New paintings and regular art updates.
I took this photo after playing table tennis today. I’d popped this ping pong ball into my pocket and took it home by mistake. I haven’t been to the group for a few months after I was ill. I’m not sure if I’m fully recovered but decided to give it a go. I managed to play a bit but had to take breaks. Since I got home I’ve been really tired and I think I’m coming down with something. Ugh.
This morning the neighbour was hammering again but I ignored him, I had an appointment with the optician. I decided to walk the few hundred yards as want to try and get a bit fitter. As it was it took me about 25 minutes to walk 800 yards…. I’m just getting more unsteady and it’s a vicious circle of pain and shaking with the Parkinsons.
To the opticians, as I thought my cataracts are getting worse, he agreed, but that at least means I might be able to get one eye operated on.
I picked up a few groceries on the way home, enough for one bag. I needed some vegetables and porridge. Then home slowly in the sunshine.
When I got in I decided to pay for my garden waste collection. I tried ringing the council but got automatic voice messages explaining that I would have to pay online and no one would personally take my call. After feeling frustrated I decided to text my local councillor. That’s hit and miss as I have to spell check everything because I don’t always hit the right keys. This was asking if I could ring another number and get a real person!
Finally I tried the council number again. I chose a different option and a man answered. He put me through to the waste department and I got a real person, a woman to speak to. She asked if I could get a relative to pay, but one is dead, another lives 80 or 90 miles away and the other one is abroad. I could go down to the library she said. I explained I had already been to town and was tired out (my car was blocked in or perhaps I could have driven). Eventually it got through to her that I wasn’t going to be able to do it so after speaking to a manager she took the payment over the phone. Looking back I could have been nicer but I was tired and flustered. I she told me to use my key pad on my phone to type in some numbers and I didn’t realise she meant the phone keypad, I was looking for a qwerty keyboard! I did apologise for taking up her time.
So then I fell asleep and dozed for a while. It’s taken me a while to get this down on my phone keypad. I don’t normally have the energy to do so much in one day, my feet and ankles ache and I’m feeling a bit grumpy!
I’m ill again.
My stomach is my enemy
There is something wrong with me
Twisting and turning
Poorly
Keep sleeping
Trying to get comfortable
Cramps
Fed up
Not eating much
Aches and pains
Why?
Drs appointment, then lunch with a friend I haven’t seen for months. Then I had a telephone appointment with someone else. Finally I’ve been to the local church to rehearse with a choir for a fundraising event. After weeks of being ill things are catching up with me. I’m trying hard to make my life a bit better. To see what I’m still capable of. I need to change my diet and get some other health problems sorted out.
Being ill and not seeing many people has made me fed up. I’ve taken solace in some books, like the Martian by Andy Weir and We solve Murders, the new mystery by Richard Osman. But I’ve become attached to my phone. I feel lost if I’m not checking out posts on Instaounce and Facepost! And in close second is TV and YouCone. I’ve become engrossed by old sci-fi programmes.
I want to break this habit, I need exercise, but it’s not happening at the moment! Too many dopamine hits? Boo x
I hope it’s obvious what I’m talking about!
I won’t go into detail but I’ve lost 3kg over the last couple of days. I think I have caught a virus, and that and a damaged rib has made for a painful few days. I’ve not been out of the house in a while. Luckily a relative visited but I wasn’t on my own. But I ache all over and she made me small meals to keep me going. I’ve slept in an armchair because I couldn’t get upstairs or lie down. I just hope I’m feeling better soon.
Not been out, not felt well
Achy bones, tummy pain
Been asleep, tired all day
All my foods been thrown away
I feel like s***, I want to cry
I’m fed up and not feeling spry
I’ve done my best but not been blest
With good health? No!
So I’m stressed!
Last might my voice was croaky
I sneezed twice. But I was ok
Now I have the lurgy
I feel tired and achy
My nose is dripping like a tap
My eyes are gunged up.
Change in weather
Cold germs sneak out and gets you
Warm germs decide to leave.
I always get colds in autumn and spring.
Fed up
The cats hate me sneezing
Loudly…
What details of your life could you pay more attention to?
When you have lots of illnesses it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on. Different things go wrong and you take medication, but it’s hard to know how to manage things. Which symptom is the most concerning, how do things interact, should you exercise more or less? What diet would improve your health?
But also don’t rely on Dr Google or online miracle workers. Many people have been affected by malpractice and con artists. Use your intelligence and listen to what professionals say, but with a pinch of scepticism. If you are unsure don’t be afraid to ask questions. Not the “I want a second opinion” type maybe? But try and get a sensible answer. Doctors are not infallible, they can make mistakes, but I do try and communicate with them. Fingers crossed by doing this I can pay more attention in how I look after myself.
Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.
The furthest I’ve traveled was to Germany on a coach. I went on a wine tasting trip with my mom. It was a four day trip and it was a bit disappointing because I had a cold.
We drove a long way from the Midlands through London to Dover. We waited for ages to get on the ferry, then across to Calais. I remember staying on deck on a cold wet afternoon because my mom had seasickness. Then on through France and Belgium to Germany. I noticed the countryside was similar to Britain but the electricity pylons looked completely different. Much sturdier and solid instead of our criscross filigree style. By then the cold was getting to me and I slept until we stopped at a petrol station and I tried to ask for aspirin, but used the wrong phrase ‘haben du’ informal, instead of ‘haben sie’, I didn’t know I was being over familiar.
One of our coach passengers thought we had gone into East Germany? Why, I don’t know, he was a bit odd.
After two days tasting (and snuffling) various wines and realising I liked ‘qualitatsvein mit pradikat’ the best. We had a trip on the Rhine, and to a cuckoo clock shop, and to a bridge over the Rhine to see statues of the Rhine maidens I think? Mom and I came home on the coach again. Just starting to feel better, the best bit was watching ‘the hunt for red october’ on TVs on the coach!
Mallaband-Brown