A Sleepy Sunday and a Stir Fry

Panic ensured in the kitchen last night as I was preparing the marinade for today's ginger beef stir fry. I thought I had another bottle of soy sauce hidden away but I didn't. I usually slosh a good three or four tablespoons over the meat but I had only one, if that. What to do, what to do? Well I tackled the problem by swishing a small amount of water around the bottle and adding it and some extra ginger to the mix. Hopefully it will be fine and once again I realise I must make lists.

Having been told I no longer need to stuff myself I'm feeling a lot more relaxed and happy about what I eat.

Over the last few weeks I've been eating fatty greasy foods in an attempt to gain weight and I've really suffered from it. I feel sluggish and I've been having terrible indigestion so I've decided to stop. I'm going back to my salads and fruit but I will still incorporate some fatty stuff in on a daily basis. So I'll still have the occasional bacon butty and I will indulge in chips, cakes, crisps and curry but I won't go mad. If my weight starts to drop I'll have a week back on the unhealthy stuff.

Last night I watched two programmes I don't usually bother with.

The first was Splash. This is filmed in Luton, not a million miles from me, and I've always loved watching competitive diving so I thought I'd give it a go. It was fascinating and you did tend to watch with a lump in your throat, well these are celebrities and not professional divers. You just know that at some point something is bound to go wrong and that is why these sorts of shows are so popular. This is why we watch motor racing etc, etc. Yes we like to fool ourselves that it's because we support this driver or that driver but really we all want to see the crash.

However I digress. The one thing it did for me was awaken my craving for a swimming. Yes you can go swimming with a line and pump but it requires things like special bags and dry suits. Expensive and cumbersome and by the time I've wriggled my way into them I'd be too shattered to get in the water anyway. Beside reality dictates that I'd be unable to do anything more than flutter around in the shallow end. Breathing is hard enough without having to shift the weight of the water as well. So that's another thing on my 'to do' list. I think I might watch splash again though.

The programme I definitely will not be watching again is Celebrity Big Brother. What a group of deeply unpleasant people. I watched for a full ten minutes and was appalled by what I saw. Half of them I didn't know anyway. Yuk! Deeply disturbing and not worth my time. I turned it off and put on a James Bond film instead.

This morning started in my favourite way. A lie in then a lazy breakfast in bed with the papers followed by a long bath with lots of smelly stuff. The only 'must do' today is the ironing, which I will do while catching up on Silent Witness, it's good but not the same without Leo, or Casualty. Andrew's going back to uni tonight and Peter is out so I'll have a couple of hours this evening to myself and I am distraught because no more Sherlock. I feel an Only Fools fest coming on. There is a bottle of red wine open in the kitchen so I might just have a sniff of that to.

Tomorrow it's back to work and once again I'm not looking forward to it but I've worked out that I only have three weeks until my next leave. Yay! I will be counting down the days. Strange isn't it, how I dread going but always enjoy being there.

Sadly the body they found did turn out to be that of little Mikaeel and his mother has been arrested.

Well time to see if my marinade has worked and start prepping the veg. I know it is a bit early but I like to bring everything up to room temperature before throwing them in the wok. They cook quicker. Next blog Friday.

Saturday Afternoon Family Time

I've had a lovely day today. All my men have been at home and we've had a good meal, a good chat and shared lots of laughter.

Smirnoff was a real pain though. Jumping up on everyone demanding cuddles and trying to steal food. He did manage to get some crisps off Laurence and a small spoonful of cannelloni from me, which he turned his nose up at.

Today I also finally hung out my bird feeders. The problem is that the weather has been so mild, not to mention wet and windy, that I kept forgetting it was winter. Still better late than never and it wasn't long before the lawn was full of little feathered friends, including a very bold robin who hopped right up to the patio doors and peered in through the glass. However the long term forecast is predicting much colder weather in February, so at least I'm in time for that.

Due to Laurence being here I haven't really had a chance to do any painting this weekend as yet. I think this might end up being an ongoing problem. I'm so busy on my days off doing the shopping, seeing the boys, going to hospital appointments and doing housework that I don't get that much 'me' time. I think the painting will come into it's own during those weeks of enforced rest when I'm ill. And of course when the days get longer and hotter I'll be able to sit in the garden in the evenings and work. When you arrive home in the dark you don't really feel like getting out the paints. However I'm hopeful of getting some time tomorrow, we will see.

