I am unsure if there was a sunny spell at 6am, but it has been dull since. By 11am we may get sunny spells that will last to 4pm, and then the sky may clear to give full sunshine until sunset. Late this afternoon may see 22° C, and fromm5pm there could be full sunshine until sun set. Tomorrow is predicted to feature full sunshine all day long, and the temperature may rise to 25° C. In full sunshine that should feel very hot !

  Yesterday could be described as a very relaxed day. Maybe it was too relaxed - particularly when it came to selecting what I would eat.

  The main thing on yesterday morning's menu was my appointment with the nurse at the surgery. It was at 11am, and so I had plenty of time to finish writing yesterday's electronic diary (which I had started writing the day before yesterday). I also had time for breakfast of instant noodles, and a shower. I had washed my hair the previous day.

  I had to go to the toilet once or twice before I left home, but it was nothing like on Monday when I spent so much time on the toilet that it was two minutes past my appointment time before I had even left home. It took 20 minutes to get hold of reception to tell them I was going to have to cancel. I would have much preferred to give them much more advanced notice, but it just wasn't possible.

  My walk to the surgery was odd.....The day before I had done a walk all the way to Ladywell and back home again. That walk seemed easy apart from my ankles, and knee starting to ache very near the end. The significant thing is that I had no chest pains and not even a hint of shortness of breath. Yesterday, the much shorter walk, less than even half the distance just to Ladywell, seemed to tax me a lot. I didn't specifically get chest pains, but my chest did feel heavy, and while far from panting, it did feel like I was very mildly short of breath - the same symptoms as I was getting in the build up to the diagnosis of my bad heart valve.

  It was nice to get to the surgery, and have a sit down. I had about a 15 minute wait before I was called to the nurses room, and by then I felt very normal. As normal we discussed my weight, my blood glucose and my blood pressure. My blood glucose was quite good yesterday, and I had even lost a small amount of weight in the two days leading up to the appointment. My blood pressure has it's ups and downs, but it is deemed satisfactory.

  I then dropped the bombshell that I wanted to suspend Mounjaro injections for a month to see if I can manage some old fashioned, calorie controlled, weighloss without it. I pointed out that I had been on Mounjaro since last September and only with some imagination could it be seen that in all that time I had barely lost 5kg. I also explained how one of the worst effects of Mounjaro was the problem of it delaying emptying of the stomach (the actual stomach high up in the chest, and not the belly).

   I said how that delay often meant gas build up, and sometimes a feeling that I was close to throwing up. What that doesn't cause with me is a feeling I have eaten enough, or even too much, but quite the opposite. I forces some food in to push out the food that is fermenting in my stomach. This was mostly accepted by the nurse, and she said her own, and official studies have shown that not everybody reacts the same to Mounjaro, and while some lose weight easily, many don't.

  It does seem I am in the later category. The bloated stomach, and a similar effect on my bowel, are not desirable. The only good thing is that Mounjaro is really good for controlling my blood glucose - it was originally going to be developed as an insulin substitute. The nurse agreed that I would stop Mounjaro for 4 to 6 weeks, and see how I get on. Controlling my blood glucose is going to mean a major shift in what I allow myself to eat. If I can do that then I think I can manage far better weight loss than Mounjaro manages with me.

  We didn't arrange an appointment in 4 to 6 weeks time, to see how I am getting on, because the nurse has a holiday coming up, and she won't know what her appointments are until she gets back, but she has sent a note to admin to make an appointment nearer the time, and for then to text me with the time and date. With that done I said my thanks and goodbye, and left the surgery.

  My original plan was to walk to The Jolly Farmers for at least one pint of Guinness, and my usual Wednesday visit. There were two reasons why I didn't. One was that the walk to the surgery seemed such hard work that I just wanted to walk straight home. The other was that I suspected that Ayse, my favourite barmaid, has still not returned to work while she spends loads of time with her husband/partner who is most probably dying of cancer.

  Once I got home I felt read for some lunch. This was blatantly ignoring my plans to start myself on a conventional weight loss diet. In fact it was worse than that. I ended up eating enough to increase my weight a little., and most of it was because I had stuff around the house that is delicious, but which I should have here so I can't eat it. Without the blood glucose protection of Mounjaro that definitely includes ice cream in anything like the quantities I seemed to have slipped into while I knew it was safe.

  Actually my lunch, or at least part one of it, was the sort of thing I should be eating - rice crackers with cheese and sliced pickled Jalapeño chillies. After lunch I fancied a snooze, but I couldn't get too carried away because I learned I would be expecting one of my recent Amazon deliveries between 3pm and 5pm. In fact I think it was not too long after 3pm when my doorbell rung.

  It was one of the things ordered from Amazon, and it was a repeat buy, and also a repeat disappointment. The full Amazon description was KOKA Oriental Noodles-All Flavours Multi Listing (Pack of 30)- Tomato Noodles. The only trouble is that in many cases the full description was truncated, and I could not read the end bit saying "Tomato noodles". Without that I read "All Flavours" as a variety box with all flavours of the Koka range. That is what I thought when I originally ordered the box of 30 packets.

