And into 2016 we go.

Well 2015 has certainly been a wake up call as far as the Dermatomyositis is concerned  with appointments with Pulmonary Consultant,s Cardio Consultants and Ophthalmologist  and a persistent UTI , I have spent half the year up and down the hospital and visiting the doctors surgery.

What a year 2015 has been, 

Well at least we have got that year over with and we can now look forward to a more positive year ahead .

the new year has certainly started off on a very wet and windy first week, living in Portsmouth and Southsea  on the South Coast we have not had the severe flooding that they have experienced up in the North of England and Scotland, as my Name sake "Storm Frank" hit at the end of last week  but now we have got some very heavy rain and gale force winds coming down the English channel and has battered Southsea Seafront this weekend causing severe damage  to the sea wall and promenade.

High winds and heavy rain hitting the sea wall.

And the following Photograph shows the collapse of the promenade as the sea has penetrated under the foundations.

Damage to the promenade and sea wall

anyway enough of that, and back to the present. it was a decent christmas, I spent Christmas afternoon with my son Gervase and Daughter in Law Leanne at there house having a great christmas dinner, along with Leanne,s Mum and Dad and also a couple of there friends so really enjoyed that, apart from that it was a quiet Christmas and New Year, and I am really glad that is now all over and we can now get back to some kind of normality.

The one thing that I am looking forward to is to having the cataract removed from my right eye, I had the left eye done at the end of November and have received the appointment through to have the right eye done on the 12th February. I just cannot wait. it will be so good to have decent vision again as it was the 3.5 years of Prednisolone for the DM that induced the cataract,s

Getting ready for a cataract operation

Some time towards the end of January/February I will be getting the appointment for the follow up scans of my chest, prior to seeing my Pulmonary consultant, this will show if the early stage Emphysema has progressed  at all or if it is still stable this will dictate if I need further investigation of my Lung Function, I have not seen any marked difference in my breathing over the last 5 months s hopefully it has not changed much.

Another CT Scan

well that really is the catch up on what is in store for the next few weeks, I will hopefully get this Blog back as a weekly journal starting with Posting ever weekend starting with the coming weekend , anyway it is now time for me to get out my medtronic machine to download the data from my Reveal Heart Monitor to the Cardio department at the Queen Alexandra Hospital.

Medtronic machine to download the info from my Reveal Heart Monitor

I have to download this every 3 months, The Reveal monitor is like a USB stick and it is implanted in my Chest and records my heart beat and every 3 months I have to download the data with the Medtronic machine to the Hospital,s cardio dept over the Telephone line. the machine plugs into the Phone soccer and O ho;d the sensor shown in the photograph over the area of my chest and the machine downloads the data and then dials the phone number, and downloads to the hospital.

Well it is time for me to go and get this downloaded before Lunch and then a afternoon relaxing watching TV and listening to therein on the widows, Oh what a life I lead. I will be back with this Journal on Saturday\Sunday with what has happened during the week. So until The weekend I will say

A Treck into the wilds of Milton.

Good Morning all you lucky people it is me again, with more exciting and nail biting tales of life with a Rollator. so welcome to................

Should get up when
 I wake up

Well Saturday morning was interesting to say the least, For the second morning running I woke about 3.30 isn with a very painful shoulder, Why this is happening again I have no Idea, anyway it was a case of applying "Deep Heat" and taking a couple of co-codamol and then getting back to sleep again,  before waking at 7.30.

I have a suspicion that I "Cricked" my neck on Thursday, reaching to get something out of the cupboard , anyway if it happens again over the weekend I will phone the doctor on Monday,  anyway instead of getting up and out of bed I decided that I would just check on Facebook with the iPad, Big Mistake, still there at 9.00 am

My Trusty Rollator

Once I am out of Bed I text Pauline and then get some breakfast and get dressed before Pauline phones and we have our morning chat, Pauline has only just got up, so looks like we are all having a lazy start to the day today, Anyway after I have spoken to Pauline it is on to the lap top to check emails etc before deciding that as it is such a nice day today and that we are in for some wet and stormy weather over the next week I will go for a walk to Bransbury park and Milton road with the Rollator, I am under no illusion that I will probably suffer for it over the next few days but I know that my leg and thigh muscles are getting weaker , and my Knees are starting to give me trouble, so I need to walk while I still can.

