Its a Pain in the butt today

Well I am glad that today is over and done with, this has been a "Pain in the Butt" today in a literal sense but at least I am feeling a lot happier now than I was this time yesterday.  It really is times like this that I detest this Autoimmune disease but I refuse to let it run my life although like yesterday it does sometimes win but we will fight back against it.

Not a Pretty sight

Anyway Went to the doctors this morning, the problem being that I had noticed traces of blood from my rear passage yesterday, When I phoned Dr Lake yesterday afternoon she made an emergency appointment for me to see her at 11.30 today. anyway once I arrived we had a chat and she checked my medical records and the blood works which I had done on Tuesday and all was OK, she asked several questions and then said that she needed to do a Rectal Examination. "Spooky" anyway the outcome of that examination was that there were no concerns, I had a couple of tears in the skin and that is what was causing the bleeding, also my Prostrate was slightly enlarged but there was no concerns over that so there we go, at least it has put my mind at rest, the most likely cause of all this is the combination of the effects of the medication and the IBS,

so there we go another Panic over. anyway once out of the health centre it was a taxi home and then a nice slice of toast with two poached eggs, as I had not had any breakfast this morning. I then had to text family and friends to let them know how I had got on and then on to the laptop to check out my emails and facebook.

At 1.00 I decide to have a wander round to the tesco express to get the daily paper and then get back home as I have Pauline,s Brother in law "Colin" coming in to see me this afternoon about 2.00 pm, he is bringing his son "Stewie" down to the Sunnyside medical centre for an appointment this afternoon. Stewie also has an Autoimmune condition.

Sunnyside medical centre.

Colin arrives at 2.00 and stays for an hour until Stewie phones to say he is out and ready to go home. That was a pleasant hour spent with Colin and we had a nice chat and a cup of tea.

Chicken tonight.

Once colin had left I made a coffee and had a couple of biscuits and then as it is Friday I took my Methotrexate and then went to have a lie down for 45 minutes as it has been a very tiring morning and I did not sleep well last night, I think I was fretting about seeing the doctor today. anyway once I had a lie down I felt that it was time to get the Vegetable prepared ready for Dinner tonight, I am going to have roast Chicken tonight with Potato, Sprouts, Cauliflower, Broccoli and Gravy, so am looking forward to that

It is now just turned 5.00 and it is nearly time for the quiz game "Pointless" so I am going to get todays Journal posted and watch Pointless while dinner is cooking so until tomorrow when the journal will return to normal I will say Tatty bye and sorry I missed out yesterdays Journal.

Pointless Quiz Show

A Restful Wednesday.

Yes it is Wednesday again and after Yesterday which was a busy day today is going to be a day of rest I think, as after walking with a trolley around B&Q for an hour yesterday I am suffering with very achey leg muscles today, especially in the right thigh and hip. Unfortunately the aching started during the night so I did not have a very good nights sleep at all last night. I was on facebook at 4.30 this morning for 30 minutes and all I did last night was kept dozing of and waking every couple of hours. anyway once it got to 7.30 I decided that I would get a coffee made and go watch some TV in the lounge, at least the day has started brighter so perhaps that will cheer me up a bit as I feel really down today, which is not like me but its days like this when I really hate this disease.

A better Morning today.

Anyway enough of my moaning, at least I have not been affected by the floods that have affected so many people across England and Wales, I just hope that the Government will do the decent thing and give financial aide to the worst affected areas, as I think that the amount of money that has been cut from the flood defence budget has a lot to do with the problem of Flooding

Aftermath of the floods today in Old Malton, North Yorkshire.

Its blowing a Gale Pauline.

The weather although starting of Nice this morning is looking more like it is going to rain with heavy black clouds floating around above us, it is getting colder so just hope we do not get any Snow. Carol my carer arrives at 8.50 and soon has me washed and groomed and is then on her way, so I text Pauline and then go and get another coffee and get back on facebook until 9.30 when it I will get some breakfast. Pauline phones to say she has got my text and that she is out on the common with Misty but although it is dry there are a lot of black clouds coming in from the west and a strong wind blowing.

A mans got to do,
what a mans got to do.

