09:04 BST
Yesterday was forecast
to feature strong sunshine all day.
but I am sure I can remember quite a
few dull hours. Even if there was full
sunshine it was not a very warm day.
The morning was particularly chilly.
Even the afternoon, when the
temperature peaked at 17° C did not
feel that warm, although the sunshine
coming through my south facing bedroom
windows, did warm the room up enough
that I had to open the window and let
some of the heat out.
The temperature today is very
similar to yesterday, but today not a
single ray of sunshine is forecast. I
did very briefly step outside the back
door to put some food out to the
fluffy - this being one of his 3
or 4 or 5 homes ! I didn't have a
short on, and it did not seem that
chilly, but it was nice to get back
indoors again. This afternoon the
temperature will only reach 16° C, and
that is only a degree less than
yesterday when there was supposed to
be strong sunshine (but may not have
been), and today is looking like it
will be dull....or possibly worse,
although the only chance of rain might
be at 8pm when there is a 17% chance
of rain. All other hours are forecast
to have 0% chance of rain. Tomorrow
should also be completely dry, but
sunny spells will return for the whole
day, and the temperature could peak at
17 ° C.
Yesterday was
another rather a good day -
mostly. Maybe the morning was a bit
rushed in places, and some of the rush
was being delayed by another long, and
90% pointless call from my "friend"
Lee, but I wrote about that yesterday.
There was no actual rush, in so much
that I didn't have to get to an
appointment, but I did want to get to
the pharmacy before midday. That was
mostly because I wanted to go to Aldi
afterwards, and it can be slightly
quieter in there around midday/lunch
time.

I was at the pharmacy to pick
up my prescription sent through to the
pharmacy by the Diabetes nurse the day
before. I could not collect it the
same day because one item was not in
stock, and had to be ordered. For a
moment it almost seemed that they were
still missing one item, possibly the
same item, but then the assistant
remembered where she had hidden it :-)
The prescription was dominated
by the big, 4 litre "Sharps box" for
disposing of the hypodermic needles I
use (or will very soon use) to inject
the Mounjaro into my stomach. The
needles are only about 1cm long, and
are also used for insulin injections.
As yet I have not tried an injection,
but that should change today.
Yesterday after noon was a
boozy afternoon, and also involved
getting a bit carried away with
eating. I thought it best to give
these injections a fair chance but
doing the first one on a day when I
could control my eating a bit better -
probably. Of course the whole thing
with Mounjaro (or Tirzepatide to give
it's correct name) is that it acts on
the body in such a way that you feel
much fuller after even a small meal.
As a by-product it is also supposed to
reduce blood glucose levels). That can
be it's worst side effect - reducing
blood glucose too low, and causing
symptoms that always sound to me like
being very drunk. I always check my
blood glucose every morning, and I
don't anticipate any trouble in that
respect.
Although I know it is not
complicated, but until it is done
once, setting up the multidose (6 of
them) injection pen looks a bit
complicated - purely because of
unfamiliarity - and that is the real,
or additional reason I didn't take my
first dose yesterday. There is a very
good pictorial guide in the box the
pen comes in, and I am sure it will be
obvious once I try it - probably today
after I have had a shower, and the
injection site - on my belly, an inch
or two, left of right, of the belly
button, is clean and not contaminated
with sweat and bacteria.
After the pharmacy I went
around the corner to Aldi. I tried to
limit what I bought in there to stuff
that was at least slightly safe for
me, but there were several exceptions.
Two exceptions were a couple of tubs
of ice cream. One was a mint chocolate
ice cream, and it after some strong
beers it was irresistible. The other
was a Dubai style chocolate ice cream
with pistachio paste. That one I know
to be slightly safe (I think it has a
lot of Sodium Alginate in it). Other
bad-ish stuff was some wraps with
differently spiced chicken and stuff
in them.