So  after making sure I have an ample supply of Food, water, Tena, Medication and camping gear I head of out to explore the wilds and to face the perils of walking to Bransbury Park with my Rollator.

The Reason I am so attached to to this area and why I live here is that it is where my Mother and my aunt and Uncle were  born and raised and where they all lived from 1918 until about 1925 when my Grandfather was Posted to Ireland before moving back to Fareham, just outside of Portsmouth in about 1928. so here we are with a photographic tour of my walk today

The first Photograph is walking east along Goldsmith avenue towards the Milton Road, with Milton Park to the left.

This is Milton School, it is in milton Road, just after entering from Goldsmith Avenue, This is the school that my Mother, Auntie Maud and Uncle Fred went to, Mum would have gone there in 1918, when she was 5 years of age.

The two photographs above show one of the little independent shops still trading in the Milton road " known locally as "Milton Market" it still has sweets in the jars and weighs out the sweets you require and serve them in a little paper bag, memories of days gone by.

This shows one of the flower beds by the bus stop in Milton Road, at the entrance to Bransbury Park.

Time for a coffee at the "Art Cafe" situated in Bransbury Park, an excellent little cafe with a wide range of food and very nice tea and coffee, a independent cafe .

These two Photographs above is the area of Bransbury park, that the "Art Cafe" is situated in a nice peaceful place to sit and enjoy the sunshine

This Photograph is the area that runs along the side of the sports areas, tennis, soccer , miniature railway etc. that is about it for me so now tio head back home, I have been out almost 2 hours, 

The final two Photographs are taken as I go home via the side roads and shows the victorian houses and architecture  along the Tree lined roads that makes up most of the residences in the southern half of Portsea Island and the district of Milton.

So here I am back home and I am absolutely tired out, my legs feel as if I have run a marathon, I have been out about 2.5 hours and enjoyed it but I now need a light lunch of Chicken soup and then go for a cat nap for an hour or so.

Chicken soup for lunch.

That was a lie down that lasted longer than I thought, anyway I now need to get this journal written while listening to the Portsmouth soccer match on the Radio, which Portsmouth drew 1-1 against Exeter, it was the first match of the 2014/15 season. well the Journal is written and now to get it Posted before thinking about tonights dinner which is a nice Marks & Spencer fruity chicken curry, my saturday treat after Freaky Friday,

Tonights dinner will go down a treat

So until tomorrow I will say.............

Another Friggin Freaky Friday

Well here we are again and another Freaky Friday is upon us, no sooner have you got over one Friday then another one arrives, Oh well thats the way the cookie crumbles I suppose.

A Crumbling Cookie

So How did my day start you may well ask, well seeing as you asked so nicely, It started to early, I was awake about 4.30 isn for a Bathroom Break and was so hot that I went and got a cold drink and sat in the lounge for 30 minutes checking Facebook on the Tablet computer, oh what an exciting life I lead. trouble is I do find sending messages on my Tablet slow work, I must get a more modern one soon.

Why is sending messages on my Tablet so slow ?

Anyway I went back to bed just after 5.00 and woke again about 8.00, a far better time to get up. although it was one of those mornings where you feel if you could do with a few more hours in bed, but Gordon will be coming down this morning about 10.30 to help me so I can have a bath, he will also put clean bedding on the bed so that he can take it with the other washing back so that Pauline can wash it over the Weekend.

Is it really time to get up ?

However, seeing as Gordon will not be here until about 10.30 there is no reason to get dressed as I can see no point in getting dressed and then getting undressed again to have a bath ( mind you if I had a bath with my clothes on it would reduce the Laundry for Pauline.) so I take my Lansoprazole so that I can have breakfast at 9.00.

