18/11/20 Southern Country Park

No sign at all of the right foot problem today. All very strange, but I think I can be sure it was nothing to do with the myeloma. Unless, perhaps, it happens again.

Full results for the November blood tests are now in - all Free Light Chain numbers in normal range, so another very good set of results.

Went into the GP surgery this morning to give up even  more blood for thyroid and ferritin test booked for 09:20. I arrived a few minutes early and then had to sit in the waiting room - masked up and with a changing set of three or four other people - for a good twenty-five minutes before being called in. That's not good. There's yellow & black stripe tape on the floor as a guide to proper distancing, but I saw only one person pay any attention to it. One (other) person took his mask off to talk to a receptionist and she didn't tell him to put it back on. There was a perspex screen between them, but with a large opening at the bottom to pass things through.

After a late breakfast and with the bright early morning starting to fade, we went to Southern Country Park on the edge of Bishop's Stortford. Not the most attractive one but a good path and enough of a walk. Free parking, always a positive point. It's also a bit hilly, and I had one of my collapses when we got home. Out like a light for the best part of an hour. It's been a while since that happened quite so badly.

17/11/20 (3)

The right foot problem has gradually faded through the day and is now (21:18) barely noticeable. That may have something to do with going back to maximum paracetamol dose today and suggests that it was muscle / soft tissue related rather than PN, although I've never known a soft tissue problem appear out of the blue in the middle of the night before. Anyway, it was good enough for a Pepper's Green Lane walk in the afternoon. Now just hoping it won't come back overnight.

Tomorrow morning I have blood tests for thyroid and ferritin. Not sure why the GP has asked for ferritin as he had it in the last set of GP bloods just a week or three ago (a little high). The form isn't entirely clear as to whether it's supposed to be fasting or not, so I've been googling and both turn out to be a lot more complicated than one might think. I'd better leave  breakfast until after I get back, to be on the safe side.

17/11/20 (2) Neurology

I now have an appointment with the top neurology man at Springfield & Broomfield for my possible early Parkinson's: 14:00 on 1st December. If things work out that it seems desirable to go private with him, I've calculated the cost of losing a year's No Claims Discount - broadly, it's equivalent to two or three live music tickets a month. As I'm not going to any live music at the moment and will almost certainly cut down a lot even when things get back to "normal", that should be affordable. The trouble is that it would take three claim-free years to claw my way back to the NCD I'm on at the moment, and with my myeloma claim set to last as long as I live, that isn't going to happen!

17/11/20 Strange foot pain

My back got through the night remarkably well, but halfway through the night I woke with a new pain in my right foot - bad enough to interfere with sleep for the rest of the night. The feeling is that it's something muscular or etc. - but the obvious concern is that it's the start of the dreaded Peripheral Neuropathy - a possible side-effect of almost everything I take for myeloma.

Right now, unless this improves rapidly, any idea of getting out for a walk is out of the question.

16/11/20 Thermometers, glasses, face-masks

Ever since the start of my myeloma I've been using a digital in-ear thermometer every morning - in theory. In practice I sometimes forget, it's fiddly thing to use especially if I've already put the hearing aids in, and you have to put a new little clear plastic cap on the sensor every time - which means buying a few boxes of new ones every couple of months. No doubt it's more accurate than anything else, but it's also something of a pain. So I've now got an infra-red forehead thermometer which is very quick and easy and lives under my #1  computer monitor so it's always ready to hand. The in-ear thermometer is now reduced to a double-check role if the other one shows a temperature approaching the limit in either direction.

A couple of weeks ago I accidentally damaged my rimless glasses, leaving the right-hand side piece at about 90 degrees to where it should be. I made an appointment and took them into Specsavers where one of their guys very efficiently put things right. But a few days ago the left hand fixing became loose, leaving the lenses sitting wrong and the glasses falling off far too easily. So I made another appointment with Specsavers for today, and they fixed this problem as well, along with a warning that next time would probably mean sending them away for a few days. All OK - but the problem was that you cant go into any kind of shop these days without a facemask on. And there is something about facemasks that nobody seems to talk about - if you also use your ears for hearing aids and glasses, it's the easiest thing in the world to flip a hearing aid out while positioning and adjusting the ear loops. That's what happened to my left one as I was putting the mask on before going into Specsavers. Couldn't find it anywhere - must have gone down between the seats but my big fear was that it had lodged somewhere on my clothes and had fallen off outside the car. They are insured, but...

Got home, found a good torch, and started contorting my spine into shapes that neither God nor Darwin had anticipated in order to look into the near-inaccessible spaces under the seats. Seeing something down there is of course not the same as being able to get it out undamaged. But I did recover it eventually. Whether my back will recover is something I'll find out about in the morning. Lots of Deep Heat before then, I think.

Also collected a copy of the Parkinson's referral letter from the GP surgery, so tomorrow I'll start 'phoning neurologist's secretaries in search of an appointment.

Managed to fit a short walk in between finding the hearing aid (much relief!) and the regular online backgammon at 17:00. Went along the A1060 to the Four Wantz (that's Essex for a crossroads) then down Ongar Road as far as Grays, and back again. For detailed maps of the Parish, click HERE.

15/11/20 FLCs pending

Another wet morning while we were having breakfast and Pill Organising but things cleared up and the sun even came out mid-day, so I did the walk to Peppers Green Lane. A lot of water on the road in places where we don't usually get it, resulting in a thoroughly soaked pair of shoes.

I don't think I've mentioned the most recent set of blood test results, which came in on Thursday, the usual seven days after taking the blood. All good and paraproteins still at undetectable, but the three Free Light Chain numbers given as "pending". Will try again for them on Monday or Tuesday.

I'm sure that's all perfectly clear now...

Update 16:00 - it's raining again! This video shows what it's like at The Hare in Roxwell (pub/restaurant about four miles towards Chelmsford). Full screen (button at bottom right) is best for this

14/11/20 Wet

Wet wet wet again, no chance of getting out. Will have to do a bit on my under-desk "bicycle" thing instead.

Made a batch of spreadable butter this morning, now about to face the paperwork pile...