Scary Incident

So coming back from the pool today I left my camera in the glove box of the car, where it had been left while @ pool. Later on I opened the back door, down 2 steps, walked the 3 steps to the car in the rain, got it and came back. I stepped back indoors wiped my feet carefully and wiped the bottom of my walking stick. I took 2 or 3 steps off the rug and suddenly my 'stick, which I was leaning on, dived off to one side, objecting to the pressure and slippery water. I didn't fall over, caught myself and set off more carefully

My balance is so much better these days...

UberBlack

From a post on Ixion from Roger Collier

'Wimming

And we went swimming. Oh what fun we had. I did 2 lengths with nowt on my feet and 4 with flippers. It was much easier

But we did meet an old friend of mine on the way in, Alex. He did comment that last time he saw me I was stuck in a wheelchair. Not walking like today 

Worthy Of....

Harry Potter, apparently

Similar, but different

And an article in The Guardian today got my heart beating. Yes, it is a case different to mine but the similarities made me wanna cry

Better

And Timmy, who hasn't been here since last Wednesday, was putting the cream on my armpits s'morning and said that it is working, it all looks loads better.

Still slightly infected but loads better

My Ass

So most of the time my ass doesn't hurt but eg when I sit down in the car or roll over in bed summat presses and it hurts loads.

Lordy but I had a big injection in there a few days ago

Playing

And I won a game of pool s'evening

Walking About

So we headed into Carmarthen s'afternoon, parked across the road from Aardvark and set off up Blue St then Llamas St then Mansel St. Towards the end I heard a 6 year old boy say to his mum "Why is that man wearing an eyepatch?", I shouted across to him "Because I am a pirate, be scared" but he shouted back "No, you have a walking stick, not a gun". So yes, he saw through me

Mansel St was well uneven, bits up and down I had to really concentrate but I did it

Sunday Morning...

So we nipped to Morissons and did my weekly almost buy no food, buying blueberries, na-an bread and bugger all else.  We also paid on my other card for sum bleach etc for the staff to use

Nurse

And Ed (who is working his second last shift today) told me that he passed all the college stuff (he got a 2:1) and he is now a proper nurse!!

And he announced when he was leaving that he will cook the meal for us on his last day here...

Ouch

And my arse still hurts from that injection yesterday. Not all the time but if I wriggle into a certain position where there is contact between my wound and the outside world then it hurts like flip

Rugger

So we are watching Italy vs Scotland first, to see if Scotland can't loose every game again.

Then l8r today we are catching up with England vs Ireland. Again to see if anyone can catch up with Wales who are top of the table ATM

No, I didn't catch the 2nd match I was having a bath/nap etc. But the wrong team won so I am not very bothered about catching up

Gymming

Then afterwards we drove straight from the chemist to gym and did my weekly class. It was slightly harder work than usual with a throbbing arse but I got stuck in and did it

Jabbing

So we are off to the Docs s'morning to have my 3 monthly testosterone jab and we phoned s'morning and made another appointment half an hour later to see a doc and get new cream for my armpits. The cream we got a month ago hasn't worked

Right. What a morning. So first thing we drove to the Drs and saw a nurse type person who jabbed my arse. Ouch. But she did say that in 3 months when I have the next jab it will be a different juice, hopefully much smaller than she had to inject me with today.

Then we waited at the Drs for about 8 minutes then we were called in to see the doc re my armpit infections. So she had a look and gave me a different cream and some soap stuff just for my 'pits, normal soap for everywhere else and this to wash my pits. AND she said "Stop using deodorant at all until this is better"

Out

And we went out tonight to Club Iechyd Da

And it was well busy (so just as well I insisted on being too early as we got a good seat) and just full of very talented players/singers. Very very impressive

We took my wheelchair which was pushed there, and was there so I could sit on it, I walked to the bar/loo and back to King St to the car afterwards

Walking

And as Denyse was here s'morning I asked her if I was doing right walking stickless. Unexpectedly (to me anyway) she said "No". Apparently as I am unsure etc my right leg stays much straighter etc. So I am looking better with my stick. For now

Washing Up

And after lunch today I did the washing up as we are going out to play at Caffi Iechyd Da tonight

OK, not play, spectate

Cut

Now because GGtGG is working a double today and tomorrow before Ed the hair cutter is working on Sat, he is gonna try cutting my hair so Ed can criticise him etc. As Ed is leaving next month so it may be GGtGG's duty so he can check it over.

