Tag Archives: weight

Blood, Soup and Tears

18 Replies

Today we had Cauliflower and Stilton soup. It’s like the soup we had yesterday but I added garlic and the remains of a packet of  Stilton. It was much better for the added flavour, though I think the lower calorie version (without cheese) is better for us, and means I don’t have to struggle with my conscience about putting Stilton in soup. It doesn’t seem a good use of  what Orwell called  “the best cheese of its type in the world”.

I had a blood test before that. She tried the left arm, then the right, then the left again. After that she went for another nurse, who tried both arms again. No blood. So they brought a third nurse in. She went further up the right arm and hit the vein straight away. Four plasters on the right arm, two on the left. It’s a new record!

Some days are like that.

And that, apart from some TV, is all I have done today. It’s 4.30pm and I am having a short break from TV.

No, there is one other thing, I weighed myself while I was at the surgery. Good news is that I haven’t put any weight on. Bad news, of course, is that I haven’t actually lost any.  It could be worse, I might have gained, but it’s obviously time to start getting serious about weight loss again. I probably need to become ill again as nothing helps a diet along like feeling too rough to eat. However, it’s a high price to pay for losing weight.

Today’s soup picture is a poor attempt, but I’m not in the mood for a long photo hunt.

Blood, blood, blood . . .

16 Replies

This morning I went to have my blood extracted, not all of it, but a substantial amount. I went for two tests, but it’s just occurred to me that they took three tubes of blood. No doubt it will all become clear in a few weeks when I get another helping of unwanted medical advice.

They did my blood pressure too. It’s high. They know it’s always high when they take it in the surgery – it’s known a the “white coat effect”. It’s also a result of being messed about by the NHS with more inaccurate record keeping and unwanted tests and attempts to make more appointments I don’t want. To be fair, it’s more complicated than that and just as deadly as ordinary blood pressure, which is, as we all know, more dangerous than a charging rhino. Or so my doctor would have me believe. On the other hand they also told me that losing weight would lower my blood pressure, which turns out to be inaccurate. I’m beginning to think that the medical profession may not have all the answers.

To add to my annoyance my weight has crept up. It’s not a disaster but it’s disappointing. It has become more difficult to cut back after my appetite returned, and I’m still eating  less than I used to, so I thought I should at least be steady, rather than putting weight on. It’s a puzzle, but one that is easily solved by use of the ELF method – Eat Less, Fatso.

Not sure what to do for the rest of the day. I was planning on going out with Julia but as she is now booked in for flu vaccination at 2pm (after having been involuntarily rescheduled twice – ran out of vaccine the first time and and staff illness the second) the day is less convenient than it was. She won’t be able to settle if we go out before the appointment and it will be dark not long after the appointment, so it’s not really practical. That was one of the reasons my blood pressure was up this morning.

The header picture is a reminder of what we did in November 2019. And a reminder that I am hungry.

A New Leaf

27 Replies

I’m tempted to write a post about how I’m going to turn over a new leaf.

Regular readers will know that I’ve already dieted, eaten more fruit and vegetables and decluttered the house on a regular basis. Or, more accurately, I really, honestly, sincerely meant to do all those things.

The fact that my shirts are now tighter than they used to be and my total clutter total has been reduced by two bags of books indicates that things might not be progressing according to plan. The fruit and veg plan isn’t going too badly, though it does rely on a fairly liberal view of what counts as fruit and veg. Chocolate, fruit flavoured sweets and tomato ketchup are, according to my view, all acceptable. They aren’t necessarily as good as kale, apples and avocados, but they’re better than nothing.

I’m looking at various ways of improving on this. One way is what they call “reframing”. I learnt about that when they sent me to speak to someone about my weight. Basically, as I understand it, it means that if something goes wrong you take a step back, look at what happened and have another go. So I’ve stepped back, I’ve examined events and I’ve come up with a new plan.

I’ve decided to stop worrying about my weight, so that’s the weight problem solved. I’m going to add the jam in doughnuts and the cherries on Belgian buns to my list of “fruit” so that’s another item ticked off the list.

That just leaves the clutter. If I can find the book on decluttering that I bought a few months ago, I’ll finish reading it and then give it away. Every little helps…

 

A Gift from the NHS

26 Replies

This has truly been a week that keeps on giving. A curry, a nosebleed, new trousers and, finally, a booklet on bowel cancer from the NHS.

I think I’ve covered the curry and the new trousers. I’ve probably covered nosebleeds too, as I have several every year. I may have to have it seen to.

That just leaves the bowel cancer. I don’t really need the stress of being told I’m at risk of bowel cancer, as I’ve already had this pointed out a number of times. Nor do I need additional details on taking stool samples, reasons for false positives and how I’m at greater risk due to my weight.

I’m always at greater risk of things because I’m fat.

Greater risk of cancer, greater risk of heart disease, greater risk of running out of chocolate…

It’s possible I may be asked to do as many as four tests before they decide they need to have a look at my bowels.

That’s not a test, it’s a way of taking up more of my time than the NHS already does. Having fully explored the potential of one embarrassing orifice (see the posts from 12 months ago) they now want to shove a tube up another one.

It’s bad enough being 60 without all this.

I’m so annoyed that I can’t even begin to think of other things just now. This is a shame, as I have many other things to talk about.

If you are involved in the NHS I would just like to leave you with one thought – why not leave this sort of thing a month or two instead of diving in while I’m still getting used to being older than I would like.

Actually, two thoughts. You’ve never yet made me better when you’ve called me in for these age-related examinations – you’ve just added to the list of things that are wrong with me. I can do that myself thank you.