This morning has started bright bright and sunny, and there is still enough weak hazy sunshine to cast a feint shadow. Rain should have started half an hour ago as I write this, but it remains dry. I am sure that sooner or later it will rain, and it could last until mid evening. It is possible that 4 and 5pm may see some thunderstorms. This afternoon may only see a maximum of 16° C.  A lot of rain is forecast for tomorrow, and some of it may be heavy rain, but it seems it will not be warm enough to trigger any thunderstorms. Tomorrow afternoon may only reach a chilly 13° C, but it may be warmer in the early evening with 16° C around sun set.
 
  My mind is almost a complete blank about yesterday. I know that nothing much happened,but I am sure I can pad today's diary entry out with some recollections. My health readings this morning suggest I did something right yesterday.

  My main memories of yesterday include a lot of reading, some snoozing, and some playing with my cameras. My latest purchase from Ebay, a Sigma 18 to 200mm zoom lens arrived yesterday, and of course it had to be tested. It was good, but with a couple of caveats. The main thing, which I think I knew in advance and accepted it, was that it was made for old Nikon cameras that have the focus motor in the camera body. It was no use for my Nikon D3200 - which being a newer camera needs the lens to contain the focus motor.

  The other thing, and which has caught me out before, is that it is not suitable for a full frame camera like my Nikon D610. On that camera the picture looks like looking down a pipe - a circular image with a black surround. It does work fine on my Nikon D300 camera, and also on my older Nikon D80 camera. When my credit card has cooled off enough I may try and get a similar lens that has an inbuilt focus motor, or maybe one for a Canon camera (which I did originally order as well, but the seller withdrew the lens from sale).

  Somehow I managed to eat almost healthily yesterday, and a lot of it was sandwiches that I had bought from Tesco the day before. Apart from my breakfast of instant noodles, I don't think I had any hot food yesterday. I definitely had very cold food - ice cream, and it was chocolate and caramel flavour. That was tempting fate, but I seemed to get away with it.

  As usual I had my dinner, of sandwiches, some Pepperami sticks, and ice cream, while watching the 6pm news. I almost spent the rest of the evening watching TV, but I think it was while Star Trek: Voyager was one that I turned off the TV and read instead. Some Star Trek: Voyager episodes are good, and they tend to be episodes where Captain Janeway is not a main character.

  I think I gave up looking for anything else to watch at 11pm, when QI finished. By then it was a bit late to read much, but I did read a couple of pages to finish a chapter before turning out the light, and going to sleep. Last night was one occasion when I did not sleep well.

  I woke up at 3am to go for a pee, and as I went back to bed I could feel my heart beating heavily....actually it was not an easy thing to describe, but beating heavily comes closest. I did not feel that good until I had satisfied my curiosity. I got up again and checked my blood pressure, and it was very high. I seem to get sporadic times when my blood pressure is way above normal, and I have yet to work out why. All I could do was to try and relax, and eventually I managed to fall asleep again.

  When I woke up this morning my blood pressure was only very slightly high, or by some definitions, about normal. That was good. One possible reason for my high blood pressure was constipation, but it was more the case that it seemed I didn't need to pass a poo rather than couldn't. My weight showed a tiny improvement, and my blood glucose was higher than the last two days, but still quite acceptable. I had readings of 8.8, 7.8, and 8.0 mmol/l. That gave an average of 8.2mmol/l, and that is good enough, but not as good as yesterday's 7.77mmol/l.

  It was maybe half an hour later, perhaps a bit more, but still before I would have my breakfast, that I felt I could have the poo I knew I should have even if it didn't feel like it. It slowly started moving, and it was very uncomfortable, but out popped a fair sized poo. I also did a pee at the same time. I then weighed myself again. To my great surprise I had lost 600gm since yesterday morning. It is almost as if the Mounjaro is working somehow. I will try and remember to discuss this with the nurse when I see her next month.I think I may still try the other weight loss drug, Ozempic, next time, but maybe these drugs work better (for me) by having occasional "holidays" when taking them.

  In the middle of writing this I had a scheduled call from the Cardiology department of Kings College Hospital. It was a follow up to my "TAVI" (heart valve replacement) procedure. I guess they were checking I was still alive.....and more. For a Cardiologist he sounded quite nice, and not all brusque and rushed as usual. I told him that the heart valve replacement seemed to be working well, although I omitted that I had some doubts about it a few weeks or more ago.

  I told him I was able to do 1.5 mile walks with relative ease, but I still had not recovered my stamina after being inactive for so long (much of it in hospital), and my main complaint is that my ankles felt weak, although they do now seem to be improving.

  I thought long and hard about telling him about the occasion spells of high blood pressure I get (like I described for 3am this morning). His response was not all the doom and gloom I expected. He did say that one of my bypass grafts is blocked (or semi blocked), but that was probably not the problem (although I suspect they may be plotting to do something about it in the future). He suggested that a change in my drug prescription may help. He was as surprised as I was that my prescription for Amlodopine has been stopped, and in a letter to my GP he will say that should be re-instated. He will also suggest increasing my Bisprolol dose. I asked if it might be better to take Bisopropol in the evening, and he said it was worth trying if these odd high blood pressure events are mostly in the morning. It was quite a helpful chat.

  Also while writing this I have had my delivery of the "Asian" food I ordered. Most of it is instant noodles, but I did order some frozen spare ribs in black bean sauce, and also some frozen BBQ pork. One potential difficulty is the cooking of the spare ribs. It says to steam them, but I will have to see if they cook OK (although they are basically ready cooked) in the microwave.

  Today I was going to go for a walk to The Jolly Farmers for my not very routine lately, Wednesday pints of Guinness. I don't think I will be going today. It is still dry now, but by midday it will probably be raining, and it might possibly be heavy rain, and although unlikely, a thunderstorm could happen. Not only that but I am waiting for two more deliveries today. The postman should be bringing the blood glucose meter test strips some time around 1pm ("Delivery is estimated between:11:20am and 2:20pm"). Amazon should be delivering a lens hood for my new lens, plus a few other items any time before 9pm tonight, but more likely early afternoon.  I guess I have to sit tight and wait for the doorbell.