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MONDAY 5th OCTOBER 2026
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I woke after a night of ever-waking, with different pains each time. Duodenal Donald was responsible for a few of them. Toothache Tiffany, Colin Cramps, Sciatica Cyril and the leg wound, as I recalled. But I still thought it was far too early to get up. It seemed so dark through the tattie, thin curtains.
I felt a little flowback from the bladder, enough to make me get the torch to see if the urine was flowing into the nocturnal pouch on the floor. There was precious little in the bag. So I got up to investigate and 
checked the time on the clock: 07:10hrs. Blimey, the Carer could arrive anytime now. I checked the night bag; no leaks. I reminded myself to ask a Carer that the laundry needed doing. And felt the possible need to visit the wet room, so off to the Porcelain Throne I trudged. It took yonks to get things moving, and ages to get it all out. Rock-solid torpedo-like. Relief!.
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Had a rinse and off to the kitchen to get the kettle on. Nipped and got the dirty food things and washed them in the sink. Carer conman Andrew came in as I was filling the slow cooker. He seemed in a good mood and even asked me how I was before asking which
painkillers I needed this morning. Amazingly, bar the ulcer, things had calmed down, so I just took one Shortec, oxycodone hydrochloride painkiller. I asked him to apply a heat pad to the right side of my back.
(The heat pad fell off minutes after he left).
Andrew applied non-medicated heat cream to my shoulders. Then applied some Germolene to the back of my neck. Then the Carer emptied the pouch.
The camera that I dropped yesterday was not showing snaps up very clearly in the window thingy. I dug out a cleaning cloth for delicates. I’ll see later. Andrew came out from his morning dump in the wet room and left. No chain pulled, light left on.
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The Health Check returns, as you can see above, produced the lowest ever sys, at 97. Ooo’er!
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Vampire Nurse Arrived
It bled a bit afterwards, but no pain whatsoever.
I started updating my blog late. It is hard work.
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I checked on the spuds in the crockpot; they were nowhere near cooked. I went to put some more water in the pot, only to find that the water supply was non-existent. Just 
as well, as I later found out when Ejaz called, that I had got new appointments for tomorrow. Three of them!
I only checked yesterday and saw and thought… Aha! A day free of medical an
d legal appointments; my smug mode did not last.
Next week, there is only (as far as I know) one appointment. But it filled me with dread, and my confidence that it would happen was minimal. They have now made their seventh promise to send an engineer to assess the unreadable power meter.
7th time lucky, I hope. We’ll see. The Social lady is coming today or tomorrow, and hopefully Alan. (computer). Ejaz arranged it all for me. He cares. A grand lad. Ejaz; we spoke of things like his (and Mizra’s) not calling often enough to help with showering, checking emails, letters, doing the laundry, nowadays. When they did 70% of the calls, it was honky-dory. Not easy, but I’ve never been so far behind. This is frustrating. I’m going to email ICC to ask if they can send these two lads and Prem regularly. My life is so hard when another Carer calls. I’ve got to remember what needs doing.
A couple seem to avoid cleaning and laundry and are a bit pushy. The better lads always do the safety checks.
I’ll draft the email and ask Jenny if she can find time to review it and add any helpful comments. But she is so busy this week; she might leave it for a while.
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I found that the water is off. I think the notices saying the water was going off between 11:00 > 16:00hrs were for the wrong block of flats. Winwood, not Woodthorpe.
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The afternoon Health Checks improved on the morning’s.
The blood levels were better too. Come to think of it, the finger tests were.
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Made a pot of noodles. Carer arrived, and no painkillers were needed this time. (Nice!)
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The pot was cold by the time the lad left, but I’d lost my appetite, so I didn’t make myself another. Haha!
Very annoyed, I tried the computer, but it played up and left me baffled again. I gave up after two hours, turned it all off, and it took me five tries to reload it. With dread, it did come on. Apart from the mystery bleeping sounds coming from the hard drive and a couple of unidentifiable warnings popping up, it seemed to settle, so now I’m back to catching up. Grrr!
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I have to rush (Tuesday 10:00am), or I’ll never finish Tuesday’s note before the visitors arrive.
