11:27 GMT

  This morning we have had, and are still having some nice periods of sunshine.The sky it currently a patchwork of about 50% cloud and 50% blue sky. The sunny periods could continue for longer than forecast. This morning started at 8° C according to my thermometers, and now they say 10° C. I presume we are on track for an afternoon high of 11° C. This afternoon, and for the rest of the day will be cloudy, possibly just light cloud, and the temperature may bob up and down between 9 and 11° C. Tomorrow may feature thicker cloud, but no rain is forecast. The temperature may rise to 10° C for most of the morning, and then it will rise to a very constant 11° C for the rest of the day.

  Yesterday was a bad day, or at least that was the conclusion by the end of the day. I am starting to have more trouble from (presumably) my faulty heart valve. It didn't give much trouble during much of the day, but popping out into the cold to cut up a box for the recycling bin caused a few pains.

  Most of yesterday was overshadowed by the evening, and I am having difficulty thinking how to describe the morning and afternoon. I know that after I had finished writing I had a shower - a slightly cool shower. Continuing low water pressure is making my water heater very touchy. I managed to keep the water tepid at worst, but it would have been so much nice if the shower jets felt nice and powerful, and the water almost hot.

  After showering I finally did what I had been meaning to do for several weeks - shopping in Savers and Poundstretcher. I bought some Gaviscon tablets, and some Aniseed flavour "Acidex" antacid liquid. I also bought some vitamins, a bottle of Morello cherry flavour shower gel, and some bleach. I bought a few random things from Poundstretcher, and that included the top of my shopping list, big plastic envelope document carriers (for when I am carting around printouts of my health readings to show to doctors and nurses).

  I had a crazy idea that I would try and eat very lightly yesterday, but not actually reduce my calorie intake (although any possible reduction would be handy). I decided I would not eat any proper meals - the type of things that would fill my stomach, and make me feel stuff while still feeling hungry (or at least, still a strong desire to eat). I reckoned that if I ate some naughty stuff, like a big KitKat bar, I would not fill myself up so much, but the guilt would make sure that I could convince that I had eaten enough.

  I am unsure of the outcome of that experiment. The blood glucose and weight figures this morning say it did almost work. The big unknown is if it had any undesirable effects. It is possible it did. I am unsure when it started, but I started to get some chest pains. Possibly it was mid afternoon. It would later seem that what I ate, even though fairly small by the standards of proper meals, was still getting stuck in my stomach, and causing acid indigestion.

  If I had started treating the acid indigestion (aka heartburn) early enough I may have suffered a lot less in the evening. When I did start chewing some Rennies it took a little time to take effect, and then a lot of burping relieved the heartburn, and bloated stomach (not the belly), or some of it, but by then I was suffering quite enough.

  That heartburn, and the cold air trashed any thoughts about going out to The Life Of Brian gig I really, really wanted to go to. I wanted to go so much that I even considered paying for a cab to the pub (and probably a cab home again). It was all the worse because I had finally found the best way to get there by bus. It was a route I had once used when I went to a gig in The Mitre Hotel in Greenwich. The 199 bus to Greenwich stop at one of the stops called Greenwich station - there are 4 of them, and this particular stop is about the furthest from the station - and from the same stop I could get the 386 bus to The British Oak. It is a longer route, but no walking is a big plus point.

  In the end I decided I couldn't even face that cold air just to walk to the first bus stop at the end of my road. I knew it would trigger chest pains, and I was right on the edge even while I was indoors in the warm. With great reluctance I stayed in the warm watching TV. I was still getting some discomfort from my chest/heart  even doing that. Some of it was heartburn, but by then I thought I had treated that.

  I think it was around 10pm when I went to bed. I was tired, and the tiredness was aided by consuming a few large tots of Navy Rum. That most probably raised my blood pressure, and instead of relaxing reducing any heart pain, it just got worse. It did seem to be worse when laying down. On top of everything else, my brain would not shut up when I tried to go to sleep.

