.

Meanwhile I'm sorry you had a nasty gooey time in the cold with the horses, Merry - I hope you were soon much more comfortable at home!

[Furby]

They are a big responsibility horses aren't they. At least they aren't messing up your houses though like cats and dogs do.

I am not sure what I am doing this year. It's all sort of stuck at the moment because it's not up to me to decide next move. It's almost worse than having horrible things to do because at least you can try to crack on with them.

And I have the dentist to deal with never nice and is expensive so glad when will be over.

[Wildrover]

I can think of very few things I'd rather not do compared to a freezing cold, sockless experience with horses Merry. Root canals, spinal surgery, colonoscopies, tube travel in July and dealing with HMRC would be high on the list - but you have my utmost admiration for your dedication to the cause.

I've had a really boring week - sat inside for most of the week and our quiz was cancelled so haven't even been to the pub since the weekend. to be honest my liver probably needed the rest. I've been occcupying myself with cooking and I'm amazed how much I've got out of one Costco rotisserie chicken - bought on Sunday, we had roast chicken Sunday dinner using 2/3 of the breast meat, chicken sandwiches for Monday lunch with the other 1/3, then I stripped the rest of the meat and boiled the carcass and added a cabbage, 4 carrots, 2 leeks and an onion, garlic, white wine and various herbs to make a thick soup which we had or lunch on Wednesday and Thursday with crusty bread. So £4 for the chicken plus another £4 for the bread and veg did us 2 dinners and 6 lunches - and pretty healthy ones too - at a quid a meal.

I also bought 4 pounds of braising steak for £18 and used the first pound to make a chilli last night which was also delicious - I've found using half chilli/half paprika plus cumin suits my taste buds better than just chilli. My ingredients list included two tins of tomatoes, red wine, onion, garlic, mushrooms (cause MYF loves them), chocolate and liquid smoke with peppers and kidney beans thrown in at the end. It's made 6 portions for about £10. I've never really been conscious of cost on food - because even with recent inflation it's still cheaper in the UK than anywhere in Western Europe - but it did make me think that with about 2 hours of effort total I made 14 meals for £20 (including fuel cost) when I'm happy to pay double that for one Chinese or Indian takeaway for two.

I thought next week would be dull too as MYF is in Grand Cayman for 6 days working. I will say her company does look after her though - business class flights and staying at the Ritz Carlton which is £1,000 a night. That said for the three days of the conference she will be working from 6 a.m. until midnight dealing with moaning lawyers and whinging wealth planners which isn't my idea of fun. She calls me every day between conference end at 5pm and leaving for dinner at 6 pm - unfortunately this corresponds to 10-11pm for me so I have to tell her how much I'm missing her while guzzling pint number 6 down the pub with my mates. This never works well. Anyway, thinking I'd be short of company I messaged a few people I've not seen for a while hoping one would be available - as it turned out they're all available so I'm out every day next week .

[OurCreature]

So £4 for the chicken plus another £4 for the bread and veg did us 2 dinners and 6 lunches - and pretty healthy ones too - at a quid a meal.

Ah, the benefits of being a good cook WR - both health and financial! It reminds me of a TV series decades ago where a financial expert had a look at the finances of a different person(s) each week to try to help them. There was one couple where the distaff side thought she was the financial brains of the outfit. As an experiment the expert gave them £X and sent them shopping separately in a supermarket; they had just enough cash to buy what they needed for dinner. She bought ready meal easy to heat up stuff (like I do) and didn't have quite enough money for what she wanted; he bought fresh food and ingredients and had what he wanted plus some change.

I've thought some more about the 24 hr ECG note on my medical records and now wonder if the doctor was looking at the records of someone with the same name as mine - I know there are a few such folk on their books. Either way, I'm going to try to find out because I don't know which is worse - having duff medical records or a doctor referring to the wrong medical record.

[Furby]

HMRC is on my list but I haven't got through yet to tell if might be worse than socks.

Oc how unfortunate having a common name. Can't you register creature as a middle name reduce the probability. It does need sorting because it's bad enough being treated for that you have never mind what someone else has as well.

[OurCreature]

I've just had a delivery of small kibble rations for Them. The Yodel driver put the 15 kg package in my hall which saved me lugging it indoors. Midge supervised all this from the stairs, and the driver saw him and noted that he was a big cat. I was delivery 8 so it arrived at a good part of the day and means I can go out later this morning to arrange a foot clinic appointment and let the surgery know about the potential error in my medical records.

[merry]

I really enjoy reading everyone's updates here. WR's skills in the kitchen are enviable!

Hope you get good news from the ECG, OC, and that Furby's dentist and admin stuff go ok.

I've put the CHAT notice at the top of the board early and hope we get a good turnout tonight.

[OurCreature]

A note has been sent from the surgery reception to the GP raising my point about not having a 24 HR ECG in 2022; I have been promised a reply in due course. I made clear I was happy to have this test. Foot clinic at 09:00 on 2/2/24.

I pulled out the last bottle from my Advent Calendar today, and happily found it was a full-sized bottle of Prosecco. I shall drink it all during Chat tonight, remembering to wish everybody good health etc.

[eccles]

Stories of ECGs bring forth a few memories.
During much of the first seven months of 2020 I was getting frequent bouts of arrhythmia and was shipped off to hospital several times. Each time I'd get plied with drugs, name unknown, which appeared to me to make matters worse. When the effects wore off then I was deemed ok and sent home. Then in August after another occurrence I was taken to the BRI and had a particularly bad reaction to the drugs, and was transferred to the BHI. At one point I was drifting in and out of consciousness. I remember being sat up in bed, zonked out and being distantly conscious of being shaken gently. Eventually I came round to find a nurse was trying to get me to respond. I never did get a resolution about those damned drugs whatever they were. This time I was not deemed to be ok after I recovered as my heart rate was running at around 160 bpm.
After some discussion amongst the medical higher ups it was deemed that I should undergo catheter ablation. And credit is due to the NHS and the BHI in particular as I was fast tracked to have this treatment and it was performed within two days of arrival at the BHI. It is a procedure that involves feeding a thin device from a vein by the crotch up to the heart muscles and zapping the ones which are firing off randomly and causing arrhythmia. This leaves the regular beats to do their job. It was performed while I was sedated but conscious and I was able to watch the proceedings. The surgeon was sat in front of a huge monitor guiding a virtual object in what looked like a glorified video game. Every time he pressed a button I got a jolt, which was often quite painful. I suspect because the arrhythmia was almost continuous by then the surgeon was better able to track down the irregular beats and stop them. After about half an hour he finished, I got up and they gave me a sandwich.
I was discharged the following day with a heart rate of around 80 bpm and a prescription for Rivaroxaban (blood thinners).
Current resting pulse has since come down to about 60 bpm.

Many years before I had an ECG at my local clinic. It was performed by a youngish, about 40, blonde nurse. She was slim, attractive and wore pigtails. Think of Jamie Lee Curtis in Trading Places when she is disguised as a Swedish tourist.
I was asked to lie on a patient couch and undo my shirt.
She then leaned over me to place the ECG electrodes.
They kept falling off. My skin can get quite dry in winter which didn't help.
When they finally attached she couldn't get a reading and I was asked to remove my watch.
Still no reading - I'll remove your belt (!)
Repeat several times of electrodes coming unstuck and further leaning over to replace them.
She then walked to the door and locked it (!)
At this point I felt like saying "Are you trying to seduce me Mrs Robinson?", however nothing further happened.
Eventually she got her ECG
She then took a blood pressure reading, saying "It's a bit high."
I said that I wasn't surprised.