No Point getting dressed until after my bath

At 9.00 I have my Breakfast , I am having toast and marmalade this morning followed by my daily 4 Prunes, after which I check on Facebook and do the Morning greetings on the Myositis support groups and the Ramblers Group, and then I go and have a shave and Brush my teeth before Gordon Arrives at 10.20

Getting a Shave and Cleaning Teeth

Gordon Arrives and we have a coffee, and Gordon goes to change my Bedding while I am having my Bath, It feels so good and after I have had my bath it is so nice to be able to walk around without being followed by funny smell !!!!!!!!

Good Job it is nearly Friday

well once I have had a bath, gordon puts the Diprobase cream on my legs and back, and I do my chest and arms, and then I get myself dressed as we need to go down to the Chemist to get my Medication and some milk and a daily paper, and then we go into a little cafe and have a coffee and sandwich each for lunch.
Once we are back home we have a coffee and then I take my Methotrexate and Gordon makes his way home to Pauline while I go for a lie down and then at 3.00 I go on to the computer and get todays daily journal written.

Taking My Methotrexate

Now that I have had the Methotrexate, it is time to rest for the afternoon, So once I have Posted this Journal to my blog to will be rest and relaxation for the rest of Friday.
Watching the News and weather it is likely that it will get quite bad here on the South Coast as the remnants of Hurricane Bertha tracks across the South coast of England so it will be a case of batten down the hatches on Sunday and Monday and possibly Tuesday. although not as severe as first predicted it could still cause major flooding and some damage especially as tree,s are in full leaf.

well that is it for today so until tomorrow I will say ................

x-ray and coffee by the sea

Feeling Like Crap

Well what do you know, here we are on the first of August and not only that it is Freaky Friday. so an interesting day ahead of me today, first of all I had a very bad nights sleep, kept waking up and then dropping of to sleep until about 4.30 when I eventually got to sleep but then slept through until about 9.00, so not good as Gordon comes down on a Friday to help me have a bath and also today he is going to take me to St Mary,s walk in centre to get my Knee x-rayed.

Pauline on the Phone

anyway make a coffee and then sit and text Pauline to let her know all is Ok but that I am running late, as I am sending the text Pauline phones to see if all is Ok as I had not text her, anyway she got the text as she was phoning me, anyway we have a chat and I say that there is no rush for gordon to get here today as I am all behind, "in more ways than one" anyway after we have spoken I take my lansoprazole before getting breakfast in 30 minutes so log on and check face book and post the late edition of Thursdays daily Journal.

Pharmacist

Once I have checked on Facebook and posted yesterdays journal, i have some breakfast and then about 10.00 Gordon arrives so we have a coffee and then I have my Bath. Once I have had my bath I then get dressed and we sit and have a chat until about 11.30 when we get in the car and off we go to to drop my repeat prescription of at Rowland,s chemist so that it will be ready to collect next Friday and then it is off to The walk in centre to get my Knee x-ray done. there is up to a 45 minute wait but in fact I get called after about 25 minutes so not to long a wait. so once that is done we leave and Gordon drives down to the sea front at Eastney which is the quiet end of Portsmouth and we have a coffee and a snack at the tea bar there.

It is very quiet down this end of the seafront as it has no facilities here and is a bit of a "Natural State" and also most of the people will be at the other end of The sea font at Southsea  common as today is the first day of the Three day Southsea Show.

Looking East along southsea sea front towards Eastney.

Looking Out to Sea across the solent

Gordon Enjoying a snack and a coffee

Looking West along the front  at the Tea Bar.

after we had enjoyed a coffee and a Snack Gordon I got Gordon to drive down to the bottom of Locksway road where the Thatch house is to show him where the lock gates were and the locks where the canal came into Portsmouth from Langston harbour in 1823 , the canal was abandoned in 1855.

The Remains of the canal entrance looking west.

The remains of the Lock at the entrance of the Portsmouth Canal.

