Jambo

Good advice. I just took a phone call from my Doctor's Practice. it would seem they have had second thoughts about seeing me after all. I have a 10'30 appointment on Friday with the senior Partner at the Practice to whom the original two page letter about my medications was sent by the Royal Hospital. I would place a very large bet that it was the old cow of a Receptionist who decided there was no need for me to see the Doctor. 😄

Nice headlamps.

There is a guy on U-Tube who posts regularly about his EV Porsche. He went over some uneven ground and holed the underside of the vehicle. It was feared he had holed the battery which meant a new battery replacement at a horrendous cost. He was fortunate to get away with that but he absolutely hates the vehicle. He did long journeys and it was a constant problem of finding places to recharge the battery. Go into a filling station for petrol and you are in and out in less than 5 minutes. For EV vehicles you have to plan for long journeys to find a charging point, hope it is working, wait your turn and go and have a coffee or two whilst it gets on with the recharge. f**k that for two soldiers! I think he has got rid of it now but thanks to the immediate deterioration in value he is left owing I think he said 30K in finance. More than a little "off topic" but I am seriously considering getting an e-cycle because I like cycling but at my age the assistance of battery power is very attractive. Then I read about the number of batteries that have apparently self combusted on recharge. I was thinking of recharging the battery in house so to speak which becomes alarming. The other consideration is that they are three times as heavy as a normal cycle so people fall off them more often at slow speeds.

I have been on co-codomol far too long. I am sure it has become less effective as my body has got used to it every day. The Hospital wants me to take it 3 times a day but three weeks prior to my operation I decided to reduce my consumption to just two tablets twice a day. I definitely had withdrawal symptoms including a few days of "anxiety" feelings in the morning. That did not last long and I was soon back to normal. Unfortunately in those last few weeks "normal" was very severe pain in my hip but that was due to my hip getting to the point of collapse not the reduction in the medication. I decided to make one last attempt at requesting a phone call from my GP simply with the object for him to concur with my decision to get completely off the opioid med asap. Certainly by the end of this month. The final insult was I tried to complete an online e-consult this morning making the request for my GP to phone me. It came up with a message: "We are unable to assess your condition on line. Please close the e-consult and telephone your GP to request an urgent appointment." More chance of winning the lottery.

Monday - Day 7 after my new hip Dear Diary The Good: 1. My total experience at the Royal Hospital in Edinburgh. A credit to the UK's National Health Service 2. Early telephone call this morning confirming the District Nurse will be with me before 1pm to clean and change my dressing. 3. Phone call from Blackburn Pharmacy confirming they will be delivering another batch of blood thinners later today. ( I have to inject myself with these for the next 6 weeks.) The Bad: Telephoned Simpsons Medical Practice as I had not received confirmation that my GP will see me on Friday to discuss my range of medications as set out in a two page letter issued to them by The Royal Hospital. I had been instructed by the Doctor at the hospital who gave me my initial supply of medications to insist that my GP discussed these with me this week. I sent an email to the Practice asking them to find me a slot this Friday when my Daughter can transport me by car. No chance! No appointment available and apparently my GP does not consider there is any urgent need for such a visit. I should mention that the last occasion I telephoned the Practice for an appointment with my GP the earliest available was exactly 28 days from the date of my request. The reason I wish to see my doctor is that the Hospital has put me back on Co-codomol which I do NOT wish to take 1 day longer than I absolutely necessary. What is the opposite of self-medicate? From today I reduce my co-codomol intake by 50%. If there is no major increase in pain, and I don't believe there will be, I stop taking this opioid completely on Thursday. Major Advantage: No more constipation. I can have a couple of pints when I take my family out to lunch on Saturday.

Sunday - Day 6 after my new Hip Dear Diary It has been a good day. 🤣 Completed my 7 set exercises in full with no subsequent pain other than a dull ache where the wound is healing. It is funny as I have been so used to my left leg not working, not bending, not weight supporting that I still wonder if it is going to work. I am therefore quite surprised that I can lay on my back and slide my heal towards my new hip or sit in a chair and straighten my leg all without any pain. May sound silly to say that but extreme pain has been my constant companion for so long. Everyone is different and has there own experiences. I log into YouTube today and immediately there is a batch of new videos about hip replacements. One of the new ones was I am sure a doctor who had the same operation as me but a couple of days later than mine. He had three days of extreme pain after the operation and was still experiencing that pain as his wife drove him home from the hospital. The guy in the next bed to me in hospital all but passed out from the pain he experienced from his first attempted walk. I have been amazingly lucky. In the 6 days since the operation the only pain I am experiencing is the good pain of a wound healing. I went for a walk today and I am using a stick in my right hand but.........just in case, not because I need it for balance. I went up and down the 5 steps adjacent to the entrance to my flat. There is nothing special about me. I did read that the posterior version of a hip replacement makes minimal movement to the tendons etc around the hip so there is less to heal. I don't know whether that is true but I give all the credit the Mr W the Consultant who replaced my hip. Sun is finally coming out today. I think I will head out to the garden with my kindle again. 😄

I am intending to return to my carnivore diet from Monday. I still have a target to achieve. Basically that is all protein being meat and fish/seafood. No processed food; no sugar; no carbs. Sounds unhealthy but if it was not for my hip I have never felt healthier and I have no cravings. Do you still recommend adding in the protein shakes? The only additions I currently take is daily strawberry flavored electrolyte tablets.

