Keeping The NHS Busy- Part 1

Monday. 9.50 a.m. I have been out with Alfie, although he was somewhat reluctant to go much further than the piece of grass along Strudwick Drive, but I insisted on walking around Oldbrook Green. As we came to the point where we cross over Oldbrook Boulevard and back along the path towards Dexter House, we saw the lady with Toto. She was sitting in an electric shopping scooter with the dog on her lap. She said she was waiting for a hip replacement operation. Well, to be honest, if it's on the NHS, she's likely to have a long wait, as they are making excuses over any sort of operation or procedure in the wake of the so-called pandemic. 

There seemed to be an excessive amount of traffic along all the roads within Oldbrook. I then discover it's due to our dear old friend, Milton Keynes Marathon. It seems a lot of the roads are closed off to traffic, so that puts an end to my idea of going into the shopping centre to have a look around. More as an excuse to get out of Dexter House for a couple of hours. I think I might leave it until tomorrow. I still don't know why they can't run along the Redways instead of causing inconvenience to everybody, but, of course, that is far too easy.

Tuesday. 6.05 a.m. As it was light outside, I took Alfie out around 5.30 this morning. Yet another mild and pleasant morning.

2.15 p.m. After yesterday when I couldn't drive into the centre of Milton Keynes due to the marathon, I decided to go in this morning. I had a need to just escape from the flat as it can get incredibly claustrophobic. It was good to just wander about and in the shops. I have had really itchy skin and I needed something to relieve it. I found that E45, which is a lotion for such a skin condition, might be suitable. I had looked on the Boots website, but it was apparently out of stock in their Milton Keynes store, so I tried Superdrug, and, hey presto! they had it, so I went into their store and bought some. I now have Superdrug's loyalty card and set up an account when I got back to the flat. The only problem I have with these cards is that they soon fill up your wallet. How many do I have? Probably a dozen or so. The most used are Nectar, which is connected with Sainsbury's and Argos (which is now owned by Sainsburys) Tesco Clubcard, Waterstones, Costa coffee, Body Shop, IKEA, Lakeland, Boots, Morrisons, T.K. Maax, Pets At Home and no doubt many more. The trouble is they take up so much space in my wallet, so when I get to the till to pay at one of these retailers, I can spend a long time rifling through my wallet in an attempt to find the relevant card. Although you can have an app which is supposed to do the same job as a plastic card, I don't always have my iPhone on me.

I have been having what I can only describe as 'mini' angina 'pains', although they're not really pains. I suppose they could be best described as sort of pin-pricks of discomfort in my chest. I know exactly how an angina episode feels and more than sure of what a heart attack feels like, although the pain of a heart attack and heart burn, or indigestion, can feel very similar. I have tablets to check heartburn, Gaviscon, which are actually quite pleasant to suck, unlike a lot of medication and do work. I have them in my medication drawer for just this sort of moment. 

On Wednesday night I was woken up by Alfie poking me with a paw and needing my attention. I realised be probably needed to go outside, but it takes quite a while for me to come round from deep sleep, put on my clothes and stagger out to the grass outside alongside Strudwick Drive. This happened again a couple of hours later, but, unfortunately, he couldn't wait and I ended up clearing up after him. One of the reasons I have kitchen roll handy for such an incident. Then it happened again a few hours after that, by which time my patience was wearing a bit thin, unfortunately, but it was no good blaming Alfie. Well, at least he is capable of telling me, in his own original way that he needed my assistance. This was when the strange angina-like 'attacks' began, and I was thinking I ought to do something about it. Although not actually serious, or so I imagined, it might be advisable to contact my GP and discuss it with him/her.

