16th November 2022 - Arnside
It seems a long time since I last posted. It has all been a bit fraught.
The pain which started in my upper back then migrated to my lower back, then to my upper left leg has now more or less subsided and I can walk normally for that part of it. When that was nearly better I went for a cataract operation which has turned out ok, except until I see the optician on 25th November. I can't make up my mind to use my old varifocals or nothing and keep switching and changing while reading, watching tv, or computing but I can tell all will be sorted and a general improvement will have been achieved when I get updated specs.
Of late I have noticed an increased breathlessness and have seen the doc. with a thorough examination and an x-ray (I can't praise our local surgery and its GPs enough.) It seems there is some indication of small infection and I am on antibiotics and booked for a further x-ray in six weeks. All that could have a been a lot worse so fingers crossed.
I have not walked any meaningful distance since 27th September at which time the problem had not been apparent. Today I walked from home tentatively down to the local shop and then back over High Knott Road and Redhills Wood, a distance of 1.3miles and that was enough. What all that means for future walking I do not know.
The model of the Lysander aircraft is now nearly complete and I will do an update shortly. I have an idea for creating a modest diorama.
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| Just down from my house. That tree has been a source of pleasure for many years |
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| A glimpse of Whitbarrow across the bay |
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| Looking north up the bay to the Kentmere and High Street hills. |
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| Children's playground and our cricket field. When Katie was at Arnside junior school I would pick her up and come back here with her friends to spend an hour. The school is amongst the buildings in the background |
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| Our local shop. It had a first class comprehensive refurbishment a month or two ago and it is now much more frequented. The owner also has another store and post office down on the front - all great assets to our village |
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| High Knott Road. It is lined with large Victorian mansions on the right with views across the bay. It terminates and continues as a woodland path through Redhills Woods. |
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| The Arnside viaduct and Whitbarrow beyond |
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| Into Redhills Wood |
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| Out at the other end of Redhills Wood to Silverdale Road and Arnside Cemetery. The building is used for parish council meetings. |
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| Work in progress on the Lysander. I am fitting LED lights to the landing gear |
AlanR. Take your time, take it easy and don't put pressure on yourself even though I know you will find it all frustrating. The doc will sort you out. I remember buying a nice cake from that local shop.
ReplyDeleteDo as Dr AlanR says! Sorry to hear you're not firing on all four, I hope the antibiotics clear your infection sooner rather than later. The Lysander is looking good - a legendary aircraft. I wonder how many were shot down - they were unarmed of course.
ReplyDeleteAlan R - thanks for the advice. I will try to obey.
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JJ - Thanks to you too. The Lysander has not been easy but I think it's going to turn out ok. There were some fit issues with the kit, not least the attaching of the wings which I am sorting at the moment. I'm hoping to pose it in the dark on a clandestine field in France taking on board a recovered RAF pilot. Such plans don't always materialise but I will give it a go.
I'm most pleased to have opened my blog feed and found you there. I've been worrying about you sitting at home, miserable about the news, and in horrible back/leg pain*. Glad that at least the pain has abated, even if it has been replaced by an infection. I know that chest infections can be stubborn things, but hope yours responds quickly to the drugs so that you can soon get back out and about.
ReplyDelete(*Been meaning to drop you a line on a daily basis, usually thinking about it when I'm out running (or two days ago when I was pruning a tree). It turns out that such is the state of my memory these days that unless I put a reminder in my phone the moment I think about it, I then forget about it again for an indefinite amount of time. Sometimes I pick my phone up to set a reminder, by which time I've already forgotten what I was going to do.)
Gayle - good to hear from you. I am not particularly miserable. I still read and the model making has become some kind of irrational obsession. As for any kind of proper walking that hangs in the balance.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of your chest infection. Once the antibiotics clear it up and, in my experience you recover from the effects of the antibiotics, you’ll be back out walking. I seem to have gone into procrastination mode as far as starting a new model is concerned.
ReplyDelete“… and, in my experience once you recover…”
DeleteAs we grow older we gradually become a collection of symptoms leading to a new hobby, creating a system based on units of discomfort and assessing them for evidence of change. Tedious but occasionally horrifying. How about a progressive sequence: Six Johnsons equals one Putin or the square root of half a Truss..
ReplyDeleteAt Gloucester Hospital yesterday - the latest in my widening collection of West Midland medical institutions (Redditch being the jewel in the crown so far) - I mentioned to the maxillofacial surgeon that a recent scan had revealed a clot (that's the sanguinary entitity not the Williamson Blockage). "Located where?" he asked and I cursed myself for this lapse in the only skill I ever brought to my former profession, that of curiosity. It's a question I should have asked.
Today I contrived a telephone conversation with my GP on this subject. I embarked on a lengthy background to the clot discovery and she interrupted me briskly, "Just what is it you want, Mr Robinson?" Deservedly chastised I became less verbose. She consulted her computer and said "The clot was in the subclavian artery, just below the clavicle."
Aha! An open goal! "But I have two clavicles." I said, keeping the note of glee to a minimum. To give her credit she laughed at this proof of a fairly minor inadequacy. Re-studied the monitor. "The left," she said, still laughing.
At 87 one thrives on these occasions and I awarded myself The Bronze Cross of Autolycus, snapper-up of unconsidered trifles.
RR - Long may you continue your banter with the medical profession. Out of your context I pick up on "new hobbies..."
ReplyDeleteDuring Lockdown and thereafter as my blog shows I have taken to making scale models of aircraft, vehicles and the like from kits . That has become almost obsessive. Prior to that my bits of spare time did occasionally see me tend to the garden or do some token housework but all that has been replaced and my abode is dreadfully neglected. Any remaining time, like you, seems to be occupied by medical appointments and resultant imposed regimes.
Listing your options you've stuck with reality. Just for once, try flirting with your imagination, considering unconsidered trifles. It can be fun
ReplyDeleteGood to see you looking so well despite the downfalls. Thanks for the tea and cake.
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