If I had been in a
more cheerful mood, or if I had taken a camera
so I could occasionally stop to take a photo,
those aching thighs might have been less
bothersome, and I might have pushed myself to
do a third mile, but 2 miles seemed
sufficient. I ended up feeling quite bad about
it when I met my postman as I neared home. He
is a very friendly character, and I asked him
about his round. He told me that on a busy day
he might walk 10 miles, but 9 miles is more
the average. It made me think that my 2 miles
was a bit of a joke compared to what that
postman does. Of course he does have the
advantage that he does it every day, and so he
should have developed good muscles for it. He
also seems to have the knack of not wasting
time, but also not rushing. One day I'll ask
him about how he felt when he first started
the job. I can imagine that the first time he
had to walk 9 miles it must have been quite a
shock to his system !
It was good to get home, and take my
boots off. I had started out later than I
usually go out (but maybe only by 30 minutes),
and I didn't have anything to eat, apart from
a handful of peanuts, before I went out. When
I got home I felt rather peckish, and I
consumed my last salad from Sainsbury's. I
thought it was another greek salad, but it was
actually a Mozzarella and tomato salad. I have
long come to the conclusion that I don't enjoy
Mozzarella, and replaced it with some chunks
of a possibly Turkish cheese. To be honest I
am not sure where the cheese came from, but it
tasted good, although maybe just a little too
salty. It made for a nice salad though.
A little later in the afternoon I ate a
sachet of Heinz Mexican inspired mixed beanz.
It would probably have been better warm, but I
ate it cold, and still enjoyed it. The only
catch is that it's sugar content was higher
than I would have preferred, although not high
in absolute terms. Previous sachets of these
flavoured beans seem to have done no harm in
the past. The reason for this comment will
come a bit later.
As dinner time approached I think I
really wanted some comfort food - not cakes,
ice cream or chocolate, as is traditional, but
I fancied a chicken shish kebab. The only flaw
in this desire is that I had cooked my dinner
for last night the night before, and it was
sitting in a sealed container in the bottom of
the fridge. I felt sure it should survive in
there an extra 48 hours, and went ahead and
ordered a takeaway. As per usual, to meet the
minimum order for free delivery, I order
enough for two days.
I used the same kebab shop for my order
as I have once or twice in the past, and I
think it was the one that got an order to me
faster than predicted when I ordered mid-week,
and was 50 minutes later when I ordered at the
weekend (when they would be a lot busier). For
the first time ever I received a text message
from Just Eat to say my meal was delayed, "but
would be with me soon". In fact the delivery
was 15 minutes later than the predicted time,
and that didn't seem unreasonable. As
expected, it was rather delicious - as was the
side order I also ate.
A few hours, probably about 3
hours, after eating I was in bed, and
last night I had no grumbling stomach. I
expected a good sleep, but I was wrong. My
sleep seemed to be really lousy. It seemed
like the first 3 or 4 hours I was thrashing
around while having a really annoying dream.
The dream, or dreams, centred on an ex-army
radio transmitter that a friend bought and
expected me to get working. All he had was one
page from a burnt manual that told me almost
nothing. The transmitter seemed to be a
universal design that could be used over a
wide range of frequencies by using different
valves in different sockets.
I am sure I didn't have one very long
dream about this transmitter, but endless
small dreams with small variations. It was
really annoying because no dream offered any
solution, and I kept wishing my friend (at
least I think he was a friend) would take the
bloody thing away, and let me relax. As well
as this seemingly endless dream subject I was
also going through the too hot and too cold
dilemma. That got worse in the second half of
the night, and I think by morning I had
actually kicked my duvet around by 90° !
This morning I don't feel good for
several reasons. What must have been lousy
sleep was one thing, but there is more. My
blood glucose crossed the danger line this
morning. As far as I can remember I ate
nothing to push it up this high, and so it
must be an indication that I am fighting
infection, and this morning I am sure I can
feel that infection. I have a slightly sore
throat, and my nose, while not dripping, feels
very stuffy. I could dismiss the nose thing as
just hay fever. If you check the bottom left
of the weather forecast screenshot above you
will see that the pollen count is very high
today.
Of course the most popular thing to be
infected with at the moment is Covid-19, and
yet at the moment this feels more like a mild
dose of the common cold, but my aching legs
yesterday, and my high blood glucose may say
different. One thing I can be sure of is that
my lungs are still in good working order, and
it is pneumonia that is the killer feature of
Covid-19.
Yesterday I read a very interesting
article in, I think, the New York times. It
was an account of a doctor who stepped up to
the front line after just doing research. He
noted that one very simple and cheap test
could help with the diagnosis of Covid-19. The
virus causes pneumonia, but somehow allows the
lungs enough function to expel carbon dioxide
during the early stages of the disease. Being
able to expel carbon dioxide make the patient
feel they can breathe OK, but they have to
work a lot harder to do so. A pulse oximeter,
pictured here on my own finger, is very cheap.
Mine cost under £15 if I remember correctly. I
bought it out of curiosity sometime in the
middle of last year. It seems that patients in
the early stages of Covid-19 can show oxygen
levels as low as 50% where 94 to 100% is
considered normal. As you can see from my
picture my oxygenation level is a very healthy
99% - which is pretty damn good for someone
who used to smoke 50 fags a day prior to my
heart bypass operation in September 2013.
Maybe it is possible that my main
malady is just the common cold, and possibly
just my new found sensitivity to hay fever. As
to actual fever, I seem to be a long way off
that. My temperature just after 9am was just
35.7° C - which is a lot less than "normal" -
usually considered to be about 37.3° C. My
blood pressure was a teeny bit higher than my
normal this morning, but that was probably the
result of seeing how high my blood glucose
was.
Today, I don't really feel like it, but
before I eat anything, I think I have to push
myself to try and walk 2 or 3 miles. I think I
will take a walk through the Pool River Linear
Park. Hopefully it will be quieter in there
than it was on Sunday. Maybe if it feels good
in there I might extend the walk to more than
3 miles, but as I sit here I fond I wouldn't
be surprised if I turned around and headed for
home before I have even walked much more than
1 mile. Only time will tell.
Footnote: I have just gone to the
toilet, and come back with freshly washed
hands. I took the opportunity to re-check my
blood glucose. I used my old meter, but the
test strips are still in date. It says my
blood glucose is a lot lower (8.7mmol/l), and
it is possible that the very high reading I
took earlier this morning was caused either by
a faulty test strip (it does happen, albeit
rarely), or because of some sort of
contamination on the finger I took the blood
sample from (possibly remnants of some hand
cream I put on last night). Anyway, things
don't looks so drastic now, and maybe I might
not bother to push myself to hard to go for a
long walk.
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