Saturday - Day 5 following my new hip. Not allowed to get the dressing wet so sponge bath spraying water all over the bathroom. For the first time for months I decided to leave the condo and visit the paper shop which is a 100mtrs or so down hill. I only used one stick just for balance but took it slow and easy. Hit the ATM in the shop and back to the usual football banter with Mo the owner. He had been wondering where I had been. Back, up the hill this time, then work my way through the condo to the lift. A walk down another long hall and down 5 steps ( bad leg first) and into the flat. My hip was aching from the walk so I decided to take an hours rest before doing my mandatory exercises. I have 7 mandatory exercises to do twice a day with a further three to add once I am comfortably completing the first seven. I could do them all but I reduced the repetitions on three of them. They emphasize building up slowly. It is a balancing act between between doing too much and not enough. Both are as bad as one another. Another rest and then lunch. Another beautiful day and you have to make the most of these in Scotland. So off I go again walking down to the garden where I spent the next two hours out in the sunshine reading my kindle. Elevated my left leg using a neglected old chair. Watching England playing footy now. How the f##k is Magire still in the side? I feel sorry for Saka because he is getting no service. To be continued.

Catz, Boesche, FLB, Living Dolls and back to FLB. How many times that was my typical night out in Pattaya. If my memory doesn't let me down Boesche had the glass ceiling and you would find a girl above your head flashing her piss flaps at you. Living Dolls always smelled funny but I loved it. Went in there first night back after 6 months since my last trip. Service girl takes me to a table and as I sit down she whispers in my ear " Joy not working tonight would you like me to phone her?" Six months and she remembered I always b/fined Joy at least once every trip. Happy days. ps. Joy always brought her latest young friend with her. Tag team.

Come on Tom. There are some excellent tourist attractions in and around Pattaya enjoyed by all whether Thai or farlang. This just was not one of them.

It is a beautiful day and I have not been in the Condo's garden since the end of June. I have to practice my walking so out of the front door, turn right and immediately up 5 steps. Good leg up/bad leg down and no problem. Long walk down the hallway to the lift. I have no pain whatsoever and ask my daughter to give a true assessment of how I am walking. She is adamant that it looks..........normal. Both legs are now the same length since the operation. Previously my bad leg was one inch shorter than the left. Meet several tenants on route who seem amazed that I had the Op on Tuesday and here I am walking to the garden on Friday. Nobody, but nobody, is more amazed than me. My two sticks are lightly resting against the seat and my weight is equal on both feet. For the first time I can see where the 3 1/2 stone I have lost on my diet has gone. Stayed for a while until I walked back and rested for an hour. At no time did I experience any pain other than a "2" from the wound area. Really Amazing! Without wishing to sound a wimp that surgeon has given me my life back.

The biggest problem I have had is getting all my meds sorted out. First my 07:00 am meds 12:00 noon its second dose of co-codomol Shit! forgot my laxative powder but dump completed anyway🤣 10:00pm its another type of laxative, more co-codomol and inject myself with blood thinners for the next 6 weeks. This morning I start my sets of 7 exercises which I left alone yesterday because I was feeling on a downer which is no doubt simply a natural reaction to having quite major surgery. I feel great today and my daughter has just arrived and she can act as assistant Physio . Came in bearing gifts from McDonalds which is not compatible with my carnivore diet. To be continued.

The best it has ever looked. I hope they got the right date on the insurance claim.

Somehow my post in reply is out of sink a few posts above. 😄

All good I am pleased to say after a shaky start. I woke up at 04:00 needing a pee which is a nightly occurrence for me and decided as my alarm had been set for 04:30 I might as well get ready. I was quite literally sitting on the toilet attempting a dump when all the lights go out.........power cut. I had to wash and dress, which is not easy with my bad hip, by two nightlights. I get all hot and bothered wondering how I am going to get down to my daughter's car with no lift working when the power returns. Arrived at the Hospital at 07:15 as requested and learn from my surgeon that I am number three in the bus queue. That translated to the operation commencing at about 1:30 by spinal injection but I missed it all because they slipped a sedative into the line going into my arm. Spent a while in the recovery room then up to my final room that I shared with one other guy. I am told by several different medical staff that I am really lucky because I am in one of only two rooms that serve decent food from an impressive menu. This is me at about 6:30 pm on operation day after I had already walked round the be using a zimmer and changed into my bed clothes. They do that to hopefully ensure no blood clots. Wednesday was lots of tests, questions and medication. The lady Physiotherapist had me walk across the room using a zimmer and seemed quite impressed. "Do you thinks you can walk down the hallway just using two sticks?" "Sure" says I because thanks to the opioid meds I am feeling no pain. I go down. I come back. I walk up the stairs and down again. "Congratulations Mr Danny you have passed your post Op walking tests. Later on my second and last day in hospital the meds wear off and I have pain but NOT the pain from a f***d up hip. My pain is that associated with quite major surgery and is very different. My daughter collected me at 6:30 on day two and I was back home in 45 minutes. Amazing - all completed in two days. I feel tired today and not up to doing my exercises. I will religiously start those tomorrow. Post operative downer I imagine. Looking good for the future.