Chin tickles

My poor friend Stacie is going through a bad patch at the moment and is a bit down. She's written a very moving blog post saying how she's feeling. It is well worth a read and exactly expresses how all those on the transplant list and suffering from PH feel from time to time. The link to Stacie's blog is on the right hand side of this page.

When you read the desperate words of people like Stacie it makes you wonder how some people are able to live with themselves.

You probably remember me posting a while ago about a so called friend, now decidedly ex, who announced she was going in to Papworth for transplant and turned up the next day without any explanation, totally unapologetic, after causing lots of people a whole heap of worry and lack of sleep. Well she's been at it again. Apparently a miracle has happened and she has suddenly been cured of PH as well. From death's door to cured in the space of four months without any medical intervention whatsoever. Whatever next! If only it was possible for the rest of us.

Andrew has finished his exams and is feeling pretty confident. He now only has to pass his finals in May and we'll have a fully qualified paramedic on our hands. To add to his upbeat mood no less than three ambulance services are showing interest in him. The next few months are going to be full of interviews, selection days and that probably means a lot of running around for us too but it will be worth it if he manages to walk straight out of uni into a job.

In the news I, like the rest of the country, am anxiously watching the news for updates on missing toddler Mikaeel. Unfortunately it seems a body has been found and the mother arrested. Of course they are not saying it is definitely him but it was found on land near her sister's house so you can draw your own conclusions there.

I have to say I am saddened by the news but not surprised. In theses cases it is almost always a family member or a close friend of the family that turns out to be the offender. Very rarely is the murder of a small child the work of a stranger.

No doubt there will be much beating of chests from friends, neighbours and social services about how they always suspected there was something 'going on'. It would not surprise me at all if the authorities, including health workers, social workers and possibly even the police, were aware of the family and had been for some time. And yet here we are again, another child dead, more 'lessons to be learned' and yet nothing is ever done. Of course this is all speculation on my part and I may be very wrong. However if I'm right then maybe it's time the wheels of bureaucracy ground a bit faster and instead of just sitting around talking about it someone actually did something to stop this happening again.

Also in the news Zara Tindale/Phillips has given birth to a baby girl, sixteenth in line to the throne no less. What a contrast to another recent royal birth. To be honest I think Zara was the lucky one, she was allowed to enjoy her pregnancy in peace. She will also be able to bring up her daughter out of the glare of the media. Sometimes it's good not to be top dog.

A statement was released from the Schumacher camp yesterday to say Michael is now stable. Let's hope he remains so and improves very soon.

Time to grab a banana and chill out in front of the TV. Well I didn't say I'd give it up altogether did I.

Operation Porker

Had my three monthly check at Papworth this morning and was full of anxiety about it. Have I put on any weight? Will my increased water retention upset anything? Am I still on the list?

The last one is really stupid because I wouldn't be going to Papworth at all if I wasn't on the the list but I do worry having not heard anything for a whole year.

My appointment was late morning and it takes about an hour to get there from my house so we left around nine thirty to allow for roadworks etc. Typically, as we had plenty of time, there were no hold ups and we arrive half an hour early. This meant I had all my tests such as bloods and x rays before seeing the consultant. My blood pressure, oxygen sats and heart rate were all fine, but I knew that from last week's results at the Brompton. Then came the dreaded weigh in. A miracle has happened!!! I put on weight and I was about to get very excited when I was told it was only a pound or half a kilo if you want it in new money.

I have to say I was despondent as I've been eating my little socks off these last few weeks. I'm not little miss popular at work as while I'm indulging in Operation Porker everyone else is on Weight Watchers. I enter the rest room with a bacon roll, bar of chocolate or plate of curry and get glared at as my colleagues plough through mountains of salad. They all understand my plight but I'm sure watching me scoffing away isn't helping with the willpower.

Having been given the good news about my weigh and everything else I was sat in the weighting room to see a consultant. Amazingly I didn't have to wait very long and I was barely half way through my magazine before I was called in. This week I was seen by Dr Parmar, who I understand is the head honcho, and I was surprised at how lovely he was. He went through all my results, those from the Brompton as well as those done in clinic, and then we came to the tricky question of my weight. I'm still lighter than I should be but I am now over the crucial eight stone marker and that's what really counts. He asked how much I'd weighed at my heaviest ever and I told him that was when I was nine months pregnant with my third son and then I'd only just tipped nine stone. He said it was time to stop stressing about my weight as it was clear from my history and my bone structure that I'm never going to be anything other than slim. The most important thing for me to do now is to maintain my weight above eight stone, get my water retention under control, and keep myself as healthy as I can. Thank heavens for that! I was convinced I was in for another lecture. Maintaining weight will be so much easier than trying to gain more.