Lugging my shopping, including
the stuff from the pharmacy, and 4 two
litre bottles of Diet Coke in my
rucksack, was mildly knackering. I
suppose in one respect it was not so
bad. The walk to the pharmacy was a
bit worse because my legs, and my
knees felt very stiff until I had done
enough walking to free up the stiff
joints. Nevertheless I was still
rather happy to get home again, and to
unpack and put away my shopping. The
stuff from the pharmacy went up to my
bedroom so I could read the info with
at my leisure.
What I should have done next
was to do the washing up that had been
accumulating in the sink for a couple
of days, and to wipe of some spilled
stuff on the work top by the
microwave. Once again I put food
first, and went and stuffed myself
with the wraps I had just bought in
Aldi. Even without the aide of diet
modifying drugs, I already knew that I
was eating too much. I needed a lie
down after that lunch, but then again
it is now part of my routine to have a
snooze after lunch.
After my snooze, which
I
don't think was very long, I
started to read the instructions for
the Mounjaro injector pen. I seemed to
remembered most of what the nurse
demonstrated for me, and I almost got
to the point of actually trying my
first injection when my doorbell rung.
It was Jodie arriving to start
drinking some my new beers. I sent a
message to Michael to say we were
starting, and a bit later he replied
with his typical "I'll be there if I
can".
As usual, he was at my door 20
or 30 minutes later. Before Michael
arrived we were joined by Fluffy Cat.
He was in a slightly odd mood. It may
have been because I put the wrong sort
of food down (it may have been turkey
instead of chicken in jelly). He did
eventually eat it all, but not before
he found he couldn't eat my hand. He
had jumped up on Michael's chair, and
I was sitting opposite and started
stroking him.
I think I may have had the
smell of some chicken and cheese
kabano on my hands. Suddenly the cat
grabbed my hand in both his great big
paws (with sharp claws) and tried to
sink his teeth into my hand. I had to
very carefully get my hand back
without getting more than a couple
scratches. I think he was very serious
about eating my hand. I've have cats
in the past that have done similar but
in a playful manner - no sharp claws,
and doing little more than gumming my
hand, but fluffy cat had reverted back
to his ancestors in the African
jungles (or whatever).
After a while the cat jumped up
on the spare chair and with maybe one
ear still alert, fell asleep. It seems
the opposite of what you might expect.
The cat seems to feel safer with lots
of people around. We had a fairly good
drink. Some the new beers I had bought
ranged between "OK" and good. Only one
was perhaps OK-minus. By the time we
had had our fill, and Jodie and
Michael left, the cat seemed fast
asleep.
I had precooked some
"Frikkadelen" (German pork, spices and
onion things like burger). I just
needed to reheat it while making a
slice of toast on top of the
Frikkadelen in the mini oven. The
toast, and make some grated cheese
might have reduced the chance of any
heartburn when I was in bed, but I
also had something else to ward off
heartburn. It was one of the ice
creams I had bought.
It was the mint chocolate ice
cream, and it in my (slightly)
inebriated state it seemed to be the
most delicious thing ever. It got even
more delicious as it started to melt a
bit. I had intended to eat no more
than a quarter of the tub, but once I
started I just could not stop. I had
nightmares that my blood glucose would
be through the roof, and another 5
stories high when I checked it this
morning.
While all the eating was taking
place I was watching TV, and also
occasionally watching the cat on one
of my CCTV cameras. I had left the
back window open enough for the cat to
escape, and I think once he realised
he would get no more attention, he had
a big stretch, and went out. I
went downstairs and closed the window,
and turned the lights out downstairs.
Now I could go to bed a bit later
without worrying about the cat and
open window.
I watched some more TV, and
then I went to bed. I had difficulty
sleeping because my guts didn't feel
so good. At first I thought I just
needed a big pee, but I only had a
little one. I probably did doze off
once or twice, but I think it was
around 1am when still feeling
uncomfortable, I went to the toilet
and had a rather soft poo. it was
probably about 80% of the way towards
diarrhoea. I have no idea what cause
that unless it was psychosomatic. It
is one of the possible side effects of
the drug I have yet to start yet - and
maybe not starting was a good idea in
view of that stomach upset.
