The best laid plans...

Don’t always come off as they should. Rob came home from work with a nasty cough one day just before Christmas. By Christmas Eve we both had dreadful colds and felt quite ill. We managed to have a traditional Christmas dinner but didn’t feel much like eating and we forgot to finish opening the presents! Fortunately, Santa brought us some interesting DVDs, which we sort of watched/slept through.

Three weeks later we still have bouts of coughing. We were looking forward to Christmas in our new home so much. I took down the tree today, always a little sad, but the sun is shining and the evenings are slowly drawing out again. There are some little sprouts showing on the lawn, could they be the crocus bulbs I planted or a surprise left by the previous owners?

Comings and goings

I have my “smart” phone back again. Everything is in perfect order and working well.I didn't think that I would miss it so much.

Olivier came home for a few days. He seems well and happy and will be starting work properly in the first few days of June. He will be doing the job that he has been doing for some time anyway. I think he’ll enjoy it more knowing that it really is his job and he will be paid properly for it.

Olivier left and it was Rob’s turn to have a few days off. We didn’t do much really – caught up on sleep mainly and went for walks. Yesterday was strange; I was all on my own, all day long for the first time in a while.

This morning I went to see the Rheumatologist about my knee. It was very swollen and painful at the end of March. Fortunately it is much better now, but I will have to have gel injected into it during the month of July . I’ve coped with the pain etc. much better this time, I think. I meditate everyday when I can which I find helpful. My Doctor also told me to try to keep the leg straight when sitting for long periods. That has been a gold nugget of advice for me, as I work using the computer almost all day. I only took 4 out of the painkillers my doctor gave; me two of which were for a headache and back ache. Would you believe I put my back out one morning when I was putting eye drops into my eyes?

Not much fun getting old sometimes.

A fly in the ointment - sort of *

For just over a year I’ve been using drops and ointment in my eyes because when I saw my ophthalmologist 13 months ago he said that I might need an operation to remove scar tissue in my left eye. The good news is that I don’t need an operation and I didn’t need new lenses for my glasses either.

Apparently I’ve reached an age when there aren’t great changes to vision. Unfortunately, in France the ointment that I’ve been using for almost 30 years is out of stock. A substitute ointment was almost no use at all. Now I’m on stronger drops till my beloved ointment comes back again.

* couldn't think of a better title - could have put A Fl-eye in the ointment!

It's caught up with me at last

I’ve recently had to take another blood test as my blood sugar has been creeping up again. As from this morning I’m on a very low dose of Gliclazide at breakfast time. I have to take another test and see the Doctor again in three months.

Anyone who has been reading this blog over the past ten years will know that I spent 5 years from 2005 to 2010 testing my blood sugar several times a day. I managed to control things by eating sensibly. Then my Doctor retired and I had a period of 5 years with Doctors who didn’t believe in “pre diabetics”. I appreciate that I have managed to stall taking medication for this for 10 years. At least I don’t have to use insulin.

 My present Doctor’s advice is to avoid sweet things (which I’ve always done) and take more exercise. I know that I have to lose weight too. I’m off now to put on some music and do a bit of ‘keep fit’.

2016 seeps in

Christmas and New Year came and went as quickly as it usually does. Rob had a stomach bug on Christmas day. I felt ill too – it was like having a hangover without the fun.

Olivier was home for Christmas this year and stayed for several days and then went off with his friends for New Year. He became ill just after that and had to miss his exams. The re-sits aren’t until October. Dom and J-M seem to have enjoyed their first Christmas in the UK.

The weather here has been very wet and windy and tomorrow I have to go into town for blood tests before breakfast. I’ll be starving by the time I get home. We have buses to the next village every half hour, but they pass by the scenic route, so the home journey will be slow.

Thank you to everyone who either bought my book or took advantage of the free offer. I really appreciate your interest.