  When that original order came through I just thought it was a mistake. It left me with many packets of tomato flavour noodles, but I knew they were nice, and I would get through them all in time. I had hoped that it was a mistake, and when I re-ordered them many months later I would get the variety pack. It seems I was in the wrong for not studying, and correctly reading the full description. I now have another 30 packs of tomato noodles to add to the dozen or so left from the previous order. Oh well, I continue to slowly use them up. I have been experimenting with inventing new or extra flavours to add to the basic noodles.

  Near the top of the page I described yesterday as a very relaxed day - which I suppose is another way of saying I had a very lazy day, although it didn't seem to feel lazy in the normal way. It was just that sort of feeling you get when you have completed some special thing (going to see the nurse in this case) and now all the pressure is off I can relax - intensively !!

  There was one thing I did which used up as much as an hour. It was more playing with my Canon 600D camera. As I think I probably mentioned yesterday, I am thinking of using it as some gigs. It is a lot lighter than lugging my big Nikon around, and that is a plus point when it comes to trying to raise the enthusiasm to go to a gig. For gig work, most often in a poorly lit pub, I do have a very big aperture lens that enables fair pictures if the band are not in total gloom, but it is a fixed lens.

  A fixed lens is good, but a zoom lens is better, but to use one of those I would definitely need a flash gun. I have a genuine Canon flash gun that I found in a second hand shop. It can "talk" to the Canon camera to partly automate the settings. Yesterday I thought I had better test it, and try and familiarise myself with the general set up. One thing I am unsure of I managed was the correct setting where the flash does a pre-flash that is used for the camera to autofocus correctly. On the other hand, several pictures I took in the dimly lit hall outside my bedroom door did seem to be well focussed, and so maybe it is doing it without me realising it. I don't know it will happen until it is happening, but I hope to test this all out fr real on Saturday night.

  It was soon dinner time, and I cooked (or finished cooked the part pre-cooked) some pork riblets. I didn't even dare check the calorie or sugar content, but I have a feeling I shouldn't be eating them, and similar products, without checking first - even though they can be mouth watering delicious. To compound the possible problem I had some ice cream for dessert, but it was a Tesco own brand ice cream, and they are usually semi safe. I really have to think about these things from now on it I am to lose more weight than when I was on Mounjaro.

  After the usual TV, which finished at 10pm last night, I went to bed to read for a while. When I tried to get to sleep I found I could not just fall asleep. I had to lay there for 20, 30. 40, and maybe even more more minutes before I fell asleep. The book I am reading is one of Isaac Asimov's robot novels, and while I can't remember what I was thinking about when I couldn't get to sleep, I am very sure it was about robots.

  Once I did get to sleep I don't think I was always sleeping that well. I can remember part waking at 3 or 4am, and thrashing about in bed trying to get comfortable. I am sure I was actually between sleep and waking because I remember some bit of it as like a dream. I tried to get back to sleep laying on my right side, but that often causes some chest pain (from the ribs and not from the heart even if it often feels like it could almost be heart pain). After a while I quickly turned back to my left hand side. It is sort of odd how it comes back to me as if it was a dream, and yet I am very sure I was at least half wake - the slight chest ache later strongly suggests it was real.

  When I finally woke up to get up I went for a pee, and thought I would poo as well, but it turned out the first I needed to far a few times. After another two visits to the toilet, where I did pass a fair bit of poo, I weighed myself for my official records. It seems that yesterday I did not lose any weight. I had actually put on 700gm. That was not a great start to a period of hoped for weight loss.

  My blood glucose readings were odd again. The average of all three meters was 8.93mmol/l. and although safe, by the skin of it's teeth, it is higher than I would like. Curiously enough, one reading was a fairly good 8.1mmol/l, but the other two were mildly bad 9.0, and fairly bad 9.7mmol/l. I find it odd that the three meters often disagree, and it is not always the same meter that read the highest lowest. Maybe I should prick a big hole in the selected finger, and drain some blood off before testing it.

  I am happy to say that my blood pressure seems very reasonable this morning. 120/66 seems like it should possibly be very good. A pulse rate of 73 may be a little fast considering I am supposed to be resting, but then again I did check my blood pressure after some vigourous typing.

  Today is a Thursday, and so from about mid to late afternoon I should be doing some beer tasting with Jodie, and probably Michael, and maybe others - that will probably include a visit from Cous Cous. He knows we drink on a Thursday and he can come in and see us all. He seems like our company, although I think Michael does not know how to talk to a cat.

  Before the drinking I hope to get in a short snooze, a quick wash - probably just a quick wipe over with a damp flannel to save time, and ideally, a quick shopping trip to Tesco. It would be good to get in some ingredients for low calorie/low sugar meals now I haven't got the crutch of Mounjaro to help (or hinder) me.