After that I seemed comfortable
enough to sleep, but I would not have
been surprised if I had woken up,
needing to go again a few hours later.
Fortunately that didn't happen. I
think I did get up for at least one
pee during the night. When I got up at
about 5am I knew it was too early, but
I definitely needed the toilet before
I could go back to bed. It included
the tail end of the diarrhoea, and a
fairly big pee. Before going back to
bed I weighed myself, and it seemed I
had put on a little bit.
Weight gain after scoffing the
whole tub of mint chocolate ice cream
would have come as no surprise. What
was surprising was that after another
big pee, and another poo,
shortly before I had breakfast, I
weighed myself again and found I had
actually lost 300gm.
Sadly my blood glucose was not
good. Two readings were OK-ish, but
one was definitely bad. It was the
usually kind GlucoFix meter, and it
read a terrible 9.4mmol/l. It's not
over the red line (10.0mmol/l), but
very undesirable - high enough to
start causing some problems. The
GlucoRX meter 8.6mmol/l, and while
above my target, I regard any reading
starting with an "8" to be very
common. The Contour meter read even
worse, but still by the skin of it's
teeth OK. It read 8/9mmol/l.

There are only two things on
the calendar for today, and one has
already happened. It was only on
Wednesday that I ordered some Welsh
cheeses. It all started when I
wondered how easy it might be to get
some Welsh Y-Fenni cheese - a cheese
with mustard seeds and ale in it. They
used to sell it in Tesco, but ran out
as much as 10 years ago. I did get
some from the "International Cheese
Shop", but I remember it as being
incredibly expensive from there (in
Liverpool Street station).
I found it was easily available
from the Welsh Cheese Company via
their web site. Apart from having to
allow a few scripts, it was straight
forward enough, and they had other
interesting cheeses as well. I ordered
two 180gm, wax covered portions of
Y-Fenni, plus some "Red Mist", a
cheese with chillies in it, a cheese
with mustard leeks in it, and also a
cheese with seaweed in it. With
deliver it all came to £35.87 and so a
bit of a luxury, but not terrible.
This morning it was delivered
while I was writing a few paragraphs
ago. The door bell rang and I rush
downstairs. The driver was driving off
as I opened the door, but at least he
had taken a picture to show it had
been left completely unguarded on my
front door stop. I have already tasted
a little chunk of the Y-Fenni, and
like the bit I bought from the
international cheese shop, it didn't
taste nearly as wonderful as that
bought from Tesco. There may be a
reason for it.
The reason that Tesco stopped
selling it was that the dairy where
they make Y-Fenni burnt down. It took
a few years before they could resume
production. I wonder if the recipe has
been changed, or maybe the head
cheese-maker has been replaced, and
only the original knew the exact
recipe. It is still nice, but maybe
not nice enough to pay a premium for.
I hope the other three cheese types I
bought will make up for it. The cheese
with seaweed in it may be good or bad,
but it had to be tried sooner or
later. The Red Mist may be no more
exciting than the cheddar with
chillies that is quite common now. I
am anticipating that the cheese with
mustard leeks in it may be exciting.
The other thing on the calendar
today is really only a possibility. I
am only about 15% sure I want to go to
The Jolly Farmers tonight. I'm told it
is really a great night, but I really
don't know anyone well enough who is
likely to be there to be able to pass
the time chatting. I feel I will be
very much on my own for most of the
time. I think the most likely thing is
that I might go for just a single pint
of Guinness to see what it is like,
and then go home again. I may not even
bother to go at all.
I still have a lot of washing
up to do, and that now includes all
the beer and sample glasses from
yesterday afternoon. I doubt I have
any excuses for leaving it again. I'll
have a shower in case I do go out this
evening, and when I've had that I may
well have my first of 6, one a week,
Mounjaro injections. Mostly I can
foresee today being a very lazy day.