At 9.30 I get some Breakfast and decide that today I will have a couple of rashers of bacon with two poached eggs, That went down really well and I enjoyed that so once I had eaten breakfast I get dressed and go round to Tesco Express to get the morning Paper and also some Salmon for dinner tonight. I really needed my walking stick today as that was really hard work getting round there today, the leg muscles are really painful today and it is all down to the fact that I am stubborn and refused to take the wheelchair over to B&Q yesterday.

Todays Lunch

once I am back home I make a cup of tea and then settle down to watch some TV and play Facebook games, I need to rest today as tomorrow it will be out down to the city centre with Pauline to get some bits and pieces done and get the food shopping. anyway I watch some old episodes of "My Family" and then at 1.00 I decide to have a tin of Baxter,s  Lentil and Bacon Soup for lunch, that is so nice and it goes down a treat, I really enjoyed that and must remember to get some more when we are down morrisons tomorrow.

After lunch I go and have a cat nap for an hour until 2.30, at least my leg muscles are starting to feel a lot easier now so the rest today bust have done them good, anyway as it is now 3.00 I need to get todays Journal started, there is a episode of "As time goes by" on the Gold channel so I have that on which is followed by an episode of "Keeping Up Appearances" so that is always funny, and I do enjoy these old episodes of the british sitcoms.

As Time goes by

Keeping up Appearances.

well it is now 3.50 and that is just about it for today, It has been a restful day but have not done much, I am just going to get the vegetable prepared for tonight,s dinner and then it will be time to get ready for Pointless in BBC one before I get tonight,s dinner cooked so I will leave you with a couple of Cartoons I did yesterday for facebook, 1 is for Gervase and leanne,s cat and one is a christmas themed one for a new facebook group "Myositis Smiles" that has just been set up so with that I will say Tatty Bye until tomorrow and hopefully I will be in a better frame of Mind.

To The Vampire and Beyond:

Whooo Hooo. not to bad a night last night and woke this morning about 6.00 am, Went to use the bathroom and "danced all the way there and all the way back" well not really but felt like it as my feet felt so much better after seeing the Podiatrist yesterday.

Over worked laptop.

Anyhow, lay in bed dozing and listening to the radio until 7.45 when I went and made a coffee and took into the lounge to wait for Carol my carer to arrive. It will be a different Tuesday today as we will not be going to the city centre as I have to go for my monthly blood test at 10.30 and have the 3 monthly Flat inspection by the Letting Agency between 11.30 and 12.00. so while I am waiting for the carer I go online to check out my emails and facebook.

Todays Breakfast

Carol my carer arrives about 8.40. she has had a busy weekend but has a less hectic day today anyway it does not take her long to get me washed and groomed ready for the day ahead and then she is off to her next client, so I text pauline and let her Know all is Ok and then get a couple of boiled eggs for breakfast.

Man about town

During Breakfast Pauline phones back to say she will be round at 10.15 this morning and as we are not going down to the city with the wheelchair she will be bringing her own car. so as it is now 9.15 I watch some TV for 30 minutes before getting the washing up done and getting dressed ready for when Pauline gets here.

Morning Debbie

Well Pauline arrives at 10.20 so I get into the car and then we are off to the Eastney Health centre to see Debbie the Vampire, to give blood for my Monthly blood works, while we are there she also takes my Blood pressure as it has not been checked for a few months and that is all OK, Debbie has a to change arms to take blood this time as the vein she normally uses seems to have got fed up with it all and decided not to play ball, well we have been using the same vein for the last 18 + Months.

Flat Inspector LOL.

Once we have finished giving Blood we make our way back home to wait for the flat inspection, It is a condition of the tenancy that the flat is inspected at 3 monthly intervals. This is the norm over here on Private Property rental agreements so I am expecting the Lady to come between 11.30 and 12.00 as we agreed on the Telephone a fortnight ago. In fact she arrives at 11.50 and is gone by 12.00 so that did not take long

B&Q Portsmouth

Pop Up Christmas tree

well once she has Gone we decide to go over and look in B@Q as I need to get a christmas tree this year and also I have not been over to see my old workmates for a few months so it will be interesting to catch up with those that are still there, but I know that a lot have either left or been made redundant/sacked as the company cuts back on its staff to the detriment of its customers. so we get in the car and go over to B&Q it is only about a 5 minute drive away and I can walk round pushing  a trolly to make it easier and we won't be there long. well we have a walk round I purchase a ready decorated artificial 6 ft christmas tree reduced from £40.00 to £25.00 so that will do me and it only takes 4 minutes to assemble.

