An Aching Sunday.

Go Gervase Go

And so here we are at Sunday the 30th November and the last day of the Month, tomorrow we see the start of October, and how fast the last year has gone by. anyway as some of you may know yesterday was a very busy day for me, we went and got my son Gervase his new car and then in the Evening it was a family get together at My Cousin Mikes house in Fareham which is just about 8 miles outside of Portsmouth.

Well It was a really great night last night, Gordon and Pauline picked me up about 4.20 and we got to Mike,s about 4.45 there were a few people there but not that many.

The Photo above shows me sitting out in the Garden with Gervase and Leanne and also my younger Brother David who was down from Woking for the afternoon and evening.

This Photo shows my cousin Maureen (on the left) who is over from Canada and also My cousin Carolyn who had come up from Weymouth.

This group shows my Cousin Carolyn from Weymouth sitting talking to Eileen,s friend Chris. The couple in the back having a snack are Gerry and Carol, they are the son and Daughter of my cousin Enid, and the chap to the right at the back is my cousin Mike.

Here we see Maureen sitting and having a chat with my Sister Eileen and her Daughter Jodie

And here in Group 2 we have Jodie and Arron Eileen,s son and Daughter with Arron,s wife Sarah far left and Dave Trumper Jodie,s Husband far right at the back sat next to my Sister Eileen who is sat next to my Brother David who is also sat next to Sarah

 And not Forgetting Pauline and Gordon.

So a good evening was had by all, in total there were 30+ people there including Leanne,s mum Elaine who was caught having a good old natter with Pauline.

There were many who I did not get Photo,s of including mikes son,s Grant and Paul and Grants daughter Molly and also Maureen,s Husband Ken as by 8.00 I was starting to really get Tired. we left about 9.15 and was home by 9.45. very tired and very ache. when I got ready for bed at about 11.30 my feet were bright red as were my knees, I think I was standing around chatting for to long. the one good thing is that the weather stayed nice.

One Cool Cat

I slept well last night and woke at about 7.30 this morning, but had terrible trouble getting out of bed, My legs had a mind of their own and did not want to work, and their was so much stiffness and pain in the muscles it took me until 9.00 before I could move around anyway got some breakfast sorted and then spoke to Pauline. as the morning went on I just sat with the laptop resting until 1.00 when I got some chicken soup for lunch.

I get a phone call from Gervase to see if I still want to go shopping and I say certainly but we will have to use the wheelchair so that is OK with him so he comes round at about 1.45 and we go off down to Morrisons to get the shopping, it is very busy there today but we get what we want and then head back home along the sea front.

Morrisons at Portsmouth

Tuesday for Flue Jab

Once we are back home we get the shopping put away and then gervase makes a move back home to Leanne as she is a bit hung over after yesterday because once they got back home from the family get together they went to a friends house warming party and did not get home until about 3.00 am. Oh to be young.
Anyway my ache,s and pains seem to be settling although to be honest I have not been that mobile today, anyway they will hopefully be gone by Tuesday in time for my Flue Jab at the Eastney health centre.

Anyway it is now time to get this journal posted before I get dinner started, tonight I am having a Sea Bream Fillet with Potato, and a Cauliflower and Broccoli Bake all home cooked from fresh produce, so until tomorrow and hopefully less aches I will say Tatty bye.

A Busy Saturday

And a very good day to you all on a very pleasant Saturday, Blue sky and sunshine today with temperatures around 16⁰C

Portsmouth at 8.00 am this Morning

I slept well last night and was awake at 6.30 this morning and up in the lounge with a coffee at 7.00 am, Why are you up so Early you may ask, or then again you may not ask, but I will tell you anyway, the reason I am up so early is because it is a busy day today. Gervase is coming to collect me this morning and we are going up to the Hyundai dealers at farlington to collect his new car today. we have an appointment at 9.00 am to get all the paperwork done and then that will be it. It is a Carbon Grey Hyundai i10 1.2 cc City car. so OI hope Gervase enjoys driving it as it is a nice little car it is 1 year old on a 61 plate.

Gervase,s  New car collected this morning.

Once we are back home Gervase has a chat and then he is off back home to Leanne and I make a coffee and then go for a lie down for 30 minutes to catch up on my sleep, as it will be a busy evening today as we are having a family get together.

 So todays Journal will be a short one today, it is now 12.15 and time to get a bite of lunch so some scrambled egg with a slice of toast today I think.

So it is now 1.00 pm and I have had lunch, I am now having a nice cup of tea before watching, an hour of TV and then will think about getting ready for the family Get Together, so I am posting this Journal early as It is going to be a busy afternoon and evening, so I will let you all know how it went in tomorrows Journal so all have a good afternoon and evening.

Is it Me, or is it them ?

When bills come through the letter box

And not addressed to me.

