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Tuesday 14th
January 2020
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09:06 GMT
There were some unexpected sunny spells
yesterday morning, but the afternoon was more like
the forecast - dull and grey. There was also some
occasional very short periods of very light rain
in the afternoon. Those weren't shown in the
forecast either, but the forecast matched reality
some time after sunset when it poured with rain.
The afternoon was not supposed to be very cold,
maybe 10° C, but the wind seemed to feel very cold
by then.
I think almost all my plans came to
fruition yesterday, or if they didn't I have
forgotten about the things I was going to do, but
didn't. The most important thing was actually a
two parter. Part one was to go for a walk in the
park, and part two was to (hopefully) see Angela
during her lunch break. Before all that I went for
a short walk to Poundland to see how well my legs
were working after a very idle weekend. They
seemed to work quite well, and I bought a few
useful things in Poundland.
The walk to Poundland may have felt OK, but
it didn't feel like I was ready for a much longer
walk, and so I didn't leave home until half past
midday. That gave me 30 minutes to use before
getting to the pub. My walk only stretched the
distance to the pub to exactly 1 mile, and I was
in the pub 10 minutes early.
It was sort of peculiar that I didn't enjoy
walking, and so I ended up walking faster than
usual - although not by much. It wasn't really a
conscious effort to walk fast, and if anything I
think I wanted to walk slower, but it seems I
wanted to get it over and done with. The real
problem was that after a few sunny periods earlier
in the morning, I found the grey sky I was walking
under to rather dampen my enthusiasm - doubly so
when for a couple of brief time I could feel some
fine rain on my face.
I was not sure that I would see Angela.
When I contacted her earlier she had only given a
non-committal "I might do". Having got to the pub
10 minutes early made the wait longer than it
could be, and I had nearly drunk my pint of
Guinness before Angela walked in looking pleased
to see me.
I must admit our conversation was mostly
about me and medical stuff. I was saying how most
of my key indicators were looking OK (but maybe
not good) for my appointment with the Diabetes
Nurse at 4pm today. There are a few things I might
try and do to improve those key indicators -
specifically my blood glucose and weight.
One unlikely possibility we discussed was
meeting after my appointment. If the Nurse is not
running late, and he deems my records of blood
glucose and weight are looking good, (just like
the Dietician did), it could mean a short
appointment, and possibly getting out of there by
4.30pm. That is close to the time that Angela
often leaves work, but it could be earlier or
later depending on her workload. It is possible
that we may meet for a quick drink after her work,
and my appointment. I said I wouldn't expect her
to wait if she can go home earlier, but I would be
happy to wait in the pub 10 to 20 minutes for her.
In my rush to go
through the park I didn't stop to take many
photos. There seemed nothing new to snap, but
then I noticed this patch of what I think are
snowdrops just starting to flower in amongst
the shelter of some brambles. It's like the
first signs of spring despite spring being
some way off. We still have to get through
February, and that seems to be the most
popular time for snow if we are to get any.
When I got home from my walk (and 2.5
pints of Guinness) I wanted to be careful
about what I ate. I was feeling cold after the
walk home. The wind seemed to be really chilly
by then. What I probably wanted was a couple
of cans of soup. Recent experience has shown
how nice they can be, but also how they can
increase my blood glucose despite not having
much sugar in them. Instead of soup I cooked
some (alleged) quarter pounder beef burgers. I
say alleged because they look very small for
quarter pounders. I ate them with just some
hot seasoning while I grilled them, and some
no (or reduced) sugar tomato ketchup. The
latter is not a patch on the real thing, but
sacrifices have to be made.
From then on I think I avoided eating
anything else until dinner time. Just before
dinner I checked my blood glucose, and it was
sufficiently low - once again about 7mmol/l.
That's not brilliant, but good enough. My
dinner turned out to be not as good as I hoped
in two ways. It was sprouts and diced bacon
grill. It may have been better if I had
actually grilled the bacon grill rather than
stewing it. It turned out less nice than
expected, and I am not so sure that it's sugar
content, and calorie content was as low as I
hoped (I knew that the bacon grill, which is
more-or-less a smoky version of Spam had a
fair bit of fat in it).
Ignoring any very brief, usually single
cough to clear my throat, I don't think I
coughed at all from the time I went to
Poundland in the morning, until after my
dinner last night. That seemed a very hopeful
sign. Sadly it didn't last, and as the evening
drew on I coughed more and more, but I suppose
it was still a lot less than several evening's
ago. I did have a few almost choking coughs in
the night, and the way my throat felt this
morning I may have been coughing in my sleep.
Despite that, I seemed to sleep as well as I
did the night before, and I described that as
quite good.
This morning my blood glucose level is
still about the same - good enough, but I
would have hoped for something better. My
weight is right on the edge. There still seems
hope that I may be able to display just
100gram weight loss today. Maybe a bit more if
last night's sprouts decide to purge my
digestive track sometime this morning. There
is one thing that may help, and that is to go
for a walk around the park before my
appointment. I am imagining doing two circuits
around the park before the rain starts. I may
also go to Tesco before that.
I daren't do it for more than a week,
but I intend to take a holiday from my diet
once I've seen the Diabetes Nurse - assuming
that there is no reason to see him again for
another three months - or maybe far longer if
he is satisfied with my efforts. Part of that
diet holiday may include having breakfast with
Angela in a cafe somewhere. I told her some
time ago that I yearned for double egg and
chips, and that it would be nice to have it
for breakfast with her. She seemed to like the
idea. I only suggested it because I know she
used to enjoy going for breakfast with John,
the man she fell in love with while he was
dying of cancer. She would often post pictures
of it on social media - something she doesn't
do now because I don't think lover boy has any
desire to go to breakfast with her, and he
disapproves of her posting pictures of her
enjoying herself - and, in extreme, I don't
think he likes her enjoying herself.
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