Sunday, January 8 – Very strange day. Felt sort of lonely, though of course Dot was here. Both of us were feeling below par, but I felt better after I had a rest in the afternoon and took some Paracetamol. Dot also felt better towards evening, as she often does. Both of us still coughing quite a bit. Watched a bit of Olympics: curling was interesting. Also a documentary about bad weather, Songs of Praise and Call the Midwife. Cooked avocado and egg for lunch and pizza for supper, because Dot didn’t feel like fish. Part of bad weather documentary was about heatwave in 2022, which reminded me that it coincided with my gall bladder removal. When I checked back I found that the operation included a liver bleed. Odd, Holmes?
Monday – Dry and not too cold. Drove up to chemist to get pills for Dot. Both of us still feeling ropey: I was feeling better towards evening Watched some Olympics, but disappointing. Our curling team threw away their match by achieving 0-5 on one end – a near-impossible feat. Big Air skateboard drove me crazy: the commentary team gave the impression of a couple of Year 8 lads with a joint IQ of 50, and the competitors all did more or less the same thing. Cooked sea bass in evening – just about ok. Long talk with Amy on FaceTime after I rang her by mistake. She is interested in coming to Scotland. Dot hardly moved all day. Did some washing and put bins out. Dot cancelled her oral appointment on Wednesday – no problem.
Tuesday – More greyness and damp, and getting a little colder. Woke about 7am and checked on Dot, who was coughing a lot. In the end I stayed with her and after I got drinks we both went to sleep again. Didn’t awake till around 11am. Felt quite weary for some reason. Dot had a shower and got up. I eventually joined her. Had very little lunch and watched quite a lot of Winter Olympics. Uk came fourth in quite a lot. Annoying how many events have to have judges involved – eg ski-jumping. Surely the point is how far you jump, which can be easily measured. But no – style is an issue. This is just jobs for the boys. Cooked salmon, which was nice, then I cleared up and we listened to Oxford v Norwich. Norwich scored in the first minute and our new striker, Toure, from Australia, scored a hat-trick. Result 3-0. Afterwards watched an episode of Silent Witness.
Wednesday – Mainly grey and wet again, though there was a short dry period in late afternoon. I think we’re both improving, but I had a headache and Dot mainly stays in the living room after she gets up. I had a bath, then while Bridget was here chatting and cleaning, I went to Morrisons. Arrived back just after she left. She made the beds, which was unexpected. Put together a late lunch and then watched the second episode of Silent Witness before clearing everything away downstairs. Later watched some Winter Olympics – no medals yet for UK, but the men beat China at curling. I then cooked some fish cakes with cheese inside, which were really nice. Got Dot a Banoffee PIe, and I made a jelly earlier; so I had some of that with blackberries. Saw a programme on pilgrimage by Simon Reeves, which was quite good despite his lack of belief.
Thursday – Another unexciting day, grey and damp. We stayed in bed all morning and felt quite tired. Dot is improving as far as her leg is concerned, though she still has quite a bad cough. I have a generally heavy head, with occasional coughing. All my glasses seem to be not strong enough, although I’ve just had new ones. Made avocado and egg again, which was quite nice. Watched quite a bit of Winter Olympics again and caught up with e-mails. Wrote a small piece for Diderot. Dot walked around a bit and sorted some ironing out. Cooked sausages in the evening: the sweet potatoes looked off (after cooking) so shared my potatoes with Dot. Had only bought the sweet potatoes yesterday. Took some EDPs over to Des – he and Chris are much better after both having colds. Lots of snow still in Scotland.
Friday – Bad night as expected, since I had set the alarm in anticipation of my hospital appointment. Got up about 8 and made tea – couldn’t eat anything (nil by mouth) till after scan. Had bath and got Dot some Weetabix, then left around 9.30, arriving at hospital with about half an hour to spare. First stage was getting measured: I was 12 stone 8 – a bit heavier than I thought, though of course I had my clothes on – and 5ft 7.5, which was quite surprising. I was told it was normal to shrink, so that’s ok then.
I waited a long time, then went and asked the receptionist how long it would be. She got me through immediately: I think she had forgotten about me. I was fibroscanned by a very pleasant East European nurse, who gave me the impression that nothing serious was wrong. She didn’t seem to think it would be a good idea if I started drinking again, saying: “You don’t want to keep coming back here, do you?” I smiled. She got it immediately.
So back home through very light showers; Dot was still in bed and we had our usual very quiet day. Neither of us was too hungry; so we had soup, followed by fruit. No-one was keen to street meet; so we didn’t. It was cold and grey, and people were watching the Winter Olympics. Later in the evening we got a gold medal on the skeleton – our only medal so far, but a very impressive one by Mark Weston. Watched Ice Road Truckers and went to bed early after clearing away. Dot is certainly getting more active, though she is stuffed up. I’m not completely better, either. We are a merry duo.