Poohing

And I needed my morning pooh before breakfast s'morning

James

So we went to Gym s'morning, to a proper class. And it was hard work but I managed

Aardvarking

And we nipped to the shop s'morning, I left my wheelchair outside, walked in, did shopping, paid standing and didn't sit down until after I had left

FES

So s'afternoon we had to head over to Swansea to the Rehab Unit at t'hospital. When we were there I walked everywhere and they seemed pleased. They observed me and made loads of notes about how the device is set up and were generally pleased that it has made a difference to my life. So they gave me another cover so we can wash the one that's on and another load of pads. The next appt isn't for 3 months now

And we asked him if there is another way of attaching it, he said "Not really" the only suggestion he could make was a small shoulder bag

First Time In 12 Years

So on my new timetable it said "Go for a walk" s'afternoon. We proved a bit too busy but late s'afternoon I said "Lets go shopping" to Alex. First of all he fitted my FES device then we set off. We just went to Morrison's but I needed to pick up some frozen food and milk for the freezer etc. So we got there, Alex pushed me across the car park into t'shop, then I stood up and walked with him pushing my wheelchair behind. We headed for the very far end of the shop to the freezer section, halfway aalong the back to the milk then headed for the checkout. It took ages to get there but I managed. Walked thru the till and out of the shop. Then I said "Give up" and sat back in my wheelchair.

It is the first time in 12 years that I have managed such a long walk, from one end of the supermarket to t'other

(Sigh) Swimming

And we went to t'pool today for another swimming session. This time Sara was connecting with us too so I had to work as hard as ever, and she gave me a few extra exercises to so next time too

No Neil

And just because Wednesday is a "Having a drink" day doesn't mean you should have a Whiskey this early

My Memory

So this morning Alex sang "Reasons to be cheerful 1, 2, 3" I replied "No it's "Reasons to be cheerful, part 3" noisy link

Back To Normal

And I am back to my more usual routing s'morning.

Breakfast then a pooh

New FES

And Timmy said s'morning "This FES is looking bad but they didn't give you any extra, you will be back there on Thursday", but I said "No, there were loads somewhere". So he looked everywhere in't office, didn't find any, I said "There were, I promise" so in the end we looked in my filing cabinet.

Oh yes, there they were

Gymming

Then s'afternoon "we" went to gym where I did my usual loadsa exercise. It is getting so much easier, so quickly, so I reckon this exercise must continue

But s'afternoon I told off the leisure center receptionist, she said "Where are you going, gym". I said "No, James"

No Volunteer

So I didn't go to my rearranged day of volunteery work as we hadn't told 'em that my day of work had been changed but frankly I am not missing it at all, in fact I am glad not to go

Drowning

So me and Timmy went to the leisure center for the first of my "more exercise" swimming sessions. It was OK, we got the big disabled changing room so that was easier etc etc

So we will be back there on Wednesday for more exercise

BUT one hopes they have fixed the showers in the disabled room by then....

Thermostat

So yesterday chappy was experimenting with the boiler, at my request. After about 20 mins he said "No, it all looks on" then a few moments later said "Ah, what about this thermostat in the hall that's turned down".

"Yes, might be that..."

Lighter

And my alarm clock went off at usual time s'morninng and for the first time in some months I didn't need to switch the light on to get up

Fredumpkins

So we were late picking Freya up today as we had been so busy etc but she came here in the end. Immediately we got stuck into cooking together but today Freya was instructing me on eating veg too. I said "I can't do that" but she pointed at a frozen packs of veg and it was actually rather delicious on the side of a main meal. We usually use it as an ingredient for more complex dishes but this was simple and rather nice

Then after dinner, as we are both banned from the PC in each others company Freya proceeded to beat me at pool. Not once

More Reasons To Shop At.... (link there)

Well s'morning we went to Morrisons to do the weeks shopping.

