What was your fasting blood glucose? (full on chat)

JohnEGreen said:

Thanks Ian every time I have checked the libre against StabbyMcStabbyface they have been in agreement and I have checked several times but hay ho these things seem to go in cycles next week I will probably be getting loads of high readings it all depends on how the preds and liver feel about things on the day.

Melody is a bit apprehensive because the appointments involve a couple of rather shall we say invasive procedures/tests that may be a little uncomfortable I'm sure everything will go alright though.

PS I have been making the odd foray out onto some of the other threads of late and I think it a bit of a mistake to spend too much time out there in hostile country so am going to stick a bit closer to home for a while.

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Interesting that Stabby and Scanny agree. Also interesting Melody had a COVID test. I was told to isolate for a week before camera into Mr Floppy but no test. As for other places on this board, it does seem if you nod in agreement with the in crowd all is fine otherwise group think fans make things very unpleasant. Good to do some non participant observation but never go native.

I see all your pain!
I wish I could tell you life gets easier, no, one just has to grow a carapace.

Even when family members die, one is left wondering what all the unpleasantness was about.
I guess one has to find a purpose in it all and forgive and forget.

John Campbell has a black dog on his shelf. I don't think I would want to be reminded of unpleasant times.

I have a black and white beany cat that reminds me of the cat I had as a youth and my dear old mother in law who the beany cat belonged to.
We were forever pulling each others legs, she was a pleasure to be around.
D.

gennepher said:

Fbg 6.3

Late yesterday afternoon an internet friend and I were What'sApping, and my Android phone kept going. The ring is off because I cannot use the telephone, and so I ignored it. But I kept getting visual alerts. So my friend said to check who it was by going in the phone app. Normally I ignore all this because I cannot do anything about phone calls.

Anyway, it told me it was Specsavers who I have an appointment with today. It had all been arranged by email and all forms filled in etc last week. My friend said they might be cancelling so she would ring them. So I ended up having to give more personal details to someone I only know on the internet (I have known her for 10 years now on internet) than I would normally do (to a stranger so to speak) for her to proceed with the call.

It turns out they have to speak to me personally (Specsavers know I am deaf and can't use the telephone), so my friend explains why they can't. But I cannot have my appointment with them this morning unless I personally speak to Specsavers, to say I don't have Covid-19 etc etc. But obvious logistics meant I couldn't speak on my friend's phone as she is hundreds of miles away. So my friend had some talking to do with them. Finally she sorted it, and I asked my friend to remind them again I was deaf and I cannot lipread through a mask, and could they wear the transparent face shields. The message came back that they would, but to remind them at my appointment if they forgot.

So now I am even more anxious about this morning.

My painting for today reflects my mood I think. It is an imaginary bird in ZenBrush2 and put into Snapseed for a couple of filters to change the stark white paper which I didn't like this morning.

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Take care...

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Although I gave a hug for all your stress, your art made me smile, thank you.

JohnEGreen said:

Fbg 4.0 today lovely clear blue sky may attempt a walk in the park later. I had to take daughter to the local hospital for a covid 19 test this morning as she has a couple of outpatient appointments at the hospital next week Judith's second day working back in the office she still is not happy about it.

Looking at a clearish sky the other night it dawned on me the one advantage of MG and double vision is that I get to see a sky with twice as many stars in it than most people and some times two moons can you beat that

My Libre tells me in the last 6 days I have had 13 low blood sugar episodes wow.

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A very mixed bag of emotions, hugs, smiles and optimism. Keep safe.

@dunelm thank you for your words about my art.

Yours today are magnificent waterfalls and as you said you were planning to sketch walks you had enjoyed, where is this. LIke the grandeur you have captured.

Hope you had a great day with grandchild.

Strange day and a garden visit this afternoon. Choir meeting in a garden tonight, only a few will be there so feels a bit safer.

So started a painting of a Plein Air sketch I did a few weeks ago. Not finished and foreground will be a wild flower meadow a bit of a challenge. A4 watercolour will finish Friday.

Muddy Cyclist said:

@dunelm thank you for your words about my art.

Yours today are magnificent waterfalls and as you said you were planning to sketch walks you had enjoyed, where is this. LIke the grandeur you have captured.

Hope you had a great day with grandchild.

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Thanks , a great day with our granddaughter - I have been distracted - a famous Chinese art critic called ‘my mother’ asked me to also look at contemporary Chinese Art - so, the best I suppose is Wu Guanzhong (so I have been informed). This is a study of one of his many Plunge Waterfall paintings.
Looking forward to seeing the wild flower meadow.

Muddy Cyclist said:

Strange day and a garden visit this afternoon. Choir meeting in a garden tonight, only a few will be there so feels a bit safer.

So started a painting of a Plein Air sketch I did a few weeks ago. Not finished and foreground will be a wild flower meadow a bit of a challenge. A4 watercolour will finish Friday.
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Bearing in mind the earlier discussion about personal preference, freedom etc I like this style/type very much. I will be interested to see both your rendering of the wildflower meadow and my reaction to same.

@Muddy Cyclist On my walk this afternoon came across another muddy cyclist two guys zoomed past us at a rate of knots the one leading missed judged things on a muddy slope and ended up in the mud when he came off his bike I did not laugh but regretted not having camera at the ready.

This was the deceptive slope



Luckily he did not hurt himself too much just bent his dignity slightly.

Wokeness long before it annoyed Telegraph readers . Sorry @gennepher couldn't find a transcript - not woke enough

I snapped a few other photos on my walk thought I might share them if it's OK.



The first I thought a little ironic was a Heron stood on what is a no fishing sign looking to catch a fish or two.

