We are heading into the next heatwave now. Today will feature full sunshine all day, and the temperature should rise to  24° C in the afternoon. Tomorrow should also feature full sunshine, but the afternoon temperature may hit 31° C. The day after tomorrow (Thursday) may see 34° C, but after that the following days may be a bit cooler.

  Yesterday only featured one main thing, and even that I can probably describe in few words. Today could be a fairly brief diary entry, although I may remember other stuff that may make longer (one thing has already come to me !).

  The headline thing for yesterday was a visit to the Gastroenterology department at the hospital. For that I needed a good shower and to wash my hair so I looked sort of presentable when I got there. My appointment was at 3pm, and although I didn't seem to find much time for a snooze, it was still a fairly relaxed morning, and the start of the afternoon was fairly relaxed too, but I didn't dare snooze in the afternoon.

  It was quite sunny when I went out, and I wore my Panama hat to keep the sun off my scalp. I doubt the sun was strong enough to burn in the short time it took to walk to the hospital, and walk home again, but it did provide some shade for my eyes when walking home (and facing the sun).

  My appointment was in the "Pink Zone" - a part of the hospital I have never visited before. I was pretty sure that there was a way into the Pink Zone from the south end of the hospital by going through the staff car park. The biggest element of doubt was that if it was not classified as a public entrance the doorss would need a key card, or something, to open. I went the long way around, passing but the Pink and the Green zones, and entered vis the main entrance in Riverside House.

  I then walked the entire length of Riverside House, doubling back on the distance I had walked on the other side of the river. Once I was in the right Zone I had further problems. It would have helped if my letter had said "Suite 4" was on the 1st floor. While exploring I noted that there were a few open doors I could have come through, and which would have cut out about 10 to 15 minutes of walking !

  I found the waiting room, and signed myself in on the touch screen. I was at about 10 minutes early, and I did not have long to wait before I was called by a nurse who did the usual boring stuff like weighing me, and checking my height. Fortunately she did not check my blood pressure. I know it would have been high, but I don't think it would have been mega high like when I went for my Colonscopy (and got turned away because they felt it was too high for further stress).

  I can't be sure, but I think I was called in to see the doctor at exactly 3pm. That was rather good service. We had a chat, and somehow I agreed that I would try and endure another Gastroscopy so they could snip out the polyp they found last time, and then have a Colonoscopy all in the same appointment. With no sedation the Gastroscopy is going to be torture !

  I am unsure how long the appointment lasted. It seemed like a long time, but when I got home, using the shortcut through the staff car park, I found I had arrived home at 3:37pm. I had had some breakfast before going out, but the fresh air, the walk through the park, and the stress of agreeing to what they wanted to do, seemed to make me feel ravenous. I scoffed 4 Walls sausage rolls (which to my mind were half size, and so I say I only had two sausage rolls), and then I had a large "sub roll" filled with pesto and Mozzarella and stuff. I think I stopped there, but I may have had a small chocolate type bar (or bar with a chocolate covering).

  I felt I deserved a long lie down after my very late lunch. I read for a bit, and I am sure I had a snooze. All too soon it seemed like it was time to cook my dinner. It was to be maple syrup marinated pork belly strips. I have to say they were very disappointing because they did not taste like the smell they gave off while cooking in the oven. That smell was a sweet and smoky toffee like smell. There seemed to be almost not taste of that when I ate them.

  I should had some sort of vegetables with those pork belly strips, but I left it too late to cook some roast potatoes or chips with the meat, and I could not be bothered to get some frozen vegetables out of the freezer. It is hardly the same thing, but I did have a couple of scoops of Vanilla ice cream as a dessert, and I think I also had a Caramel bar or two as well.

  Although I seemed to get some nice rest in the afternoon, before I stopped for dinner, I was soon feeling sleepy again in the evening. I watched the usual TV, but finished an hour earlier than most nights. I went to bed, but I did read for a while before trying for sleep. Now the very odd thing is that I can't seem to remember if I fell asleep quickly, or if I laid awake for some time before sleeping.

  What I do know is that at about 2am I woke up needing a pee. I had been dreaming, and the only thing I can remember was that I was in a Telephone Exchange I once knew well, but it had been altered, and I could not find the toilets. Anyway, I woke up, and went to the toilet, only to find a big spider on the wall. Fortunately it was not near the toilet itself, and I had a pee with no fear of the monstrosity with too many legs leaping at me. I also noticed a second, but more reasonable sized spider near the ceiling of the other wall.

  I finished my business and went back to bed. I guess I probably fell asleep very quickly, although my memory says something more like I couldn't get back to sleep, but seconds later 3 or 4 hours had passed ! I felt no urgent need to get up early this morning, and I stayed in bed for as long as I could - which wasn't all that long. It was with great trepidation that I went into the bathroom. The small spider was still roughly where I last saw it, but the big one was missing - which is more worrying than knowing where it was !

  Yesterday morning I had "opened my bowels" several times to good effect, and so it was not a great surprise that all I could manage this morning was passing some gas. I did have another big pee though. When I weighed myself I was very surprised, even astonished, to see that I had lost 1.1kg since yesterday morning. It is possible that I recorded my "official" weight before I had the last poo yesterday morning, and that may have accounted for the 0.1kg. I have no idea how I could have lost a whole kilogram, but I am pleased I did, and just wish I could do it that easily again.

  My blood glucose readings were slightly lower than yesterday. I am starting to wonder if my injections of Ozempic are starting to do stuff that Mounjaro didn't. My first blood glucose reading was 8.1mmol/l, and that was the same as yesterday, but the other two readings were 7.5 and 7.9mmol/l - both lower than yesterday.

 My other important health reading is my blood pressure. This morning the systolic pressure is good at 125, but the diastolic at 80 may be a tad high. That is nothing to worry about. My pulse rate is 80bpm, and considering I am sort of at rest, unless you count typing as exercise, seems a bit high. Once again, it is nothing to worry about.

  One thing I forgot to mention about yesterday is that I ordered £121 of beers yesterday afternoon. I hope that some of them are beers that Jodie has never tasted before, and that they may satisfy her lust for new beers. I think I may enjoy most of the rest, although I did order some that will be more to Jodie's taste than mine. With luck they may be delivered in time for Thursday's beer tasting session.

  Today is almost a rest day for me, but if I am ready in time I may take a walk in the park to meet Margaret, if our paths cross, to give her a USB lead so she can download pictures from her camera without having to take the memory card out to transfer pictures to a PC. I suppose my rest may be interrupted by the need to do a pile of washing up in the kitchen, and washing a few t-shirts would be good, but not essential.

  P.S. I almost forgot to add that Jo (Woodstock) has provisionally volunteered to be my escort so I can have full sedation when I have my combined Gastroscopy and Colonoscopy.