I was pushed in through the doors, stood up and walked thru 'bout 1⁄3 of the shop (because my FES was making my foot go over slightly), wheelchaired 'til we were about ½ way thru, then stood up and walked pushing my trolley through the rest of the shopping, the queueing up, the paying and the walking back out of the shop. I was back out of the shop before I sat in my wheelchair again

Marillion

So today while sitting having a cuppa in't kitchen I entered "Marillion" into Youtube on my iPad. Just good lord, someone with a brain injury who can remember every word, every lyric despite not having listenened for 15 or 20 years

Telly

So tonight, as recommended by Alex, I am watching "8 out of 10 cats does countdown" off C4 and it is rather amuzing

Not Busy Today

And I am actually just sitting down at my PC today. Ahhhh

All day. Ahhhhx2

Busy

And when I finally got to sit at my PC about half past 5 today the next email from Ixion said 10.03 s'morning

Then

After gym I had lunch and a cuppa tea cos I needed to be sleepy, I had no bath (as there was no time)  and went to see (Beautiful) Doctor Browne, telling her that the doc yesterday had refused to Botox my legs as she thought I still had infection. She looked closely and said "No, no infection", gave me an antibiotic cream for a week or 2, basically sent me on my way. She also said that I had just had all the blood tests that were wanting so I came away with no pain and no antibiotics

Being Evil

And before lunch we were at gym, in "Sam's Class" as I now do once a week and she worked me hard. But I do notice how much better I am getting in every way so at least partly worth it

As well as this I now go down to free exercise sessions (not classes) twice a week too

Walk To The Loo

And I took Denyses advice s'morning. I took off my bumbag in the living room. them walked to the loo, found it easy to put my LAS in my pocket, pull my trousers down and pee, then pulled 'em back up and walked back out. It was much easier, I tried walking there with bumbag, found it very hard to take it off and put it back on there so I started wheelchairing to the loo.

There is no need I found today. 

Thanks for being such a clever clog Denyse

Aardvarking

And we went to Aardvark, I parked and left my chair outside and walked the whole length of the shop, up the slope then across the second room, and back out.

But I have to pay on my way out...

And they were kind enough to give, give, me another bar of that soap that they gave me for Xmas and which I have been using for a fortnight and praised it to them last week

Glass Wine

And 2 whisk(e)y

Jabs

So we went to Neath/Port Talbot Hospital for my injections, so now my right hand (fingers) and arm should start working again in a few days. We did slightly different injections this time, we ignored my wrist as it is good but we injected the shoulder for the first time, so hopefully next week I should be able to move my right arm as well as I move the left for the first time in nearly 12 years

But they wouldn't jab my leg as it might still have the last of an infection (she thought) so I have an appt with my doctor tomorrow then when it is completely better my doctor can phone them and I will go again for my jab

More Hot Water

And there was no hot water again. So Timmy turned it off and on again, still nowt. So he turned it off, left it for 5 minutes then turned it back on again, still nowt.

So SmallPaul, my new MOS, is phoning the landlord as we speak

And "we" have had to turn off the water as it is dripping now

Double God. So when we came back s'afternoon there were some plumbers in fixing the leak, at great length. However they said we had run out of town gas s'morning, so someone from the supplying company had been round to do "fixing" s'afternoon, so that was fixed and they were nearly finished fixing the independant leak

Triple Whiskey

Early Pooh

So I had my pooh before I ate my breakfast s'morning

Team Meeting

So there is a Team Meeting happening here later where all members of my team get told what to do etc

BUT I am marginally sh*tting myself, will I be able to be "appropriate" to that Denyse?

And WOW that took ages, after it was finished Denyse talked to me for an hour, redid my timetable etc, so I have got to stop being so lazy etc now, apparently

So we talked about me walking more, leaving my wheelchair in't kitchen, setting up a new timetable, going to gym more, going swimming more etc etc. "Oh what fun we had..."

