31 May: Readings & Comments

5.8  / 104  Fasting         08:25:23  
6.7  / 120  Post-Bfast      11:47:28  
5.7  / 102  Pre-Lunch       13:14:33  
3.9  /  71  Pre-Tea         19:36:02  
6.3  / 114  Post-Tea        21:42:35  Beef and Black been stirfry
5.9  / 106  Bedtime         00:05:10  
6.9  / 125  Fasting         10:22:04  
6.6  / 118  Pre-Lunch       12:58:05  
5.3  /  96  Post-Lunch      15:09:22  sausage roll

Tonight we're off to see the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra perform the music of Queen. If it's anything like the concerts they did of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, we're in for a treat.

[Added Later: WOW, what a treat it was too. We had no idea when we booked our tickets that we were going to wind up in first row sets, in the center!! A bit hard to see the whole orchestra but it was excellent otherwise.]

In today's mail, I received something very very precious to me... my middle son's Graduation invitation along with a great personal invitation. I wonder if Kerstin had any invitations? Chris had told me to expect mail and that it was of great importance to him, and he's right. A few years ago he was a faceless teenager in the vast sea of Arthur Hill High School students, and next week he's graduating with honours at Omni, a much smaller, MUCH more personal school. I am so deeply proud of him for this achievement!

Rod is still waiting for a parcel from the states to arrive. I'm currently working on a website for Breaststroke (the support group I'm part of), and otherwise keeping busy.

As an experiment, I've now tried Xfce as my window manager on my recently updated Feisty Fawn Ubuntu operating system. It's lovely and light. For a day or two I played with having the background windows fade to transparent, which was cool, but it's a bit time consuming as it shifts between windows so I gave that up, but it was fun to play with.

Speaking of fun to play with, I have bought myself a sleeping kitten. No it's not real, but it looks sorta real (aside from the fact it has no whiskers!) and looks PURRfect sitting on my wood rocking chair, complete with a multicoloured afghan draped over the back of the chair. I can also pick up the curled up kitten and give it a bit of a cuddle. It's not the same as the real thing, but as furniture decorations go, it's pretty cool.

24 May: Readings & Comments & OH MY!

8.3  / 149  Fasting         08:08:08  
6.9  / 124  Pre-Bfast       08:40:03  Really fast drop from fasting reading.
7.7  / 139  Post-Bfast      11:14:01  Crumpet & PB (square - had both halves)
4.8  /  87  Pre-Lunch       14:14:02  
5.4  /  97  Post-Lunch      16:24:14  2x vietnamese cold rolls, cottage cheese
5.2  /  94  Pre-Tea         17:45:49  
6.9  / 124  Post-Tea        19:58:47  Chilli, tortilla, sour cream, cheese

My fasting reading was pretty high, at 8.3, but even weirder was that it took a plunge and within 32 minutes it was down to 6.9. I've never had that happen before. Normally it starts out reasonably low then after a cup of regular black tea (with milk) it goes up a bit. Today it was the opposite. Rod made a comment as we were having our coffee/tea that I had some colour today. The next thing I knew my heart was racing and I had the shakes. Not thinking of my glucose readings, I figured it just struck me that hard that he'd noticed how pale I've been the last couple of months. But no, it was my glucose. Have no idea why it would have dropped like that. Strange!

My appointment with the Gastro specialist went fine. She took a bit of a history, read all the results of my recent blood tests and had a bit of an examination. I will have both a colonoscopy and an endoscopy done. Basically, that's both ends in the same day. Great. Anyway, I don't have to worry about it as it'll be a couple of months before it happens.

The bus was early to take me to Flinders, but my changeover bus had to wait for a late one to arrive, but I still made it on time to my appt, where I sat for over an hour waiting to be called in. The buses were still running late when it was time to come home. I stopped off at a shopping centre to pick up an ingredient for tonight's tea, and ended up waiting for a bus that was late. Got to the changeover place and again we had to wait for a bus that was late. Very frustrating.

No parcels arrived today. We're expecting a few so I hope they all show up tomorrow.

I made really delicious chilli for tea tonight and have enough for another meal put away in the freezer.

And now, to the Oh My subject...



.....












.....


