At Home: Well, well! 🙂 “Ther Big Day!” dawned bright and clear, the moment our alarm clock went off at 7.00am instead of 7.30am – when we normally groan and lie there for another five minutes before psyching ourselves up into actually getting out of bed. No time for psyching ourselves up this morning, with Clarke and Paul supposed to be arriving at 7.30am (actually it was only Paul who showed up today) I think I probably resembled a chook with its head cut off, running around in ever-decreasing lopsided circles, trying to cope with a different bathroom (the en-suite, which is actually Julian’s bathroom!) trying to bind my feet (to save my blisters from bursting! not so that I could walk like a “lady” by taking teeny-weeny little tottering steps like the ancient Chinese!) get dressed, have my morning treadmill work-out, get changed again (well, I wasn’t going to wear grubby jeans and a sweaty shirt to see Dr. Y., for goodness sake!) put my makeup on, brush my teeth, and have breakfast – all at the same time! I ended up only putting a couple of giant band-aids on my blisters because we didn’t have time to stuff around with the tape (besides, I wasn’t dressed yet, and time was of the essence!) So after I’d flung on the first pieces of clothing that came to hand (my jeans and a shirt), I didn’t wait to brush my teeth first, but haired straight off to the treadmill – which was when Paul arrived! Would you believe that, despite the very nasty (and big! Don’t forget big, because they’re whoppers!) blisters on that patch of skin between the “bunion” joint and the base of your big toenail on both feet, just two giant band-aids on one blister, and three on the other (plus three pairs of socks!) my feet were probably the most comfortable they’ve been since I started using the treadmill! Maybe my blisters are developing callouses! 🙂 So I studiously ignored demolition noises coming from the bathroom while I dutifully counted steps, and did my full eighteen minutes’ worth, and repaired to the Den. I think I can safely assure you all that drinking a cup of tea at the same time as eating a bowl of cereal doesn’t really work all that well – spoons full of cereal and the edge of a cup were definitely not meant to go in your mouth at the same time – so I slowed down a titch… Bolting down my breakfast, I next headed back to the bedroom to find something (anything!) fit to wear this morning. Julian should have picked up the Dry Cleaning yesterday, but it wasn’t ready because their machine had broken down. It won’t be ready until tomorrow! I managed to find a very light top to wear – I froze, but at least the sleeves covered the top of my wrinkly arms. By the time I finished putting on my makeup I think I had about ten minutes before we had to leave, but at least I made it on time! (puff! pant! puff!)

At Dr. Y’s: I’ll give him one thing – for a Doctor, he doesn’t keep you waiting! 🙂 Well, we discussed lots of things – the tests I’d just had done, the horrible pills I was taking which upset me so much because they make me retain so much fluid – and my pending surgery. Because I’m permanently on Warfarin now, surgery – which would normally be quite straightforward for about 99.75% of the population – isn’t, for me! (Julian is muttering “Typical, of you!” in the background!) Warfarin thins your blood and makes it less likely to clot – which is not what you want in surgery! Patients on Warfarin tend to bleed out during surgery, which is not a good look! (and it’s sooo hard to get the blood out of the grouting of the tiles on the OR floor!) So, although I’ve now lost enough weight to have the surgery with reasonable safety, I would need a team of blood specialists monitoring me all the time – and there’d still be a huge risk that I’d suffer a fatal embolism if I were taken off the Warfarin for the surgery, or bleed to death if I wasn’t! A real-life “Catch 22” situation! The long and short of it is that Dr. Y. is still extremely reluctant to proceed with the surgery – he wants to try one last thing before we make the final decision. He’s changed the way I take these ruddy little pills now – I’m to have one month on them (er… that is, taking them, not sitting on them!) followed by two months off (not taking them!), and he’ll see me again in four (not six, this time! 🙂 ) months – which just happens to fall on my Birthday! 🙂 The appointment wasn’t deliberately made to be on my Birthday, that just happened to be the day the Receptionist picked, and I said “Oh! That’s my Birthday! :)” and she said “Oh, well you won’t want to come on your Birthday, let’s see what other dates I ha…” but I quickly interjected with a “No! No! That’s fine! I don’t mind coming on my Birthday!” – so there it is – I see him again on March 9th, 2016! 🙂 Mind you, all of the above was very much “in a nutshell”, but the whole situation was discussed at great length by the three of us – me, Julian, and Dr. Y., who thinks I should go to Florence (Italy!) for Christmas! Unfortunately that’s not going to be possible – now that I have a new Birth Certicate, I don’t have a legal passport anymore! 🙂 but we are in the process of changing things – Medicare card, driver’s licence, passport, electoral roll – and that’s just for starters! I never realised just how many places there are where I have to officially change my particulars! Maybe I’ll go for my Birthday next year instead! 😉 (nah! I wouldn’t want to miss my appointment! 🙂 )

Weigh-in this morning. Filled me with despair! I went up another point! From 68.3kg to 68.4kg! Devastating! Today, of all days! Thank all the “Powers That Be” that I took my last horrible little fluid-retaining pill for two whole, blissful months! 🙂 After I’d grizzled about them to Dr. Y., he asked me which ones I wanted to take – the old ones, or these ones? I said “Errr… ummm.. I don’t know! Which ones do you think I should take?” – very cleverly throwing the ball back into his court! 😉 He said he thought I’d get a lot less fluid retention with the ones I’m taking now (though personally, I have my doubts!) so I’ve decided to stick with them – after all, “Better the devil you know…” and all that!

When we got home (after stopping off to buy some more band-aids!) we had a look in at the work Paul was doing on my bathroom… the bath was finally gone, the far too small vanity unit and the far too high mirror were gone, and so was most of the shower… but I couldn’t believe how big the room looked without that useless bath! It was amazing! I’m going to have a gorgeous bathroom when it’s finished! 🙂 (Winter bounces around in her chair hugging herself with glee) I don’t think I have much happening tomorrow – we may see my favourite eldest daughter though, as she has a hairdressing appointment at Doncaster, so it’s possible she’ll come here after that – my appointment’s on Thursday, so we didn’t really plan that terribly well, did we! Never mind – it’s not so much “our lack of planning” as a matter of when I can get an appointment with Elliott, and I think Peter does Lee’s hair, so she has to wait until she can get an appointment with him! Meanwhile, back at the Ranch, Julian’s currently up in the Office, doing address and name change thingies, and I’ve been steadily sorting out shards in preparation for the Great Guild & Guild Bank invasion 🙂 One down, two to go – or rather make that one and a half down, one and a half to go… Yes, and I’m afraid I’m culling as I go, only a little bit though – just enough to make room for two Primalists on each shard 🙂 And that, I guess, is where I leave you all for the evening, having described – at some length – the happening of the day! Drop by again tomorrow though – find out if now that I’ve stopped taking those pills, my weight is starting to go down again – Dr. Y. was saying that it’s getting close to the time when I have to stop losing weight 🙂 Hopefully by tomorrow night we’ll have the soil for the veggie garden ordered (if not delivered as well!) and I can tell you what stage my bathroom  – sorry, “the Roman Ruins”, coz that’s what it looks like! – is at! But until tomorrow, please try to bee good (you know why! 😉 ) remember that the good thing about now, is that there is another one tomorrow; and don’t forget to keep warm – or cool – depending on the weather, to drive carefully, and to look after yourselves – but most of all, don’t forget to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