Lexin

I had a visit from my chiropodist today, and she spotted a problem with my right big toe. aunty_marion and I travelled hither and yon in North Wales during the last couple of weeks and it turned out I got a blister.

She wants me to take it either to the diabetic nurse, Scary Mary, or the local podiatrist service. So I’ve sent in an online request and await contact.

I have finally received a letter telling me I can contact the Community Dental Services people for an assessment. Yippee! That will be the first thing I do on Monday.

Currently , I have three broken teeth, which take it in turns to hurt.

My diabetic nurse, Scary Mary, has put me on Rybelsus, the tablet version of Ozempic, and I’m up to the 14mg dose, which is the therapeutic level.

The thing about Rybelsus is that you have to take it on waking, with no more than 120ml of water, then wait for 30 minutes before eating or drinking anything. So it’s a pest to take.

What happens then is that it controls your appetite to the point that you don’t want to eat anything. Even my breakfast has gone down to half my usual intake. Today, I’ve had my breakfast, two clementines and two chocolates. And I didn’t like the chocolates.

It does work. I’ve lost 30lbs and my blood sugar is down to around 8, when without it, it was 15-20.

I do so wish, though, that it didn’t make me feel vaguely sick all the time. I’d much rather have the injection of Ozempic. I hope they bring it back.

I found out what was wrong.

When I filled my dosette boxes with my pills, I accidentally missed one of my mental health meds. The problem was withdrawal symptoms.

Years ago, when I worked at The Adelphi, John Adam Street, I used to go swimming five days a week. I could do 30 laps in the time available.

It’s been many years since I last swam, so I wasn’t expecting much. I did, though, hope for more than…four.

Plus, I has to be hoicked out of the water on a hoist, being unable to climb up on my own steam.

I am going to continue swimming, and I am sure I will get better but this morning I am a bit downcast.

The other day, I went to the hospital (Ysbty Gwynedd) for an x-ray of my knees. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes, which is excellent service.

Phone call this morning and I do have osteoarthritis in both knees. I suspected as much. I have a doctors' appointment later this month to discuss the outcome and maybe some treatment. It is likely that I will get a lecture about my weight. So, we'll see.

Colonoscopy all done and I am back home again thanks to my friend Jen.

I was first in the queue due to being an insulin dependent diabetic. It took longer to put a cannula in my hand (they had to try both hands, one of them twice) than to carry out the procedure.

I had it done, I thought bravely, with just gas-and-air, and I was fine apart from an outbreak of hysterical laughter, from which I had to be calmed down.

I got there at 08:30 and by 11:30 I was back with Smokey.

All they found was that I have diverticulitis, which is what the Whipps Cross found about ten years ago. Which is good.

As I had little sleep due to the horrible preparation, I had a nice snooze. I'm now watching a true crime show.

The most exciting thing that’s happened to me recently is that last week I went to the podiatrist in Bethesda. I went by taxi since I’d never been to Bethesda before, and had just phoned for a taxi to bring me home when a bus rocked up, so I took the bus and cancelled the taxi.

The bus driver told me (in Welsh) that the bus went to Bangor “eventually” and was not lying – we went all round the local villages to get there, but that was a lovely journey. Welsh villages are not as pretty, on the whole, as English villages can be, but it was very pleasant to see the mountains.

The podiatrist said that only one of my suspected verrucae was actually a verruca, the others are hard skin caused by the way I walk.

So that’s my news.

I'm exhausted - don't know why - and over the last three days have given myself two hypos, both times by misjudging my insulin. Grump. That gives me feelings of darkest dread, which is very strange. The first time it happened I thought it was a mental health issue, but one of my FB friends suggested low blood sugar, and she was right.

Smokey is well, last week she worried me a bit because she wasn't hungry and had trouble getting down off her cat tower, but she seems much better now. I don't think I could bear it if anything happened to her, she's my rock.

Well, I’ll be off to Ysbyty Gwynedd tomorrow to see what outcome my latest operation has had. I was there on 4 November for the second operation. That went well and I came out of the anaesthesia fit as a flea and wanting to go home. I arrived at the hospital at 07:30, was in the operating theatre at 09:30 and arrive home at 15:00 while it was still light, very much surprising my worthy friend who was here to look after me as she’d been expecting it to be like the first operation when they didn’t let me out for hours and I arrived home close on midnight.

Irritatingly the buses are on strike in my area – they went on strike on 5 November and expect the strike to last until 19 December. I had no idea about this until my cleaner arrived today and told me about it. I would have been completely blindsided had she not mentioned it. Most annoying as I rely on the buses to get me in and out of town – it’s just too far for me to walk it. So any shopping won’t happen until 19 December, unless the strike is called off.

My sympathies are with the drivers. Bus drives in Wales are paid £10 an hour, whereas in England they are paid £13. I can see why the Welsh drivers are pissed off.

I don’t have much other news.

I am currently playing and enjoying “The Witcher”, which is a game that has been around for quite a long time but only recently came to my attention. It’s great fun.

I’m selling Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance. It cost me £54, an arm and a leg, but I bounced off it hard. I really don’t like online play, and, talking to my friend Graham’s niece Catriona, who hopes to be a game designer, I’m not the only one. She doesn’t like it and games are her life.

Smokey is still a cuddly kitty, currently hiding from the cleaner.