I get the company,s on the phone

and explain they are "now't" to do with me.

But does it sink in to their brain,s ?

These people on the phone

They show very little interest

They might as well of stayed at home.

I will explain the above later on, first of all I would like to say hello to you all and welcome to friday. The weather today is again going to be very changeable with periods of Sunshine and showers, so a day indoors is on the cards today. I have to phone the GP and the speech therapist and also a couple of company,s regarding the previous tenants Mail 

It's Raining Jo

Anyway I slept OK last night woke once during the night but apart from that slept through from 11.30 to 7.20 this morning, Must have been tired after the trip up to the hospital yesterday, anyway got up , made a coffee and went into the lounge to wait for Jo the Carer to arrive, it is raining at the moment so Jo won,t be happy about that, anyway she arrives all wet and windswept at 8.30 and soon has me washed and groomed and is then on her way to her next client,

Feel better soon Gordon

Well once jo has gone I get some wheatabix for breakfast and then take my Prednisolone before making another coffee and then settling down with the laptop to catch up with emails and facebook, Pauline phones to say that they are not up in Salisbury today, gordon was not well yesterday and is still not feeling to well today so they are staying home today and hopefully if gordon is OK they will go up to Salisbury tomorrow to catch up on a couple of jobs in the morning.

Once I have spoken to Pauline and checked the emails I phone my GP Surgery and Dr Tyrell will phone me back this morning, True to his word he phones me within the hour and I go through the meeting with the Neurologist,  He updates my Medication chart and is going to write the referral for the Podiatry department so he will fax it today and I can phone them monday to make the appointment, Dr Tyrell likes to keep up to speed with my Dermatomyositis and although he will get the letter from the Neurologist he likes to know how it went as soon as he can so I always phone him the day after. 

Next on the list is Dawn the Speech Therapist, I phone her to let her Know that the Neurologist wants a swallow test carried out, so that is something that she will arrange for me and she will send me the appointment for a Barium Swallow at the QA Hospital sometime in the next few weeks.

and so to the last couple of Phone calls which relate to the verse at the beginning of todays Journal. There are two persistent company,s  

Dimwit number 1

(1) virgin Media who are chasing the previous tenant for £150.00 he owes on his virgin media contract, I have spoken to the company twice before and both times I was assured that they would change the details on the computer system obviously this is beyond there intelligence. however today I received a letter addressed to the previous tenant from their legal department, so I phoned Virgin again, and told them that I was passing their letter to my solicitor and would be pushing for compensation for harassment, the chap I spoke to started to get very apologetic and passed me to his supervisor who assured me that the matter would be dealt with to which I replied that it was to late for that as I did not think they were capable of using a computer system and that they were only harassing me because of my age and the fact that I was registered disabled and that all correspondence should now go via my Solicitor. we will see where that goes from here.

Dimwit Number 2

(2) British Gas, again this is a bill for less than £6.00 which they are chasing from July when the last tenant moved out. again I have spoken to them 3 times now explaining that I am now the tenant and I do not owe the money and that they are sending the letter addressed to the last tenant to me. I thought I had sorted this out at the beginning of the week, and speaking to the girl on the end of the phone today was like talking to a doughnut drowning in a cup of coffee totally Illegible. anyway I have now contacted  the Letting agents and asked them to sort it out and all future mail for previous tenants will be forwarded to them.  

So there we have it folks the end of my day, totally exasperated with trying to explain to people in plain english what the problem is and giving examples of what they need to do, and have come to the conclusion that if I spoke in modern day "Text Talk" I might have some success, anyway that is enough of my whining, it is nearly time to think about Pointless, dinner and Methotrexate, so I going to indulge myself with a coffee and some Chocolate biscuits and get this Journal posted so until tomorrow  " CHEERIO"  

Another Thursday passes by.

It Had to Happen

And another good day to you all, well after my day being silly with my eating, I decided that I would just have a bowl of Chicken soup and herb dumplings for dinner last night, but even so I knew after yesterdays excursion to the Tenth Hole cafe that I would pay the price, and I was not wrong, I was awake until turned 1.00 am this morning with my cup and spill stomach and my acid reflux bubbling away still it was worth it

Breakfast

Anyway once I eventually dropped of to sleep, I slept through until 7.15 this morning so not to bad but the tummy is still a bit delicate this morning so need to be sensible today about what I eat anyway I got up at 8.00 and made a nice cup of tea and took that into the lounge with 5 Belvita breakfast Honey and Nut biscuits and a banana to watch the news and wait for Jo the carer to arrive.

Jo is a bit late arriving this morning and does not get here until about 9.10 and soon has me washed and groomed ready for my day ahead, once Jo has gone I text Pauline to let her know all is OK, and then Pauline phones back to say that she is booking a taxi for 10.30 to come and collect me and then up to the Hospital at Cosham for my Neurologist appointment.

Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham

Pauline gets the Coffee.

once Pauline is off the phone I get a shave and get dressed and then settle down with the laptop for 30 minutes until pauline arrives about 10.40, and then we are off to the Hospital. We arrive at about 10.55 so as my appointment is for 11.15 we sit outside for 10 minutes as it is not a bad day here today, at least the sun is shining and at 10.15 we report to the out patients department to wait to see Dr Gibb. while we are waiting Pauline goes off to get a couple of coffees and a Daily Paper .

Neurology appointment

Although my appointment is for 11.15 it is nearly 12.00 when we I get called in by Dr Gibb, He is pleased to see that I am getting on Ok with the medications but feels it is time to come off of the Calcichew as I am now down on a low dose of Prednisolone, which I will be carrying on with that dose, also the 15 mg of Methotrexate weekly will stay the same and also the folic acid so that is all the med,s I will be on apart from the Lansoprazole and the Lactulose which is to do with the Digestive system. My Blood work,s from last week are all OK so he does not want to see me until January.

Barium Swallow Test

The other things we discussed with Dr Gibb was about starting Physio and so I am going to contact my Speech Therapist next week at the Turner Centre in Milton to see about some kind of Physio and Occupational therapy and Also Dr gibb wants them to arrange a Barium swallow test as he is pleased with the way my eating has progressed and needs to have the report on how the Dysphagia is progressing.

Pulmonary Function Test

As well as the Barium swallow test he also wants me to arrange for an appointment to have a Pulmonary function test to see how my lungs have improved as I am breathing a lot better now than I was 15 months ago when I was diagnosed, so he has given me the form and I can arrange that appointment here today for next week. so that is Ok.

Podiatrist

I also need to get in contact with my GP at the Eastney health centre to arrange for them to refer me for an appointment with the Podiatry Department to have my feet treated, I had them done last year but they need doing again as I have a couple of hard ingrowing callouses on the bottom of my left foot.

So there we go, all in all a successful day all round lots of appointments to make and along with my dental treatment coming up it looks like I am in for a busy and interesting October. anyway once we are out of the hospital we get the taxi back home, he drops us off at the tesco express, as we need to get a couple of bits of shopping and then we get indoors and get the coffee made. Me and pauline sit out in the back yard with the coffee and a sausage roll and then once we are finished Pauline makes her way back home.

Writing the Journal.

Once Pauline has gone I go and have a lie down for 30 minutes and then get the laptop and get this journal written. As I said it has been an interesting day today, at least it all seems to be going in the right direction, so I will now get his Journal posted before Pointless starts on the TV. and once I have watched that I will then get dinner ready and then an evening of TV. so until tomorrow I will say Tatty Bye.

To the 10th Hole Cafe.

And a very good day to you all on this Wednesday of Gluttony and Cake eating.

Off out Galavanting again

Again I am late getting this Journal written and Posted, I am so busy hobbling out and about I seem to keep running out of time, so today I will skip all the formalities and get down to the nitty gritty. Today is a day of visiting the 10th hole cafe for lunch with my Cousin Maureen and Husband Ken over from Canada, My cousin Michael from Fareham and Pauline.

After Jo the carer has been this morning I take my Med,s and Get some breakfast before texting Pauline and then Getting a shave and getting dressed ready for the busy day ahead of me. Pauline phones to say she will be driving down to the 10th Hole so to let her know when we leave home. and then at 10.20 Pauline,s Brother in law arrives on his wednesday morning visit, Colin has just dropped his Son stewie off at the medical centre for his Wednesday appointment and has come in for a chat and a drink before he picks him up again at 11.15.

Me and Colin having a Good Natter.

At 11.10 Maureen, Ken and Mike arrive so they have a chat and then colin makes his way to pick up Stewie and I phone Pauline to let her Know that we are on the way to the 10th Hole and then we are off in Mike,s car. It does not take long to drive down to the 10th hole cafe as it is not to far to the seafront, it is not to busy today as the weather seems to have kept people away but there are a few there so we go inside to find a table for 5, as Pauline is not here yet.

the Tenth hole Cafe and tea rooms

Croque Madam  Very Tasty.

While we are waiting for Pauline to arrive we "Peruse" the menu to choose what we are going to have, we all decide to have a bite of Lunch and in my wisdom I decide to have a Croque Madame Which is toasted bread toped with slices of Hand carved Ham and covered with cheese grilled and then with a fried egg on top. Was it good It was fantastic, I have not been able to eat anything like that for over 18 months and I really enjoyed it
Anyway Pauline had the same as me while Mike and ken had a full English Breakfast and Maureen had a Bacon Buttey. after that we just had to have a desert " it is Cake time Folks"

The 10th Hole cake cabinet

Everybody chooses a yummy piece of cake and being a glutton for Chocolate I choose a piece of Chocolate Honeycomb Cake, it is a biscuit base with a chocolate moose filling topped with pieces of chocolate coated honeycomb and whipped cream, I think a small light dinner for me tonight, and will I suffer tomorrow ? probably, and Do I care. ? Probably not, will I do it again ? you bet I will.