  I would start thinking how bad it was to miss the gig, and let down Miranda and the band (I had said I would try and get some really good pictures at this gig, and was going to take my best camera, lens and also a flash gun. I tried the old trick of trying to distract myself by thinking erotic thoughts. I am fairly proud of generating an erotic idea, but these days, now I am old and decrepit, it carried far less weight.

  It almost felt like I got no sleep at all last night, but I know i got at least an hour, and I wonder if I got more than that. I think it was around 3am when I got up to read some stuff on my PC - interesting stuff such as https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/11/shenzhou_20_spacewalk/. It was during such times that I started checking my blood pressure. It wasn't outrageously high, but my pulse rate was a lot higher than my usual "at rest" rate. It was at 7.30am that I started recording blood pressure readings. Some were indeed quite high, but I think even the worst was only diagnosed by my blood pressure meter as "moderate hypertension".

  The very worst was at 07:46 with the systolic pressure up to 156mmHg. That is not desirable, but in the grand scheme of things is not that terrible. The main pointer to trouble is the high pulse rate. My typical resting pulse rate is about 60 (and sometimes a bit less). My pulse rate up in the 70s might just indicate stress, or it may be a symptom of my faulty heart valve - the heart having to work harder to get enough blood flowing. I must admit I haven't previously thought this way, but trying to avoid anything, like long walks in very cold air, is probably a wise decision. To push myself could cause something like a heart attack, and quite possibly and actual heart attack.


  (I have just this minutes checked my blood pressure again, and it is starting to look typical, but it is not there yet. 120/53 is fine, but my pulse rate is still 70 bpm.)

  One thing that did improve my blood pressure a bit was washing my hair, and having a shower. The thought of going into hospital, which could have been a real possibility (and maybe still is) with dirty hair, and a bit stinky, was causing enough anxiety to raise my blood pressure. Now I am clean and fragrant (hopefully) I have no worries if I end up walking to A&E, or if worst comes to worst, dialling 999 again - just like I did in 2013. My first 12 days in hospital in 2013 are described here - http://www.sunnyside/homelinux/org/subpages/journal/2013/September_2013.html#12. Scrolling down from there takes you to when it all kicked off.

  The most relevant bit reads "Until about 15 minutes ago I was feeling very poorly, and wondering where it would all end. It is feeling a bit like last Tuesday morning. I can foresee a possibility that I won't be at work tomorrow.  Maybe I'll have to admit defeat and go see a body mechanic,".

  I don't feel all that bad at the moment, but I can still feel a mild ache my chest. I think there is a possibility that it is heartburn from my breakfast of 2 flapjack bars. I am chewing on a couple of Gaviscon tablets as I write this. After getting up, a lot later than usual, I went for a pee, and managed a fairly "firm" poo. I then weighed myself. My deliberately bad diet means I have put on 300gm. Obviously that is not good, but it is mild compared to what I feared.

  My blood glucose is up this morning. This was not unexpected, but it is still fairly good, The Contour meter read 7.3mmol/l, and I would normally call that good. The GlucoRX meter read 6.5mmol/l, and that is pretty good. The GlucoFix meter read 7.1mmol/l, another good reading. That averages out to 6.97mmol/l, and I have beaten that twice so far this month. For all it's faults, Mounjaro continues to do an excellent job regulating my blood glucose.

  Assuming I didn't need to go and seek medical help, my plan was to probably go shopping in Tesco this morning. I don't fancy going out in the cold air while I still seem to be on the edge, but if I have a good night I might go out to Tesco tomorrow. The main thing on the agenda today should be a visit from Jodie, and a chance to sample a few of my latest order of beers. I am sure Jodie will have plenty to say about them - mostly, "had it before, had it before, minging ! and more already tried it". It is the beer order that may arrive on Tuesday that might have a beer or two of interest to Jodie. Unfortunately these beers may well make my symptoms worse, and I had better throttle back a bit this afternoon. Once the next beer order arrives I can go a bit madder. Once that is safely indoors I would have no problems going away for a fortnight to get my heart fixed again.








   1,851 words today.