BUT as I will be at the Drs for a jab tomorrow followed by my gym class etc we better do it today. So soon....

Off Topic

So Denyse is coming here today to do some OT work with me. (Off Topic, or Occupational Therapy) Dunno exactly what this implies, I will find out soon

And she was here talking just generally about how much better I am getting and how I need to start "getting a life" etc. And she also talked about what I can cook in case I had forgotten 

Kindle

And I have just finished the book that I have been reading on my Kindle for the last 10 days/fortnight. I was reading The Galapagos Incident and I really liked the SF tone.

I have got another Adrian Mole (noisy link) book to start tomorrow which I am rather looking forward to....

Walking About Stickless

Last night I had just left my 'stick at the other side of the kitchen, and today I went out of the front door with my 'stick held up in my right hand off the ground and walked (more slowly than usual) all the way across the front of the house and around the corner to my car door. All the way

Aqua Aerobics

And we headed off to gym s'afternoon for this. It was as much fun as last time although we did less of the walking forwards with a held in front oblong float which proved so difficult last time

Electrical Cleverness

So Clever Timmy came in s'morning. First of all he had to reconnect my PC to the ethernet connection which is much faster etc.

Then he had to try plugging in the Amazon Fire TV connection that me and Alex had failed to connect at all. He got that working so now I have loadsa channels/programmes/films to watch

Then he got stuck into mending my TV (the one that had just had the Fire TV connected) to make it make sense, where is BBC1 etc

Chicken Dinner

And today, for the first time this year, I have actually finished all this years games, won*them. The 2nd January game was proving a bit tricky but I finally won it s'morning

Dinner

And I thought "Ah, take some curry out of the freezer for dinner tonight" but then I thought "Oh, it's Alex working tonight and he doesn't like my curry" so we had preprepared summat else for tea

At The Docs

So we headed for the Drs first thing. We parked over by the chemist and I walked from there to the Drs. I waited there for 5 mins, on my feet, while the queue went on, then I waited for another 5 minutes while she found my 'script, then another 5 minutes while she looked for another 'script for me. Despite having 3 items, ordered at the same time they were written two on one 'script and one on the second. Then I walked back out of the Drs and across and down to the chemist. I sat and waited for more 5 minutes then I walked back out to the car.

From there we drove to gym, again I walked in and this time up the stairs to the exercise room. I did 3 or 4 exercises, I suspect that it was the first time I have managed to do my full time on the hand bike, then walked back down the stairs and out

Odd Memory

As someone who suffered an ABI it occasionally takes my breath away what phrases I will use, appropriately, in conversation

Cuwwy

And we had my second portion of curry for tea tonight. We finished it off, it was delicious.

But I can't remember what else I usedta cook, apart from curry and lasagne

Wimming

And we are going off swimming in a bit....

And oh what fun we had. I immediately did 6 lengths then some exercises then 2 more, we were finished really quickly.

So we are going back to the aqua aerobics class on Wednesday......

Walkies

And today I left my stick behind and just walk to the loo without it

Nervous

And leaving my PC for how long last night... but it still works s'morning, so phew etc

Curry

And I have been standing in the kitchen cooking an enormous pot of curry all afternoon....... eat it soon

PC Crisis

And after my nap it had stopped working. At 8 pm I had been too stressed to read my novel and Alex fixed it in a way that he can't recall either, but it works now.

Fixed It

And that Timmy chap came in s'morning, leaving his wife and daughter in the car as they were on their way swimming, and fixed the Interweb in about 3 seconds. I had downloaded some Adblocker software* and it didn't agree with my 'puter at all

* Adblocker for Facebook apparently

And it is nearly bath & nap time and I haven't read any of my novel yet. That was just about all I could do....