The Daily Journal.

I then see Angie, Sue, on Decor and Lee and Dave on Electrical Plus rob in Kitchens, plus a couple of others but it is so different than when I worked there, I left in 2008 and there is no atmosphere there anymore still that is the way it goes now all firms put profit before there staff and Customer Service. Anyway once I get the tree we make our way over to tesco express and then head home. once indoors we put the shopping away then have a coffee before Pauline makes her way home to Gordon, at 3.30 I have a tin of Cream of Chicken soup for lunch wit a packet of Walkers crisps and then have a doze in the armchair for an hour until 4.00 when I get todays Journal started.
It is now 5.25 and it is time to get todays journal posted to my blog and then settle down until 6.30 when it will be time to think about getting dinner ready. so until tomorrow it is time to say......................

Nice Weather for Ducks.

Quack, Quack, Quack. And that the way I feel today. The rain has been coming down all night long, and also early morning so I just hope that it clears up by 8.45 when I have to go out for my Podiatry appointment. 

Nice weather for Ducks

However I had a decent nights sleep last night again went to bed about 11.00 and slept through until about 6.45 this morning so that was OK. Pauline phoned at about 7.30 to make sure I was awake as she knew that I had my Podiatry appointment at 9.00 so I then made a coffee and went into the lounge to catch up on the morning breakfast news.

The weather is still causing Chaos over most of England and wales today, the storms from the south and Southwest have moved Northwards during the day affecting North Yorkshire and surrounding areas. Surgery has been cancelled at hospitals due to flooding, There has been landslides and wide spread flooding.

Podiatrist Appointment

Anyway at 8.30 after breakfast I get ready for when Gervase arrives to take me to the Podiatrist, Gervase arrives during a rain shower at 8.45 and at 8.50 we head of the see the Podiatrist at the Eastney Health Centre, Gervase drops me off outside and goes to park the car and I go in and report to the reception, within a couple of minutes they call me in and I am in there about 30 minutes while they treat my feet, cut my toenails and see to a couple of hard skin areas and then I am back out, into the car and heading back home, my feet feel so good and I need to make another appointment for 3 months time.

Once we get back home it is 9.45 so I text pauline and let her know I am back home and then make a coffee and wash up the breakfast things before Gordon arrives to do 2 hours flat cleaning for me. When we were shopping on Thursday last week I brought a Christmas tree Ginger cookie decorating kit for him and he did them yesterday and brought one for me to have with my coffee today.

Gordon,s ginger christmas trees.

 Anyway Gordon got here about 11.00 and once we had a coffee and turned the bed mattress I went round to get a paper while gordon makes a start on the cleaning. at 12.15 we have another coffee and then Gordon make a move back home to Pauline at 1.00,  once Gordon has left I get a nice Smoked Haddock Fillet in Butter with a couple of crispbread for lunch and then settle down to watch a couple of Christmas movies. the first one is "Santa Baby" this was made in 2006 and starred Jenny McCarthy and Ivan Sergei 

Santa Baby 2006

The film Santa baby was shown on True Movies and after that on True movies 2 i watched another Christmas film." A different kind of Christmas " made in 1996 starring Shelley Long and Barry Bostwick. 

A Different kind of Christmas 1996

Well I enjoyed both those films and now it is 5.20 and time to get this Journal posted, It has just been announced on the news that there are over 300 flood warning out for areas England and wales with more rain forecast overnight and into the early hours of the morning but it looks like it has moved away from the south coast. so It is now time to get this posted and then watch Pointless until 6.00 and then get dinner started so until tomorrow I will say Bye Bye.

Sunshine to Rain.

So here we are on a Brighter Sunday Morning, After Yesterdays Downpour at least it was a nice excuse to watch some Christmas movies and have a nice hot chocolate before going to bed.

It was another late night to bed last night so as I don't have a carer come on a Sunday it was a chance of a lie in which was just as well as due to a combination of Hot Chocolate and Late night I slept in until 8.30. so after getting up and making a coffee I head into the  lounge and put on the TV to watch the Politic shows which are on every Sunday Morning.

Once I Have drank the Coffee I text Pauline and Then get some Porridge for breakfast. The politic shows are quite interesting on a Sunday morning and it certainly is more amusing than a lot of the comedy shows that are being shown these days.