I'm going to be a Granny! Jenny and Terry are expecting, and I'm delighted for them. Jenny is 6wks along and Terry has taken over her diet and her parents are thrilled. I'm very happy for them, even though I wish they were a bit more settled in life, but I know these things happen - and they are a lot more mature than I was when Terry was born (I was 20 and alone). I've decided that I'm Granny Gaelyne. None of this Grandma stuff. Or Nanna. Granny suits me just fine!

Don't worry, I'm sure I'll hang on every detail shared and you won't be able to shut me up about the new little treasure that's soon to be in our lives!

23 May: Readings & Comments

6.4  / 116  Fasting         09:46:54  
7.9  / 142  Post-Bfast      12:35:53  Crumpet & PB (square - should have only half)
5.4  /  98  Pre-Lunch       14:10:03  
7.3  / 132  Post-Lunch      16:18:52  sausage roll
4.6  /  83  Pre-Tea         18:27:58  
6.3  / 113  Post-Tea        20:41:11  Yiros meat pack & chips

Tomorrow I go see the gastro specialist at Flinders Private. Other than that, I've just been doing work and housework and leading a pretty boring but normal life. Makes a nice change. :-)

20 May: Readings & Comments

Saturday & Sunday Readings:

6.6  / 119  Fasting         09:35:40  
5.4  /  97  Pre-Lunch       13:56:44  
5.5  /  99  Post-Lunch      16:43:54  Eggs, Bacon & toast
7.9  / 143  Post-Tea        21:22:00  Subway
7.7  / 139  Fasting         09:46:00  
7.8  / 140  Post-Bfast      12:35:01  Crumpet toast & PB
5.6  / 101  Pre-Lunch       14:41:04  
6.8  / 123  Post-Lunch      16:50:16  Eggs, Bacon & toast
5.9  / 106  Pre-Tea         19:32:35  
9.7  / 175  Post-Tea        21:55:16  Pizza

We've had a quiet weekend. Tea tonight was my homemade pizza. Very nice, but I should have had more green tea tonight after dinner.

Butterfly Folding Cane. I don't need a cane at the moment... my back is much much better, but if I should ever need a cane on a permanent basis, this would be my pick. How cool! The cane website was mentioned in the Happy Hobblers mail list I'm on for people with Osteo-Arthritis. I'm trying to catch up with mail at the moment and thought I'd add a comment since its the prettiest cane I've ever seen.

18 Mar: Readings & Comments

7.6  / 137  Bedtime         23:10:01  
8.1  / 146  Fasting         08:58:39  Feverish overnight
7.2  / 130  Post-Bfast      12:00:36  The usual crumpet toast w/pb
6.3  / 114  Pre-Lunch       12:54:16  
4.8  /  86  Pre-Tea         19:05:05  
9.3  / 168  Post-Tea        21:32:55  Fish & Chips. Still not feeling well.

17 May: Readings & Comments

8.4  / 151  Post-Bfast      11:01:11  Took reading early: had appt
6.1  / 110  Post-Lunch      16:00:49  
6.3  / 113  Random          17:11:00  Exp: Coffee Mate in green tea
5.2  /  94  Random          19:19:54  Exp: Coffee Mate in green tea
6.7  / 121  Pre-Tea         21:39:20  
6.4  / 115  Fasting         08:56:06  
6.8  / 122  Post-Bfast      11:46:28  
4.9  /  89  Pre-Tea         18:50:38  
12.6  / 226  Post-Tea       20:56:35  KFC. Oops.
10.5  / 189  Random         22:00:20  Coming down.

Well, that 12.6/226 reading was because we had KFC for tea. This normally doesn't go so high, but this time I had a small mashed potato, some chips, and the dinner roll too. I also hadn't had much tea during the afternoon, but my pre-tea reading was 4.9, so it really did take quite a jump. This is the highest reading I've had in the last 60 days. It does kind of prove that I can't be complacent.

My appointment with the Wound Clinic went fine yesterday. There's no real change in the depth of the wound (still 10-12cm) but the outside hole is definitely getting smaller. My next appt for this is in June with the plastics treatment group (they're the original people who did the surgery even though this is FAR from cosmetic or anything lovely looking).

