I was right. My blood pressure is still too high. The nurse insists I should see the doctor about it, so now I've yet another appointment with the GP. Needless to say that won't be until near the end of the month. I seem to be at the surgery every week at the moment. Too often. Still, by the end of the month, hopefully things will be more organised at the surgery. They're moving site today & tomorrow, so next week it will be to the new, just built, surgery across the road.
Meanwhile today I've got the joy of a nose dive into the freezer. The Fox is having an experimental cook today. He's getting out his other favoured bit of cooking equipment - the wok. He's going to do a stir fry, using up one of the oldest items in the freezer - some minced pork. Unfortunately I suspect the pork will be at the bottom of the chest freezer hence the nose dive. I'll dig up other items of a similar vintage while I'm at it.
The other day we were talking to the new(ish) landlord at our village pub. It will be his first winter here & he thought he'd make up some Christmas cards with a picture of the pub under snow. The only problem is that he's having difficulty finding any pictures to use. He's asking around, scouring books & archives to no result so far. We couldn't help pointing out that that is because we rarely have snow here so pictures inevitably are rare. He found this hard to believe as a Yorkshire man from the Pennine area where annually the snow would be above head height. But then we pointed out we are a lot lower here as well as having salt-laden air due to being right on the coast. I'm not sure he quite believed us. He'll find out come the winter proper.
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
The day ahead
It's off to the surgery again today. Once more I will have my blood pressure taken to see if it has gone down any since last month. I'm not expecting much change. I'm still anxious about what is causing all this abdomen pain, especially as it continues to worsen & I'm now even having difficulty swallowing food without pain. If nothing else, though, we will both have our flu jabs done - at least that's one medical problem we should avoid for the winter ahead.
After that, we're hoping to get the shopping done. We're just about out of everything, so many of the basics. I've no idea what we'll have today. I contemplated one meal option - no onion. Another thought came to mind - no potatoes. A curry? We had that yesterday. My mind goes blank. It will probably end up being a ready meal or eating out for a change.
We were going to go food shopping yesterday. By the time I'd taken in a delivery of the harvest gift from church, & been told how well I look, I collapsed in agony. I had taken some painkillers just before she'd arrived & they didn't seem to be kicking in very promptly. I ended up spending the afternoon lying down in the hope of a bit of comfort. By the time I felt up to getting up it was time for a mug of tea & then dinner.
The mutton turned out great. I can certainly see why it is mutton, rather than lamb, which is generally preferred, in most Indian-style curries. The meat seems to have more substance to hold on to, & counterbalance the spices, especially if it's a hot curry as this was. We're looking forward to finding something else to do with the other couple of portions I put in the freezer
After that, we're hoping to get the shopping done. We're just about out of everything, so many of the basics. I've no idea what we'll have today. I contemplated one meal option - no onion. Another thought came to mind - no potatoes. A curry? We had that yesterday. My mind goes blank. It will probably end up being a ready meal or eating out for a change.
We were going to go food shopping yesterday. By the time I'd taken in a delivery of the harvest gift from church, & been told how well I look, I collapsed in agony. I had taken some painkillers just before she'd arrived & they didn't seem to be kicking in very promptly. I ended up spending the afternoon lying down in the hope of a bit of comfort. By the time I felt up to getting up it was time for a mug of tea & then dinner.
The mutton turned out great. I can certainly see why it is mutton, rather than lamb, which is generally preferred, in most Indian-style curries. The meat seems to have more substance to hold on to, & counterbalance the spices, especially if it's a hot curry as this was. We're looking forward to finding something else to do with the other couple of portions I put in the freezer
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
The mutton
We're trying the mutton today. We did manage to buy some last week at the Farmers' Market. Caroline, the stallholder, told us how much she preferred the taste of mutton to lamb. We bought a shoulder.
I was surprised. I was expecting it to look a lot darker, the fat yellower. I would easily have mistaken it for lamb. When we got home, I cut the meat into portions for various days before putting it into the freezer. Now I started to become aware of the difference. The flesh was much purplier. The consistency seem to cut differently & yet I couldn't say how.
Last night, the Fox got on with the task of cooking one of the portions. He made a Jamaican mutton curry. In Big Ears, the slow cooker, of course.
The curry plopped through the night.