Add On

And then tonight I was looking again for a way to remove the "Reply list" from my email program, just leaving "Reply" and "Reply all" and believe it or not I found an actual Mozilla based one

Gyming

And later s'afternoon we went back to another practice at gym session where I had to flirt with Sam outrageously as I haven't seen her for a couple of weeks but I also did work and it was OK

Thunder

Gosh, finishing my lunch when there was some lightning followed by an enormous clap of thunder

Hot Water

And we had no hot water s'morning, so Alex went into utility room and took my advice, turned the boiler off and on again and we have hot water again

(shrug)

Wine

Bottle Red Wine

Dinner

And for dinner tonight we had summat I haven't eaten for years (possibly ever) and it made me think of a song from the 70's advert

And I carried the plates to the dinner table at the same time, no trolley, just one in my left hand and one in my right hand

Disabled Parking

So my new Disabled Parking thingy arrived s'afternoon so I no longer will have to pay for this parking thingy

Shopping

So after the docs we nipped to More Reasons To Shop At Morrisons to pick up the rest of the weeks shopping. It was dead quiet today, not as busy as last time we were there

When I was going around I heard one, 3 year old at a guess, little girl say "Mummy, why has he got summat on his eye?", so I said "Excuse me, it's because I am a pirate"

She said "No, you are not, it is because your eyes aren't pointing the same way".

Ho hum, seen through by a little kid

Loadsa Blood Tests

And I am off to the doctors in a bit to have my whole blood every kind of tested..... Hip hip hooray etc

And it went OK. She only had to needle me once and it didn't hurt, hardly at all. So at a guess I will phone them on Friday for the results

And she didn't have difficulty  finding veins in my left arm, like they have had in the past///

Alarm Clocking

So my first alarm clock for a fortninght got me up s'morning...

"Maximum number of server connections to cache"

Well apparently. I had to fix something on my email account and, so far, it seems to be working.

Gosh knows what it means

Ooh, dunno, first thing s'morning it went wrong again......

DoubleDunno, it hasn't happened since, perhaps it was just half asleep after having a night off....

Well, it's now 3.30 in the afternoon and apart from that one "Asking me" s'morning it has behaved.....

Well it has just done it, for the first time since before breakfast and it is now 17.50 so at a guess it can be seen as "nearly fixed" which is still a lot better than "unfixed"

More Fruit

And after tea I tried a pear which was a bit delicious, and healthy too

And it was so many years since I tried one

Quiet Sunday

Ho hum, well I switched my alarm clock back on today, so it will go off tomorrow and... as Xmas is over.

Blood tests tomorrow because of my diabetes then shopping. Back to gym on Tuesday etc etc

Pool

I have just downloaded another game on my iPad, called "8 Ball Pool" so I practiced a bit then tried a game against a real person. Took 2 minutes to find someone, I tried and I won. It's the first game of Pool that I have played on a PC and I WON!!!!!

And I have won the second game I played too

Not Chocky

And this morning I ate an apple, a small one. It was the first apple I have had in a number of years and I actually rather enjoyed it

But we timed it wrong, after my apple I wasn't hungry for lunch 'til late

Out

And me and Timmy headed out s'afternoon to investigate overflow tides, which there have been too many of recently. I think if we had got out of the car, as suggested by Timmy, I might have got some better photos but even so you can see the sea coming over the hi tide wall at Pendine, where Timmy lives so we didn't get stuck behind a closed road, Timmy knew alternative routes to get us back home

Drink Wine @ Home

FESless

And I went to Aardvark today without my FES being fitted but I was able to walk about some, up the steps and across the room there etc

Moon Button

And I had to ask Timmy "What's the moon button do?"

He said "Ah, press function, hold it and press the moon, goes into sleep mode"

UnRoutine

And I had my pooh *before* my breakfast s'morning

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the O2 network.

Summer Is Coming

So I got up at about 8.15 s'morning, 15 minutes after my alarm goes off most mornings and I didn't need to switch on the light. It is getting brighter.....

Helper

And Freya came tonight and was in good form. She was in the chatting to and cooking with Daddy mode and we made dinner together, played a few games(1) etc and neither of us touched my PC when she was here

(1) Including that "Look at pictures of animals poo" game which I won

Drink Wine At Home

SmallChappy

And Paul told me s'morning that he went home from here with a long face t'other day. His missus said "Whassa matter?", he said "Upset 'cos of what Neil bought me", she said "What?", he said "A Mr Man book", she said "Which one?", he said "Mr Small" and she laughed

For 20 minutes she laughed

Blue Badge

So Paul phoned the council to see where my blue badge is. After much handing from one person to another he finally spoke to someone who knew what was going on. They said "But this picture, he's wearing an eye patch? Is it permanent, does he wear it all the time?" Paul said "Yes, double vision", they said "OK, we will send it to you then, wait 5 days or so"

Calcitummy

So s'morning I was talking...

