Thanks for the comments @Tikay10, @MAXALLY and @Enut. Good to see all the familiar faces still around. Great video @Enut! I really enjoy watching Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer fishing on the telly. It's like spending the afternoon with them...
Hard to believe a month has passed since my last update.
I don't have the bankroll for any more £5.50 BH Tournies... I thought about reloading but decided instead to play 2p/4p cash to see how much of a roll I can build or how quickly I can whittle my BR dovn to zero! I will keep track on here.
Since the last update. I had a "bad do" with my stomach once again. 15 hours of vomiting culminating in lots of black (congealed blood) coming up. It was looking like another spell in hospital but I picked up and avoided it.
When I came out of hospital in September they said they would call me back for cameras down the throat and up the bum - hopefully not at the same time! However, no appointment came through. I assumed the NHS have long waiting lists but my cousion called the hospital after the other week's bout of sickness and arranged an appointment with a consultant for tomorrow.
Having been diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, Mum is now on beta blockers to reduce the risk of a stroke. She seems more tired and confused but it is hard to know whether it is the drugs or something else... people have told me beta blockers do weird things to the mind initially but then settle down.
While mum was in hospital in November, I had a scrape in the car park when visiting her. I was heartbroken to damage someone else's car. For the past fortnight, my van has been away having the bodywork repaired so I have been pretty much confined to barracks which hasn't been much fun.
It was a week after the van had been taken away before I got a text from the garage to say they had only just started work on it. It seemed a frustratingly long time - I guess normally they would provide a courtesy car so it doesn't matter how long the work takes but there is only one vehicle in the world that I am able to drive.
At one point, it seemed it would be the only vehicle I would ever drive as the people who adapted it said that modern cars are too complex with many layers of security systems for the conversion I need to be made to them. However, they recently emailed me to say that they have now come up with a couple of ideas that could make it possible and are confident at least one of their theories will work. It was the best news for some time!
The HMRC replied about registering my speech therapy charity for Gift Aid... but only to send me a link to another form to fill in. So it is still in limbo. Meanwhile, I have been attending courses put on by the local Voluntary Action Group - mostly recently a course about writing grant applications. The courses are very informative and good for making contacts.
I saw a consultant-nurse rather than a full blown consultant this morning and I came away re-assured.
I also learnt a few things - although the local anaesthetic made me unconscious when they put the camera down my throat in September, I was still wriggling around which is why they didn't go too far down but they couldn't see any signs of bleeding.
When I was in hospital, they talked about putting cameras in under general anaesthetic but today she was keen to highlight the risks of that - suppressing the body's natural reflexes could result in bad stuff getting into my lungs. There is also the risk of tearing the gullet/stomach which could be fatal. I guess they didn't tell me that in September as they didn't want to scare me if I didn't improve and needed them to go in with cameras.
Had I not brought up the black vomit the other week, I think they would have taken no further action as I've had no sickness apart from that however she talked about doing a CT scan of my stomach. They took a blood test today, if that is ok they might not do anything further - I certainly don't feeling anaemic.
The vomiting 10 days ago came after I had missed a couple of doses of medication. The chemist had the medication in stock but there was no pharmacist there to check it until the next day so I had to go without. I am going to ensure I put in my repeat prescriptions in good time in future - although in the past when I have put them in too early, the GPs have refused to approve them. You can't win!
I certainly sympathise with the repeat prescription thing as I've had the same problem. I've sort of got round it by building up a stock, I order one month's worth every 3 weeks, so now I have a 6 month reserve.
@QUICKFEET I had both those cameras last year. I was given the option of just gas and air or with sedation. I opted for sedation. I don't remember anything about the camera down the throat but I came round before they had finished the other one. It wasn't painful but I did feel some discomfort internally as they manoeuvred the camera around my guts. The whole thing was over in about 20-30 minutes. 2 cups of tea while I waited for my lift home were most welcome.
Balance at last update £15.26 Current balance £22.13
So a £7 gain in 5 weeks is not too bad on the 4p/2p cash tables. I don't play every day and when I do play, it's only for about half an hour, often less if I am quickly in profit. I am aiming/hoping to reach £100 by the end of the year although I know only too well how the poker gods can turn nasty and scupper any plans... but if I avoid getting sloppy, as happens now and then, I think I can get there.
My blog has been pretty grim recently but last weekend was lovely. Mum was 91 on the 18th and we spent the weekend with my cousin in King's Lynn. A long way from my home in the North West and the longest drive I have ever done, especially coming home when an accident closed the A17 and meant we were on the road for 6 hours. My Cerebral Palsy makes it difficult to control my limbs at the best of times and my muscles were aching when I got home.
But it was all worthwhile as my mum had a great birthday with our extended family. She particularly enjoyed the swings in the adventure playground at Sandringham!
We also went to Wells Next The Sea (that is not a typo! We initially thought every sign in the town had a missing word until we discovered it's correct when spoken in the local dialect). Whatever it's called, it was a lovely place - it had a Cornish feel to it.