The appt was quite quick and I was really happy that I managed to catch the bus back home within the hour so my ticket didn't get a new mark on it. Sadly though, I'm an IDIOT and for the umpteenth time, I managed to get on the wrong numbered bus so ended up going to Colonnades (the shopping centre at the end of the bus run here in the Southern Suburbs of Adelaide). Now, this wasn't so bad in my book, as I'd kind of wanted to get our weekly shopping done, so I rang Rod and had him get the shopping lists (one for a hardware store, another for groceries) and meet me there. We got the shopping out of the way and bought a sensor light set up for our patio. This way the light comes on with movement and we don't have to turn it off or manually... this is good because the switch for the outside light is in a closet in the laundry room.

This morning 2 of my mothers day gifts arrived. The speakers, and the Dymo LetraTag label maker. Both were quite easy to figure out, and the speakers are lovely. I can now listen to my MP3 player in the bedroom through decent speakers. They're small and they have great sound.

In the Afternoon, I helped a lady from down the road with her computer. She wanted to learn how to burn CDs so she could get her photos to a CD. I found the cause of her previous problems, and was able to help find a way to get the files on the CD in the order she wanted them.

Tonight I finished a book I've been reading on and off for about 3 months now. I've selected another book to read at lunch time, something a bit lighter than what I have been reading.

14 May: Readings & Comments

7.6  / 136  Post-Bfast      12:00:33  
7.2  / 130  Post-Lunch      15:52:00  
5.3  /  95  Post-Tea        20:29:33  Pizza and white shiraz
6.1  / 109  Fasting         07:49:13  
6.8  / 122  Post-Bfast      11:15:04  
5.9  / 106  Post-Lunch      14:32:10  sausage roll
4.5  /  81  Pre-Snack       15:49:03  peckish and bgl low
7.3  / 132  Post-Snack      17:49:34  toasted cheese sandwich
5.1  /  92  Pre-Tea         20:18:28  
6.5  / 117  Post-Tea        22:27:44  Chicken curry with rice.

I've been pretty busy the last few days.

Last week, my GP rang me about the referral to the Gastro clinic at Flinders public, to let me know that they contacted him and there's a 9 month waiting list to be seen. So, he wanted me to see a Gastro specialist outside of the public health system, which would mean a gap fee but there's nothing for it as it needs to be dealt with. He gave me a doctor's name to ring for an appt, and when I did, I found the gap fee was $50 with nothing back from Medicare. Ugh. But, a couple of days later I got a call from Flinders Private Gastro clinic and apparently they handle some of the overflow from the public hospital. Their gap fee is $128.35, but I'll get all but $15 of it back from Medicare. That's better. So I made an appt for the 24th, and cancelled the appt with the other doctor. The other thing I feel much more confident about is that the doctor I'll be seeing is a woman.

Last Wednesday, I went to my local Bakers Delight with Carol from Breast Stroke, and we presented them with a thank you from our Breast Stroke group for their May promotion supporting BCNA (Breast Cancer Network Australia). The franchise owner was SO enthusiastic, it was wonderful. And while a lot of the other bakeries Carol had visited only made a limited number each day of the pink buns that were part of the promotion, MY local Bakers Delight made lots and also included all of the sticky buns as being in support of BCNA. 100% of the price for these buns is given to support BCNA, and that's absolutely wonderful. Carol took photos, and once I have them, I'll add them to the new website for Breast Stroke that I'm slowly developing.

After our visit to the bakery, (and of course purchase of some sticky buns and scones/biscuits), Carol and I had hot chocolate and a little coffee shop across from the shopping centre. It was great as we were in a side room and had it all to ourselves. It was a bit like having a cuppa and chat at home, but someone else did the cleaning up. It was excellent hot chocolate too - warm milk and real chocolate that needed to be stirred. And my glucose levels stayed OK too, which is even better.

I spent thursday doing fun stuff like laundry and working towards setting up some software I've been meaning to update. I didn't finish the software project (installing an ad server) until Saturday, but started reading the documentation and preparing for it on Thursday.

Friday the RDNS nurse came to change my dressing and I made a comment about having finally turned the heater on the night before and she asked if we were pinched financially. I said no, not really, just being frugal. And before I knew it she rang up the head office and requested a fee waiver for me. Wow! Even better, later in the day the person doing the waiver rang me and I asked about the current bill as it arrived during the previous week. She said to rip it up and she'd take care of it. Another Wow! I was reading Email and Rod had received a request for help with the Zen cart software and the fellow said he'd be willing to pay for the help. Rod told him he didn't have to, but if he still wanted to pay something, he gave our bank details. Today the guy put some funds into our account. How nice is that?