Due to the weird angina-like symptoms, I thought it might be a good idea to get checked out by a GP. I wasn't expecting that I would get an appointment immediately, but nevertheless, I rang the surgery and found out that they now have a system which allows you to key in a number on your phone's keypad and they will ring you back when your number gets to the front of the queue. It certainly saves having to hang on for what can be hours until you hit the front spot. I spoke to a receptionist, and she listened to my symptoms and said that I would get a call-back from a doctor on Thursday afternoon. But then an hour or so later they rang and said that a doctor would see me face-to-face at 4.40 p.m. The doctor checked my heart rate and stuck that thing on my finger. What is it called? Oximeter or something. He decided I would need to have an E.C.G. and a blood test, just to see what was going on, and I arranged this for the next day with the receptionist.

Friday. 5.00 p.m. I went to the surgery to have my E.C.G. and blood test at 9.20 a.m., but I got there well in time and as a result, I was called into the room to have the tests. The lady doing the bloodletting, sorry, taking my blood, had a real problem finding a vein. So, what's new. In the end, she gave up and said she would need to have a second nurse available to help with this, and I would need to book another appointment. The E.C.G. caused no problems. Well, all I have to do is lie down on the bed and have those contact things stuck on me. No problems. All done and then I went home.

Swimming and Trimming

When we went to Ilfracombe in August we stayed at a John Fowler holiday park. There was a swimming pool within the site and we could use it with no extra charge. I generally love swimming. In fact, it was one thing I did actually enjoy when I was at Rushmoor School. I learnt to swim there. We weren't allowed on my father's boats until we children could swim which seemed a good enough reason to learn. I believe that all children should be taught as you never know when you are likely to need to save yourself from drowning. I used to go swimming regularly at one time every Sunday morning at the Robinson Pool in Bedford. I hadn't swum since I had my heart attack in 2006 so when I went to the pool on holiday I was somewhat wary of actually getting in the water and what sort of stress it would put on my heart. I need not have worried. Although not a particularly strong swimmer I can do quite a few lengths of the pool without any sort of discomfort from angina. I find that if I take one of my isoborbide mononitrate tablets before I go it does prevent any sort of angina attacks. Since I was prescribed this medication I haven't really experienced a great deal of angina discomfort. 

When we came back from holiday both myself and Carol decided that we wanted to keep the swimming routine going and wanted to join a gym in Milton Keynes which has a swimming pool. After doing a certain amount of research we decided to visit a fairly recently opened gym, D.W. Fitness, which is located within the grounds of Milton Keynes football stadium. We had a tour of the premises and then had a free session. There is not only the usual gym factilities within the gym but a very well-appointed swimming pool which also has two spa-pools (Jacuzzis), hot room and even tanning rooms (which we don't intend using, but it's great to have all of this at no extra charge.) As I am over 60 I get quite a reasonable discount and Carol gets a discount being a member of N.A.S.U.W.T., the teaching union. We try to go for a swim at least twice a week, although we didn't go at all for around a month when we had really bad coughs and bronchitis.

On Saturday we went to D.W. Fitness as the gym opened at 8. a.m. It was very pleasant to have the place virtually to ourselves and then to just sit in the spa pool and chill out. We hadn't tried the hot room so we decided to give it ago on Saturday. We didn't spend too much time in there. It was very hot and steamy (!) but I think it would be a good place to go if you have a cold or even any sort of health problem as you would certainly sweat out any impurities. I have been building up my stamina and have managed around 15-20 lengths of the pool but having lost some time not swimming due to the coughs and bronchitis this has had to be built up gradually again from doing only about 10 lengths.

We are getting the benefit of this exercise and I'm sleeping better. In fact, on Saturday I slept on the bed for round an hour as I was so chilled out by 2 o'clock. Also, I feel more invigorated and have lost some of my tummy as a result. We want to buy two bicycles later in the year so we can add cycling to our exercise routine. As Milton Keynes has such an excellent network of cycle-ways (Redways) there is absolutely no excuse to not ride around the city on bicycles. You have no need to use any of the roads and you can pass under, or over, the grid roads instead of actually getting off your bicycle.