You Couldn't Make It Up!

 Tuesday. 5.45 a.m. Up early, as usual, walking around Oldbrook Green with Alfie. A really dramatic cloud formation over Milton Keynes.

Yesterday, I think I got closer to upgrading my bathroom. Vashti (S.H.O. at Dexter House.) gave me a telephone number to ring, the Community Occupational Health department at Milton Keynes Council. I gave my details and that was the end of the conversation. I was surprised at how quickly I got through. Later that afternoon I got a call from a lady from Millbrook regarding having the bathroom refitted, although I couldn't understand why occupational health would be involved. Anyway, this lady made me an appointment in August to go for a bath test. No, I don't understand either, but if it meant I got the bathroom upgraded, with at least a decent shower, I can use it without stooping because the current arrangement isn't high enough for me. Crazy, but true. Continuing . . . She needed a photo of the bathroom and later, she texted me, so I sent a photo via text, which moved the thing further forward, with details of my height and weight, and she then told me I wouldn't need to visit, and that I could have a wet room rather than a bathroom, meaning I could have a shower unit, which I wanted in the first place, and it would need her manager's approval for the work to do ahead. Al this, running around in circles, when it needn't have to be so complicated. Considering what I have gone through to get this far with my bathroom, you certainly couldn't make it up!

1.30 p.m. I think the Voltarol is beginning to have a definite effect on my lower back pain. I haven't been to Camphill, because of this, but I do miss going, and I'm hoping things will have returned to near enough normal by next Tuesday, so I can go there again. Being stuck in this flat with covid was bad enough, but this new thing makes it even more difficult to put up with.

3.45 p.m. I have upgraded my details to be eligible to vote. I got a letter from the Democratic Service department of Milton Keynes Council and you can go online to a special website 'household response,' and enter two unique security codes and your postcode to make sure your name is on the database. I have done all this, and it's now amended.

Wednesday. 7.50 a.m. There was 'sort-of'' rain when I took Alfie out at around 5.15 this morning. What do I mean? Well, thin and wet dribbles, not a proper fall of rain. But as I write this, the sun is out, and it appears bright and rather pleasant.

The Voltarol is doing its work and I feel a good deal better. Considering what the pain was like only a few days ago, it is a relief to be able to bend, particularly when putting my clothes on, it is certainly better.

1.25 p.m. Around half an hour ago there was a tremendous rainstorm, which lasted all of two minutes. This delayed me taking out Alfie, but it appeared to be only a light rain.

6.35 p.m. I'm watching the BBC sitcom 'The Good Life' on Britbox. I have seen it before, and probably when it was originally broadcast in 1975. It seems to stand the test of time really well. We don't have this sort of show any more. It was produced when there were only three channels, BBC1, BBC2 and ITV.  It made a star of Richard Briars, Felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington. I must have seen Richard Briars in several Alan Ayckbourn plays, 'Absurd Person Singular' and Penelope Keith in one of 'The Norman Conquests' trilogy. Thinking about Ayckbourn's plays, I did the book for a production of 'Relatively Speaking' when I was A.S.M. at Liverpool Playhouse in the early 1970s. That play (although not that production.) would have been Ayckbourn's first major success, and in the West End, it starred a young Richard Briars. On a further note, I was working on some BBC show, as a walk-on, and one of the runners (or at least, one of the stage crew.) was one of Richard Briar's daughters, although she didn't want to admit to being his daughter.

Thursday. 5.35 a.m. Another relatively mild morning. The Voltarol is working well. The only side effect of using it is I think it's making me feel sick.

What's It All About, Alfie?

 Saturday. 7.35 a.m. I am feeling considerably better this morning. I had a review of my care package (if that's the correct term. I don't receive care, even though I live in a sheltered housing unit, Dexter House.) Anyway, this is reviewed and amended every six months or so, and we have a new S.H.0. (Sheltered Housing Officer), Vashti, who began working here a few weeks ago. I mentioned the pain I was experiencing in my lower back, my kidney area, and she said it could be a urinary infection and connected with the covid infection I have had over the past week or so.  I did a covid test on Wednesday and it was negative. I then rang Central Milton Keynes Medical Centre and wanted a doctor's appointment to discuss this issue, but I could only get a telephone consultation yesterday afternoon. I discussed this with the practice nurse, who I have spoken to before, and he told me it could be Musculoskeletal, and suggested using Voltarol gel, which I have from another pain-related injury and used some immediately. It appears to work, so I will continue using it twice a day.