In the afternoon, I went to Breast Stroke and visited with my friends. We had a fairly big turn out and it always does me good to hug and be hugged by my Breast Stroke sisters. There was a bit of excitement for a bit since one of the residents (we meet at a retirement village) set off the fire alarm and all the fire doors were closed. Geez, between the siren and seeing these closed doors, it really made me feel claustrophobic. The fire trucks came and they investigated but apparently it was a false alarm. The girls went on to the pool and spa, I went to wait for Rod to pick me up. Normally I take the bus home, but Rod and I had plans -- a cheap meal at the Food Court at the Central Market and then some serious shopping in the market. It's one of my favourite things to do, and I kept up with Rod pretty well this time. There have been so many times in the last year that walking around the market (which is HUGE) has been so painful, but it really was much better this time. No pain! Well, my feet were sore when we finished, but that at least is NORMAL.

Saturday I managed to finish installing the ad server and get our little ads from the previous software into the new one. I ended up having to wait to do one site, but finished that on Sunday.

Sunday was Mother's Day, and this year I worked most of the afternoon on the ad server project, but by late afternoon I was ready to pamper myself. I took a shower (can't do bubble baths as I still have this hole in my side), did my hair, put on some perfume and a lace 'robe' that I bought for $85 a few years ago and only wear very rarely. I LOVE it, but it's for special times only. It's probably the most expensive item of clothing I've ever owned and worn only once in a great while, but when I DO put it on, I just absolutely love it. It's soft and pretty. I then put some incense on, lit some candles, got out the wine and wine glasses and felt pampered for the rest of the evening.

Last Friday, I'd told the Breast Stroke girls that I was going to find something for Mothers day for myself at the market and it'd be my gift from my kids to me, since they often don't think about it until the day, and besides, shipping from the states would be too expensive for them. Well I didn't see anything I wanted at the market, so Sunday and today I did some online shopping. From the Avon clearance catalog (that landed on my doorstep Sunday morning) I bought a soft wool brown wrap/scarf with pockets and a pair of lovely earrings - all for under $15, and then today I ordered a pair of speakers that I'd been looking at for my MP3 player, and a label maker. Then I sent my kids a thank you note and listed what each gave me this year. The wrap and earrings are from Terry, the speakers from Chris, and Kerstin gave me the label maker. :-) Now I just have to wait for these to arrive. It'll be exciting and each thing was something I really wanted, and each for under $20.

Today I continued setting up adverts to work with the adserver, and I did a write up advertising the fact that we've made my book, "The Internet for C64/128 Users" (TIFCU for short) available in our online shop as a downloadable PDF file. The write up I sent to the Homestead list (a mailing list with about 250 subscribers for Commodore enthusiasts that Rod and I host. I also added it to the News section of our Commodore website. And I created ads for this for the sidebars on my site and the CBM site. This has been something I've wanted to get done for awhile now, and it feels good to have got this off my 'to do' list. Now hopefully we'll get a few orders in for it. :-)

Rod's been in bed for the last half hour or so. He says he stills feels 'hung over' from the night before. Sheez, we only had 2 bottles of wine between us. I don't seem to have any ill effects from it, but I am running a fever tonight. So I think I better skedadle and get some beauty sleep!

8 May: Readings & Comments

5.4  /  98  Fasting         09:10:42  
7.7  / 138  Post-Bfast      12:31:22  
7.6  / 136  Fasting         08:59:31  
5.7  / 102  Post-Bfast      11:48:03  Crumpet w/ Peanut butter
4.9  /  89  Pre-Tea         19:26:42  
6.1  / 110  Fasting         08:06:20  
4.6  /  82  Pre-Lunch       13:35:22  
5.3  /  95  Post-Lunch      16:16:40  1 slice pizza
4.4  /  79  Pre-Tea         18:33:01  
8.6  / 155  Post-Tea        20:41:34  Hot chicken and rolls