We then got on to my waiting time. He was astonished that I hadn't been called yet as 'there was not reason for it'. I have low level antibodies but other patients with higher antibody levels have been transplanted so that is unlikely to be the reason for my long wait. Dr Parmar thought the main reason for the wait was my size. I am unusually small for an adult as far as depth and length of my rib cage goes and if they can't find organs small enough to fit that becomes a problem. However he did say that the average wait for heart/lung is eighteen to twenty four months so from his point of view I still have a way to go. We did discuss having just lungs which would mean getting organs quicker but he would only consider that as an option for me if things got critical because he feels it would be quite dangerous. He did say that they would up grade me though as my heart is showing early signs of not coping, hence the water retention, and he would like to see me transplanted while I'm still quite well. Apparently the problem with PH patients is that once heart failure takes hold you deteriorate very quickly. Dr Parmar would rather avoid that if he can.

So I came out of clinic feeling a lot more relaxed about my weight and a lot more reassured about the efforts being made to find organs.

On the way home we stopped off at Tesco in St Neot's to do our weekly shop and took advantage of the cafe there to have lunch. The food wouldn't win any Michelin stars but it was filling and tasty. We arrived home, unpacked and then I made a nice cuppa and we relaxed. My next trip is in April, Dr Parmar's parting shot was that he was sure he'd be seeing me before that. If only I had his confidence.

Those with sharp eyes may have spotted a familiar face on the TV this week.

Anglia news was in filming at my work place to get an important message across. It seems there is an urban myth going around that dialling 999 increase the battery life of a mobile phone. It doesn't, so please don't do it.

Andrew has been taking exams at university all this week and so far they seem to be going well. He has his last one today and then he'll be home for the weekend, another reason to stock up the cupboards.

Also paying a visit will be Laurence, who is coming for lunch tomorrow. I am making cannelloni, always a firm family favourite, and apple crumble.

In the news I was saddened to hear about the death of Roger Lloyd Pack. This talented actor was most famous for his role as Trigger in Only fools and Horses and Owen in The Vicar of Dibley. He was a joy to watch and I will be paying my own little tribute this weekend by dusting off a couple of DVD's and laughing myself silly.

The is also bad news form the Schumacher camp. It seems that he is not making the progress medics had hoped or expected and now there are gloomy predictions that he could be comatose for the rest of his life. If he does come around, and at the moment it is a big 'if', he will not be the same Michael Schumacher. What a terrible shame and how awful must if be for those close to him to know all this. I just hope that he manages to pull one last 'fast one' and proves them all wrong.

Right time to get myself down to my paint box and see whay I can be inspired by this week.

I've included a few of my 365 challenge photos in this blog, hope you like them.

Painting By Numbers

Oh my gosh! Did I enjoy myself yesterday or what!

Despite saying that I was going to take things slowly, and build things up bit by bit, once I got the brush in my hand and the smell of Acrylic in my nostrils there was no stopping me.

I started off with a very rough sketch of an idea. When I say rough I really do mean rough. The lines are over laid again and again and there are a lot of smudges and excess pencil marks as I just keep going and going until I'm happy with the result. I then simplify the sketch so only the basic outline goes onto the paper, well you don't want to see loads of pencil marks coming through the paint do you. I tried to position the snake facing left and right but settled on the right as that's how I want it positioned in the final piece. I also changed the shape of the body so that it was more upright.

Then came the paint. I decided on a pea green and filled in the parts of my sketch that represented the top of the body with a light wash. I left that to dry and then added shading in a slightly darker colour and again left that to dry. The reason for letting base colours dry completely is so the detail doesn't sink in and feather. It was the detail where I came slightly unstuck. As predicted my hands shake more than they used to so occasionally my fine line would turn into a thick splodge. Unfortunately the harder I tried to control my hands the more they shook so in the end I abandoned putting in the scale detail. I will save that for the finished piece, which will take days to do.

After adding the background and walking away for a few hours I had time to assess. Well yes I can still draw, pretty accurately I'm shocked to say, but there are mistakes. The green of the snake is wrong, I want something more menacing and green just won't do. Also the blue background needs to be much, much lighter and even, almost a wash. Maybe even a different colour, a very pale beige might have been better. Having said all that I'm quiet pleased with my first piece for ten years, at least. I've included the different stages, see what you think.