10.20 a.m. I've been to Sainsbury's. I haven't been out to do any sort of food shopping since the covid infection. The last one was the Thursday I did the first test. I have bought a new tube of Voltarol because the first tube is nearly finished. This new tube is stronger and probably more effective. 

Sunday. 5.40 a.m. I got up and got dressed. The lower back pain isn't as bad as it was and the Voltarol is working, although not entirely. I suppose I just have to let it take time.

5.25 p.m. I went to church this morning, having not gone last week because of covid. 

Having parked my car, I walked around the building to the entrance. As I got to the door, a bird flew past me, chasing what I thought was a pigeon, and the first bird crashed into the glass of the frontage. It was then that I recognised what this bird was, some sort of hawk, and possibly a sparrowhawk. It didn't catch the pigeon and then flew off over Shenley, but for the shortness of the incident, it was really exciting to me, as I find any sort of wild bird, particularly birds of prey. I don't know what happened to the pigeon, but there was a pile of feathers left where both birds had run into the window.

Monday. 8.05 a.m. I am continuing to use Voltarol on my lower back. It seems to relieve it slightly, but then the pain comes back. I have a feeling it makes me feel sick. I intend to ring Central Milton Keynes Medical Centre to hopefully get a physiotherapy appointment, although I doubt it is unlikely to be immediate. I really want to go to Camphill tomorrow, but if the pain continues, then I can't go.

8.50 a.m. I rang Central Milton Keynes Medical Centre just after 8.30. I was told I was tenth in the queue, so my heart sank. The thought of having to listen to the music they play for half an hour or more was enough to put me off, but I was soon sixth and then third in the queue. But I was soon speaking to a receptionist. I can't get a physiotherapy appointment until 14th August! I will just have to endure the pain and continue with the Voltarol.

You Are My Sunshine!

Wednesday. 10.25 a.m. The heat is rising. The temperature in my flat as I compose this is 77ºF.

I have just returned from shopping in Sainsbury's. Hardly any other shoppers.

This often happens to me, someone wants something off a shelf which is out of reach, so I'm asked to get it for them. A short lady in one of the aisles.'Please, could you reach it for me?' I should charge £1 and give it to charity at this rate.

The rearranged store is still causing havoc. I wanted chocolate sauce (which is great on ice cream, particularly at the moment with temperatures rising.) It has been in the same position for years and suddenly it's moved, but search as I might, I can't find it anywhere. What on earth is the point of all this? 

6.40 p.m. We had another tea party in the community lounge, here at Dexter House. Plenty of tea, scones and cakes. You could almost say, 'lashings of tea and cake', some sort of conversation, but not a lot. Pleasant. Attempting to get any sort of intelligent conversation going is a bit like extracting blood out of the proverbial stone, drawing teeth, or some other idiom. The only problem is, that stuffing my face full of cake, scones and tea at that time of day, ruins my appetite for my evening meal. So, I have it at around 7 o'clock. Meaning the balance of things is put out. It's no a big issue, but as I get used to my routine, it's thrown out considerably.

The two items I had ordered from Amazon, an ice pack and a unit to take my printer, arrived around 4.45. I have managed to construct the printer unit. Made of metal pieces which is constructed with the aid of an Allen key. A bit fiddly to get some bolts to go through two layers of metal, but, with a bit of effort and a lot of patience, it is now done and in roughly the position I want it in my bedroom. I will sort it out tomorrow. 

The ice pack was put in my freezer for an hour. It contains a gel that absorbs cold and goes into a bag which you then fix around the particular body part you have pain in, such as my left knee, and then just leaves it to do its job. I can feel a definite improvement, so, hopefully, after about a month of use, I trust it will alleviate the pain I have been experiencing with bursitis over the last month or so. 

