This morning's forecast was for a foggy start, but there is only a vague hint of mist in the far distance. By my reckoning, the temperature as I write this is around 8° C, or a couple of degrees higher than the forecast. This afternoon may feature sunny spells, although looking at the sky now doesn't make it seem likely. The afternoon temperature may reach just 10° C. After sunset the temperature will fall away to 6° C by midnight, but it might rise to 7° C by 6am tomorrow. It will be a completely grey day tomorrow, and as well as being cold it will rain from about midday onward. The afternoon may only be 10° C, but the temperature may only fall to 9° C by the early hours of the day after tomorrow.

  Yesterday was all about "bowel preparation" - at 5pm I took the first dose of Plenvu. The first dose clears the entire intestinal tract, and the second dose causes it to be washed clean. At least that is the theory, but there more to this than just that.

  I started yesterday with breakfast - my last meal until my colonoscopy was over. It was a single bread roll with two slices of Cheddar cheese in it.
  That was all I would be eating yesterday. It was also mostly all I ate during the 4 days of the low fibre diet I had to follow, but on previous days I did have three of these - one for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for dinner. After this single bread roll I would fast for about 27 hours, and my next meal would probably be lunch today.

  I spent much of yesterday just marking time. I read a fair bit, and tried to snooze, but I can't remember if I did manage to snooze. The next notable event was at 5pm when I took my first dose of Plenvu. The first dose was basically a powerful laxative, but because I had been eating so little, and had managed to "open my bowels" every day during my low fibre diet, there was little for it to work on. All I seemed to manage was a little bit of almost diarrhoea like poo.

  At 9pm I had to take dose 2 of Plenvu. It is weird stuff that pulls any water it can find (mostly from the blood stream, but in the opposite direction to normal), and that water flushed the intestinal tract, and most importantly the bowel itself. It took almost an hour before it acted, and it then acted with extreme haste. I realised something was happening, and I rushed to the toilet. Unfortunately I could not get there before there was some leakage ! Time for clean underpants.

  For the next three, or maybe it was four hours, I spent sitting on the toilet. I seemed to be drying up, and it was around 3am this morning when I dared to try for sleep. Sometime in that 3 or 4 hours I had another small mishap that needed another change of underpants ! However that was before I dared to try to sleep. I did indeed manage just over 3 hours of sleep, but I had to set my phones alarm clock to wake me at 6.30 this morning to give me time to prepare to walk to the hospital.

  I seemed to sleep soundly, but I woke before my alarm went off. As I was getting out of bed I felt movement in the bowel area, and I had to dash to the toilet again. Once again I didn't get there in time, but it was very close, and the pair of underpants I was wearing gained more of a damp patch than an actual soiling. I still had to change them.

Real time update at 10:38am - The Plenvu is still trying to flush my lower bowel clean. I am still passing small amounts of what seems to be clear yellow water. By now, if I had had gone to the hospital, my "procedure" would be over, although I don't know how they would do it if every time they parted my buttocks to get the camera in, they would be met with a squirt of "yellow water" !

  This morning the dubious benefits of this comedy are still plain to see. My weight is down 800gm compared to yesterday morning, and maybe it might have been higher after a few more "squirts" this morning. My blood glucose was lower, The average of all three meters was 6.73mmol/l. That is the lowest since 10th October when it was exactly the same. It is not exceptionally low, and I would not expect trouble unless it dipped below 5mmol/l, and even then I would only be wary. At 4mmol/l I really would be starting to feel weird.

  One surprising this was my blood pressure this morning. My last two visits to the Endoscopist were aborted because my blood pressure was way too high, as was my heart rate. This morning I read 116/81, and that is pretty goof. My heart rate was 88bpm, and that was slightly higher than my typical average, but still between the limits considered good for a man my age. Of course that was measured at home. If I had actually gone to the hospital there is a fair chance those figures could almost have doubled.

  I think it was around 8.30am, a half hour before my appointment time, that I rang the unit to say I was cancelling. I told the nice receptionist that I was on my third pair of underpants because my bottom would not dry up. I also said I felt lousy after only 3 hours of sleep. On top pf that my guts were mildly sore - not sore enough to be truly awful, but enough to add to the misery. She suggested maybe I could stuff my underpants with tissues, and still walk in, but I said fouling another pair of underpants was only part of the problem. I didn't mention what I expected to happen to my blood pressure.  She didn't seem annoyed, but did try and think of things to lure me to her lair. The worst threat, from her point of view, was to refer me back to my GP. That does not worry me too much, although having to listen to another lecture would be very tedious. The important point, from my point of view, is that medical procedures are supposed to make you feel better, but this one make me feel unwell. Without it I occasionally feel great (at least by what I think I should feel as a 71 year old).

  On the subject of age, the book I am currently reading "Forward The Foundation" by Isaac Asimov, was written by Asimov as a prequell to his "Foundation" series of novels. In Forward The Foundation the "hero", a scientist called Hari Seldon, is also 70 years old. Most believe that the part dealing with Hari Seldon's age, and his growing infirmities was written directly from Asimov's own experience of reaching his seventies. It all rings so very true with my own experiences. The spirit is still occasionally strong, but the flesh is proving ever weaker.

  I think it is only now, as lunch time is ever closer, that my bottom is drying up. This morning I had a large pot of chilli flavoured instant noodles, and I have also had the last chunk of some angel cake that was starting to get very slightly dry. I had hoped I could have eaten it as a low fibre food, but even though made of the finest flour, it is still not classified as low fibre. It was very nice. I really don't know if these two things I have eaten to break my fast and low fibre diet, have made my bottom problems worse of better, I have no idea, but I suspect they probably had no effect.

  Today will be a case of taking things easy. I am certainly not going out while there is a chance my bottom may start leaking ! In a way I would like to go out. Both the BBC and Met Office forecast say there should be sunny spells by now, although there is no hint of the sun yet. Maybe there will be later. While I was in Tesco a couple of days ago, I bought a couple of bags of mixed nuts with the intention of using them to lure squirrels towards my camera. I would have liked to gone out with the nuts and camera today, and more so if there really are some sunny spells later. Tuesday and Wednesday are forecast to be wet, but next Thursday may be sunny. Of course going out then would clash with the Thursday beer tasting session. Oh well, I'll worry about that after I have got through today.