On the last day, we had a tour round the old part of King's Lynn. I had no idea how much history the town has with some remarkable old buildings.
I hope this does not come across as condescending or patronising, but all things considered - the author types with his toes - that's a beautifully presented Post, no typos or spellos, correct paragraphs, photos well-presented.
I can - just about - use my fingers to type, but it's rare I manage to avoid typos in a post of that length.
Balance at last update £22.13 Current balance £21.44
So a slight loss this week, I was outdrawn every hand in one session but was pleased that I kept my head and didn’t squander the whole buy-in. A better run of luck this evening allowed me to recover most of the loss.
After the kind comments from @Tikay10 last week, the pressure is on not to make any typos this time! ha ha...
When writing articles, I have a little “cheat”. On the Review tab of MS Word there is the Read Aloud function. I find that really helpful when proof-reading as the computer reads what I have actually written, not what I think I have written. Badly flowing prose also standings out when spoken by the dis-membered voice.
Tikay is very humble, but he is pretty good with his words himself. His daily reports of the featured tournaments are always very readable even though he has so few details of the winners and the hands they played to add depth and colour. I find his updates a “must read” even though I rarely take part in any of the tournaments.
It was good to see my old friend and mentor @StayOrGo , get a mention in Tikay’s updates with two victories in one evening last week.
My motor racing reporting has restarted this weekend as yesterday was Oulton Park’s first meeting of the season. It was a good one too, a festival of Caterhams. These little sportscars are so square and box-like, they make a huge hole in the air so everyone can slip-stream the leader preventing them from breaking away. We had up to a dozen cars charging round within a second or so of each other for most of the day. There was only one race (out of 10) where the winning margin was more than a second and that was only because, with a lap to go, the bloke in the runner-up position suddenly lost power forcing those behind to jam on the anchors and take avoiding action.
The closest winning margin was just 0.006 secs.
Sadly, the meeting ended on a low note as there was a bad accident in the penultimate race which necessitated the air ambulance having to visit the track to take a driver away.
"When writing articles, I have a little “cheat”. On the Review tab of MS Word there is the Read Aloud function. I find that really helpful when proof-reading as the computer reads what I have actually written, not what I think I have written. Badly flowing prose also standings out when spoken by the dis-membered voice."
Comments
Crikey, what a time you've had. You have wonderful fortitude, you really do.
So so good to see you back.
Great to see you back posting. I genuinely wish you (And your Saint of a mother) all the best. Make sure you enjoy your poker.
Great video @Enut! I really enjoy watching Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer fishing on the telly. It's like spending the afternoon with them...
@QUICKFEET
Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer fishing on the telly.
Certainly amongst the Top 5 of (terrestrial) TV shows I watched in 2022. So relaxing.
Your mum is truly amazing for looking after you so well at her age. Wishing you both all the best going forward.
Hope to bump into you at the tables some point soon.
Hard to believe a month has passed since my last update.
I don't have the bankroll for any more £5.50 BH Tournies... I thought about reloading but decided instead to play 2p/4p cash to see how much of a roll I can build or how quickly I can whittle my BR dovn to zero! I will keep track on here.
Since the last update. I had a "bad do" with my stomach once again. 15 hours of vomiting culminating in lots of black (congealed blood) coming up. It was looking like another spell in hospital but I picked up and avoided it.
When I came out of hospital in September they said they would call me back for cameras down the throat and up the bum - hopefully not at the same time! However, no appointment came through. I assumed the NHS have long waiting lists but my cousion called the hospital after the other week's bout of sickness and arranged an appointment with a consultant for tomorrow.
Having been diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, Mum is now on beta blockers to reduce the risk of a stroke. She seems more tired and confused but it is hard to know whether it is the drugs or something else... people have told me beta blockers do weird things to the mind initially but then settle down.
While mum was in hospital in November, I had a scrape in the car park when visiting her. I was heartbroken to damage someone else's car. For the past fortnight, my van has been away having the bodywork repaired so I have been pretty much confined to barracks which hasn't been much fun.
It was a week after the van had been taken away before I got a text from the garage to say they had only just started work on it. It seemed a frustratingly long time - I guess normally they would provide a courtesy car so it doesn't matter how long the work takes but there is only one vehicle in the world that I am able to drive.
At one point, it seemed it would be the only vehicle I would ever drive as the people who adapted it said that modern cars are too complex with many layers of security systems for the conversion I need to be made to them. However, they recently emailed me to say that they have now come up with a couple of ideas that could make it possible and are confident at least one of their theories will work. It was the best news for some time!
The HMRC replied about registering my speech therapy charity for Gift Aid... but only to send me a link to another form to fill in. So it is still in limbo. Meanwhile, I have been attending courses put on by the local Voluntary Action Group - mostly recently a course about writing grant applications. The courses are very informative and good for making contacts.
Goodness me, it's never easy is it?
Good luck with the Consultant today.
I saw a consultant-nurse rather than a full blown consultant this morning and I came away re-assured.
I also learnt a few things - although the local anaesthetic made me unconscious when they put the camera down my throat in September, I was still wriggling around which is why they didn't go too far down but they couldn't see any signs of bleeding.