I just learnt that bursitis is another name for housemaid's knee, but probably it's not PC to use that term, and probably a lot of young people wouldn't know what a housemaid was.

Thursday. 6.40 a.m. I am continuing with using Voltarol on my knee and I've just had a ten-minute session with the icepack. Both these treatments seem to be working, and I can bend my left leg with reduced discomfort.

11.30 a.m. The thermometer currently reads 82ºF. It's going to get hotter and, according to Carol Kirkwood, the BBC Breakfast weather lady, the Met Office has announced that there will be the first-ever Red warning for extreme heat during the next few days, until at least Sunday.

Going To Accident and Emergency

I think I have already mentioned that Carol had a really nasty fall when she slipped over when we visited Waddesdon Manor on New Year's Day. She has been complaining about pain in her hand, and I had got Voltarol to use on it to try to relieve this pain. She has been using this for over a week, and although it has helped to a certain extent, it has not completely relieved the pain. Infact, she told me it might have got worse. This is in her left hand. This morning she said she was finding it really difficult to do simple things when she was dressing, even pulling up zips. I really thought that there was a good reason to go to the doctor with this problem or go to the Accident and Emergency department at the hospital, so at around 7.30 she rang the Academy and said she wouldn't be in until she'd been to be checked over for the injury. You have to ring in by 7.30 for cover to be set if you are ill.

There was really no point driving to Milton Keynes Hospital, because we live so close (it's just over the Redway to the back of our house.) and you have to pay to park, so it was going to be easier and a good deal less stressful to just walk there. It seems really awful to think you have to pay to park your car in a hospital car park, but that's a matter to discuss elsewhere.

So we set off and walked the half-mile or so, coming into the Accident and Emergency department the wrong way round. It really surprised me that we were never challenged by staff, as you do hear of some quite appalling incidents regarding security in hospitals. We went to the reception desk where they take basic details of your injury, name, address and so on, and we then had to sit and wait in the waiting area.  From experience myself, having gone through Accident and Emergeny regarding heart problems, they prioritize patients so that if you have a more life-threatening condition, you get seen before someone with a lesser condition.need/injury. Coronary conditions, particularly the possibility of heart attack, is obviously going to be further up the list, indeed, more likely at the top of the list, compared with someone who has a cut, bruise  or abrasion or minor problem.

By now it was around 8 a.m. There was a hand-written sign up saying that there was a waiting time of approximately 6 HOURS, but as this was for the previous day it was difficult to judge how quickly we would be seen. I do think the information should have been more up to date. It wouldn't have taken that long for a member of staff to clear this old information and put up the current approximate waiting time. There were quite a few other people waiting in the waiting area.

After about 15-20 minutes Carol's name was called and we were taken into the Triage Department, where a male nurse took far more detailed information regarding the injury to Carol's hand. About an hour later Carol was called again and was seen by a Care Practitioner who did a further examination and it was then decided that Carol's hand would require X-raying. This was done in the Accident and Emergency X Ray department which was a little further into the department. After this was done we returned to the waiting area (having been through this department myself, it is all extremely familiar.) and we were joined by Carol's friend Judy who works in the hospital, but I'm not entirely in what capacity, but she always shows up like a guardian angel at just the right time to give support. A truly lovely lady. 

The we returned to the Care Practioner lady's office to look at the by-then developed X rays of Carol's hand and it was decided that she would need some therapy on the hand from the Hand Therapy Unit. I was never aware that there was such a department in the hospital. She could go there immediately or an appointment could be made for a later date, but it seemed sensible to get something set up as soon as possible, so we walked there around the outside of the hospital. 

The room was set up with quite a few tables, with people sitting at them and OT staff (Occupational Therapy) staff working on exercises on patients' hands that had been injured in whatever fashion, similar to Carl. It was decided that Carol would have to wear a splint on her hand until it heals, and this was produced, and is kept in place with strips of Velcro. She has to come back in about a week to have it checked and to see how her hand is healing. 

It was gone 12 midday when we eventually left the hospital. So, we had been there around 4 hours, which wasn't as long as it might have taken, and at least there was an outcome, with Carol having her hand injury seen and given something to relieve the injury. 

We walked home and Carol went into work back at the Academy.