Today I'm painting from life, well actually from a picture to see if I fair any better with drawing something that I can actually see with my eyes than with my brain. I will post the results of that in my next blog.

In the news it came as a great shock to me to hear that Ariel Sharon has died. Mainly because I thought he'd died years ago. Eight years in a coma? One has to wonder if the motive for keeping him alive was more to do with the fear of what his departure would cause politically at the time he had his stroke, rather than for the benefit of him or his family.

Talking of which, there is still no news from the Schumacher cap so we can only assume that there has been no significant change in Michael's condition.

Next Friday I'm off to Papworth for my three monthly check. Once again I will ask them whether I'm really on the list for transplant and once again they will say yes I am. Sometimes though you have to wonder when you've heard nothing at all for such a long time. I know my friend Stacie felt like that after she reached the one year marker but then she got two false alarms in fairly quick succession. I know false alarms are horrible, you build up all that hope and there's excitement mixed with fear, but at least they are an affirmation that you are on the list and they are looking out for you. At least when I go I'll know that I'm still fit for transplant. I received the written report from the Brompton yesterday and there were no nasties in it to say otherwise.

Kath, who had her transplant in November, made it up three flights of stairs this week and all without having to stop once for breathe. The change in her is remarkable and, although she is still having to attend hospital regularly, she has now been taken off some medications and has had others reduced. I'm so happy for her and a little bit jealous as I want this so badly now. You never know, maybe I will be writing about how I made it up three flights of steps this time next year.

Well time to think about feeding my boys. I did a beef and ale stew yesterday, which went down a treat. I'm thinking pasta today, I just haven't got to grips yet with what sauce. I feel another rummage through the cupboards coming on.

Arguments With Hywel Harris

I now have no excuse. I have a drawing board, I have paper, I have paint.

After immersing myself in a dedicated art shop, I did try Poundland as recommended but they didn't have what I wanted, I was pleased to see that I'd come away having spent just £30. I resisted buying canvass at this stage because that is expensive and I'm still unsure of myself. So I got a cheap A4 pad and a pad of slightly more expensive gummed paper. The pad I'm going to use for sketching and experimenting with colours and techniques. The more expensive paper will be used to put ideas together. Once I have a composition that I like I'll then commit to canvass. Aside from the paper I also bought a drawing board which will perform a double duty of having something to stretch my paper on and give me something to rest my paper against when I draw. I did think of getting an easel but they were expensive and it's far too early to commit to that. I might find I give up after a couple of doodles.

Part of my 365 challenge. Got board
waiting for Peter to come out of a shop.

The temptation is to rush at it like a bull at a gate but painting takes time. It's a bit like reading a book. You don't rush through the pages to get to the end in case someone takes it off you. You read slowly, savouring the plot, thinking things through, absorbing information. It's the same with art. Yes of course you can sit down and do a painting in a day, some artists do work that way. However my approach has always been slow and steady so when I finally commit to the finished piece I am confident it will turn out exactly as I want it too. At the moment I have an image in my head of what I want my first piece to be, which is always a good thing, to have an idea. Getting it onto paper might prove to be a bit tricky because as always nothing with me is ever simple.

So the trip out was really quiet uneventful. The art shop took most of the time, I must have been rummaging for at least an hour, and yes I did want to buy it all. I was particularly drawn to the oils but they are far to expensive to experiment with as they are difficult to control. We stopped off at Tesco's on the way home and bought more fruit, I'm manic for the stuff at the moment. I bought plums, tangerines, apples, bananas and blue berries. I will be making a smoothie with the bananas and blueberries though, so maybe it's not as bad as it sounds.

Back home I found a package waiting for me from Papworth. Inside were two little pots and instructions to get my blood taken for repeat tissue typing. They like to tissue type every three months or so just to check nothing has changed, though what cataclysmic event would change your tissue type I don't know. As I have an appointment with them next week, where the tissue typing is usually done, I rang them to see if they really meant this or whether it had been an error. Thankfully it did turn out to be an error and yes I do have an appointment next week, they hadn't checked. Phew!