The second is the same bird in flight not very distinct but though I had my Nikon camera with telephoto lens attached I found I had neglected to put the memory card back in before I left so had to rely on my mobile phone camera what an idiot.

JohnEGreen said:

@Muddy Cyclist On my walk this afternoon came across another muddy cyclist two guys zoomed past us at a rate of knots the one leading missed judged things on a muddy slope and ended up in the mud when he came off his bike I did not laugh but regretted not having camera at the ready.

This was the deceptive slope

View attachment 43447

Luckily he did not hurt himself too much just bent his dignity slightly.

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These things happen. When doing my outdoor first aid course the lecturer put patients for us to practise on in crash positions on mountain bikes. She would ask us what is the first thing you do and we always said take a photograph and send it to the magazines, not sure she was impressed. The number of times I wish I had a camera when out on my bike when everything goes wrong.

On the serious side I do wish other Muddy Cyclists would show respect for other trail users and slow down. Gives us all a bad name.

JohnEGreen said:

I found I had neglected to put the memory card back in before I left so had to rely on my mobile phone camera what an idiot.

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Been there done that.

Thank you @ianpspurs and @dunelm for your comments and anticipation of the Wild flower meadow in my watercolour. I can't paint flowers go toffee so need to give an impression, not yet sure how.

Fbg 3.6 just now and the libre suggests I test again in 15 minutes.

Good Morning and 6.4 this morning. High again but this time my fault as I did have some cheese before bed last night as I need some paracetamol for headache.

Windy day here so no bike ride for me. A day of mystery awaits.

Keep safe.

Sorry I didn't come back on yesterday, but I was shell shocked , I think (in a good way, before you panic).

When I got there, Specsavers were very good. They wore the shields. I did have all 3 of my deaf/need to lipread badges on my frontage.

I had an extra test, for eye health, which the lady said would cost me £10. I had read about it the night before and I decided to say yes. But when it came to paying the bill at the end they didn't charge me for the test It was deducted from my bill.

My eyes are better than they were last year. There is absolutely no diabetic retinopathy there anymore. And I've had that for the past few years, since 2017. And also nearly all the macular degeneration has gone that was there last year on the optician's computer, and I saw it on his screen last year and it was several black spots that were getting bigger and bigger each year, and he showed me (in 2019) the black spots from the previous years, and he had said, last year, that it was getting worse. So I was very surprised to see only one tiny shadow yesterday.

Consequently, I have been worried about my eyes all year and was worried about losing my eyesight, and I was even more worried when we did not have the retinopathy scan, the diabetic retinopathy scan by the NHS this year because of covid 19. There are there no plans to reintroduce it anytime soon by the NHS, in my area in Wales. So that is why I agreed to pay for that extra test which was only £10 and it was an intensive investigation by a computer into my eyes, and the health of my eyes, and apparently it can predict problems several years in advance before they actually become a big problem.

My eyes are both in absolute perfect health. The optician showed me his screens. No Diabetic retinopathy at all. Nothing. Also the previously increasing (over the years) several black areas of macular degeneration have completely gone, apart from that one small spot. The optician did say he could tell I had kept my diabetes very much in control because it was reflected in my eye health.

And my eyesight has improved. I can now drive without my glasses. The next section down in the test was 100% too. The last section I had trouble with the second letter (which turned out to be an 'r'), and so he told me that I wouldn't be able to get my pilot's licence...

Because I have not yet been recalled by St Paul's (because of Covid-19) the optometrist checked that too. He explained with the equipment he now has, he can do pretty much the checks the NHS do.
And they (Specsavers some of them) are taking on NHS work.

I need a new prescription (not so strong)! So new glasses. Money to pay out! Varifocals again because they help with tired eyesight, eyes do lose elasticity with age, and the varifocals help with the comfort of that.

I don't know if some of you remember, but I mentioned (probably just before Christmas) that I was taking an eye supplement. I had researched, and bought some around July 2019, and I had been taking them for 6 months in December 2019. And that December I had noticed that:
1) my dry eyes with Sjogrens Syndrome, had improved a lot.
2) I wasn't blinded by that low in the sky bright winter sun when driving anymore.
3) Night time vision had improved and I wasn't blinded by headlights coming at me any more.
4) I could see better driving through tunnels, they didn't seem so dim any more.

And I might have said I was hoping that my eyes would be no worse at my next optometrist visit in 6 months time.

I was very anxious about yesterday's appointment. I have been anxious all year because last year he was telling me macular degeneration was progressive. I wasn't expecting this kind of improvement. I had felt my eyesight was better.

I am assuming that this eye supplement played some big part in all this. But obviously I cannot prove anything. Except I am shell shocked at this improvement in one whole year.

When I got back home the cat was upset, I had been gone awhile because I got to the optician's early so I could park outside. And I had done a bit of shopping while I was there in that town, and I found a shop toilet I could use! The first public toilet I have found open since lockdown began in March!

Poor Popeye, he was very vocal with me, not happy at all, quite disturbed I had left him. So the both of us went to bed. He calmed down immediately. And I fell asleep. So I didn't look in yesterday. I will play catch up this morning after I have done a ZenBrush2 painting....

6.0 for me have a good day everyone

JohnEGreen said:

I snapped a few other photos on my walk thought I might share them if it's OK.

View attachment 43450 View attachment 43451

The first I thought a little ironic was a Heron stood on what is a no fishing sign looking to catch a fish or two.

The second is the same bird in flight not very distinct but though I had my Nikon camera with telephoto lens attached I found I had neglected to put the memory card back in before I left so had to rely on my mobile phone camera what an idiot.

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Snap