At 2am I was awake once more. The cramps were striking yet again. Almost before I could register the abdominal pains I was attracted/distracted by the smells coming from the kitchen. The aroma of spice, of coconut....mmm, mmm. It was enough to set any stomach rumbling in anticipation of good things to come. Though for me, in my current state of health, it also set off a sense of nausea. For several hours I twisted & turned in bed to this source of tantalisation before the medication I took began to kick in & the cramps ease once more sufficiently for me to go back to sleep.
This morning I get up. I step out of the bedroom & head towards the kitchen. Oh that smell! I've not dared to take the lid off the pot to look at it. It may be just too much to resist.
I'm now hoping it's going to taste as good as it smells. In which case we're in for a treat.
I was surprised. I was expecting it to look a lot darker, the fat yellower. I would easily have mistaken it for lamb. When we got home, I cut the meat into portions for various days before putting it into the freezer. Now I started to become aware of the difference. The flesh was much purplier. The consistency seem to cut differently & yet I couldn't say how.
Last night, the Fox got on with the task of cooking one of the portions. He made a Jamaican mutton curry. In Big Ears, the slow cooker, of course.
The curry plopped through the night.
At 2am I was awake once more. The cramps were striking yet again. Almost before I could register the abdominal pains I was attracted/distracted by the smells coming from the kitchen. The aroma of spice, of coconut....mmm, mmm. It was enough to set any stomach rumbling in anticipation of good things to come. Though for me, in my current state of health, it also set off a sense of nausea. For several hours I twisted & turned in bed to this source of tantalisation before the medication I took began to kick in & the cramps ease once more sufficiently for me to go back to sleep.
This morning I get up. I step out of the bedroom & head towards the kitchen. Oh that smell! I've not dared to take the lid off the pot to look at it. It may be just too much to resist.
I'm now hoping it's going to taste as good as it smells. In which case we're in for a treat.
Monday, 1 October 2012
Wondering & hoping
I wonder who's going to turn up today. Angie, our normal care assistant, or Debbie, who stood in last week? I suspect the latter. Angie is due for an op tomorrow - just a minor one in the day ward - & she was intending to have today off to prepare herself & her home. However, with having last week off for the birth of her grandchild, she may not be allowed two consecutive weeks off & be expected to work a few days in the middle. In some ways I do hope so. I miss her & I'm keen to hear how mother & child are doing. I get on better with Angie than Debbie, but I can also understand her urge to make sure the home is shipshape before she goes off to hospital, especially when she's been told she will have to have at least one week with no lifting or stretching for fear of re-opening the incision, which will be in the back of her neck.
I had been hoping to do something about gathering in the apples & pears. The apple tree has almost been bowed down with fruit. The pear has a scanty production. (They always seem to flourish in alternate years - this year is the apple year.) We finally had a couple of dry days at the end of last week. I was beginning to think we could finally dare to cross the sodden lawn to get to the trees. However, yesterday it once more rained. What is more, gales howled around, so now I can see a fair amount of fruit sitting in the puddles at the bottom of the trees & on the lawn. Still, as long as we can get enough to see us through the winter months - we don't need many - that's all that matters. The birds & other wildlife, the very soil itself, is welcome to the rest.
We have finally managed to harvest a few tomatoes. Most are still very green but some have a more yellowy-orange cast. I still suspect it will be green tomato tarte tatin for us!
I had been hoping to do something about gathering in the apples & pears. The apple tree has almost been bowed down with fruit. The pear has a scanty production. (They always seem to flourish in alternate years - this year is the apple year.) We finally had a couple of dry days at the end of last week. I was beginning to think we could finally dare to cross the sodden lawn to get to the trees. However, yesterday it once more rained. What is more, gales howled around, so now I can see a fair amount of fruit sitting in the puddles at the bottom of the trees & on the lawn. Still, as long as we can get enough to see us through the winter months - we don't need many - that's all that matters. The birds & other wildlife, the very soil itself, is welcome to the rest.
We have finally managed to harvest a few tomatoes. Most are still very green but some have a more yellowy-orange cast. I still suspect it will be green tomato tarte tatin for us!
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Mutton perhaps
Yesterday was a ropey day. My abdomen was playing up badly. By the afternoon all I felt up to doing was lying down & keeping as still as possible. This 8, now 7, week wait to go to the hospital seems a long time. I'm already looking eagerly for the letter in the post from the hospital with the appointment date & time.
It was pity. We actually had predominantly blue skies. It would be a great day to go out for a bit.
Today it's once more grey & wet. Typical. We're hoping to get off to the Farmers' Market later on. There wasn't one last month. We missed it. The meat in particular tends to be of so much better quality at a similar, if not lesser, price than the supermarket.