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Right leg
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Apart from the tastelwaa potatoes, the faux crab sticks,
putting the wrong sauce on, the rock-hard beetroot, forgetting to add tomatoes;
The cheese and pickled onions were nice,
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Late sunset snaps
Nice, though…
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Made a ,mess of this one later.
Tried again, then gave up.
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Smallest overnight amount ever.
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Drinkies… Non-alcoholic, of course.
Gigantic box of tomatoes,
The can opener was not working.
Had to use frozen roasting potatoes last night. They needed a ten-minute boil. Dry them off, then bake for 45 minutes
Moody, magnificent.
Dropped the camera! Grrr!
And a pot of lemon dessert.
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Carer edifiedless Edward arrived. I talked him into Phorpain-gelling my back & shoulders. Then getting my socks fitted. He spotted the knee injury and took some photographs of the battered-looking state of my 
poor-pins.
bad they looked. I’ll send the snaps of my rough-looking legs to the District Nurses. But only if it gives me a lot of bother. (It didn’t; it eased later on. (Humorous) Have you seen my pins? My rough-looking, uncoordinated, ungainly, pot-marked legs; that hang hidden, mostly unseen by me, beneath my morbidly & clinically obese, elephantine, 
Brighter colour wee-wee this afternoon.
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At last, a decent new meal from Parsley-Box.
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Morning Views…
About as bright as I feel. Tsk!
More emails, texts and letters!
Believe it or not, I forgot where I put the new cleaning things again. When Carer Prem came on the late call, he did larf… and showed me where they were.
Then…
CorelDraw froze yet again.
Considered Smug-Mode.
Went into Smug-Mode.
Super-Smug-Mode.
Earlier Smug-Mode Deleted!
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Mud Gorning
I knew I’d put the new cloths somewhere.
Super skies, later on.
Night Pouch Bursting.
Contrails? RAF training?
23:30: Got potatoes cooking,
BBQ sauce on the spuds, and
The file told me it was taken
Impressive for me! I thought.
Do you think these are contrails?
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Although the day initially…
Going steadily…
Enough for scenery snap-taking.
7 items short, 3 substituted,
The landline burst forth with a shrill tone. It was a call from the Deep Vein Thrombosis Clinic. Don’t laugh, but I have no memory of what was said. 
Can’t see the letters on the keyboard.
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Stirred back to life after 4.5 hrs of wonderful deep sleep. 
Forced my aching back body up from the bed onto my feet and carried out the balance exercises. Fell back onto the bed in the process. Cursed a little, then got back to mild exercising. Then looked for, but couldn’t find, the Camera to take shots of the view while making a mug of my favourite Glengettie tea. Never did find the Camera. Never made the tea either while looking for the Camera. And I’d used it to snap the flipping bed!
Off to the wet room to scrub up, shave, clean the teggies, and medicate where I can reach. 
. Then tried to get my shoes on unaided, falling onto the recliner in the process and knocking the new biscuit jar off of the ottoman, and it broke as it hit the floor. Took me ages to clear up the fragments of glass. 
I took two snaps,
of the evening sky.
Took off the hospital tab.
Reheated the potatoes to make a meal.
Cobs defrosted from the freezer.
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Woke at about 07:20hrs. Lay there assessing the ailment’s situation; result: Worst: angina. 2nd: shared twixt sciatica & the back pains. 3rd: Toothache!
hunk out of the Carer’s time to urge the painful, constipated evacuation to get a move on. Then, in my haste to get back to the Carer, I took a snap of 
the dark gap to see if anything I needed medically had been knocked off amongst several items off of the back of the floor cabinet. The snap revealed very little identifiable. I got back to the Carer, who got the diabetic socks on, medications issued; PKs taken, being one morphine & one codeine. And a heat pad put on the back.
Computer on, did the health checks, recorded them, and checked the notes for starting this job on this blog. Oh, I found the mobile: 11 texts and nine missed calls.
Realised I’d not done yesterday’s blog, and got back on track… did I say back on track? Really, I went more off than on. I kept reading the notes I’d sent off, repeatedly doing things I realised I’d not done yet. I was all over the place, but seemed happy enough doing these things. Sorted the bins, hand-washed some socks, made up a water bottle, made a mug of Glengettie and left it to brew, forgetting all about it. Fitted a third and final visit to the Porcelain Throne in, Rock hard again. My 
Haemorrhoids were bleeding. I put some potatoes in the crock-pot slow-cooker, on a low setting.