I knew that. 🤣

Visited the Royal Hospital in Edinburgh today for my pre-op meeting with the Consultant and his team who will carry out my hip replacement operation scheduled for the 15th September. Very nice guy who explained the procedure and asked if I had any questions. "Yes", says I "Will I be having a posterior or anterior operation?" "Whose been watching U-tube videos?" says Mr W with a laugh. Apparently it is going to be the posterior approach and he and his team left and I commenced being given a full evaluation ending with an ECG which showed I apparently have an extra beat of which I have no "symptoms" and was blissfully unaware. Nobody seemed at all alarmed and it does not affect my operation. My daughter subsequently informed me that my Granddaughter has the same so maybe it is hereditary? Halfway through all these tests the door opens and Mr W shoves his head through the door. "Had a cancellation for Tuesday. Do you want it? "Oh, yes please." says I "I thought you would say that!" says Mr W with a laugh. Home now and going into overdrive with everything I now have to do with 3 days to go.🤣

On a less dramatic scale the shite weather in the UK during July and August has apparently been caused by the jet stream flowing south of the UK and dragging down cold, wet weather. A weather expert I just read stated we are really lucky as it saved us from the hot weather being experienced by much of Europe. Lucky? Fucking experts! Shoot the lot of them.

I will have had my operation before I get an appointment to actually see my GP. My last "telephone" consultation had an appointment period of almost 4 weeks. I have had two cortisone injections in my knee neither of which made any difference to my pain. Maybe that will have something to do with the fact that it is my hip that is f***d. The pain in my knee is residual from my hip. The first one was given before the knee/hip was x-rayed. By the time I was given the second one I was already on the waiting list for a hip replacement. It was the Practice nurse who administered that after she did a routine blood test. To be fair it was me that pushed for the first cortisone injection. I had a cartilage op at the end of my footballing days which took me a year to recover from and a cortisone injection help no end.

Unfortunately, constipation is a very common side effect of taking co-codomol. Since I reduced the amount there has been some improvement but I still need to take lactulose every day. I can only be more active after the operation. The pain is now so bad I can barely get around for very short distances. I had to check with the hospital that they had a lift to get me to their first floor for Thursday's Pre-op meeting. Or more particularly, how far was the lift from the entrance? I was told they had wheel chairs if required at the entrance. Daily mountain bike rides to a wheel chair in 2 1/2 years!

I really could not say but it is logical that the more extreme that goes on inside the higher the donation. We had no nudity and nobody who visited with their wife, say, would ever be embarrassed. So our contribution to the "fund" was very modest. On the other hand when its your turn its your turn whatever the contribution. We all know entertainment venues in this Town who found that out the hard way.

I have been giving a lot of thought to the medication I am currently taking to lessen the extreme pain I am currently experiencing in my hip/knee. I have my doubts they reduce the pain at all but I take them just in case if I stopped the pain will somehow gets worse. Here is the conundrum. After my hip replacement apart from the short term pain associated with the operation itself the source of my extreme pain should be no more. I have, however, been taking 2 tablets of co-codomol three times a day and morphine sulphate before I go to sleep. I know one cannot just stop taking co-codomol so about a week ago I decided to reduce the dosage to 2 tablets, twice a day. I have not noticed any appreciable increase in the pain but I have with me in other ways. Generally I feel a bit under the weather and periods of what appears to be anxiety. Its as though I am checking myself expecting to find ........ .......... I don't know what I am expecting to find? I have my per-admission meeting at the hospital next Thursday. Maybe I should have waited until then and discussed reducing the medication. I was never 100% happy about taking opioid pain medication.

Normally one gets advance notice of when its your turn as long as one is up to date with contributions. I always used to smile when I inspected the previous days "safe log" and ran down the list of petty cash payment entries "laundry, lemons, coffee, police, Tequila (2), kitchen." 🤣

I do that with my bed sheets and save on laundry by turning my boxer shorts inside out after a skid mark inspection.

I have been trying to imagine Boycott fitting into the style of Stokes current England test side particularly if he was opening the batting on a 4th innings run chase. I've given up.