A Bone Scan at Addenbrooke’s
My gastroenterologist thought that as a coeliac, that I ought to have a bone density scan and I did today. I also decided that it would be easier, if I took the train to Cambridge and then got a bus to the hospital. I could have got someone to drive me, but in some ways there is less hassle if you take a bus, especially, as the stop is in the station forecourt.
I actually arrived early and after being booked in by the receptionist, she advised that I went and had a coffee and returned on the booked time. That shows a high degree of professionalism and confidence that the radiologist can keep to te set schedule.
They’d said if I didn’t want to wear a hospital gown, then I should wear clothes without zips and fastenings. But as I haven’t been warm for a few days, I wore my usual uniform of blue cord trousers, short sleeved shirt, jumper and Jodhpur boots. The radiologist said that would be fine, as all I would have to do is drop my trousers to my knees. I could make a comment about when young ladies say that, but I won’t!
It took perhaps fifteen minutes to do the scan, with the machine moving up and down my lower body. It was completely without any feeling and all I’ve got to do is wait for the results to be assessed.
I think as medicine progresses, we’ll see more and more specialist machines like this, developed with clever software and hopefully operated as many hours of the day as is possible. Assets should always be made to sweat!
About an hour after arriving, I was back at the station waiting for the train home.
The Effect of Calcium Tablets
I reported in Calcium and Vitamin D, that I thought that the calcium tablets were helping me get a bit better.
It is some days since I wrote that and my typing seems much better. It could also be today, that Ipswich beat The Damned United yesterday and that gave my brain a lift.
But I’m not going to knock it!
Also, my mouth seems better. I just wonder if my mouth is rather acidic and of course the calcium tablets, which are mainly calcium carbonate will neutralise the acid and generate carbon dioxide. Could that create a beneficial effect?
The Welcome Invader from the East.
After racing yesterday, I took the train from Thirsk to York, so that I could see my old boss, who was in hospital in York. He seemed better in some ways to when I saw him a few weeks ago, but I understand from his family he has a long way to go. But I know he’ll do it, as he’ll find some way to pull through. I’ll also visit him when I can, as he has been such a great support to me over the previous couple of years through my troubles and I know I must pay that back. But I’m not that good on those sorts of debts!
But as I got back from York to Cambridge for the princely sum of just £13.20, it’s not something that would worry anybody on cost grounds!
After I’d seen him in hospital, I went with his son to the local Premium Inn. They had bottles of Aspall cyder in the bar! So over 250 years after it was first brewed in Suffolk, it finally invades Yorkshire!
I certainly needed a drink after the day I’d had!
Fragile Warfarin Tablets
The pharmacist recently changed my Warfarin tablets to a different make; Teva UK, Leeds LS27 0JG.
TEVA Warfarin Tablets
Medically, I ASSume they’re OK, but I tend to break them getting them out of the packaging. The dog doesn’t mind, as she’ll eat anything that can go down a basset.
Calcium and Vitamin D
Yesterday afternoon, I chewed a calcium tablet and took a small one for vitamin D, after a chat with my doctor about the results of the blood tests.
I hadn’t expected a quick effect, but did I get one last night, as I felt a lot better in the evening, with a lot less pain in my mouth and arm. I went to bed at half-ten and slept well until six in the morning, which is usually my time to start the day.
Typing seems a bit better this morning, so who knows if the pills have had an affect. I can’t believe one of each can bring an improvement. It could be just psychological, in that I now know there’s nothing wrong!
Here’s hoping that they did.
Today, I’m off to London to see Ipswich play at Millwall. I shall be exploring hidden parts of London for this blog. So let’s see how my body holds up today!
If nothing though, I would argue that everybody needs a full set of blood tests at about forty to see if they have any underlying problems. If I had it earlier, they might have picked up my coeliac disease, but reading about calcium deficiency and its symptoms, I may have suffered from that too at times. I have always tended to have pins and needles in my left hand and even saw the doctor about it once. We put it down to the break in the arm caused by the bully at school. But could it have been a calcium deficiency?