Anyway at 10.00 Pauline phones to say that she got up early to feed Misty and then went back to bed and fell asleep and has just woken up to see gordon taking Misty out for her Morning Walk on the common, at least it is still dry with the odd period of Sunshine although the sky is starting to cloud over.

Once I have spoken to Pauline I then get the laptop up and running and check out my emails and also facebook, and just sit around playing on the computer and watching the politic shows until 12.00 when it is time for Country file on BBC 1.

Country file BBC1

At 12.30 Gervase phones to say he will be round about 2.00 pm to take me shopping, good job he has the car as it looks like it is going to be a wet and windy afternoon as the weather is going down hill fast, so I get myself a tin of of Cream of Mushroom soup for Lunch and then decide to get a shave and get changed ready for when Gervase arrives to go shopping.

Well Gervase arrives at 2.10 just as we have a Downpour, anyway once it eases we get in the car and drive down to Asda at Fratton, It does not take long to get the shopping as I do not have to much to get, anyway we then decide to drive home along the seafront, the rain is absolutely coming down in Torrents, lots of lying water as the drains cannot cope and the wind is getting stronger. here are 4 Photo,s I took from inside the car as gervase is driving along.

Driving down winston churchill avenue by the University of Portsmouth

Southsea common, Lots of water and all the Seagulls are on the ground.

Southsea Seafront, No Pedestrians and lights on at 3.30 pm.

At milton Market so nearly home, Horrible weather

Once we are back home we get the shopping put away and then we have a good old chat and arrange for gervase to come round at 8.45 tomorrow morning to take me to the Health centre for a 9.00 Podiatry appointment, Gervase has a day off work tomorrow, so that is handy. anyway gervase makes a move as he is off to collect Leanne from her mum.s and then they will be off home, and I make a coffee and get this journal started for today and also to watch a Christmas Movie "The Christmas list" A 1997 made for TV Movie starring Mimi Rogers and Rob Stewart.

The Christmas List

That was a really good movie and I enjoyed that, In fact I was so engrossed in the film I am running late with todays Journal and Another Film has now started which I am also watching it is another Christmas Movie "Secret Santa" from 2003 Starring Jennie Garth but not as good as "The Christmas list"

Secret Santa 2003 Christmas film. Starring Jennie Garth,

Well Time to get this Journal Posted as it is now 6.45 and I have not even started cooking dinner yet so Until tomorrow I will say Tatty Bye and sorry the journal is late today.

and its only one month to Christmas.

Yes Friends it is only one month away from Christmas Eve, where has the year gone to it seems that the older you get the quicker the years go by, anyway It was Ok when I was living in a house but now that I am living in a ground floor flat the question I want answered is "How will Santa get my presents to me without a chimney to come down".

Anyway lets get back to today. I stayed up late last night as I was watching the Movie "Spiderman 2" which did not finish until 11.30 so Once that had finished I went to get myself a nice hot cup of cocoa, but Guess what, There was none in the cupboard so that is one thing to go on my shopping list for Sunday, so I had to settle for a hot chocolate Complan as I had no Hot chocolate drinks either.

Anyway it was turned Midnight before I eventually got to bed last night , but it didn't take long for me to get off to sleep and I slept through until 7.30 this morning.but it was such a heavy sleep that I had to drag myself out of bed to get a coffee and go into the lounge to wait for the carer.

I really want to go back to bed 

anyway once I have had a couple of mugs of coffee I am starting to get myself together so by the time Carol the carer arrives I am almost wide awake. Anyway Carol gets here about 8.45 and the weather is really very wet but it is also very mild about 12 C. It does not take long to get me washed and groomed and then she is on her way to her next client, so I text Pauline and then get some weetabix and a banana for breakfast.

Todays breakfast

Once I have finished breakfast I get the washing up done and then get dressed, Pauline Phones and says that all is Ok with them so I now settle down with a coffee to check out Facebook and my Emails before deciding to spend the day watching Christmas movies as the weather really is diabolical outside today. Gordon phones during the morning and we have a chat and I also check the local papers website and catch up with the local news, the morning actually passes very quickly, and it is soon time to think about lunch at 1.00.  I decide to have a cheese omelette with a couple if slices of bacon, and that goes down a treat.