Nose progress

It’s been a few weeks since the dermatologist dealt with the Actinic keratosis on my nose. It’s healed up very well, though I haven’t used any facial scrubs or strong products on my skin yet. I was pleased to discover a tinted BB cream with an SPF of 50 which I put on every morning and re-apply if I need to later in the day. It’s within the price range of what I normally pay for beauty products.

Next spring, I’ll be shopping for hats to shade my face from the sun.

Nose Job

Jus over a week ago I had four little patches of Actinic Keratosis burnt/frozen off my nose. I knew that I had a little patch of something on my nose for some years, but never got round to doing anything about it.  It took less than 5 minutes which included the writing of a prescription for a product to help with healing.

 I’m just waiting for the scabs to fall off and that should be the end of it. I will be using sun cream more regularly from now on.

(Taken a few days ago) 

Not very in focus I know, but you get the idea.

It comes in threes - or is it fours?

Yesterday morning I had to use my card to buy some stamps at the post office. I reversed my pin number. I was sure that I had the right number; three times. Now waiting for new number so that I can start using my card again…

When I was waiting to catch the bus to the clinic for my leg injections, a car drove past at great speed and soaked me as it went through a big puddle. The driver in the car behind looked as shocked as I felt.

At the clinic I was told that the government is making cuts again and so my injections are to be considered as aesthetic. I won’t be refunded at all for the sessions. Last year it was my glucosamine that was considered ‘comfort’ medicine. Let’s hope that the Minister of Health doesn’t ever suffer from arthritis or restless legs.

This morning, just when I thought it was safe, I opened the bathroom cupboard and a new bottle of nail varnish hit the floor and spattered everywhere. I managed to clean it up without too much trouble. The bathroom smells of acetone now, even after I removed all traces to the bin outside and cleaned the floor afterwards. I learnt today that spilled nail varnish dries a lot faster that nail varnish applied to your fingernails.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

An educational Friday this time

My appointment with the dermatologist was last Friday morning. I was having my many moles beauty spots checked but I was more nervous about finding the Doctor’s office at the clinic complex. It it opposite the vein Doctor that I see. I hadn’t noticed it before because the writing on the wall is so big, not easy to read close up.

 She checked me all over and all of my moles and beauty spots are fine. I had a mole removed from my back 25 years ago so she asked me questions about that when she saw the scar.

 She told me that I have some kind of infection of the hair follicles – which is why I lost my eyebrows several years ago. My hairline is slowly receding, so now I have a prescription for some gel to apply.

 When she asked me if I had any questions I asked her about a little piece of skin on my nose, which never seems to heal properly. It’s an Actinic Karatosis. I’ve wondered about it for several years. In October she will remove it using Cryotherapy. 

I was in the dermatologist’s surgery for less than 15 minutes, learnt a lot and was reassured about my beauty spots.

The end of another era

For the last 11 years (already?) I’ve had an annual appointment with the ‘wimmins’ doctor, who always put me in mind of the Swedish Chef from the Muppets. He’s such a nice man and so polite.

My last appointment with him was a week ago. All is well. He’s retiring very soon and will be replaced by a young woman ‘wimmins' doctor. I’ve never had one of those before, so I wonder how we will get on.

Getting better and a bit of Spock

Is it really that long since I last blogged? My excuse is that I had flu, only mildly, as I was vaccinated in November. I think that my sinuses are troubling me now, but it seems to be getting better every day.

Rob and I were saddened by the news if Leonard Nimoy’s death. We all loved Spock, but did you know he could have chosen a role in Peyton Place instead? How the attitude towards Vulcans would have been different if that had been the case!

My cousin Paul wrote on Facebook that he burst into the Star Trek theme midway through his saw solo (yes he plays the saw too).  What a great tribute!  In 1975 I bought a copy of Leonard Nimoy's “Will I think of You?” a lovely book of photographs and a poem dedicated to his first wife. Here is a short extract as my tribute:

“…Only
When I die

And realize
That I am born again

For dying is

A beginning

And I
have died
thousands of times…”

Copyright © 1974 by Celestial Arts

New crowns

Before

My crowns dated from my late teens so that makes them 40 years old at least. Over the past three weeks my dentist has been working on them. They were very difficult to remove. It was pretty impressive having someone bashing at my teeth even though I knew that they weren’t real. We had the same performance with the temporary crowns, which were in for a week.