I'm contemplating trying to see if I can buy some mutton. I've never tried mutton, always lamb. I think this stall is the first place I've ever seen that sells mutton. From all accounts it is supposed to be more packed with flavour than lamb, though I do appreciate the delicacy of the latter.
Mutton does really seem to have gone out of favour in this country. I appreciate if it's a very old animal, it may be very tough & unexciting, But I can't see why there shouldn't be something inbetween, a stage where the animal has matured sufficiently to add more depth of flavour without excess toughness.
Anyhow, we'll see. I'm also thinking of buying a leg of lamb to roast at the weekend. We haven't had a roast for a while - the last time was when the Fox roasted a pheasant at the beginning of the month. I'm also hoping to get some pork steaks & some sausages. I had to resort to some sausages from another source earlier in the month - and very sorry examples of a sausage they proved to be, tough-skinned & flavourless.
Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we don't get too wet in the process. It looks more like a day of showers rather than the non-stop onslaught we had earlier in the week.
It was pity. We actually had predominantly blue skies. It would be a great day to go out for a bit.
Today it's once more grey & wet. Typical. We're hoping to get off to the Farmers' Market later on. There wasn't one last month. We missed it. The meat in particular tends to be of so much better quality at a similar, if not lesser, price than the supermarket.
I'm contemplating trying to see if I can buy some mutton. I've never tried mutton, always lamb. I think this stall is the first place I've ever seen that sells mutton. From all accounts it is supposed to be more packed with flavour than lamb, though I do appreciate the delicacy of the latter.
Mutton does really seem to have gone out of favour in this country. I appreciate if it's a very old animal, it may be very tough & unexciting, But I can't see why there shouldn't be something inbetween, a stage where the animal has matured sufficiently to add more depth of flavour without excess toughness.
Anyhow, we'll see. I'm also thinking of buying a leg of lamb to roast at the weekend. We haven't had a roast for a while - the last time was when the Fox roasted a pheasant at the beginning of the month. I'm also hoping to get some pork steaks & some sausages. I had to resort to some sausages from another source earlier in the month - and very sorry examples of a sausage they proved to be, tough-skinned & flavourless.
Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we don't get too wet in the process. It looks more like a day of showers rather than the non-stop onslaught we had earlier in the week.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
On it goes
Still it comes. It rained all day yesterday. If anything it seems even heavier today. There's just no let up. Needless to say the way to the greenhouse is once more flooded. The bog garden now extends pretty well across half the patio area. However it is nowhere near the house yet & that's the main thing. The garden will recover. I obviously did a good job when I re-planted the bog garden. All previously efforts have drowned but these plants seem to be really flourishing in this year's rains.
The next thing I will do is update you on my hunt for a diagnosis for my abdominal pains. The doctor has decided that the next stage is another visit to the hospital to see someone with more specialised knowledge. He is inclined to suspect that I am right in my analysis & that Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is the most probable cause. In the meantime he's put me on a different antispasmodic, one specifically designed to treat IBS. It does seem more efficient. I've even had a couple of painfree days & nights, a chance to catch up on my sleep a bit. However, it hasn't solved the problem, though the character & frequency of the pain has reduced & altered. He also told me there is an 8 week waiting list for the hospital. I reckon that makes it December before anything more will be known. The waiting continues.
Yesterday a different home help came. Angie, our usual helper, is off as her youngest daughter went into labour during the night. Her daughter is only 17 & wants her mother there for support. Next week Angie herself is having a minor op so won't be working. In the meantime the care agency is sending someone else, Debbie.
Debbie & I are struggling to find common ground at the moment. Last time she came, when Angie was holiday, Debbie was keen to talk about the Olympics which were then on - not a topic of great interest for me as you will realise. This time she was keen to discuss the TV soaps, especially "Eastenders" - she's a Londoner herself - or "X Factor". I don't watch either programme. Indeed I don't watch much TV at all. I resist watching daytime TV. And by the time I've eaten dinner & got changed, I'm either ready for bed or we tend to spend the evening chuntering over a bottle of wine with music in the air. Indeed yesterday I only watched the news & "University Challenge". It's rare that I watch more than an hour in the evening. As for soaps, I don't watch any. I just follow "The Archers" on Radio 4 - an old link with my mother who was a keen fan.
I wonder what Debbie will think might interest me next week.