After that we head back home, it is now 2.30 so we have a coffee and then Gordon makes his way home and I start to get todays journal done.

enjoy a cat nap

So all in all it has been an enjoyable afternoon, it was nice to be out and about and also nice to be able to visit the old lock as I am very passionate about the local history of Portsmouth. anyway I need to get thous Journal posted and then a lie down for an hour before thinking about getting dinner ready, although it was an enjoyable afternoon it took it,s toll on me and my legs are now feeling very achey and i am worn out so an hour,s cat nap will do me a power of good.

 

So now to take the Methotrexate and enjoy the rest of Freaky Friday so until tomorrow I will say..............

The Return of my Daily Journal.

And so here I am back again after a gap of nearly Ten months and here I come riding back into your lives on a white charger, well it has been an interesting few months which I will not bore you with apart to say that I had a few up,s and downs with tapering my Prednisolone but at least I have now got new glasses and a larger screen computer so hopefully get back to what i do best and that is boring you all silly .



So where do I start,  I am now down to 2.5 mg of Prednisolone daily ( 5 mg taken alternate days} and that was a journey and a half to get to this from 5 mg daily (10 mg taken alternate days) but fingers crossed i am now finding it easier but a big difference in my energy levels, they are so much lower on this low dose.

Anyway I have got to where my Neurologist wants me to be, and now all I have to do is to work on my weight, I am just under 13 stone which is not helping with my Knees and with my weak muscles in my upper legs and thigh,s, My Neurologist "Dr Gibb" wants me to be at 11 stone unfortunately that is not going to happen so I am going to try to get to 12 stone and see where we go from there but I think Jogging is out of the question.

So that just about brings us up to date on the health side of things so we start with today. as usual it was a case of waking up not knowing if the heatwave we are in the middle of was going to continue again or not, it was another night of restless sleep as it is so hot and humid here in the UK so wait to see what the weather forecast is for today

Well it looks like it is another hot day ahead and so it seems the Fan will be used to its maximum again today, anyway time for breakfast so that is a coffee with a bowl of Special K with red berries followed by the obligatory 4 pitted prunes, I have found that having 4 prune,s in the morning with my breakfast can reduce my laxative ( Latulose) from twice a day to just once in the evening.

Once I had finished Breakfast I send the morning text to Pauline, and she phones me back to make sure that all is Ok, Pauline and Gordon  are off up to Waterlooville town centre to do some shopping and asked if there is anything I needed but all I have to get today is Milk and the daily Paper, as I went shopping with Gervase yesterday so i have everything I need until Pauline takes me shopping down to Portsmouth city centre on Wednesday.

Waterlooville  Town Centre.

Once I have spoken to Pauline I check out the myositis support groups on Facebook and then I get myself ready and go down to winter road with the Rollator to get my Daily paper and a couple of pints of Milk. While I am out I take a walk down Devonshire avenue and around the block back home, which is my exercise for the day. it takes about 20 to 30 minutes and the good thing about using a rollator it has a seat so I can sit down if required, however it is a lot less humid today so it was not to bad on the breathing

Approach to Devonshire avenue from Winter Road

Winter Road looking north to the shops.

Once i am back home I have a sit down and a coffee and then go out and dead head the Rose bush and the two hanging baskets, there are still a lot of buds on them to bloom yet, They are at the front of my flat and looks very pretty, there are a lot of hanging Baskets in the houses down our street.

The Rose bush is doing well this year.

one of my Hanging Baskets

My other Hanging Basket.

Once I had done that it was time for some lunch so a nice Corned beef Sandwich and then a lie down for an hour until 3.00 when it is time to get the computer ready, make a coffee and then on to writing the daily journal before getting dinner ready for tonight, Tonight it will be a sea bass fillet with New Potatoes, Broccoli and a cauliflower cheese, all home made from fresh ingredients.

well that is about it for today, not the most exciting of days but an enjoyable one all the same so I will say bye Bye to you all until tomorrow, and It is so good to be back writing the Journal, it will probably take a few days to get back into the swing of things.