Lexin

I’m exhausted, and I don’t know why. I’m working with my CPAP machine quite well, and it works, but I’m starting to fall asleep in the afternoons again.

Mind you, I had a good reason yesterday. When I went to hospital at the end of January, I was given a prescription. I took it to the pharmacy but it turned out that the doctor (whom I suspect to be a locum) had not signed or dated the scrip, and therefore it was useless. On Monday I had a letter from the hospital about the appointment, and usefully there was a phone number.

I rang the number and was told that if I came to the hospital at 09:15 on Wednesday, they’d give me a new prescription. I rather balked at the time, but I pulled myself from my bed at a sparrow’s fart and made it to the hospital by 09:10. Great, I thought, I will be home by 10:15. Not so. I was finally given my new prescription at 11:00, and had been excruciatingly bored, not to mention cold. Most hospitals seem to be overheated, but that one is always cold.

Worse, when I left the hospital to catch a bus home, I had to wait in the freezing wind. By the time the bus came, the muscles of my face wouldn’t move, and I wondered if that’s what Botox feels like.

I made it home at about 11:30, and had a hot breakfast at the local club, which has a café at the back during the mornings. It was very nice to have a meal I hadn’t prepared myself. Having said that, I’m living largely on breakfast cereal because even heating up ready meals is proving too much for me these days.

Cats

Geraint seems to be doing better, he’s gained some weight and is no longer the skinny cat who originally came here. He plays, has zoomies and when I’m playing my PS5 he curls up at my feet, keeping them warm.

Opal still has a problem with her back – she’s chewing her fur, for all the world like a person with trichotillomania. It really worries me. She’s on Metacam and Gabapentin, but though it helps a bit, it doesn’t solve the problem completely. The vet only suggested that she be fed something that is a specialist food for a cat with a problem with coat and stomach. Again, it helps, but not completely. I give her a taurine supplement and various oils, but really, I’m at a loss.

Yesterday I went to Llandudno for my annual check up with the oncology team. People may remember that I had a mastectomy in 2022 following a diagnosis of breast cancer.

Getting there is a minor irritation - it involves a taxi to the station (£7) a train to Llandudno (£5) and then another taxi to the hospital (£9). Then I repeat the performance to get back, doubling the cost. I have done this at various times for five years.

This time, I learn that had I ever asked, I could have scheduled the appointments in Bangor, where I live. A taxi to the hospital does cost £9 (it’s probably gone up) but I can get a bus back which costs me nothing because I have a disabled person’s bus pass covering me for buses in the whole of Wales, plus some trains which I have never got to grips with.

So next time, it will be in Bangor.

The oncologist said he couldn’t feel anything, but I will have to have the usual mammogram, and thankfully that will be in Bangor, too.

In other news

That stomach bug is still showing signs of hanging around. I feel a bit poorly and definitely cold, and I don’t think schlepping to Llandudno helped much.

Back, yet again, from the doctors. I think I should have my own seat in the waiting room.

This time I was able to point out to the nurse the little scar/scratch which is where the fluid is coming from. She put a new dressing on it, one she said would help it heal. Then a big plaster which is due to stay on for two days. She also gave me some to take away.

For those wondering about me seeing a lymphoedema nurse, she also made me an appointment with the diabetic nurse for next week, and that nurse will make a decision about a referral. So, we’ll see.

Today’s nurse also took a blood test, which is to do with my ongoing kidney issues. I will ring up on Monday and see what the results are. I’m a bit nervous because last night I had lower back pain, just where it would hurt if my kidneys were playing tricks.

Now, I’m going to elevate my legs.

My doctors have been in touch and I have an appointment with Scary Mary next week. So they will be looking at my feet.

The weird thing is that the podiatrist's poking at my big toe was completely painless. That is not a good sign.

I called the Community Dental Services people this morning, and I have an appointment in July in Holyhead. I have never been to Holyhead, so this should be interesting.

I’m somewhat grumpy.

I was referred to the Community Dental Service in February last year. At the time, I’d been going to the dentist every six months for a couple of years, but my dentists decided that I was too heavy for their chairs. However, my teeth were in pretty decent nick.

Inside three months, I broke a back tooth. At the end of last year, I broke a second tooth. On Saturday I broke a third.