After

To my delight when she showed me the mould she asked me if I wanted them to be the same or straighter. I chose straighter and I’m really pleased with the results. They are well worth sitting with my mouth open for 2 ½ hours.

 Fortunately we have an excellent back up health insurance. Hopefully they won’t need replacing again for at least 40 years…

January wraps up

I was hoping to write more posts this year. This January has one post less than last year.

MIL is in hospital again. She fell and broke her arm just over a week ago. We’ll just have to wait and see how she heals.

Dom and J-M have both had flu. Dom couldn’t speak to me when I phoned her yesterday – no voice. Rob and I had our flu vaccinations in November. Apparently this year it’s only 25% effective against this year’s flu.

I’m really starting to enjoy Facebook. There is always something going on.  

The buds on the trees are starting to become noticeable, a sure sign that spring is on its way. Time to start thinking about getting into the garden to tidy up.

A lot can happen in a month

Still battling away with the postcards. We’re using changing the images to review our descriptions and information which has changed a lot in the last 8 years. Every cloud has a silver lining.

In the last month I've had a new crown on a tooth which has been uncomfortable for years. I learnt that gold and metal crowns aren't supposed to go together but as I've been coping with gold and steel crowns side by side for nearly 30 years it was worth the risk of putting another steel crown in. no problems. There can be a risk of ‘electric’ shocks and discomfort as well as a metallic taste.

We voted for a new mayor. Went to the meetings and made some new friends. Our old mayor has retired – he has a farm to run.

Dom stayed for a couple of nights as she had a course to attend in La Rochelle. We hadn't seen her or J-M for quite a while. We exchanged Christmas presents on 25th March!

The Doctor that looks after the veins on my legs retired on April 1st (no joke!). I would never have believed she was old enough to retire. I saw the new Doctor a couple of days ago. She’s very nice – her technique is different so it will be interesting to see the results after a few sessions.

Our Doctor will be retiring in July, not sure that a village as small as ours will find a replacement. Again, I didn't think that he was old enough to retire…

By the end of this year Dom will be Doctor Dom!

We've had the most gorgeous weather over the past few days. Lots of daisies popping up and flowers and blossom… blue skies.

Renewed resolutions

A year ago I wrote:

“I wonder how many people like me have decided to lose some weight this year. Millions, judging by all of the advice that is cluttering up my email box. I’ve read a few (100 or so) ideas and surprise, surprise, I already carry out a lot of them. I drink water, don’t take sugar in tea or coffee, eat breakfast, eat plenty of fibre, don’t snack between meals, dessert at lunch time is always fruit and so on. I know what my problem is – portion size. That’s another resolution for the list, reduce portion size. 

 One useful tip I did pick up: Just aim for a 5% weight loss and then take it from there. A lot of health websites tell you to aim for 10 %. 5% seems more obtainable to me. 

 I’ve also decided to exercise for at least 10 minutes 3 times a week (as well as the normal walking I do). I accidently discovered something to help. Just now, I thought I’d start off with 5 minutes to music. I put on Boz Scaggs; an old friend of mine for exercising to. 6 minutes passed without any effort at all! I hadn’t realized how important a good tune was to get me moving. 

 I’m also aiming for more blogging. I’ve been rather slack over the past year. I’m also going to try to make my posts more interesting. While I’m at the keyboard I need to write more fiction and poetry. Hopefully I should have slimmer fingers at least from all of the typing.” 

Well – how did you get on Anji? 

Weight: I’m the same weight as I was at the beginning of last year

 Exercise: flew out of the window that one did. I’ve started again and Rob and I have decided to find the time walk more…

Blogging: Unfortunately there were even fewer posts on this blog last year. 2004 was my most prolific year.

The nice thing about resolutions for the New Year is that you can start afresh every 12 months – how’s that for optimism?

