• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

"What have you eaten" Parallel Chat

Spoke to my brother on the phone and discovered that he sleeps better sitting up in bed, so he uses a "V" shaped pillow and recommends it. He doesn't have a problem with his breathing but just finds it more comfortable. Surprised to hear that we share dislikes (phobias) that we've never spoken about before. Claustrophobia/certain foods/having arms tucked under the bed covers. He just faces up to his claustrophobia and has had to crawl around in cramped spaces during his work as an engineer. I have failed to force myself to go through perfectly safe spaces and had to be left isolated in very dim light in caves in Hastings, until someone came back to fetch me. Wimp!

Just had a phone call from the breast consultant in Inverness. They have, after all, found cancerous cells but they are not sure if they are aggressive or not, so more tests and consultations are required, but it looks like - to be safe - we are looking at a mastectomy. That's OK, I can do without one, or even both, these days. I'll hear from the hospital about a further appointment next week.
Just spotted this @Annb and so sorry to hear your news. Treatment path sounds challenging especially given the distances you have to travel to get specialist diagnosis and treatment but hopefully there will be good treatment options to improve your quality of life. You seem to have some difficult health issues and stay remarkably positive and caring - make sure you look after yourself - sending hugs to a special person.
 
What an unwelcome news, I'm so sorry!
I wanted to react yesterday, got distracted and forgot about it, only for you to haunt my dreams!
They were nice dreams by the way, despite me feeling guilty for forgetting to react in my dream. You were just as nice in my dream as your granddaughter seems to think you are. :)

I had to look up the thread today to see if I dreamt your whole post too, disappointed to see the part on the cancerous cells was not just my imagination. :(
I admire your stoic approach on 'doing without', and I'm very happy this is not something which is something like unacceptable for you, which would have made things much harder. On the other hand, an operation like that can't be easy on your body, especially with your other health issues.
I have my fingers crossed they can help you with minimal issues for you!

My household has its own little drama's. Just last week I bough a giant guinea pig pen for in the living room to house an elderly guinea pig with foot problems so she wouldn't have to spend the winter outdoors.
I moved her in with another guinea pig to keep her company.
This morning I found her in one of the hiding places. At least her last days were comfortable.

I've put another guinea pig in with the remaining one, as I don't dare put it back outside now it's gotten used to warmer surroundings, so I now have two indoor guinea pigs who didn't need it! :banghead:
Still, I like watching them, so it's not really a bad thing. :)
Hugs for your loss but,as you say, you did give her a comfortable last week and she’d have been uncomfortable in the last cold weeks weather - I’m presuming Netherlands is cold like the UK at the moment.
 
What an unwelcome news, I'm so sorry!
I wanted to react yesterday, got distracted and forgot about it, only for you to haunt my dreams!
They were nice dreams by the way, despite me feeling guilty for forgetting to react in my dream. You were just as nice in my dream as your granddaughter seems to think you are. :)

I had to look up the thread today to see if I dreamt your whole post too, disappointed to see the part on the cancerous cells was not just my imagination. :(
I admire your stoic approach on 'doing without', and I'm very happy this is not something which is something like unacceptable for you, which would have made things much harder. On the other hand, an operation like that can't be easy on your body, especially with your other health issues.
I have my fingers crossed they can help you with minimal issues for you!

My household has its own little drama's. Just last week I bough a giant guinea pig pen for in the living room to house an elderly guinea pig with foot problems so she wouldn't have to spend the winter outdoors.
I moved her in with another guinea pig to keep her company.
This morning I found her in one of the hiding places. At least her last days were comfortable.

I've put another guinea pig in with the remaining one, as I don't dare put it back outside now it's gotten used to warmer surroundings, so I now have two indoor guinea pigs who didn't need it! :banghead:
Still, I like watching them, so it's not really a bad thing. :)

So sorry that you have lost your little guinea pig friend. At least you know she was comfortable at the last and that you did all you could for her. As you say, you can't put the remaining one back out in the cold now so you've done the next best thing. You will have 2 very comfortable little friends by the spring and they may not want to go back outside.

Glad that your dream was a nice one - I wouldn't want to cause you to have a bad dream.
 