It has been well over a year, and I have heard nothing from the Community Dental Service. Not even when the dental specialist I saw about my hemicrania contacted them.

I called them this morning and while they were sympathetic they can’t increase my level of urgency, that has to be done by the referring dentist. So I called the referring dentist and they will call me back. We’ve been through this before and they said they couldn’t amend the referral. If I hear nothing, I will ring them again tomorrow and be annoyed.

Yesterday was an expensive day.

About two months ago I left my distance vision glasses on a bus. Or in the hospital. I don’t know which and neither organization has found them.

So I finally gave up and went to the optometrist. My glasses are always expensive, this time £200. Ker-ching! They will be ready in two weeks time. Meanwhile I am struggling on with my intermediate (computer) specs.

Then when I got home, I thought I would watch TV. April Fool, no you won’t. Your Freesat box has gone belly up, and needs replacing. So that’s another chunk of change.

Meanwhile, at least the cats are cuddly. So there is that.

The latest news is that have a diagnosis of sleep apnoea. I do feel that my doctor in London should have spotted this ten years ago, when the problems about me falling asleep constantly first arose. It may even be that the problems I had learning Welsh was down to my sleepiness. Several of my other problems are possibly related to having this, too.

I will be issued with a NHS CPAP machine in July. I am a bit wary of this as when my friend Julian was given a CPAP machine back in the 2000s, the NHS one wasn’t very good and he ended up buying one, a top of the range model. He has offered his old one to me, but I do know that the NHS won’t take them back once issued for some reason, and I will ask why that is. It may be that taking a second hand one isn’t a good plan.

A top of the range model from Amazon is £800, with a good, perfectly adequate, one £450. I can’t currently afford £450, let alone £800, so that puts paid to the idea of getting ahead by buying one before July. I would really like to do that, but obviously can’t.

In more health news, I’ve broken another tooth, again while eating a chip. I will have to stop eating chips. Or just stop eating.

In other news

The cats are doing well. Opal (the little tabby) is running during the day from window to window supervising the birds. I think she really believes that she could catch one if only I would let her. She’s an absolute diamond of a cat, who spends her evenings curled up on my lap.

Smokey is upstairs being standoffish. She’s fine, though. Her fur is lovely and glossy and she seems pleased to see me when I go upstairs.

I’ve decided (we’ll, 85% decided) to take up swimming once again.

I used to go every day for about five years when I lived in London and worked at a building called The Adelphi, on John Adam Street.

I could get up at 06:00, dress, make it to the Oasis swimming pool for 06:45, swim for an hour and then arrive at work by 08:00, smelling only slightly of chlorine. I kept it up because it was convenient, though I used to tell my doctor that on only four occasions had exercise left me brimming with energy and go-get-it-ness. Four.

Every other of the hundreds of times I went, I left the Oasis with my knuckles dragging on the ground like a pissed off yeti. On extreme occasions I went for a full English breakfast with some of the other women swimmers, which always cheered me up. I never lost an ounce, either, but I gather that’s expected. Exercise will not help you lose weight, though it will make you stronger and more limber.

That’s what I’m hoping for in taking it up again. I have been diagnosed with osteo-arthritis of the knees. Both of them. And my back hurts. So I think I need to make the muscles of my legs and back stronger somehow, and swimming should do that – plus it’s the only exercise I’ve ever enjoyed. Everything else sucks.

I feel like shit.

The doctor and the pharmacy between them have messed up my prescription for antidepressants, and I haven’t had any since last Wednesday. You are not supposed to come off antidepressants cold turkey. It is a bad plan. I feel sick, dizzy and exhausted. I can’t sleep, I can’t concentrate and I’m getting brain zaps.

I have a doctors appointment today and I may well cry.

[Later]
I managed to show the pharmacy they had to be wrong. I keep a careful record of what meds I take and when.

I was able to demonstrate that I had last taken my antidepressant on 22 June. They are issued in 28 day packages, one per day. So the last pack must have been from a date in May, not from 4 June as they claimed. So I was due more from 23 June.

This finally convinced the pharmacist to pop next door to the doctor and get a new prescription.

Success!

So I hope the brain zaps will stop soon.