The next thing I will do is update you on my hunt for a diagnosis for my abdominal pains. The doctor has decided that the next stage is another visit to the hospital to see someone with more specialised knowledge. He is inclined to suspect that I am right in my analysis & that Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is the most probable cause. In the meantime he's put me on a different antispasmodic, one specifically designed to treat IBS. It does seem more efficient. I've even had a couple of painfree days & nights, a chance to catch up on my sleep a bit. However, it hasn't solved the problem, though the character & frequency of the pain has reduced & altered. He also told me there is an 8 week waiting list for the hospital. I reckon that makes it December before anything more will be known. The waiting continues.
Yesterday a different home help came. Angie, our usual helper, is off as her youngest daughter went into labour during the night. Her daughter is only 17 & wants her mother there for support. Next week Angie herself is having a minor op so won't be working. In the meantime the care agency is sending someone else, Debbie.
Debbie & I are struggling to find common ground at the moment. Last time she came, when Angie was holiday, Debbie was keen to talk about the Olympics which were then on - not a topic of great interest for me as you will realise. This time she was keen to discuss the TV soaps, especially "Eastenders" - she's a Londoner herself - or "X Factor". I don't watch either programme. Indeed I don't watch much TV at all. I resist watching daytime TV. And by the time I've eaten dinner & got changed, I'm either ready for bed or we tend to spend the evening chuntering over a bottle of wine with music in the air. Indeed yesterday I only watched the news & "University Challenge". It's rare that I watch more than an hour in the evening. As for soaps, I don't watch any. I just follow "The Archers" on Radio 4 - an old link with my mother who was a keen fan.
I wonder what Debbie will think might interest me next week.
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Treading water
Once more it's time for the food shop. Just a small top-up shop this week.
Tomorrow we go on the next stage in the search for a diagnosis as to what is causing me so much pain & us both so much anxiety & loss of sleep, i.e. we're off to see the doc & discover what next he suggests, what new test he thinks I ought to have.
We both will be relieved to know exactly what the problem is. Even if it's something dire - which I don't really think it is - at least we will be able to adjust our life accordingly, get appropriate medical treatment to ease the situation. As it is neither of us feel we can make any plans. How I will be on a particular day has long been questionable but there have been certain parameters to work within. I have known if I can take things easy for a few days - the very idea of which instantly makes me want to do things so contrary am I - I can usually do most things. Now we daren't even commit to going out for a meal with friends without wondering if we'll make it. The idea of a holiday, which appeals greatly to us after this sunless summer, is just impossible, even if it is only for a weekend. Anxieties over benefits have faded in the background. We've still not heard anything about them.
Anyhow as we're off to get food today, the Fox has prepared a quick Tuna Macaroni for dinner tonight. It's all ready to go in the oven as soon as we're back from the shops. It will cook unattended while we put our purchases away. Tomorrow I'm go to make a great pan of Pea & Mint Soup with Prosciutto in the morning. We'll buy some fresh bread on the way back from the surgery. We'll decide is we want anything more after we've had the soup. There's a quick microwaveable meal in the freezer we can have. Or a pizza. Or eggs for an omelette. As I say we will decide after the soup has gone.
I just hope we get answers soon.
Tomorrow we go on the next stage in the search for a diagnosis as to what is causing me so much pain & us both so much anxiety & loss of sleep, i.e. we're off to see the doc & discover what next he suggests, what new test he thinks I ought to have.
We both will be relieved to know exactly what the problem is. Even if it's something dire - which I don't really think it is - at least we will be able to adjust our life accordingly, get appropriate medical treatment to ease the situation. As it is neither of us feel we can make any plans. How I will be on a particular day has long been questionable but there have been certain parameters to work within. I have known if I can take things easy for a few days - the very idea of which instantly makes me want to do things so contrary am I - I can usually do most things. Now we daren't even commit to going out for a meal with friends without wondering if we'll make it. The idea of a holiday, which appeals greatly to us after this sunless summer, is just impossible, even if it is only for a weekend. Anxieties over benefits have faded in the background. We've still not heard anything about them.
Anyhow as we're off to get food today, the Fox has prepared a quick Tuna Macaroni for dinner tonight. It's all ready to go in the oven as soon as we're back from the shops. It will cook unattended while we put our purchases away. Tomorrow I'm go to make a great pan of Pea & Mint Soup with Prosciutto in the morning. We'll buy some fresh bread on the way back from the surgery. We'll decide is we want anything more after we've had the soup. There's a quick microwaveable meal in the freezer we can have. Or a pizza. Or eggs for an omelette. As I say we will decide after the soup has gone.
I just hope we get answers soon.
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