Todays Lunch, very tasty

It has been just over a week since I had my two teeth out and the gums are almost ache free now so it is much easier to eat again although I have a couple of Mouth sores which are still there so am using Bonjela on those hopefully they will clear in a day or two

WW2 Gas mask.

This damp and mild weather is not good for my chest as it makes it harder to breath, it is so much better when it is cold and dry, that is another reason for staying in as where ever you go these day you have all the people walking around coughing, sneezing and wheezing, makes you feel like putting on a face mask when you go out shopping. Next time I am out down town shopping I will have to go into an army surplus store and see if I can pick up an old World War Two Gas Mask. LOL.

Once I have finished lunch I go and make a coffee and sit and go and do a little bit of Family history research before going out and doing the washing up, and then I co for a cat nap for 30 minutes, once I have had my power nap I go out into the kitchen and get the vegetables prepared for dinner tonight and then as it is 4.15 I come and get todays Journal started.

So all in all it has been a decent relaxing day, although I have not done an awful lot today it has been enjoyable and I am not having any adverse affects from the Methotrexate this weekend so that is good and hopefully the weather will be a bit better tomorrow for going shopping with Gervase, I also need to look for a new TV and TV stand tomorrow as I need a bigger screen size now. I keep putting it off but my eyesight has deteriorated slightly over the last 12 months, as I Knew it would.

It is now 5.30 so I will get this Journal posted and say tatty bye until tomorrow.

the 500th Issue.

Its Dermatomyositis.

so we have met the first milestone in my daily journal. It was on Saturday the 2nd July 2011 at 7.20 that the first edition of my daily journal was posted on my blog. It was 6 weeks after being diagnosed and released from  Hospital that I decided to journal my life with Dermatomyositis. I knew very little about the disease and knew of no other person that suffered from it. Living In Portsmouth I was lucky in that I had family and Friends around to help me through those early days and after spending 4 weeks in hospital on a feeding tube I admit that I was frightened and did not know what the future would hold for me.

In that first month when I started to write my daily journal I was getting on average 20 visitors a day and now I am averaging 120 visitors a day and that number is increasing. I also found a lot of helpful advice on the various facebook groups especially the Myositis Ramblers KIT Group among others (links to these groups are on the left hand side) and have also made many "Myositis facebook  friends" from around the world "as this is a public blog I will not name them in person" but you know who you are.

I have also joined the Myositis support group based in Southampton and this year in july I went to the conference up in southampton and met others who have one of the forms of Myositis, some of them I also knew from the Facebook Groups, and am looking forward to the 2013 meeting in Oxford next July.

Medicine Time

Anyway back to today and here I am with the 500 th Edition, who would have thought so much would of happened in those last 16.5 Months, I have had set backs, but the Dysphagia is now 90% better than it was, I still Suffer from Raynauds and I now have a Reveal heart monitor fitted to record my heart beat as I had problems with an erratic heart beat last February/March. but I am right down on my medication and now take 15 mg of Methotrexate on a Friday, 5 mg of Folic acid on a Monday and 15 mg Prednisolone on Alternate days so that is a massive improvement, although my leg muscles are still very weak at times. I had to sell my house as I could not negotiate the staircase safely so am now living in a 1 bedroom ground floor flat which is much better. I still have a carer come in mornings to wash my face and neck and comb my hair as I still have problems reaching above my shoulders although that has improved and is still improving.

I am still keeping my Myositis website ( Myositis in Focus ) up to date every few weeks and have set up my "Myo Man Dreams" comic strip facebook Page although I don,t seem to have much time to spend on that. I have my week organised pretty well and have specific days for shopping, Medical appointments, etc so have settled into living my live with Myositis the way I want to live it not the way the Disease wants me to.

well todays journal is different from the normal as I wanted to look at how much has changed since I started to write it. I have no plans to stop writing it and hopefully the readership will grow and hope also that I can bring some kind of Insight into my live and at the same time put a smile on a few faces. So Tomorrow I will be back talking about my day so until then I will leave you with a couple of Pictures of the floods that we have had here along the south coast over the last day or so and they are expecting more over the weekend, luckily we have not had any on Portsea island as we are a very flat terrain here. 

Along the coast in devon

Along the coast in Dorset

so until tomorrow Bye Bye