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November 2024

Back to the Hospital again! This time they want a 24 hour ecg report. They seem (doctors that is) to suggest that 50 is too low for heart rate, but other than the simple fact it is low it doesnt seem to matter how low it is !!

Had an alergic  reaction the other day; the first one in 3 years! I still dont know what the cause is, nor does anyone else! Fortunately it was a very mild reaction and I didnt fall over with very low bp either. Off to have another colonoscopy to look for polyps and tumours. Yuk!

My hearing is poor, my vision is poor, my face is horrific and my head is still not in a good place. Balance is poor as I cant stand on one leg for 15 secs. Apparently it is important.

Everything seems to be failing at the moment. Then Chris Hoy stating he has proststate cancer is another scare! I wonder if Im going to make it to the end of this year let alone to 80! But does anyone care!

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October 2024

I hadn't realised how difficult things can get for KOSs (OAP !). I've looked into the social housing services side but that is an incredibly difficult path to go down. I ve been trying to find an easy solution to the "fall over and die at home" scenario, but it is very difficult to navigate a way through that. I'm almost 75 and I should count my self lucky that I can still get about. I had to go to Manchester 3 months ago but all the memories from 1970 have gone, so I struggled. Not doing well am I?


It is interesting how ones view on the world changes when old age and fragility creep up; and makes just about everything  very difficult. My view on assisted dieing for instance has changed - I'm all for it now.


I have found a lovely spot (I'm sure it wasn't there last year - maybe it was !)  on the Little Bispham Promenade. It would be a nice spot for Judy and myself to rest. A beautiful view out across the sea.


I always thought the RAF was my life bit now it all seems such a long time ago. Especially when Ive forgotten every ones name. It seems that once a name falls out of memory, even when theres a piccy and life story still in memory, then its gone for ever and there's no getting it back. I try to keep Chris Hoy's name (cyclist that I use as a test case) in memory but I can't keep it there without referring to my notebook. I can remember where I have it written down but it wont stay remembered. And so it is with everything. Life without memories is very difficult.


Enough drivel and I'm wandering through time and I'm lost. Not good eh?

October 2024

Oh dear!!
I thought I was "one foot in the grave" but it looks as if it is more likley to be "1 and 1/2 feet in the grave"! 
Heart rate has slowed down considerably (low 50s) and pacemakers appear to be the answer or maybe not. There doesnt seem to be an easy answer to the problem. One minute I feel ok but the next is not so good. Dont know where this will lead to!! Perhaps I will fall over again and find out; or maybe I won't find out ...........

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August 2024

I saw an article on the news today about facial deformity.


The guy concerned had a slight deformation of his face; there's no doubt about that. But it is nothing in comaprison to mine. He whines on about the problems it causes for him. From where I sit it is not a problem for him at all; and not for the idiot news readers who were conducting the inquiry either.


The left side of my face has all but gone - atrophied away by PRS; the only word that covers the problem is "horrific". My attempts to get more medical help have withered away over the years as they fell off the back of the waiting lists; and I am back to hiding away as much as possible. I dont go out but If I do I wear a mask, head gear and I have beard these days. My interaction with the public is "horrible". Perhaps I should share a photograph with you, but I'd rather not.


I have several computers I have built myself and I plan to build a train lay out in the garage - a big DCC layout! Yes!


So there! That is the end of my rant. These days I rely on God for solving the problem with my face, as noone else will help. I just hope it will be soon!
 

May 2024
Things (developing medical problems) continue to make the slope more slippery all the time. I now have bradycardia (low heart rate) with my heart beats down in the 50s whare as it was in the 70s 2 months ago. One professional said it was possibly connected with Thyroid  problems, where as another professional said it wasnt. If it gets any slower things will not be good. So I'm back to how to arrange for some one to knock on the door every day to check on wether I'm dead or not. Gee whiz it makes you wonder how on earth people get to 100+ and with no impairment of the state of mind. It is strange going to bed  without knowing whether you will wake up or not!