Calciyummy. (noisy advert) Don't know where my memory came from....

Speaking To Father

So I spoke to my Dad last night.

He was saying "How much better are you, we haven't seen you for..... months?" because me and my staff sort of see me every day whereas they only see me, now, once in a while.....

Leaving Off

So as I have been told to stop drinking so much, immanent diabetes,  so I now only have booze 3 days per week, the news tonight said that more people should give it a rest.

(sigh)

So now I am a 3 days a week drinker, not a 5

Quiet Day

And we are having a quiet day today, I am currently watching Cardiff vs Newport playing rugby on t'telly. Well OK, half time at present so I can type on my PC, 2nd half is on in a minute

Marginally....

I am a bit hung over today....

Pub

Going To The Pub For Drinks

HNY

To one and all, I am off out in a bit so....

And we went off to pub and had a lovely time, seeing loads neighbours etc

And Good Lord

And I looked online and searched for some way of making txt from K-9 Mail client be bigger, readable.

And it f**king worked!!!

It was

And it is now#

Diabetes

So I went to the (beautiful) Doctor's s'morning and got the results of my blood test. She said I have immanant diabetes. Possibly I will be able to control it with eating carefully and drinking less

Hopefully I can control it like this and avoid medication

And she said I need another blood test....

Michael

So the news about Brain Injury is in the news now...

Just shit, shit shit that it had to happen to someone but hooray that it is getting less unfamiliar

Shopping

And me and SmallPaul went out to Morrison's today where we didn't have to buy as much as some weeks but we still shopped

Clean Up

And we took down the Christmas tree today to make my living room look a bit normal again...

But 12 days? Well 4??

DVD

Then we had to go to That Tesco Place and spend £6.50 on ten DVDs which we had to use 4 of making a Recovery Disk Set in case my PC explodes or summat

First Thing

And I got off my sheets etc and put them on to wash even before breakfast or a cuppa s'morning....

Quiet Day

Quiet Day today....

Toaster

Then later we first of all went to That Tesco's Place looking for a toaster that would take the whole bita bread, couldn't find one, they were all boxed and the staff couldn't help, so then we headed down to Curry's, went upstairs in the groovy lift then found the toasters. We bought one that looks an improvement so....

Belated Shopping

So because gym was on holiday today we were able to leave Aardvarking until 3.30ish, much more civilised

Quiet Day

Quiet day today after all the Xmas confusion. My parents txted my to tell me they got home so......

Bye bye

And after all the quiz commotion we all came back here and had a cuppa. Then I said "Farewell" to my visitors, they will be getting off early in the morning so I won't see them.

It wasn't as bad a visit as I expected. Come to think of it when they started social visiting I couldn't even sit up in bed buy now I have just learned to walk with the very clever FES device

Out For Lunch again

We have just been out for another lovely lunch. So we left the pub about 4pm so "they" went off leaving me and GarethTheCleverClogs to come back here. Imminent nap etc then we are going out to the local to do a quiz

And all 6 of us went down to the pub and did the Christmas quiz for the second year running. Last year we came 2nd last, this time we were 3rd from 8. So next year we should win

Dinner

And the Christmas dinner was a bit lovely, even if I did think "WTFs that" upon reading the menu but it was worth it. Now I am napping and Alex is taking Gareth to get the troops and Sam's girlfriend

And I did that walking in thingy again, walked half way across carpark, up the hill into place, then miles to table

And he is now taking them away again, back home, we had a very pleasant Christmas

Xmas

So my parents and bruv's came over and passed pressies etc.

There is now a pile of presents marked Sam, Emme, Toby and Freya.....