When I was in hospital, they talked about putting cameras in under general anaesthetic but today she was keen to highlight the risks of that - suppressing the body's natural reflexes could result in bad stuff getting into my lungs. There is also the risk of tearing the gullet/stomach which could be fatal. I guess they didn't tell me that in September as they didn't want to scare me if I didn't improve and needed them to go in with cameras.
Had I not brought up the black vomit the other week, I think they would have taken no further action as I've had no sickness apart from that however she talked about doing a CT scan of my stomach. They took a blood test today, if that is ok they might not do anything further - I certainly don't feeling anaemic.
The vomiting 10 days ago came after I had missed a couple of doses of medication. The chemist had the medication in stock but there was no pharmacist there to check it until the next day so I had to go without. I am going to ensure I put in my repeat prescriptions in good time in future - although in the past when I have put them in too early, the GPs have refused to approve them. You can't win!
@QUICKFEET
I certainly sympathise with the repeat prescription thing as I've had the same problem. I've sort of got round it by building up a stock, I order one month's worth every 3 weeks, so now I have a 6 month reserve.
I had both those cameras last year.
I was given the option of just gas and air or with sedation.
I opted for sedation.
I don't remember anything about the camera down the throat but I came round before they had finished the other one.
It wasn't painful but I did feel some discomfort internally as they manoeuvred the camera around my guts.
The whole thing was over in about 20-30 minutes.
2 cups of tea while I waited for my lift home were most welcome.
Good luck.
Current balance £22.13
So a £7 gain in 5 weeks is not too bad on the 4p/2p cash tables. I don't play every day and when I do play, it's only for about half an hour, often less if I am quickly in profit. I am aiming/hoping to reach £100 by the end of the year although I know only too well how the poker gods can turn nasty and scupper any plans... but if I avoid getting sloppy, as happens now and then, I think I can get there.
My blog has been pretty grim recently but last weekend was lovely. Mum was 91 on the 18th and we spent the weekend with my cousin in King's Lynn. A long way from my home in the North West and the longest drive I have ever done, especially coming home when an accident closed the A17 and meant we were on the road for 6 hours. My Cerebral Palsy makes it difficult to control my limbs at the best of times and my muscles were aching when I got home.
But it was all worthwhile as my mum had a great birthday with our extended family. She particularly enjoyed the swings in the adventure playground at Sandringham!
We also went to Wells Next The Sea (that is not a typo! We initially thought every sign in the town had a missing word until we discovered it's correct when spoken in the local dialect). Whatever it's called, it was a lovely place - it had a Cornish feel to it.
On the last day, we had a tour round the old part of King's Lynn. I had no idea how much history the town has with some remarkable old buildings.
@QUICKFEET
Fabulous update, thanks. Great photos too.
I hope this does not come across as condescending or patronising, but all things considered - the author types with his toes - that's a beautifully presented Post, no typos or spellos, correct paragraphs, photos well-presented.
I can - just about - use my fingers to type, but it's rare I manage to avoid typos in a post of that length.
Current balance £21.44
So a slight loss this week, I was outdrawn every hand in one session but was pleased that I kept my head and didn’t squander the whole buy-in. A better run of luck this evening allowed me to recover most of the loss.
After the kind comments from @Tikay10 last week, the pressure is on not to make any typos this time! ha ha...
When writing articles, I have a little “cheat”. On the Review tab of MS Word there is the Read Aloud function. I find that really helpful when proof-reading as the computer reads what I have actually written, not what I think I have written. Badly flowing prose also standings out when spoken by the dis-membered voice.
Tikay is very humble, but he is pretty good with his words himself. His daily reports of the featured tournaments are always very readable even though he has so few details of the winners and the hands they played to add depth and colour. I find his updates a “must read” even though I rarely take part in any of the tournaments.
It was good to see my old friend and mentor @StayOrGo , get a mention in Tikay’s updates with two victories in one evening last week.
My motor racing reporting has restarted this weekend as yesterday was Oulton Park’s first meeting of the season. It was a good one too, a festival of Caterhams. These little sportscars are so square and box-like, they make a huge hole in the air so everyone can slip-stream the leader preventing them from breaking away. We had up to a dozen cars charging round within a second or so of each other for most of the day. There was only one race (out of 10) where the winning margin was more than a second and that was only because, with a lap to go, the bloke in the runner-up position suddenly lost power forcing those behind to jam on the anchors and take avoiding action.
The closest winning margin was just 0.006 secs.
Sadly, the meeting ended on a low note as there was a bad accident in the penultimate race which necessitated the air ambulance having to visit the track to take a driver away.
The final race was then cancelled.
Such are the highs and lows of motorsport.
"When writing articles, I have a little “cheat”. On the Review tab of MS Word there is the Read Aloud function. I find that really helpful when proof-reading as the computer reads what I have actually written, not what I think I have written. Badly flowing prose also standings out when spoken by the dis-membered voice."
Superb tip, thanks @Quickfeet.