A couple of things to report. First up, a week ago Monday I saw my GP in regards to tests I had a few weeks ago (it took awhile for some results to come in, and he was on vacation for some of that time). He referred me to the Gastroenterology department at Flinders with the recommendation that I have a colonoscopy to find out why I'm still anemic. I also had a chat with him about disability because it was recommended to me as a valid option, in that I do have a lot of physical things that aren't right and I'd probably qualify. He told me his job is to give all the information possible and then the final decision is made by others who use various criteria for it. He agreed that it might be worth checking out. So I made a double appointment for this week, with plans of taking in the paperwork, but one of his last suggestions was to maybe wait and see what the results are with the gastro department as there may be more to add to the paperwork. So I kept the double appointment and instead of doing paperwork with him, I had my flu shot (more on this later) and a pap smear I'd been informed I needed way back in February. I don't have those results yet and won't ring for them until Monday. Yes, in Australia it's your GP that does these kind of GYN tests. And no stirrups required. We're so much more organised here.

So last week, I got the prescription for the flu shot and filled it at the pharmacy. It then came home with me and sat in the fridge till this week's appointment. Now, drugs in boxes come with information sheets and I'm normally pretty good at taking time to at least glance at them. I didn't this time, and last night couldn't quite understand why I was so itchy. Well a bit of research on the Internet and I found the source of my problem. In all previous years, the information said not to have the flu shot if you're allergic to chicken eggs. This year was different. It was if you're allergic to Gentamicin or chicken eggs. Sigh. I AM allergic to Gentamicin, and my main reaction is skin rashes and itching. I about went nuts last night and after several itchy hours, I took an additional Fexotab 180. It took about half an hour to come into effect, but it worked, and I could finally sleep. So while I was researching this, the top of the hour came around and I recently made it so my computer will play a random funny sound bite on the hour. I had to laugh. It was a singing one... "You are an Idiot... Ha ha ha". It was SO appropriate. But, having an itchy rash overnight vs getting the flu and being very sick ... I'd probably have had the shot anyway. It just would have been better if I'd informed myself first.

Another outcome of yesterday's GP visit is that the arthritis I've known I've had in my fingers was actually recognised and diagnosed as osteoarthritis. Damn. I shouldn't feel too down about it since I've been dealing with it for years, but in the back of my mind I always hoped it was just the cold and my body's reaction to it, and not something degenerative. But no, I have tell tale symptoms in the form of 'Heberden's Nodes' on the first joint of my fingers, nearest the fingernails. On the bright side, I'm absolutely positive the finger arthritis would be far worse today if I were still living in Michigan. Particularly since it took my being in Australia for a year and then returning to Saginaw to discover that the tap water in Saginaw was a definite source of arthritic inflammation and pain - not to mention the *really* cold weather over there in winter. And I really have been fortunate. When I was living in Saginaw, there were a lot of times that the pain in my fingers and hands were all I could think about as it was quite intense. A few weeks after coming to Australia it cleared up (drinking rain water vs tap water with additives) and I've only had problems in the winter time here, and NOTHING at all like what I went through in Saginaw. So I have to appreciate that it's not as bad even if it does finally have official recognition.

These nodes are the ones that can make your joints twist and turn so that when you point your finger straight it looks like you're pointing to the right or left because your joint has shifted. I had a teacher in 6th grade, Mrs O'Connell, who had this, and I don't think a day went by in her class that I didn't think about how hard it must be to have your hands deformed so badly. She was a nice lady though. I've been thinking of her a lot in the last two days.

My GP recommended Volataren gel in addition to the Fenac I'm taking for the osteoarthritis in my spine, and to keep my fingers warm with fingerless gloves. I have some, but they are knit, and so I'm looking for the really really thin but warm gloves that 3M makes - thinsulate or isotoner gloves that are fingerless. Or rather have only the tips of the fingers missing. If you see any for sale anywhere online, please let me know. The knit gloves I'm currently using are black, and anytime I see them, my first though is that I have 'ninja' fingers.

In better news, I do seem to be having more energy and being able to do a lot more in a day than I had been. I'm still anemic though, and sometimes the paleness I see in the mirror really bugs me, but that could just be from the infection I had. Meanwhile I still have RDNS nurses coming in, but this week I've graduated to every other day. It is finally actually healing and getting better.

I didn't intend for this entry to be completely health related, but I guess that can't be helped. Anyway, it's time for me to finish this up and get to bed. We were both up at 8am this morning and it's really catching up with me tonight.