Linda McTofu

Well for some weeks I have been doing hamstring exercises. I tell folk that I object to naming it after a kind of meat (as I am a vegetarian) and calling them instead my tofustrings. But today I thought 'Na' and instead called them my LindaMcCartneyStrings

More Reasons To Shop At..

So as Timmy is coming in in the morning to try and fix my Interweb connection me and Mark went shopping today

Internet Down

And my PC won't connect to the 'net tonight. All the other machines are still working, and they all use the same network, but my PC isn't

Gym

And we headed into gym class s'morning. It was as hard work as ever but as rewarding. As I am walking more without my 'stick I only used it for one loop of the room during the 1 hr class. The rest of the time I was walking (slower but) with no 'stick.

But Alex forgot to tell me to cycle for 10 mins afterwards, and as I am so lazy I didn't remind him myself

Playing Pool S'Morning

And I had a rare treat s'morning, I think it is getting easier as it kind of knows how well I can play

Fsck Every Susannah

So later on s'afternoon Timmy will have to re-fit that FES device onto my right leg and then I will be able to walk into Aardvark

Which I did and I was able to give them back my £20 freebie card which is full of stamps now

MegaCycle

And me and Timmy went to gym s'morning and I did a 10 km cycle. It was 2 minutes quicker than last week

Sara-ing

And Sara The Physio is coming in today at 1pm to check on how I am doing. She recommended the big plasters which are stretched to twice as big before being stuck behind my right knee every few days. I don't understand what's going on but they seem to have helped enormously

And she came in, was well impresses with my walking, said "We will have to practice walking without the stick", was suitably impressed when  I told her I walk around the kitchen like that most of the time and stuck some needles in my knee to acupuncture my leg which has helped, no matter how cynical you feel

Curry-ifying

Well I have just been stood on my feet and walking about (with no stick) for ages while I peeled, chopped, stirred, added stock, stirred again etc to make this weeks curry. In a while I will need to micro some rice to go with it but not yet.

So for now I am resting

Gymming

And I went to gym s'morning and did 3 exercise machines followed by 10 minutes on the foot trainer machine, the cross trainer. In the past the longest I have managed on that was 6.5 minutes so I am getting better

And my legs mega ache now, must be that machine

On the way there we had to call back into Diablo's to pay for last nights dinner, their cash card machine had died so many customers couldn't pay

Diabling

And we are going out for dinner to Diablo's On The Quay with that Freya tonight. It is somewhere I wouldn't have been able to go in my wheelchair but now....

Well nice night of food etc we had. My food was delicious and it just felt a bit strange being capable of going in somewhere like that now.....

'Wimming

And we went swimming today and it was fine. The steps into the pool are fixed which was nice and I got in, did 4 lengths, some exercises, did 2 more and more exercises then 2 more. Then I stepped back out on the steps.

And "someone" did say "It's fixed, want it?"

The Day After

And it is the day after valentines day and my PC is still showing me the heart to send someone a romantic email

Breath Deeply

Well s'morning I had to fix up the photos taken at Rocky last night as it was late when we got back and ever since then it has been a quiet day

Where We Are Eating Later

And we are popping out to eat as Rocky is so far away today.....

Ooooooh, a good time was had by all

Aargh

And we had to nip into town and look for a black miniskirt to wear over my Rocky Horror gear tomorrow

And we had to walk loadsa distance in the shop to find the till etc

Gym

And we headed over to a proper class in gym today which went well. Afterwards I got on the new(ish) Crossover machine and lasted 2 minutes longer than last time I tried

Getting Ready

So before we nip to gym today me and Alex are starting to look at tomorrows Rocky Horror costume

Late Dinner

And I am cooking the one potato that was left over from last week for tea, baking it.