Had a strange "bad turn" this afternoon. Don't know what it was, apart maybe from using more energy than I have available. I did start the day deciding to get some things done - just ordinary things, like making the bed, putting stuff in the bin for emptying, putting some washing on. My bedroom floor was a disaster area so I decided I had to sweep it at the very least. That was hard going and I didn't do a very good job of it, but it was done!

It could also have been a drop in fluid levels, can't drink much before going out of the house. Better now. Finally got warm and stopped shivering (dozed off wearing a jumper, a thick knitted poncho and a blanket over the top). Woke up confused, but feeling better. However, I shan't be having a meal - that's just asking too much!
 
I also, later, checked blood pressure, pulse and oxygen levels. BP a bit high (166/79), pulse a bit fast (95-98), oxygen a bit low (93-95). Not sure what it means. Felt like death during the night, and not even warmed up at that! Some minor virus, I guess - sore skin, which is something that often happens during such events. So, just a mini virus after all. Don't know what I'm making a fuss about.
 
oxygen a bit low (93-95). Not sure what it means.
It means that you have 93% oxygen saturation in your blood with a highish heart rate (bpm) of 95 bpm.

You are a couple of percent % under the recommended saturated blood oxygen point of 95%.

Mine first up in the morning (if it does not flat line with the alarm going off.) is approx 97 to 98% with a heart rate of 60 - 65 bpm.

Edit: typo.
 
Last edited:
Went to bed early last night - 9.30 pm - feeling awful. BG was 12.9, pulse 105, oxygen 92/3. I am assuming that, with the higher pulse rate and lower oxygen saturation, that this is signs of some kind of infection/virus. Fluids a bit low due to early bed time. Slept until just before 1 am so now I'm up again, feeling not too bad atm. Had some tea to start the process of getting some fluid in. Must drink at least 2 litres today.
 
Em was here after school and took up all the time until 6.30 when her dad got home. About 10 minutes later I had a phone call from her asking if she can come for a sleep-over tonight since tomorrow is the Thanksgiving holiday at the schools here. So, she's just arrived back again and is chatting away 10 to the dozen. Don't expect her to go to bed very early, so it will be a long evening.
 
It's 8.30 and Em is still in bed. She asked me to wake her up at 6 am, which I did, but she decided just to stay where she was and went back to sleep. She's awake, had her early morning cup of tea in bed and is staying put for now.

Tried my back rest last night. It lasted about 5 minutes before the pillows were on the floor, shortly followed by the back rest itself. I'll try again tonight but I'm not hopeful. BG was 15.9 so I have taken a pretty big dose of Humalog to try to get it down to a reasonable level. Only tea so far. Em wants bacon for her breakfast but I think I'll stay away from meat for a bit. Also staying away from cheese right now. Only 2 slices of bread left, and possibly Em will have that during the day so I'll keep that back for her. Not sure what there is available, but I'll trawl through the fridges and freezers to see what there is. Pretty sure there is some fish somewhere.
 
Leaving the mincemeat to cool until morning and have decided NOT to make any cakes. Just not feeling up to it (not ill, just feeling opposed to doing it) so tomorrow I will - horror of horrors - buy shop made cakes to take with me. Can't believe I'm planning to do this, but I am!

Em was doing some artwork this afternoon - one or 2 pretty good images as well, but she had used up pretty well all the watercolours she had so informed me that we really need to get some more. (I like the "we"). OK, I know when to do as I'm told. Onto Amazon and ordered another watercolour palette for her. "Of course, Grannie, there was something else we were going to order, wasn't there?" Was there? "Can't remember what it is... Oh, Of course, those other paints in tubes!" Acrylic colours, she meant. Allright, I'll order acrylics. Expressions of love and devotion later I thought I'd better get a sketch pad as well. But her artwork is coming on, so I want to encourage her.

Edit to add: She's sweet but she knows how to manipulate her grannie.
 
Is that the "V" shaped cushion @maglil55? Or the other thing I was thinking of - like the back and arms of an armchair? I have to do something soon, my daytime is really beginning to suffer from lack of uninterrupted sleep.

Nearly 3 am. I've been up for about 50 minutes. Went to bed at midnight with BG 12.9 - up to 14.8 by 2 am.

