07/06/21 Boules video

I don't think I've posted a video on this blog before, so here's a little one from Ongar Boules yesterday morning:

The man on the left at the beginning, in a black and white Buster Keaton t-shirt and with a white baseball cap and shorts, is my doubles partner Brian. The man all in black on the left near the end of the clip is Georgi, who was so helpful a fortnight ago with his first-aid kit when I very nearly broke my nose - all nicely healed up now, BTW. No matches yesterday, as the Secretary wasn't able to be there. We resume the competitions next week.

Nothing else tonight - I'll report on the 'phone consultation with Dr.Ch tomorrow.

06/06/21 Ongar Garden Centre and lawn mowing

We went for a decent walk round the back of Ongar yesterday, after going to the Ongar Garden Centre for lunch (a shared toasted cheese and tomato sandwich). After that, because of the threat of rain this afternoon, it was lawn mowing time. As a result, I beat my activity target by a factor of five - not quite a record, but close. Hard and sweaty work in the heat, glad I can still do it.

Pill Organisation after dinner because it's Ongar Boules in the morning. No competitions this time (the Secretary is unable to be there), just friendly practice games.

05/06/21 Rain, VoIP

 A very different kind of day yesterday - solid heavy rain all the way from mid-morning to early evening. I didn't get out for a walk but comfortably met my activity target anyway.

Coming to the end of the current cycle now - have just started week 4 with no Lenalidomide, have a 'phone appointment with Dr.Ch on Tuesday and a Springfield appointment on Thursday for bloods, Zometa, and the next lot of meds.

According to the Facebook group some people are now having face-to-face consultations with their haematologists again. Next month, perhaps? That'll be after "Freedom Day" on the 21st, if that actually happens.

Should be a better day later today. I have the cat drinking fountain to do and some butter to make in the morning, which will keep the dishwasher busy in the afternoon. Sue has an online rehearsal mid-day, so we'll probably head out for lunch and a walk after that.

Have also been busy with VoIP (internet) telephony. I've got it working but still have to figure out how to integrate the TrueCall unit. Should it go between the router and the VoIP box (Vonage) or between the box and the phone? And what cables do I need? And at what stage do I start the process of porting the old landline number across to VoIP so I can kill the old landline and broadband altogether?

03/06/21 Heat, fields, thorns

A very hot day today, which gave me an opportunity to take Victor the off-road walker into the fields for the first time this year as things have now dried out enough. Most of the tracks are badly rutted after the wet spring and the walking wasn't too easy. At this time last year I was picking up punctures in walker tyres, but this time I got one in the sole of my shoe from this rather vicious thorn, a good 3cm long:

Nevertheless, it was good to get out into the fields again:

Despite all that, bad attack of fatigue yesterday evening. Played online backgammon after the walk and tea, cooked dinner, back-flushed the filter for the small fishpond, then just collapsed. Haven't done a useful thing except on the computer all night, and much of that time was asleep. But of course once it got past midnight, I started waking up and feeling a bit livelier again. It's the curse of the night owls...

03/06/21 Prescription review

Had the expected 'phone call from Dr.Ku yesterday morning and went through my prescription meds. No change apart from taking MST (morphine sulphate tablets) off the list - I haven't needed pain relief that strong since the early days.

Went to Ongar in the afternoon for some informal boules. As usual, played some very good throws and a lot of very bad ones... Nevertheless, won a few ends for whichever team I was playing in at the time (that can get confusing in friendly games). Got home, took the rather delayed lunchtime pills, made tea (cats, fish, and people) then fell asleep in the all too familiar way. But I was up at 0500, so maybe justified.

02/06/21 (2) Dex again

I have a 'phone consultation (prescription review - usually a  fairly complete waste of time) with my GP Dr.Ku booked for this morning - no specific time. I need to be up and about by 0800 in case he rings early - it has happened before. Perhaps it was the awareness of that, plus the 20mg of dex I've taken over the last two mornings, explains why I woke up wide awake and ready to go just before 0500. I don't think my ring will be happy about the amount of sleep I got last night. Anyway, I was up in time for a couple of sunrise photos:

02/06/21 Thorndon Country Park and phones

Again I find myself short of things to write about - until the next set of bloods, perhaps. We tick along, one set of pills to the next, and not much changes apart from the bowels which remain on the unstable side. Sticking with nothing more than one nightly senna plus a morning Spogest (gut bacterial spores) which has definitely helped before. It'll take that a week or three to have much effect, I expect.

Boules this afternoon, if the decent weather continues as predicted. A lovely summery day yesterday, and we went to Thorndon Country Park on the edge of Brentwood, stopping only to drop off  a couple of Amazon returns - one at our nearest Post Office in Fyfield, the other at a place that does UPS returns with just a barcode (which Amazon sent me) rather than the QR code that everywhere else wants - and  which they didn't send me. I'd spent the morning switching over from our old cordless phones (one base station and three extensions) to new ones (with one extra extension for the bedroom) with more up-to-date specs which should allow them to work with VoIP internet telephony and the new model True Call. I hope...