And it is taking longer than a long think in Longitown

Across The Universe

And already I can't stop singing my Health Food Shop song which comes from my different version of gord nose what... Aardvarking across the universe, boldly going forward as we can't find reverse...

The original was Star Trekkin'.... it occurs to me

Didn't He Do Well

So my timetable now sez "Long cycle" for Thursday. So before Timmy had arrived s'morning I had already got a bottle of water waiting in the hall and today I started off cycling and didn't look at time/distance. I think this was much better than last week when I was speeding and gave up after 5 km. Towards the end I was looking at time/distance and realised that I was going quicker than I have ever.

10km in almost exactly 50 minutes

Therapy

So the binmen came and took away the bags and left behind them the small, emptied, foodwaste bin. So  thought "I will get that back when I go out to the car to go to gym" but then "NO, it's good for you walking about, go and get it".

So I did

Out For Tea

And in a few minutes me and GGtGG are heading over to my ex neighbour's house for tea, Ruth's in Mynydd Cerrig

Wow it was pleasant. Hard walking to Ruth's as I couldn't see where to put my feet, for the first half, after that it was fine, we walked in and had a lovely evening with Ruth and her now 1.5 legged chap and her son. I think it may be monthly now.......

And GGtGG found it, no prob. He took me the way I used to travel but it was just getting dark so my vision was no good

Cheesy Chopper

So The Cheesy Chopper is coming to do my toes s'morning. Can't decide what to title her, Luscious Linda, Sexy Susannah, Gorgeous Greta..... or Naughty No-Name....

And didn't she do well. She complimented me on the state of my feet and was just generally very nice

Aqua Aerobics

So today instead of swimming I am going to an Aqua Aerobics session that they are running at t'gym

But need to have an early lunch first so I will be off to do that in a tick....

Off to pool in 3 minutes....

And wasn't it hard work. It felt like hard work that was doing me sum good anyway. She did comment that I couldn't manage everything but I was trying

Strange Dream

And I recall a strange dream that I had last night. I dreamed that I met a chap I haven't seen since secondary school who was carrying a massive (A2) photograph of him that his mother had taken professionally. Stephen Wheeler he was called...

Vegan Icecream

And I had some vegan ice cream out of the freezer tonight

And it was actually rather delicious and apparently not quite as fattening as dairy ice cream

Oops

Then after napping we headed Morrisonwards. Now last night I prepared home made curry and baked spud pieces, today I thought "Buy rice" so we popped off. This time instead of long or short grain I bought some pilau rice which I really enjoyed and am glad I bought another packet of microwaveable to eat when I take the rest of the curry out of the freezer

Gosh, when I was putting my FES on before going out I noticed that the battery had started to die. I thought "Nip out then do it later", nipped out just to MoreReasonsToShopAt was walking for less than 20 minutes, and when we came back it was nearly all gone. Lesson as soon as it starts to show it is almost entirely gone

Walkies

So s'morning on the way to gym we popped into Wilkos where I picked up more napkins and personal tissues. I walked in and out of the shop.

 Then we headed gymwards, I went in and walked up the stairs as Alex had said he would let me off cycling after my exercise machines if I did that as I had done so much walking at t'shop even before I was in gym. Then I led the way back down the stairs

Lick Me

So I was adding summat to my shopping list for this weekend, as I am an unstable weirdo I spelt it "Gar-lick". Fairy Nuff, no offence.

Later I had a mo in front of my PC and I looked it up. 

Oh double dear, Lick my spear it means....

Sunday Dinner

And we had the Sunday Dinner (or the first third) tonight as Timmy was working yesterday. The onion was rotten but the rest of the veg was nice and I used a whole jar of curry paste, with 1 normal sized and 1 small tin toms

Horror

And we are going to Rocky Horror Show this Saturday......

.....Miller

And I am scared, I will have to walk out to the car and it is *so* windy that my walky stick is gonna try to blow away every time I lift of off the ground.....