Must make a start on the mincemeat for DIL today, so I can spend some time checking on dried fruit in the cupboard. I know I have raisins and cranberries. Also some apricots. Plenty of pistachios (other nuts as well but pistachios are the ones I know she can eat). I have apples, but they are Pink Ladies which might not be the best - should really be Bramleys. Oranges and lemons I have too. I don't think I have any cherries though, neither glace, dried nor fresh. So that's Bramleys and some kind of cherries for the shopping list tomorrow. I can still soak the dried fruit today though - in ordinary, unscented tea; she recently had a really severe reaction to Rosehip tea. It will be a start. Might make some extra and use it myself.
It is that V shaped pillow.
 
What an unwelcome news, I'm so sorry!
I wanted to react yesterday, got distracted and forgot about it, only for you to haunt my dreams!
They were nice dreams by the way, despite me feeling guilty for forgetting to react in my dream. You were just as nice in my dream as your granddaughter seems to think you are. :)

I had to look up the thread today to see if I dreamt your whole post too, disappointed to see the part on the cancerous cells was not just my imagination. :(
I admire your stoic approach on 'doing without', and I'm very happy this is not something which is something like unacceptable for you, which would have made things much harder. On the other hand, an operation like that can't be easy on your body, especially with your other health issues.
I have my fingers crossed they can help you with minimal issues for you!

My household has its own little drama's. Just last week I bough a giant guinea pig pen for in the living room to house an elderly guinea pig with foot problems so she wouldn't have to spend the winter outdoors.
I moved her in with another guinea pig to keep her company.
This morning I found her in one of the hiding places. At least her last days were comfortable.

I've put another guinea pig in with the remaining one, as I don't dare put it back outside now it's gotten used to warmer surroundings, so I now have two indoor guinea pigs who didn't need it! :banghead:
Still, I like watching them, so it's not really a bad thing. :)
Grandson's are all indoor pigs as well. They did have a very fancy house with "upstairs" (ramp) and downstairs but that's been replaced with a large cage with multiple hiding places.
 
@Annb so sorry to read that news but, by the sounds of things, it's an early catch. I assume this will be another Inverness trip for treatment?
Did you get hit by the storm last night? We were out from 4.30 to 7pm and I was almost blown off my feet a few times. We awoke this morning to an enlarged garden?? We also found the hinged lid of our garden storage chest had been blown off. We found it down the side of the house, weirdly, with the paper recycling box still sitting on top! Can't see any other damage yet. Oh well, we needed a new gate anyway.
There will be more than a few shrubs and plants having to be replaced. 20211127_083632.jpg20211127_083637.jpg
 
We awoke this morning to an enlarged garden??
Oh wow, that sure is a change of view!
The fence itself looks still good, will you reuse it?
Good thing you don't have goats/chickens/guinea pigs/bunnies in your garden or you would have spent your whole day trying to find them and apologising to the neighbours for the damage.
Grandson's are all indoor pigs as well. They did have a very fancy house with "upstairs" (ramp) and downstairs but that's been replaced with a large cage with multiple hiding places.
I'm lucky to live alone, so no-one is complaining about my ridiculous decision to give them a cage which literally takes up almost half my small living room!

260284456_10224685657683181_7677556960123482644_n.jpg
 
@Antje77 - No it's done for. At least 4 of the posts have snapped. It was one heck of a storm. We have someone coming on Monday to decide what needs to be done.
 
@Annb so sorry to read that news but, by the sounds of things, it's an early catch. I assume this will be another Inverness trip for treatment?
Did you get hit by the storm last night? We were out from 4.30 to 7pm and I was almost blown off my feet a few times. We awoke this morning to an enlarged garden?? We also found the hinged lid of our garden storage chest had been blown off. We found it down the side of the house, weirdly, with the paper recycling box still sitting on top! Can't see any other damage yet. Oh well, we needed a new gate anyway.
There will be more than a few shrubs and plants having to be replaced. View attachment 52230View attachment 52231

I didn't notice a thing about any storm, but I am told that it was very windy here last night. Today, though, has been calm and still. Just very cold. Lots of small pockets of snow/sleet /ice around the place though.

As far as the "fatty lump" is concerned, it could have been caught earlier. Apparently it showed up quite clearly, albeit only a very small version of itself, on the last chest Xray I had a few months ago, but nobody thought to mention it. It has enlarged considerably since then. However, it is still a fatty lump with some suspicious elements to it, not a proper tumour. I should be hearing something next week about where we go from here.
 
Back
Top