My chocolate Honeycomb Cake.

Well that was a super Lunch and once we had finished we all went back to Pauline,s for a chat and a coffee and to see misty.

Pauline Lives Here

We have a nice drink and a good chat and then at 3.00 pm Mike Takes me back home and then He, Maureen and Ken go back home to Fareham, So it has been a really great day today, and I am now feeling tired and need a lie down before getting dinner later on so I am going to get this Journal Posted and then of for a lie down for an hour, so from a very happy Frank, I will say Bye Bye until tomorrow, and my Appointment with my Neurologist.

A Changeable Tuesday

Many Butterflies

And a very good morning to you all. so here we are on another Tuesday, and the weather today does not know what to do, will it rain ? or will it be Sunny ? who knows at the moment the seasons and the weather seem to be going through a very peculiar stage, I even have a variety of different butterflies flitting around in the court yard this morning.

Morning TV News

Anyway back to the present. I had a decent nights sleep again last night and after following the doctors recommendation of Medication change yesterday my digestion has been 200% better so it is something to discuss with my Neurologist on Thursday. I woke at 6.30 and then dozed until 7.45 when I got up and took my morning coffee into the lounge to watch the Breakfast news on TV.

It was a really good evening of TV last night they had the new series of "New Tricks" with Amanda Redman and Denis Waterman

New Tricks

and also the Penultimate episode of "Citizen Khan" with Adil Ray and Shobu Kapoor

Citizen Khan

Seems like I have strayed from the beaten track again, However back to today "Again" The weather is not sure what to do at the moment it is sunny with patches of blue sky but with rain clouds passing overhead, although the clouds are moving fast so it will probably be a day of Sunshine and showers today.

Portsmouth at 8.20 this morning.

On the Phone to Pauline

As usual Jo the carer arrives at 8.40 and gets me washed and groomed for the day , I get some wheatabix for breakfast once Jo has gone and then speak to Pauline on the phone. Pauline is going to book her Taxi for 10.45 to come and collect me and then off down town to get todays Shopping, so I get a shave and get dressed ready and then on to the computer for a couple of hours while waiting for Pauline.

I am on the computer designing a new Board Game, The idea came to me yesterday evening as I was spending a happy few hours yesterday trying to find the things that gordon had moved while cleaning the flat for me "Bless his little cotton socks". Only joking Gordon, but it did give me a idea to do an illustration of a fictitious  game box and call it "Dust and Find" hope you like it Gordon. LOL

For Gordon

 any way lets get back to reality. Pauline arrives at 11.00 and once we have the Wheelchair in the car we are off down to Commercial road to get the shopping done. First stop is the Nationwide and then into Boots the chemist to get some supplies

Boots the Chemist  Portsmouth (stock Photo)

Once we are out of Boots we make our way round to Wilkinson,s as Pauline wants to get some bits and Pieces for Misty and Charley and I need some Light Bulbs,

Wilkinson Portsmouth (Stock Photo)

We are not in wilkinson,s long and then we are out and off into the tesco store to get the food shopping, I have not got to get to much today, I think Pauline needs to get more than I do today, anyway we make our way round the first half and as it is 12.30 now we stop at the cafeteria for a nice bowl of Cream of Mushroom soup with a lovely fresh bread roll and a nice coffee, the soup is divine here in Tesco and is always very tasty, I would probably say it is the best soup I have tasted.

Tesco Portsmouth

Bisto Cheese sauce

Once we have finished lunch we carry on with the shopping and eventually get what we want, after me and pauline asking where the tubs of "Bisto" cheese sauce granules were as they were not in their normal aisle,  and being told by two assistants that they had stopped selling it, only then to find it was on the shelf in a different Aisle, so Pauline soon corrected them, I just do love my cheese sauce with my Fish.

Medicine time Gervy

Once Back home we have a coffee and get the shopping put away and then Pauline heads back home, and I go for a lie down until 3.40 and then get this Journal started, it is now 5.40 and I am running late, so I need to get this posted and then get dinner started at 6.00. I was going to see Gervase tonight but he phoned earlier to say he was at home as he has come down with a bit of a virus and tummy bug so has not in work today, apparently there are several people of sick in his office with it, anyway I will not be going round to see him this evening as I cannot afford to catch it. so I will be having a night os old Movies on the TV I think.

Anyway I will now say Tatty bye until tomorrow...........