With that little crisis over, well not really a crisis just a reluctance to be punctured twice in one week, I went downstairs and stretched my first piece of paper over my board and left it to dry. The result this morning was perfect so at least I haven't forgotten how to do that. To be fair stretching paper was drummed into me in school by my art teacher, Hywel Harris, whom I never really got on with. I loved Renaissance art, Leonardo, Donatello, Titan, he was into more modern stuff, we clashed. Our most memorable coming together was on a trip to London, I think it was to the Tate. I remember clearly standing in front of this completely black canvass, there was a red one and a white one too, and being asked what I saw. 'Errr, nothing. It's blank.' I replied. The look I got would have floored elephants. After that I can only say our relationship deteriorated. I passed my Art 'O' level with a respectable B grade and desperately wanted to take it on to A level but I knew I couldn't do so at school so left to pursue my interest at the local Further Ed, where I came out with an A grade for art and a B grade for ceramic at A level.

As an interesting side note after he died he was buried next to my Grandmother.

Right the moment has come, time to start sketching out my visions and then, with a bit of luck, transferring them to paint. I suspect there will be a bit of swearing but at least I won't be vegitating in front of the TV munching my way through a tube of Pringles. I will post my progress in the future blogs.

Feelings

Well I had a very weird day yesterday. Several people from work said they had a 'feeling' I'd be getting my call soon, each without knowing about the others. I also got a few friends texting me saying the same. What is going on? Do they all know something I don't?

In reality the longer you've been waiting the less time you have left to wait so with each passing day I get a little bit closer to the call but I don't know how much closer I've got. I might still have years to wait but I do appreciate the positivity that is buzzing around me right now. The more positive vibes I get from everyone else the more upbeat I feel about things, so keep them coming.

Sharps bin.

We were really busy at work and time flew and before I knew it I was on my way home again. I was startled to walk out into the car park at half past four and find it was still relatively light. This buoyed my good mood even more as lighter evenings is a sure sign that spring is only just around the corner, my second favourite season of the year. It also means I have more chance of seeing suicidal cyclists on the drive home. Of course we can't get to spring without a bit of cold weather. This week we are in for ice and maybe even snow but in a way I'm looking forward to it as I'm fed up with all the wind and rain, I practically needed a boat to get into work yesterday.

Today the sun is shining and I'm off out this afternoon to take a couple of pictures and track down some paper and canvass for my paints, thanks for the tips as to where to look everyone. I will bare them in mind on my hunt. With a bit of luck I will find a really beautiful landscape that I can transfer to canvass.

The extra water tablets seem to be doing their thing and I'm spending a good deal of time on the loo. I have been reassured that this will tail off once the excess water has gone. To be fair the cough has already lessened but is still very bad first thing.

In the news Michael Schumacher is still in a coma two weeks after the skiing accident that nearly killed him, and in truth still might. We've been told that updates will only be issued if there is a change in his condition but the silence is worrying. It is a fact that the longer you are in a coma the more likely there is to be permanent damage, whether that coma is medically induced or not. Although I never liked him as a racing driver I never wished him harm and for this to happen off the track is just heart breaking. It just goes to show, danger comes when you least expect it. I have a feeling this is not going to end well.

Right I'm off to rummage through the cupboards for lunch and then its out shopping, and for once I'm really looking forward to it.

A Mixed Bag at the Brompton

Well I'm glad that day is over, hopefully never to be repeated.

I slept poorly on Monday night. I don't know why people say that knowing what's coming makes things easier. In my opinion it makes things harder, especially if your first experience was difficult. So I was a bit like a Zombie driving into London Tuesday morning, in appalling weather I might add. To be fair the traffic was light and we arrived before time and had no trouble parking. Of course as soon as I stepped through the hospital doors the sun came out, damn it.

Sign in a corridor at the Royal Brompton

I went up to the ward where there was a modicum of confusion because they didn't know I was coming. I showed them my letter which only seemed to create more confusion until Phil my consultant showed up and explained that I was a day patient. He looked me up and down and declared I looked 'fabulous', one of three fabulous comments I'd get before the day was out, before giving me a big hug and seating me in the day room while he went to fetch Carl.

I had a long chat with Carl who apologised profusely as the new medication was not available so I'll have to return in a couple of weeks for that. However everything else would be going ahead and first thing first my line was checked. Thankfully it is in prefect shape. There are no leaks or splits and the repair, where I spilt it about a year ago, is still holding well. The sight is clean and dry and there is no sign of infection so there was no need to interfere with it. To be fair, as I'm on the transplant list, they would do their best not to change it unless they really had too as hopefully I won't need it much longer anyway.

With no new meds and no new line I was packed off for something to eat before going on to my ECHO.

