A Few Bits of News

26 Replies

The arthritis drugs aren’t working as well as they have been and my fingers are starting to play up. I wonder if it’s the time of year as they did this to me last year. As the world slipped into lockdown my major concern was getting dressed with half my fingers out of action. It’s staring again and this morning I had to use a hot water bottle to get my hands working when I got to the shop.

he anticoagulants aren’t working well either, as shown by my recent test results. They are wandering about all over the place and have become rather too high recently – meaning I’m now in the zone where I could have  a problem with bleeding. Not so bad for a shop assistant but when I was gardening this would have been a nightmare. I used to bleed badly after pruning pyracantha at the best of times. It would probably look like a horror film if I did it these days. I’ve had a leter from the hospital about this – ity seems they are seeing more erratic results in lockdown, and that levels generally seem to go up. That’s a relief, as I have been trying to work out why it was happening. Seems I’m just part of a lockdown phenomenon.

Do you remember that I was short-listed by Acumen magazine a few weeks ago? I prophesied that I would fail to make it from shortlist and my prophesy turns out to have been wrong. I have two poems accepted for the next issue and have just checked the proofs. I’ve never been accepted by a magazine that has proofs. I must definitely be going up in the world.

I think I’m going to have to stop writing about my poetry writing because things are going too well at the moment and it’s getting a bit close to showing off. I’ll wait for some bad news before writing about it again. To be fair, it should only be a week or two before I get cut down to size.

26 thoughts on “A Few Bits of News”

  1. Clare Pooley

    Congratulations!
    I realise I am a week behind the times and you may have already answered my question but are you on the full arthritis drug dose? You may need to speak to your specialist again. I am often worse in the spring and the autumn; fluctuating temperatures, air pressure etc. who knows?! My specialist has recommended I take Vitamin D tablets and turmeric with black pepper capsules to combat inflammation. I think they are having an effect but it could be wishful-thinking.

    Reply ↓
    1. quercuscommunity Post author

      I was off the methotrexate for a couple of weeks because of the useless online ordering system and I decided that an extra week off would help my vaccination work better. (This was done after reading medical research, not just a discussion forum, I promise). I know from previous supply problems that a week or two doesn’t cause a problem but three may have been too many.

      Turmeric worked well for me when it was the only thig I took but I have stopped it and didn’t notice a difference now that I am on methotrexate.

      Reply ↓
    1. quercuscommunity Post author

      I first lost my creative fire about 15 years ago – had just had a dozen poems published, on eor two in good magazines, and Highly Commended in a competition, when I ended up in hospital and couldn’t write when I emerged – though the full programme of sports and match reports for the kids didn’t help. In a similar position at the moment, which is slightly worrying, but now no distractions. Will heed your warning about happiness as I do need a certain amount of of anger and sullen discontent to fuel the process.

      Reply ↓
  6. Anonymous

    Brag away, mate. Sorry about the health news – you need something worthy of congratulations.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply to AnonymousCancel reply