After dropping the spoon, pot lid and banging my head against the open cupboard door, I went off track again. I decided that cooking, even the basics, was too dangerous a job for me. I decided (yes, it’s a rarity, but there you are) to order some Parsley Box ready meals. I stopped long ago, as they are not the best of meals; but I can heat them in the microwave relatively accident-free. I went on their site, and there was a special offer: two free meals and soups. Made up the order, went to pay, and to get the special freebies, I needed to spend another £15! and rather foolishly, I did. Clot of the first order, here!
through my flat and coat pockets to gather all the coins and notes I could find.
Then took a shot with the flash on.
kitchenette window, the first one of the car park below. All spaces filled. Then I managed to drop the camera with ease. Agonised, and a few words of self-criticising nature w
ere passed. Then I took a snap of my once-visited daily precious tree copse. Which was a mistake, cause it evoked a little self-pity and resentment in me, cause, I am no longer able or capable of making my daily hobble through it. I loved doing this.
Off to the wetroom for a shave, teggie-cleaning and good scrub-up, and medicationalisationing areas, that are not to painful or dizzy creating to reach.
I almost started eating the meal, but I remembered I had not put the nocturnal pouch on the Catheter. Feet down, tray back on the chair, and fetched a light bag, attached it, and realised I’d got the wrong spectacles on, so while I was up, I swapped them so I could see the TV.
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finished it and served it up. Thinking something along the lines of “I’m going to enjoy this”… But I certainly didn’t. I think the Catheter blocking, or angina attacking, must have affected my taste buds… maybe. Even the faux fish sticks tasted off to me. Well in date, too. The cheese twist tasted so dry. I’d undercooked the potatoes. Tsk! The tomatoes were okay. Oh, and I put the wrong sauce in the side pot.
I spied the moon out of the kitchen; I’m not good nowadays at holding the camera steady, but I resolved to take a clear shot of it; or I’ll eat my hat… 
of Glengettie tea. Then shame came over me, and I tried a longer shot of the morning’s sky and moon.
Gawd, the pain today, but the flow increased to the pouch until 17:00; now it’s slowed right down again. When it was running nicely, I took a snap of the urine in the jug. There was some of the cotton-woolly stuff in it again. I assume it must be part of the prostate, and this is why the Doctor stopped the Finasteride tablets, which were to reduce it, to allow things to flow more easily.
Sunset Snaps…
Better efforts this time…
Clear sky…
Bootiful!
Kitchen Window Shots
This morning, I think
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Porcelain Throne! I sprayed
Carer Edward arrived as I turned on the computer. Diabetic socks fitted on. As usual, short sock on one leg with the Catheter on and long one on the other. Painkillers: I just took one Oxycodone-Morphine. The back was awfully painful again. We used the non-medical heat cream on the right side of his back, where the pain is much worse; he rubbed it in well. I felt the heat coming through within ten minutes. The Morphine took ages, but eventually the agony eased down to almost acceptable. I took the other 11 tablets and applied Phorpain gel to my shoulders, knees, and right hand, then Germolene to my neck.
Red sky in the morning, Shepherd’s warning!
Bit of a quirky mystery then.
The day began to brighten up, but it was still nippy when I opened the windows to take snaps of the views.
I felt a smidge depressed taking this snap of my beloved tree copse. My mind floated back to my daily walks through the copse; I could even smell the inside.
I took this photo of the Carer’s Medicinal table. Seeing the roasted and salted cashew nuts amongst the jumble of prescription medications, I saw the funny side, thinking they had added them to my medications.
Afternoon, I took this snap of the wonderful-looking clouds above; again, my mind went back, this time to my first parachute jump with the T.A.
Then took another picture to the left og the first one.
ollect it when he came in later.
A meal with a difference!
Burnt a few fingers getting the slightly overcooked bread out of the oven, sliced it lengthwise into two halves, and put lasings of no-butter butter on them. 
I checked the prices at the Dementia Home at the top of Woodborough Road. Just to see what they are currently charging a week…
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