I survived. And the swimming was OK, I did all the exercises they wanted, including having to insist that I did a 7th and 8th length swimming to get Timmy off my back. There was a mother & child in the big changing room but I just about managed in the smaller room. Although because of the confusion I forgot to take the sticky plasters off my leg and had to do it later which hurt more. Then Gareth had to flannel and soap my leg before I napped and he put on a new one

Different Walking

I have been trying for fscking ages to make my right toes come more upright when I am walking, to stop them dragging on the ground. But today I started walking just with my whole right foot lifted further off the ground. I wasn't sure so I asked Timmy to look at both my feet and knees as I walked and actually became more convinced that it was right even without his opinion, it just feels more even even tho I am having to work one side harder. And he said that it will soon become normal and not feel so strange

Rugger

And the Wales vs Ireland match is on in a bit....

And I missed the first 6 minutes as I was napping but as for the rest......

More Reasons To Shop At.....

And yes, we did it again, my weekly trip.....

Technology

You know how I have said that technology has gone mad since my accident?  ATM I am watching a program on BBC4 about Formula E electric race cars

Listening

So I have finally figured out how to listen to Test Match Special on my mobile phone so I can kind of have it on all day "in the background"

Weather

And we are back to traditional Welsh Weather s'morning....

UberWalking

So yesterday I "woke up" after my nap, got dressed etc, looked around and thought "WTF is my walky stick?", went for a pee and there it was, beside the bath. I had obviously walked from the bathroom to my bed without it

Walking

And I think to myself now "Oh lordy, gotta walk that" but then I try it and just manage it

Really

Is it really Friday today? Dunno why but it just doesn't feel like a Friday today

Hooray

And I will take my itchy armpit to the proper class @ gym later....

AND my armpit is no longer itchy once he put the fungal infection cream on it...

And what fun it was. It did make me think "Wow" as I was just able to walk over the up and down stairs device left/right, and right/left, alternate feet the whole way. Then I cycled after the class for 10 mins and I managed 2.5 km.

Veggie Now

And I really enjoyed the pints of Guinness that I drank tonight, oooh it was lovely and I haven't been able to drink it for years (noisy link)

Freebie

Then me and Timmy headed down to Farmfoods to spend the token they had given me as I complained that there were no more Creme Egg Lollies

Cycling

So s'morning we went to gym and got on a cycle machine. I did 5km then called it a day

Leg

And I have noticed recently that I sit down "normally" and that hurts my right knee a bit, just a bit. When I used to sit down I had to move my right foot out before I started to sit down but now I just sit down normally

WTF?

So I was glancing round a charity shop's web page and I found these, strange and useful (to the user) devices

What Fun

And we (me & GGtGG) are off to the swimming pool in a bit (noisy link)

And after my 8 lengths etc I got out, wheelchaired to the changing room, got changed, wheelchaired back out over slippy wetness etc then when I got out onto carpet I walked the rest of the way to the car. Gosh, it is still well difficult walking but it is so much easier than it was even last week

More About Walking

So last night I was walking to bed at about ten to twelve. As I was going I thought that while walking is still difficult etc it is easier than it was last week. Which is easier than it was the week before etc etc

No BB

And the broadband went down s'afternoon, I had my bath and nap, still down, went out shopping with Timmy (to Kwikfit) and luckily found it had come back when we came back. It was out for about 4-6 hours

Garage

Then after lunch we took the car to Kwik-Fit and they said yes, you need 1 tyre but come back later. So we are waiting

So we went back later, sat and waited for ages and they replaced it with a brutal, more hard wearing tyre as they had none of the cheap versions

Timming

So s'morning me and Timmy went to gym with one of new cards, ones made by Timmy, that tell me which machines to use this week. AND we started on a new machine this week, it's generally to smarten up my shoulders

Put....

Your hand on your hip.... (/singing)

Not Gymming....

No, because we are going fscking swimming today....

Strange. So I got in the pool, did my exercises etc then we went and climbed in the jacuzzi. Which was supposed to be relaxing but was way too unsettling for that. Least said, it was very strange

Yes, but what do they expect?

Because he's a fscking Tory.....