08/11/20 Mist and split fingers

 Another misty Essex November morning:

Pill Organisation Day - which will be easier than last week as the thumb and finger splits on my right hand have more-or-less healed. I've been prone to them for years, but wonder if the skin-thinning effect of dexamethasone may be making them worse. I used to take 10C outside as the temperature to start wearing gloves outside but this year's first splits came before  that. Also, the skin on the backs of my hands has been distinctly thin and papery recently but is looking better today. Intensive overnight hand cream is probably helping that.

07/11/20 Hylands Park & coronavirus

Hylands Park today for the customary "exercise" on a remarkably warm and sunny November day. The place was as full of people as we've ever seen it, and not much sign of obeying the "public places" COVID-19 rule about meeting only one person from another household.  People seem to be giving up trying to follow the increasingly confusing rules to the letter, in favour of applying their own version of "common sense" instead. 

06/11/20 (3) Writtle

Had a  good walk today in Writtle - basically a path from the centre of the village (and a free car park!) to the familiar territory of Tower Gardens - a route we did several times back in the e-biking days. Exercise is starting to get back to normal. Otherwise - no  news is good news?

Dr.Ch's secretary 'phoned to give me a time for our 'phone consultation on Monday:1800-ish. Not ideal either for daily online backgammon (usually finishes around then) or for cooking dinner. But if things run according to form, it's likely to be well over an hour late. I have nothing in particular to report, so I'll use the opportunity to get some tips about a good Springfield/Broomfield neurologist to get in touch with.

06/11/20 (2) Dex and sunrise

It was my second dex night of the week (just 10mg a time) and followed the usual pattern these days - get to bed at pretty much usual time but wake up and get up early because you just know there's no way of getting back to sleep. So, at about 6:30 I got up to a beautiful rosy glow of a sunrise with trees rising through the remains of ground frost and fog:

There are some compensations for the problems of dex, and seeing early mornings that I usually miss is one of them.

06/11/20 Bloods, Parkinson's choices, and swab test

Back to Springfield today for another four-weekly set of bloods to be taken, so the usual nervous week lies ahead, waiting for the full results to come through. Back again on the 10th for Zometa and the next pack of meds. Must remember to tell them (again) that I can get Omeprazole from the GP and don't need it from Springfield. That will knock a tiny bit off the bill that goes to AXA.

Had a chat with the nurse about the Parkinson's thing, strong agreement that the best plan is to self-pay a first consultation and then be in a better place to decide between NHS and private. Ideally I'd like a consultant who works at both Springfield and Broomfield (Chelmsford NHS) as my haematologist Dr.Ch does. There appear to be three neurologists who fit the bill and claim specialist interest in Parkinson's, although the information online about one of them is not consistent. So call it two and a half. I'm advised online to get someone who is an MDS (Movement Disorder Specialist) - I found a website listing them and there are only six in the UK, none of them nearer than London, so I'm forgetting that advice. Have also been recommended to a "top man" but he works in London only and the last thing I need at this time is London trips that could be avoided, so I don't think I'll be bothering him. He's not on the MDS list anyway!

Also had my fifth COVID swab test at Springfield and have religiously logged it on the CoVID Symptom Tracker app. I'm well used to it by now and it really isn't all that unpleasant. Seriously...

05/11/20 Damp, drizzly dex morning

 Up early this morning (by my standards, and helped by yesterday being a dex day) because we have plumber coming to investigate a leak possibly caused by the nly drain cleaner I know that actually works. Sometimes, unfortunately, a little too well...

Outside, a Herman Melville day. That's a damp,drizzly November. This one has a light frost as well:

From the greatest novel ever written:

“Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.”

04/11/20 (Parkinson's meeting with GP)

Had my face-to-face appointment with Dr.Ku (GP) this morning, Sue was also present at his request.. Doc in full PPE. We went through the history of the possible Parkinson's again, and he did a variety of tests. He dismisses the possibility of Essential Tremor but thinks I might have early and/or mild Parkinson's. So he is doing a referral to a neurologist - with the NHS this will take approx 45 weeks (!) plus two weeks to get the letter done. Why that couldn't be done next day, if not that afternoon, is a mystery to me.

I have several options here. (1) Go the NHS route. There's no big rush, unless there is a rapid deterioration at some point over the next year, and it's nothing I can't live with. Cost is zero. (2) Start another claim with AXA HEALTH - would move things along much quicker but would cost me another chunk of No Claims Discount and put the monthly premium up quite a bit. Will need to work out just how much - and as is common with NCDs these days, it takes several years to work that increase off. And frankly I feel that AXA is doing enough for me already, don't want to become a problem customer. So not at the moment, but keeping in reserve in case I get that rapid deterioration. (3) Pay for a first consultation with a neurologist myself. If he/she says it's not Parkinson's or Essential Tremor, well, I'm not that badly off. If he says it is one or the other I'll have a better idea of which of the first two to go with.

Back to myeloma, or at least one aspect of living with it - did the "long walk" through Tower Gardens, Admiral's Park, and Central Park in Chelmsford, with coffees on an outside table at the Central Park Cafe. That was badly needed after a lack of decent exercise for the last several days.

Dex night tonight...