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April 2024

A difficult month! Problems continue to surround me and it is hard to see a way forward. Old age and my face cause great distress to me and basically everyone else. How to get off this slow slide into oblivion is difficult to find; but a pipe dream is easy to cling to!

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Aha !!! I do have a broken rib. That's only taken 2 1/2 months to diagnose. Crazy eh! The good news or is it bad news - there is no treatment for a broken rib, so I am discharged! Sneezing still really hurts, so it hasnt healed yet. Maybe next month or so. But then there's my enlarged prostate problem, my Thyroid problem and my Diabetes 2 problem so a broken rib is relativel minor problem despite the pain it produces. It doesnt sound good does it?? I almost forgot - the Cardiologist who dischargd me 5 years ago seems to have changed his mind and I have been referred to him again. No wonder I'm depressed!

 

Mar 2024

Things are somewhat up in the air at the moment after a nasty fall at health centre. I’m OK but left with damaged ribs and a lot of pain. That knocked job hunting off course; not that job hunting is easy at 73! So I'm wobbly and I have a bust rib and that is going to be an additional problem. That will be behind me in the next momth or so and then I can start looking for a job again in the spring - fingers crossed!

 

The scary thing now is the problem of another accident at home and ending up dead before anyone tries to contact me. That’s what happened a couple of months ago (UK news) when the guy died from a heart attack and his little boy starved to death before anyone noticed they were not out and about. Both dead – gee whiz!

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How to avoid such a desperate state of affairs. Yes I know all the obvious answers, but there’s a problem with all of them. A family is of course the perfect answer to such difficulties, but sadly I don't have one anymore. Needs more thought methinks.

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Oct 2023
I've decided to press on with job hunting and I'm hoping to be accepted into Bispham Tech College to do an Assistant Teacher course! You must be impressed with my ambition! But what do I know about teaching? Very little! What do I know about Primary Schools? Even less!! But I do know how to fly the latest and greatest RAF fast jets and my English is pretty good, so courage to the fore and get on with it. I have and interview on Wed 10 October and I have already spoken to the College so we'll have to see what happens when the interview is behind me. My A levels (1968 - oh dear!!) and degree (1971 ) must stand for some thing. Nothing I learnt at University can be relevant these days, can it?

 

And then there's my face - what to do about my face - sadly there is nothing I can do? Children tend to be frigtened by it and run away, so perhaps this is all just a pipe dream. There's only one way to find out. Various people have helped me hugely, and for that I am very grateful. With their support I must press on.

 

Jun 2023

Almost 6 months on and there is no progress with a variety of problems. I seem to have disappeared off the various hospital operating lists and with the various strikes (not that I blame anyone for striking) increasing it is difficult to see when anything can be done while there are many more demanding medical situations than mine. My face is getting worse, my left eye is drifting even more and my hearing is now deteriorating quite badly. My left ear is practically useless! But then I'm 73 so whats the point in worrying about my broken head. My GP still insists I have diabetes; I explain I have no symptoms of anything and just carry on happily as usual! I have a number of other problems, but  as I can still do 30 squats with weights maybe all is not lost yet! Time to find another job me thinks.

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Jan 2023
Things not going well. I had pinned my hope on the Pastic Surgery in Birmingham, but that looks like it has fallen into the long grass; the very long grass. Any hope the problems caused by Covid had disappeared have been kicked out of sight by the strike problems this year: 2023. I think the doctors and nurses are entirely in the right and I'm sure so do 90% of the peeps in the UK. Every body wants the NHS to work, so the Government needs to get moving!

I can see no point in pushing any more and perhaps I need to accept my age, but my head still thinks I'm 25! Other problems have now come to the fore which have left me wondering what I am to do next as it is all getting very difficult! I have been very lucky so far and must be grateful to various people for helping snd being so kind but there is a limit to what can be done. Perhaps I need to direct my interests to help with expanding my horizons again and make more effort to repay the peeps who have helped me so much.

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A similar update can be found here - ROMBERG - concerning Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham

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