Breakfast Watching

I was watching the end of Breakfast while having a late breakfast and they had all celebs wishing us a Happy Christmas. One chap said "Remember if that relative is pissing you off it's only for one day"

Manyana

So tomorrow morning I have to phone them and say "Up" then they are gonna come over and "do" Christmas

On The Way

So they are in Carmarthen already, my Mum, Dad, big bro and little bro. They are waiting for me to phone 'em and say "Napped" then they will come out and see me

I am waiting for Ed to finish in the loo, come out and put my FES on me then I will phone 'em

And we went out and had a lovely, but a bit big, meal. It was more civilised than I thought, quite good

But when we got there, parked half a car park away, I got out of the car, switched my FES on, and walked across the 'park, into the hotel, all the way through to our table. I can walk so much further with FES, I have gotta practice loads because it is excellent

Dinner

And for dinner tonight we had Quorn pretend meat pies(1) and posh microwavable mashed potatoes. It contains some carrot mash and another veg but it is good too. But it is me learning to experiment, I haven't had Couscous or Supernoodles since Monday and the dinners have been lovely (and easy too - which matters a lot more to me now)

(1) Which I sort of object to pretend meat things, us veggies should like vegetables but they are actually quite delicious too

FESing

When we were in town we were a bit distracted by weather etc but before we went I was walking about the house with my FES on, and just how pleased am I. It works incredibly on my wonky ankle to the extent someone told me off for running before I could walk as I was holding my walking stick up off the ground, not using it at all

Ooh Hello

And when we were looking about town for the pirate, in the rain, someone said "Hello" and it was Sam and Emma. I couldn't be sociable as I was cold and wet but it was good to see them anyway

Shopping before Xmas

So in today's list of things to do is a trip out to the mobility shop in Carmarthen to buy a new cover for my bath lift device.

When we are there shopping I may as well go shopping for a new pirate for my model ship that we glued t'other day 

Yes, so first thing s'morning we went into the mobility shop and had to order a new part. She hopes it will be delivered about a week after Christmas then they will phone me and I can collect it. Luckily Paul refitted the old one s'morning.

Next we went and bought some sugar for my visitors to have in a coffee

Then we went pirate shopping, we found one in the third shop we looked in but now it looks better again

Brian

And Julia's Dad came to see me today, which was nice. I must have made some impression on him the years me and his daughter went out

Gordon B

Oh, watching telly over breakfast and it reminded me summat that I had forgotten, Gordon Brown became PM after Blair

Using My Right Hand

And using my right hand to move breakfast from trolley to table is still harder than using my left hand but it is 10 times easier than it used to be

Bonus

And for some reason Panasonic sent me a £30 cheque today, which was nice

Caps Lock

And I have just noticed that if the Caps Lock on my PC is switched on there is a little light at the corner of the button so you can know it's on when looking at the keyboard

Shortest Day

So today is the shortest day of the year, tomorrow it starts coming back longer again (OK, not by much but it starts)

FESing....

I suspect that I will try wearing my FES device to Gym today.

I have owned it for a week but haven't worn it in anger yet as I have had an infection

Well I have fitted it and tried it. Wait and see....

Well it seems OK, I have taken it off now we are back but my leg did feel better with it on. Towards the end I felt funny but upon taking it off we saw that the wire had got under the sticky pad so perhaps that's why. But for a first run it felt OK

Aardvarking

So we went and bought loadsa food and drinks s'morning

It was raining on the way there, we bought some utterly healthier food etc and it had stopped raining on the way out

Trying to tell us summat...

Best

So I haven't had too close a look yet but my foot does seem fully better now

But after coming back from gym Ed examined my legs and said "They are up a bit" so we will have to put them up for an hour s'afternoon

Iechyd D-ing

And tonight is the Christmas Folk Night at Iechyd Da, a week earlier this month but me and Freya are going together

And it was a bit entertaining. And Freya's Mum was in town so we didn't even need to take her miles home

Tired

So we had a session with Sara at the gym today, we started off on the bike and treadmill then worked our way around various moving weights in various ways machines. 

Gosh I was there for ages working at it today

Snowy

And when we left to see Sara there was snow/sleet on the ground, about half an inch thick. Thankfully it has gone by now

Better Still

And my feet/legs are better still s'morning. My legs both look as small as normal and my right foot seems perfect and my left foot just a little bit puffy. I took the last of my antibiotics s'morning so hopefully it is all finished

Swelling

So my feet and legs look much less swollen even today, so fingers crossed etc

OIAB

<sigh> So we are off swimming in a bit....</s>

And it was actually OK, apart from..... no it was OK