Yesterday was dry, and there were plenty of sunny spells, although most were in the afternoon. Despite that it still felt chilly during the morning, and was only tepid in the afternoon. The temperature was no more than 18° C.
       

  The BBC seems to have got off to a more accurate start by correctly predicting that it is already sunny outside, and with an almost clear blue sky it is sunny, and not just sunny spells. The Met Office still insists that we have to wait until 10am for the sun to first appear. Of course that clear sky means this morning has started off very chilly, but all the expected sunshine should push today up to a respectable 23° C. Tomorrow sees a return to grey skies, but it should remain dry. Tomorrow's temperature might struggle to reach 19° C.

   I was going to say that yesterday was quite an eventful day. While that is correct, it does seem that is a sinister way of saying that there were lots of things, neither good or bad, that it is worth noting. The big event, that was actually slightly underwhelming, was having a 24 hour blood pressure monitor fitted in the hospital.

Before I could have the 24 hour blood pressure fitted, I had to walk to the hospital. I recorded the walk on my phone, and on this occasion it said it was a 0.549 mile walk. Other recordings of the same walk only differ by a few hundredths of a mile. I did my best to walk it as fast as possible, but inevitable I soon slowed down as angina pains started to build.

  I only had one long (between 1 and 2 minutes) rest along the way, and that was when I reached the bridge that crosses the river from the park to the hospital grounds. I did have another rest of just a few seconds to look up and down the river while crossing the first bridge over the river.

  I had intended to have another rest of a minute or two when I reached the entrance to the hospital itself, but I felt like I could push myself enough to go in, and up the stairs to the first floor where the Cardiology department is. I made myself known to reception, and than sat down in the waiting area expecting a long wait. It was not a long wait, and I barely had my breath back when what I think was a technician, rather than a nurse, called me into his room.

  Fitting the monitor was quick and simple. First of a blue coloured tube of a sort of plasticky material was pulled over my arm, and then the cuff, with it's inflatable bladders was put around my arm, and held with velcro strips. It was a pretty standard cuff, and differed in only one way - the tube used to inflate and deflate the bladder came out the top instead of the bottom. The blue plasticky tube was then rolled up and over the cuff to help keep it in place, and provide a bit of protection against the air tube being pulled out.

  With that done it was given a test. After the walk, and insufficient time to relax, that first reading was very high. I think the systolic pressure was around 178. That is very high, but I have had it higher plenty of time in places like doctors surgery. The whole point of the monitor is to say what my blood pressure is when not in challenging places like a hospital. The technician acted like he had seen pressure like plenty of times in the past.

  I took the picture on the left after I got home. You can see the blue plasticky "sock" on my arm on the left. The actual monitor with it's air compressor, and digital memory is in the black holder suspended on a belt around my neck. Normally it would go around my stomach, but they didn't have a belt big enough at that time. One significant thing about this set up is that it would only be with great difficulty that I could take off my t-shirt. It is easier just to leave it on until later today when I hand the monitor back to the hospital.

  I was probably in and out of the hospital in less than 30 minutes. The first place I went after I left was to The Jolly Farmers next door for a refreshing pint of Guinness. It is nice to walk into a pub where you know most of the few (5 ?) people in there. There followed a bit of banter about heart problems. Then Ayse, my favourite bar maid, amused up by telling one man about her recent holiday. It was during that when I heard a beep, and the monitor made it's first blood pressure measurement out in the wild !

  I have no idea what it measured, and I will possibly never know. Incidently, just as I finished that last sentence I noticed that the next measurement was due. I stopped writing, and did my best to relax in the minute and a bit I had before it beeped, and started it's measurement. Judging by the speed it did it, plus how little pressure it put on my arm, I think it probably caught a nice low reading - typical after eating, (breakfast in this case) and taking my morning drugs.

  I was nice and relaxed in the pub, or as relaxed as you can be while sitting on a bar stool, and I think it was possible a medium low reading. Once the reading had been taken I scrambled to get my phone out of my pocket to make a mental note of what the time was. It was 12:22, and the significant thing was the 22. I then knew I would get readings taken at 22 and 52 minutes past the hour until 10pm when it would switch to night mode and stay silent (except for the whirr of the tiny compressor in it).

  In my haste to get my phone out of my pocket I dragged a sharp key across the web of skin between my thumb and the rest of my hand. I realised it hurt a bit, but I never realised the damage it did until I found blood running down my hand, and dripping on my shorts. All I could do was to rinse my hand under the tap in the gents, and then hold a wad of tissue in place to mop it up until it stopped bleeding - which it didn't until I was at home, and could put a proper sticking plaster on it.

  After one pint of Guinness I headed for Ladywell station for a bit of train spotting, and getting the first train back to Catford. I had originally thought I would walk home, but I wanted to go home via the little supermarket on Catford Bridge. Neither of the two trains I saw, and photographed, were of any use for my collection of photos of all the class 465 "Networker" trains. It was not preplanned, but I found I only had a 6 minute wait for a train, and it was probably no more than another 6 minutes before I was in the shop.

  Top of my list was to top up my stock of instant noodles. I did get some good packets of instant noodles, but they didn't seem to have any of my favourite Polish instant noodles. I did buy a loaf of Polish sourdough sliced bread (which contains no sugar), and I also bought some salami like sliced meat to put in it, plus two large, and not very flavourful, Conference pears, and finally, a large packet of tomato flavour crisps.

