Today is going to be comparatively warm compared to recently. It should be 9° C this afternoon, and then it will stick there for the rest of the day. The latest revision has added more periods of mist. The first could be starting soon, although all I see is a wet road as if it has been raining. The first "official" drizzle is shown for 7pm, but after that heavy rain is predicted. Tomorrow is predicted to start with heavy rain, but by 6am it should turn into light rain, and stop by 11am. By 2pm the clouds may have thinned enough for some sunny spells. The rain may start again by 9pm. The most significant thing about tomorrow is that the temperature could rise to 12° C by the afternoon. In a sunny spells, and assuming little or no wind (a very dangerous assumption) it might even feel warm enough for no coat, and short sleeved t-shirt.

   I spent nearly all of yesterday just resting. It did seem to help to reduce my costochondritis (assuming my amateur diagnosis is correct). I did take a dose or two of Ibuprofen to help calm it down, and there were long periods when it gave very little bother. Even spending some time in the cold kitchen didn't really trigger it. That was good news, but it doesn't mean it is finished yet.

  One of the things I mentioned yesterday is how the aches, pains, and discomforts from a Costochondritis flare up has some similarities to a heart attack. I have been keeping a close eye on what my heart seems to be doing using the only two diagnostic tools I have. One is my Pulse Oximeter. Strictly speaking that is really a test for lung performance, but the heart and lung run in parallel (so to speak) and if the heart can't pump enough blood through the lungs then Oxygen saturation is going to fall.

  I did get several anomalous reading yesterday, but not in a negative sense. My average tends to be 97 or 98%, and 98% is really high for a once heavy smoker (I put my smoking on pause until my 80th birthday when I was having my quad heart bypass operation in September 2013). Yesterday I caught a few readings of 99%, and that is excellent oxygen saturation.

  Curiously enough, it was while in an ambulance being transferred to Kings College Hospital (one for tests, and hen for my operation) that I had a game with the paramedic to see who could get the highest Oxygenation level. That was just 2 or 3 days after my last cigarette, and I won. I could easily get it up to 99%, and he struggled to get it up to 98%.  That memory does disprove any idea about good blood oxygenation showing my heart was working well, because that was prior to my quad heart bypass operation when my heart was evidently not working well. Oh well, it makes for a good story even if it proves nothing.

  One thing I did do yesterday that stressed my chest a little bit was to wash just a single tea towel. I was putting a little extra effort into the job because I was trying to get some nasty grease stains out of it. After the wash, and many rinse it wasn't perfect, but the stains are not too noticeable when it is dry. After that job I could feel my heart was working slightly harder, and rather than wait for it to settle down I immediately checked my blood pressure. It was predictably high, but not very high - 137/76 if I recall correctly.

  I seem to recall that this is the sort of reading that would get a doctor to start suggestions about healthier lifestyles, but probably no drugs prescribed. I relaxed for around a minute, and a lot less than 2 minutes, before taking another reading. This time it was 114/75. I seem to recall that on the one single cardiac rehabilitation class I attended they mention a target of 122mmhg for the systolic pressure. It seems my blood pressure is still very good - as it bloody ought to be with all the pills I have to take every day !

  The one area of my health that I currently struggle to control is my blood glucose, and I know I am always going on about it. Yesterday morning it was annoyingly high (9.1mmol/l). I should have been really careful with what I ate yesterday, but I wasn't. I had several things I might have avoided if I was feeling better - both mentally and physically. I had some a couple of slices of lightly toasted bread with some "no added sugar" tomato soup, and when that didn't seem satisfying enough for lunch I heated up a can of stewed steak, and ate that.

  There were a few other things I ate during the day that were not that good for me, although maybe I had subconsciously selected them to be low sugar even if bad in other ways. The strange thing is that when I try to remember what I did eat I can't remember eating that much. Maybe the soup and stewed steak (which was more like lumpy soup anyway) was more filing than I realised. One potential bad thing, and maybe the worst I had all day, was 4 sweet and juicy nectarines. I noticed that one was just starting to get over ripe, and had to eat them all up before they went to waste.

  My dinner was simple, and only healthy in small parts. It was grilled sausages with Heinz "Creationz" Italian style baked beans. Those bean can contain quite a lot of sugar, but not all flavours. I didn't even bother to check last nights sachet. Cooking the sausages was not straight forward..... Quite some time ago now the timer on my mini oven/grill probably got gummed up with grease, and stopped working. Last night I assumed it was still like that. I set the time to about 15 minutes and assumed it would continue to cook for eternity (until I stopped it).

  At a convenient commercial break during the first episode of Star Trek, I went to the kitchen to collect my sausages. I featred they might have been a bit well down - they weren't ! The time had started working, and cooked them for just 15 minutes. They needed at least another 15, and preferably 20 minutes before they were cooked. Once again I waited for a convenient commercial break before retrieving slightly over done sausages.

  I had a dessert of raw fruit after those sausages and beans. I very easily met my "5 a day" because on top of the 4 nectarines I had two small conference pears and 2 red apples. The conference pears were just as I liked them - crispy and not sweet. I thought the two apples were of the same type, but one was rather dry and slightly tart. The other was slightly sweet and juicy.

  I didn't stay watching TV for very long last night, just the two usual episodes of Star Trek, and then I took my book to bed. Initially I just laid on my bed to read, but I guess it was around 9pm that I brushed my teeth, and got into bed. I read for a while long, and I think I may have been asleep around 10pm (but I wouldn't argue if someone said 11pm - I was more interested in the book than the time).

  On the whole I slept well last night, and I suffered very little discomfort. My right shoulder that had been painful the night before (where "night" actually means around waking up time in the morning) seemed OK. My chest almost gave me no problem, and what problem it did give was sort of strange. It must have been around 2 or 3am when I got up for a wee. It was really cold in the bathroom, and I was glad to get back to my warm bed. The trouble was I was a bit too enthusiastic. I sort of launched myself into bed, pulling the duvet around me as I landed on my right side. As I did that I heard/felt some strong cracking sounds from my chest. It should have been painful, or at least left a painful legacy, but there was so little pain it was ignorable, and I was soon fast asleep.

  Last night was one of those nights where I know I dreamed a lot, but every memory of those dreams, apart from the fact I was dreaming, just evaporated away within seconds of waking up. I can only guess that they were very boring, and unless there is excitement, sex, horror, food or booze, there is just nothing to remember.  Maybe I forgot it all because I was concentrating of how I was feeling this morning.

  I really can't tell how I feel this morning. My chest feels like an old wound, which is exactly what it is (opening up my chest for the quad heart bypass was pretty invasive !). It isn't actually hurting, but feels like it could be...if you can imagine what I mean. Since waking up I have has one very mild twinge. I think that today I will continue keeping my chest warm, and resting it. The weather is not very attractive for outdoor pursuits again. The one good thing is that despite doing hardly anything positive for it yesterday, my blood glucose has dropped to 8.4mmol/l. That is still higher than I like, but good enough for now.

  So what will I do today ? I definitely need to empty a couple of rubbish bins into the wheelie bin ready for the dustmen tomorrow. I have a small amount of laundry I could do. There is one other thing I might do. Today will not be as dreadfully cold as yesterday, and the preceding days. I have no idea how it being cold outside can affect me in a warm room, but somehow it does. Today might be a potential day to do a bit more tidying up in the dining room. I have a few boxes with stuff in that needs sorting. If I were ruthless I would just throw the lot away, but some things, you know, might be needed in the future....you never know when an old floppy disk might contain the keys to the universe....or something.....