Good morning Michael and all GN's from a still coolish morning quite grey. But I cant tell which way it is going. Fingers crossed, the sky darkens and we get a quick downpour , before it all begins to heat up. But we are definitely going into it getting darker earlier in the evenings , so even with a hot day, it should be cooling down a little earlier.
That saying " it never rains but it pours" may not work literally at the moment , but is definitely appropriate to my life at the moment! What a day I had yesterday, with not a single plan or wish for the day happening - and not for good reasons.! I am sat here feeling as though I have done 10 rounds with Mohammed Ali! But , my self knowledge, and polite determination, has at least meant that I am in a little better state.
After the saga of the freezer etc, my plan for first thing in the morning, was to try and sort out who I need to contact , and hope to find someone who could replace the seal on the freezer, and in the meantime, to be able to put frozen things in friends and neighbours freezer, and also cook various things, so that I could safely put them back in the freezer and not lose them. I also thought , I could use the best steak mince, to make some bolognase or whatever sauce, and that could be put in small portions to enjoy later. I would give friends something, warning them that they needed to cook it, and then they could freeze it. I would err on the safe side, and any meat that I wasnt totally sure about, would be given to my friends dog to enjoy.
Best laid plans!! Already , full of aches and pains, I was really struggling to get going and my leg was also very painful, and looking down at it, I could see the telltale reddening, and comparing it to my right leg I could already see clearly the swelling was showing things were not going well. As I have told the saga on here, I had cellulitis, and didnt recognise what it was the first time, when I had just moved and it was covid. So I didnt immediately recognise it and it ended up where they wanted me in hospital and were concerned about sepsis etc. and I managed to stay at home , but had to be taken for injections for 16 days and it was a rough time.
The next time I had a recurrence, I recognised the symptons and immediately went to the doctors , on an emergency appointment , and it was caught quickly enough so that with antibiotics and care and jiggling my various other medications, I avoided hospital or needing extra care from the surgery and managed it myself. So yesterday, looking at my leg, all thoughts of freezers or anything else were abandoned, and I literally showered, had some weetabix and didnt even have a coffee, but went in the car to the surgery.
I also needed to then see the pharmacy about them missing my statins from the parcel. If this had happened on thursday, I could have waited to see how things were, for the day etc., but as the surgery would be shut on the weekend, and that would mean 3 days for it to get hold again, I knew I had to act straight away.
So, naturally , no disabled space in the car park to start with. Quite a queue at the reception, but waited my turn, and then politely said that I needed an emergency appointment for today, and was about to explain, when she started to say , there were no vacancies left, in that tone that thinks you are trying to queue jump or whatever. As she started to speak again, I held my hand up, put my best teachers eye contact, and voice on and interuppted. I informed her that I had been told by the doctors that if this problem started I was to get in touch immediately to avoid things getting worse. That as it was friday, I could not risk waiting until monday, and that if necessary I would sit in the waiting room all day, and would see any available doctor. I did not raise my voice, nor become hectoring , but I definitely got the message across. So I was asked to wait while she sorted it out, and told that she couldnt guarantee that I would be seen quickly. She came back to me and said I would need to come back in about an hour and a half and then wait.
That was fine by me, and so I then proceeded to the pharmacy, to sort out the missing statins, again with the fact that it was friday, meaning it had to be dealt with now. Luckily for me, they have a seat there, which I was grateful for. They are a smallish shop, always very busy, and a good working team. So I sat there for quite some time, and then explained what was missing, that I had filled in my repeat prescription correctly and so forth, She went away to check and came back to say that there hadnt been a prescription issued for that particular medication, and we went through things and she left me sat there whilst she tried to find out what was going on.
I sat there for a long time, wishing I had bought my local paper on the way to the doctors, so that I had something to read. Then she came back to say it would take a while to sort it and I said that I was coming back to the dr,s and would call in again. Went back to my car, which was then blocked in, and I couldnt get out, and it ended up that I didnt even get a paper or anything and just went back into the surgery.
Frosty look from the receptionist but then down to the doctor, of course at the far end of the corridor, and I hobbled down there with my bad back and bad leg very slowly. Never met this doctor before, but went through everything and she confirmed it was cellulitis again and so said she would send a prescription over to the pharmacy, and it might be a few minutes. Huh! I limped over and returned to my chair to wait, for both the antibiotics and the missing statins. By this time I was feeling quite rough, hungry and in a lot of pain, but at least glad that I had stuck to my guns and was getting some help.
Sat and sat and sat. The lady said did I want to go home and come back, but I said no I needed to wait, as it was very important I started with the medication asap and also it was actually harder for me to be getting up and down several times with my back being so painful. I thought about my freezer slowly defrosting, but this was the priority. I was there until nearly 2,45 and when I left at last, on the good side I had what I needed, but had only some water, no lunch and done no shopping and not even the paper. ! Was totally exhausted , and literally got in and just made a coffee and got a couple of biscuits and went to take the first of the tablets an then went to lie down to try and ease the back pain. What a flipping saga, and all the while it had been a pleasnt day outside , not too hot and the odd shower, and I hadnt even sat outside. Oh and now to add insult to injury, while I am taking this medication, I have to keep out of the sun, cover myself up etc ., Oh well at least I did feel vindicated, in knowing that was what I needed to do.
So today, my leg is very swollen and red, to the point where it is quite painful and it sort of feels as though the skin is too tight and hot. But hopefully things will start to improve now I have begun the tablets.
Today, I am abandoning any thoughts of getting things done, just need to recuperate, and hope to meet up with a friend for a quiet sit down with a coffee and let myself calm down etc.
So at last have retrieved this post Those flipping gremlins at gransnet seem to be having a field day of causing hassle with posts at the moment. I hope someone can find them and get rid of them soon.
I totter off now for a much needed coffee and wish you all a good weekend and hope that you have been having a better day than I did. Fingers crossed I might have more control of next week.
No fun being old under Andy Burnham .