My new painting set

An ECHO, for those that don't know, is a bit like the ultrasound pregnant ladies have. The difficulty for ECHO's though is that, where in pregnancy they only have to see through skin and flesh, they also have to see through bone and in the case of us ladies get past two very obvious obstacles. With me there is a further problem. Due to my open heart surgery my sternum is deformed. In those days they were more concerned with fixing the fault than making you look pretty afterwards. The result of my op is that my sternum did not heal flat and is 'V' shaped with the left side slightly tilted and thicker than the right. This is the bain of my life as it is really difficult trying to get bra's to sit properly. The bone is also quite sensitive so ECHO's tend to be difficult for the operator and painful for me.

It was my misfortune on this occasion to be landed with a trainee. I was asked before they started and, although I won't let anyone in training and welding a needle anywhere near me, I was pretty OK with this. I now wish I'd said 'no'. How can I put this politely, he was the clumsiest person I've ever met.

First off he laid me down on the bench and whereas I'm usually told to lie on my side in, what I must say is normally a very comfortable position, he got me to lie at this weird angle. My lower half was on it's side as normal but he wanted my top half to lie slightly tilted towards my back so I was half on my side and half on my back. This was very uncomfortable and very difficult to maintain and I soon started shaking with the effort. I said I couldn't stay in that position so he let me had a short rest and then yanked me back into the contortion. He continually got his hand caught up in my line and pulled and yanked at it so hard I though he was going to pull the thing out. In the end I grabbed the line and held it down by my side to keep it out of his way. He sat on my line cutting off my drug supply and set the alarm off. And when he told me to hold my breath he forgot to tell me to breathe again so I would turn blue and the have to gasp for air before he remembered and said I could breath again. I was not impressed.

Lots of lovely bath stuff

As if that wasn't bad enough he skimmed the wand over my ribs as though he was playing the xylophone and each bump was agony. He also didn't put enough of the gel stuff on it so occasionally he'd drag my skin. After almost one and a half hours and with an extremely sore sternum he called his mentor in and explained in a panic that 'no matter how hard I pressed I couldn't see the pulmonary.. '  The mentor asked it he could have a go but battered, bruised and with a fair number of friction burns I'd had enough. The trainee was not used to seeing anyone with a Hickman line either and talked about 'foreign bodies' etc. I left ECHO with a red raw sternum, a stiff back and a cricked neck. I will remember his face and won't be letting him near me in the future.

Back on the ward I waited for the results with a feeling of doom. I always anticipate the worst when it come to ECHOs and I wasn't expecting great things of this one due to the inexperience of the person doing it. However I was in for a pleasant surprise. The pressues in the heart have gone down a little bit so despite having felt really under the weather over the last few months my PH is actually well controlled. The problem, and the reason for the constant cough and congested feel, is water. I appear to be retaining quite a bit and there is a lot of it sloshing around in areas where it shouldn't be. So my furosomide has been increased from 40mg to 80mg a day for the next two weeks. After that I can return to 40mg and just take 80 every other day. They will review this at the next clinic.

So I was finally released and headed straight to the canteen for a cuppa before we finally headed home. Of course by then it was rush hour and it was raining again so the journey was long and tedious. I spent the evening on the settee and then had a soak in the bath before bed. Partly to try and ease my aches and pains and partly to get rid of all the residual gel that had now turned into a glue type substance and kept sticking my boobs together.

I woke up very late this morning and was greeted by the delivery of my sales stuff from Lush. Delighted I ran another bath and relaxed while I finished my book. Fortunately most of the damage to my chest was temporary and apart from a bruise over my ribs and a bit of raw skin on my sternum I've faired better than I thought. My shoulder is stiff and sore from all the line pulling but the line is fine and the entry site seems OK. Of course I've still got to go back to have the new meds but at least that is all I will have to have and hopefully there will be no hiccups.

Hung on a wall at the Royal Brompton

I'm back at work tomorrow for just one day before my weekend off and then next week I'm back to normal, though hopefully with less coughing to annoy my colleagues. Unfortunately I'll have to take another day off at some point to get my new meds but that cannot be helped.

The 365 challenge is still going well, though as I'm only eight days in I should hope so. I just wish the weather would improve so I can find something a bit more riveting to take but that will come. I've included the latest pictures in this blog.

My paints have finally arrived and I'm itching to get started only what did I forget to buy? Yep paper and canvass. What a numpty! So Friday will see me hot footing it to the nearest artist suppliers to get some of both. I still can't believe I did that.

Right time for a bit of Father Brown and a nice cuppa. Next blog Friday.