  It was notable that the walk from the shop to home was quite comfortable, although maybe I did not do it by walking as fast as I could. Once home, the first thing I did was to clean my wound, and put a proper sticking plaster on it. Then I got changed - although I could only change below the waist because it would have been very tricky trying to get my t-shirt off. Once I had the shorts I was wearing off I could see all the blood stains from where my had had dripped all over the left of them. Later in the afternoon I washed them. That meant I had to select another pair of trousers to wear, Today may be a bit different, but recently it had probably been a little too cool for shorts, and so I selected a pair of jeans to wear - a pair that were once a bit tight, but seem quite comfortable now.

  I then had my slightly late lunch. It was 4 slices of the Polish sourdough loaf I had bought earlier, as two sandwiched with mayonnaise instead of butter, and a filling of salami. They were pretty tasty, but lacked something - possibly some salad leaves (which I did have ready to use) or possibly something like some thinly sliced onion (and I did have an onion I could have prepared). After that I had a rest. I laid on my bed, and quietly read, but I don't think I managed to snooze. I was there for at least two more blood pressure readings (or about an hour). I think those readings should have been reasonably low,

  After that rest I started to wash the blood stained shorts in bio detergent, plus some Vanish stain remover. It was interesting how that stain remover frothed up where the blood stains were. I have not checked those shorts yet to see how well the blood stains came out. Hopefully there is not a mark left at all, but later on I'll have a look now they are mostly dry. I did that washing in several stages so I would have time to stop work, and  relax for a minute or two before the monitor did another blood pressure test.

  I felt peckish after that work, but it was a bit early for dinner. I decided of a snack of just a few crisps. "A few" turned out to be an entire big pack, and the last of the pack was used as scoops for extra strong cream cheese. it was all desperately unhealthy - except in turns of sugar. It seems I dodged a bullet on that subject. Last night, being a Saturday night, there were 5 back to back episodes of The Avengers being shown on Great TV! from 5pm until 10pm. A few I had seen recently, and a few I had seen quite some time ago, and one I recognised as one I had seen before, but I couldn't remember anything about it, and it was like watching a fresh episode.

  The Avengers episodes were my evening entertainment, and mostly I should have been relaxed enough to get some fair blood pressure readings, although I do wonder if I should be showing the best or the worst for a better diagnosis. While watching TV I began to feel like some dinner might go down well. After what I had eaten earlier, I resisted the temptation for something more substantial, and decided on one large conference pear, which was fairly tasteless, and didn't seem sweet at all, a small apple that had hints of sweetness, and a small orange, which didn't seem to be very sweet.

  The last Avengers episode finished at 10pm, and I brushed my teeth and went straight to bed. I read for little more than 10 minutes before I tried to get to sleep. Sleeping in a t-shirt, with the blood pressure monitor hanging from a strap, and the cuff around my upper arm, was bloody difficult. I think it might have been almost 1am before I got any real sleep, although it is possible I had a few short naps before then. Even after getting to sleep it didn't last more than an hour because I was woken up all by one time the monitor took another reading - and I am not sure if the "all but one" actually happened.

  Fortunately dreams came to the rescue to prove that I did get some blocks of sleep in the night. One dream seemed to last a long time, but it was only the end I can mostly describe. I was with someone, a friend I think, but I am not sure if I saw them, or just knew they were there. We were walking, and it seemed we were looking for a station to get a train somewhere. I remember we passed the entrance of a typical tube station, but instead of Central line, for instance, it said it was the "Eastern Line". Just past it I saw there was a "DSLR" station (I obviously meant a DLR - Docklands Light Railway station). That dream ended with us going to get a train there to destination unknown.

  I am not sure if that dream ended when the blood pressure monitor woke me up, but I am sure the other dream I remember ended when it woke me up.  The second dream was set in a pub, and I was with a few people I knew, but didn't have names for them. One of us was trying a new liqueur, or something. Just then a barmaid, who I recognised as Marion, which sets this dream in the 1980s, appeared. She asked what the new liqueur was like, and went told it tasted great, said we would all have to try one later. There was a sort of feeling that it would be on the house.

  I told Marion there was a gig on in the pub, and suggested she might hang around for it. I said it while standing next to a bass guitar amplifier that seemed to be the first bit of equipment brought in for the gig later. I think that Marion was about to say she would stay and see the gig with me, but at that point I was awoke by the whirr of the compressor in the blood pressure monitor. It startled me, and I expect it produced quite a high reading. That dream was probably the last sleep I got, and I was out of bed, and sort of up at just gone 6am,

  The next blood pressure measurement must have been very high. I was ready for it with my wrist blood pressure meter already on my wrist. Like all my early morning measurements it was very high - about 147 for the systolic pressure. That would soon come down after I had eaten my breakfast and taken my drugs/medication. Meanwhile, my blood glucose seemed better than expected. The Contour meter read 7.4mmol/l. The GlucoRX meter read 7.2mmol/l, and the Sinocare meter read just 7.1mmol/l. All readings below my current personal target of 7.5mmol/l, and all rather surprising considering what I ate yesterday.

  I didn't wait for my next automatic blood pressure reading, and I have just done a manual one with my own wrist blood pressure meter. A belly full of spicy instant noodles, plus all my blood pressure drugs, and I got a very low reading of 99/48 with a pulse rate of 51. I hope the 24 hour blood pressure monitor has caught one of these very low, almost too low readings.

  My plans for today are, at least initially, very simple. Once I have uploaded these words I am going to lay down, do some reading, and a snooze would be nice too. Just before midday I will head to the hospital to hand back the monitor. I'll then take a slow If I can) walk through the park to home. I will then have a light lunch. I think Jodie may drop by for a quick beer before going on to The Fox And Firkin pub for a late afternoon gig. Unfortunately it is a ticketed event, and I declined to pay to see a band I think I might only like in places, and in a pub I don't care for, or I might have otherwise have gone for half an hour just to get a few snaps. The other trouble is the place is likely to be rammed !


 





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