Sort of waterlogged

The weeks have flown by again as I’ve been really busy and a few family issues have been thrown in.

 After visiting the Swedish Chef at the beginning of the month, I decided to experiment with drinking three liters of water a day. I’m still in a little pain from the bout of cystitis. All the antibiotics in the world won’t help if you don’t keep your pee as diluted as possible. The last check up I had came back with no bacteria at all. I don’t find it easy to drink large amount of water. Little and often is the secret. I also refill a half liter bottle so that it seems a little less like Mission Impossible. I'm truthfully managing between 2 and 3 liters a day.

Olivier now knows where he will be working and roughly when, but not for a few weeks yet. He’ll be replacing someone on maternity leave so it’s a short contract. At least he will have his foot in the door and will be able to put experience on his CV. By coincidence it is in the same town as the lycée that J-M is teaching in!

Dom phoned during the week, she has now driven in the snow for the first time. No snow here – just cold.

M-I-L is in hospital. She’s very weak. This month she celebrated her 91st birthday! I hope that they let her go home soon, she hates hospitals.

Houses and stories

Today I updated all of my blogs! Some of them have been really neglected of late.

The main events of the last few weeks are having to continue antibiotics for a few more weeks. Fortunately, I only need one dose of orange flavoured power in water once a week. (and)  More pleasantly, we helped Dom and J-M move into their new house. It’s rather cutting edge, built to be ecologically kind and has solar panels and super dooper insulation. It was built this year. They have their own bathroom off the master bedroom. They were looking to rent an older house (including an old mill, but the ceilings were too low). Just goes to show, you never know what might turn up. J-M’s mother, brother and a friend as well as Olivier were helping too and Dom and J-M took us to a very good restaurant in Poitiers for lunch as a thank you.

All of a sudden it is autumn. The weather has changed, the leaves are falling and it’s becoming much darker in the mornings and evenings. I don’t know why this year a feel quite sad that the year is drawing to a close. We’ve had a good year and managed to fit in three visits to the UK.

If you’re interested; I updated my official writing blog with the next chapter of a longer story and I’ve started a new short story on my ‘culture’ blog. Inspiration is not flowing from me - I wrote both of the stories 3 or 4 years ago.

On hold

In the last 6 months I've had to take antibiotics 4 times for different ailments. My eye and salivary gland have recovered, but now I'm enduring cystitis....

What did I do to deserve this?

I'm still alive!

I seem to have been too busy to visit blogs, let alone write a blog post. Olivier is home for the summer and Rob has had some time off, so I haven’t had much time to myself at all. In three weeks we will be back in the UK again to see M-I-L.

I’m suffering from conjunctivitis at the moment. It’s not at all painful, but my eye waters a lot. The vision in my left eye is blurred most of the time which is quite tiring. I’m keeping my eye clean with diluted cider vinegar, it stops the stickiness at least. If you know of any good home remedies please leave a comment!

Health (and wealth) report

Yesterday afternoon found me at the Dentist as well as the Doctors. My gums seem to be fine now and the cleaning process was a lot quicker than in the past – must be keeping them much cleaner myself. The dentist X-rayed my three crowns at the front. They are 40 years old now and will need to be replaced. He gave me a quote for 2400€ (that’s $3140 or £2051). Unfortunately he’s not registered with my insurance company, so I would have to go somewhere else to get more money refunded. I can’t afford 2000€ at the moment - I don’t think that I can ever remember being able to afford 2000€! Fortunately there are two other Dentists locally that work with the insurance company.

The Doctor’s visit went better for me. It’s taken me a while (two years) to get used to my new Doctor after having the previous one for 22 years. My thyroid is playing up a bit. I’ve got to lower my dose of thyroxin (e) a little. He suggested doing it by alternating 150µg and 125µg every other day. I have noticed myself being moody recently – Rob has noticed too. Perhaps that is why. Other than that everything is tickity boo!

The sun is shining and it’s starting to feel warm at long last. Olivier went off to spend the afternoon at his friend’s pool.