Also, as I feel used to feel that all gluten-free bread was made from cardboard, I didn’t eat it. so was I getting my recommended dose of cslcium, as by law bread in the UK has to have added calcium?
I knew that there was something wrong, as I lay in hospital and wanted them to do a full blood test because I felt it was a coeliac problem. Should all of those recovering from a stroke, be given a full set of blood tests, to make sure they don’t have any underlying problems that are hindering their recovery?
Permanently Feeling Glutened
I still have the bad nails and itchy scalp and sometimes I think that I’m getting almost a daily dose of gluten. I should get the results of the blood tests in the next day or so, so I’ll hopefully know whether I have a biochemical issue.
Could it be the statins or the Warfarin tablets I take? I’ll give the manufacturers a call today too!
Pea Therapy
I have my son and his friend to lunch today. I’ve just been shelling peas, which is something that I haven’t done since I was a child.
It seemed to be good therapy for my bad left hand!
Jimmy “No Bellies” Gardner
Today one of the competitors in the Great North Run is Paul Gascoigne’s old drinking mate Jimmy “Five Bellies” Gardner.
Except that he’s slimmed from twenty-one stone to thirteen and now goes by the nickname of “No Bellies” according to The Sun.
Let’s hope he keeps to his new lifestyle!
My Father Would Turn in His Grave, if He Had One!
I had a good day yesterday, in that I made a video of the Tour of Britain at Clare and successfuly posted it on this blog. But my arm is starting to work a bit better and I’m in less pain. Perhaps, my brain is winning in its battle with my nerves and is understanding them better! If it can’t understand them, the brain says pain!
My computer told me today, that I must get ready for my Warfarin test on Monday. I do it a couple of days early, so that I can find the form that I must take.
The Dreaded Hospital Form/Letter
These letters are a disgrace and the man, who designed them should be dismissed from all his jobs immediately. I would suggest capital punishment, but even for design crimes as heinous as this, I will not ease my stance on the evil death penalty.
So why do I hate these letters so much?
For a start, they are so difficult to open, even for someone like me with only a good right hand! And one that can efficiently wield a pair of scissors. Suppose you were more decrepit than me, with perhaps severe arthritis or a missing hand. You wouldn’t stand a chance of opening the letter without damaging it, so much that it became unreadable.
Then when you have opened it, it refuses to lay flat, so it is not an easy thing to store and retrieve. I usually pin it to a notice board, but as it doesn’t do flat very well, it sometimes manages to force itself to the floor.
Perhaps, the main reason, I hate these letters so much, is that they are in many ways unnecessary. If you need to change your dose, the hospital phones you! If you forget the form, when you have a blood test, then the nurse knows the questions to ask!
But as I said in a previous post, why can’t you be informed by SMS message or e-mail?
So why would my father be spinning? He was a printer, who made a lot of money by designing paper systems that worked. He would have known how to do this form/letter better.
If I had my way, if a letter needs to be sent, then I would send a postcard. I know to some this wouldn’t be confidential, but it certainly doesn’t matter to me, that the world knows my Warfarin dose is 5 mg. a day!
A Post From an Anti-Spam List
I belong to an anti-spam list called Spammers Don’t Like Us.
This was posted today.
Several years back, my now ex and I tried SPAM(R) sandwiches for dinner one night. It didn’t agree with me for some reason. Woke up mumbling a whole bunch of stuff about pills, weight loss, credit cards, discounts, coupon codes, marketing opportunities, etc. Then I just spewed vomit everywhere.
My then wife said “Five five what?? Message? What Message?” I said back to her “Honey, I bounced the spam.” The whole thing was very freudian.
Also was my one and only experience as a backscatterer.
As a coeliac, I should ask if Spam is gluten-free.
The Anonymous Widower 