Ian's Ailments - the continuing story

It's supposed to be a working day today but with a morning appointment at my GP and an afternoon one at the Optician, I had no option but to stay in Banchory. The upside of this is that I was able to join the Thursday morning cycle group for the first time since late June. That almost created a potentially fairly serious additional ailment for me - but I got off lightly - check http://bvetscycling.blogspot.co.uk/ for the details, but here I was at the start, waiting for the others:

From there, it was off to see my GP - primarily to discuss my cardiologist's recent report. We discussed the various pros and cons and the risk factors of the likelihood of stroke versus the effect of bleeding from the various anti-coagulants - aspirin, Warfarin, or one of the new generation of drugs, like Riveroxaban. The Medics have tables they work to, showing the various risk factors. I'm currently in the 1% risk category for strokes, solely because of my age. When it gets to 2%, it becomes much more significant and action needs to be taken.

I'm also in the 1% risk category for bleeding from the medication, so it's currently 50:50 as to whether I should change from just taking aspirin daily to something stronger. What might change the risk is other things, such as renal issues, so we've agreed that I should have my bloods taken again and then I should have the discussion with my GP, armed with this information. I go to see the Nurse on Monday.

Changing tack, I asked my GP to be referred to my knee surgeon again, to have a look at my left knee prior to my BUPA private medical expiring early in 2015, so he's doing that and I'll await the call.

Next up was the Optician. She was pleased with my progress but has asked me to continue with the antibiotics until at least Monday - 3 days later than planned. I've to see her again then. At least she didn't have to refer me to the Eye Clinic.

Next up is the Flu clinic on Saturday. I'm getting my money's worth from the NHS just now.

Oh - and we passed another milestone with this blog - more than 250,000 viewings now.

Eye eye

Wednesday - day 3 of the heavier dose of 1% Chloramphenicol cream for my eye, and tomorrow it's back to the optician who will decide whether the treatment is working or not, with the threat of sending me to the Eye Clinic if it's not.

It feels slightly better and I don't think the eye is as bloodshot as it was - although Jo says the bag(s) under my right eye is/are looking puffier. Here's a couple of gruesome before and after (putting cream on) shots:

Difficult to take photos of your own eye - you can't properly see the area where the ulcer is, which is to the right of my eye (the left as you look at it).

Before that, I've got a visit to my GP in the morning - a follow-up to my recent examination by the cardiologist - and his recommendation that it's time to change from Aspirin - but to what? Back to Warfarin, or one of the new drugs like Riveroxaban (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivaroxaban)? I still don't know what's best for me. Warfarin needs constant monitoring - back and forth to the GP/Nurse to check levels, but has an antidote - which still didn't help Mum after her fall, as the coagulant still took too long to stop the bleeding on her brain before they could operate. The new breed of drugs don't yet have an antidote - you just have to wait until coagulation occurs naturally.

I'm also considering asking for a referral to my knee surgeon again to have a look at my left knee, which is playing up occasionally. Best to do this now whilst I still have private health insurance - once I'm fully retired, this option will be gone.

If the weather's OK in the morning - thankfully it's dry now after 36 hours of heavy rain - I might manage to get out for a quick cycle. Perhaps squeeze in a haircut too some time.

Eye update

My GP took one look at my eye yesterday and said I'd had some kind of trauma. Did anything hit my eye? Not that I could remember, but there's a very visible ulcer there. The Medical Practice doesn't have specialist eye examination equipment, but she made an appointment at the optician for this morning and they could have a closer look at it there. She prescribed a course of 1% cream which is apparently twice as strong as the eye drops I had been taking.

I got home and told Jo and she said yes - I saw the ulcer mark too. Thanks for telling me dear!

Well I've been to the optician this morning and she was able to use all the eye specialist equipment that the GP's don't have. She eventually put some anaesthetic in my eye and then took a needle to remove what she discovered was dead cells to have a closer look at the ulcer underneath.

She was going to send me to the Eye Clinic at the Infirmary and phoned them to make an appointment for me, but the phone call went on for about 10 minutes, after which she said I didn't need to go there after all - they wanted me to have a few more days on the eye cream antibiotic and then assess it again, so I've to go back on Thursday.

AVFF

Monday - at home, watching the wild and wet weather outside and thankful not to have to do anything much today - other than blog, of course.

It's been an interesting week. I went to Pittodrie last Tuesday night with Malcolm Grigor to see the Dons get pulled back to 2-2 against lowly St. Mirren, then, on Wednesday, exactly 11 months after my knee replacement operation, I made a tentative comeback at squash doubles - and it was OK.

My physio had told me it would take 11 months to fully recover from the operation, so I took her advice to the letter!

Prior to playing squash on Wednesday, my right eye had begun to feel a bit itchy and sore and when I awoke on Thursday morning, my eyelid remained closed and my eyeball felt like somebody was sticking needles in it. I went to the Chemist on the way to work and got some antibiotic eye drops. He told me I had bacterial conjunctivitis and had to take the eye drops every 2 hours for 48 hours then every 4 hours thereafter until finished - 5 days in all.

Today is the 5th day and it's not cleared up yet so I've arranged an appointment with a doctor this afternoon. I feel it's a little better, but the pack says it should clear up in 48 hours - if not, seek medical advice - so I am.

Of course, we've been away all weekend, so I couldn't have sought advice until now anyway. On Friday, Jo and I headed to the North of England for the Allen Valleys Folk Festival. We stopped at Lauder for lunch at the Flat Cat Gallery - very nice - then stopped again at Jedburgh to have a quick look round the Abbey, Castle and Jail. Our timing was bad, however - it chucked it down:

Friday night at the Folk Festival is recorded on my music blog (http://banchoryheadbangers.blogspot.co.uk/). On Saturday morning, we had planned to join the organised walk round the old lead mines in Allenheads, reputedly the highest village in England, but it was arranged for Sunday morning, so we just went there on our own, starting with the short Nature Trail:

We decided we wanted to explore round there a bit more, although the rain was getting heavier by now. We climbed a bit but it was getting pretty bleak and miserable so we decided to loop back:

Nice warming coffee in the Hemmel Cafe however before we headed back to our accommodation in Allendale to put dry clothes on. We were staying at Deneholme, an Adventure Training Centre, which had been recommended by the Folk Festival organisers. It was more Youth Hostel than hotel, but they were very friendly:

Deneholme was also a Folk Festival venue so were able to relax over a nice beer whilst listening to some music, after which we went for another walk to explore potential dinner venues:

The walk back along the river from Allen Mill was very pleasant and the sun had finally come out as we rewarded ourselves with a pint outside the Golden Lion, watching the Clog and Morris dancers in the square:

After a couple of concerts in the local church, we had supper in the Allendale Inn - the only place we could get in to eat - then headed back to Deneholme for a quiet evening with a book and a bottle of Rioja.

On Sunday we decided to head home via the Coastal route, with a few scheduled - and unscheduled - stops on the way. We were in Hadrian's Wall country, although it took a bit of effort to find a bit of the wall to take the obligatory photo. It took even more to get Jo to pose on the wall, as she is still getting over her disappointment at the result of the Referendum:

That stop was partly planned, but the next one was a complete surprise - Wallington, a National Trust property with huge grounds and a beautiful walled garden:

Across the road, back at the main property, there are 4 dragons' heads:

Inside the house is spectacular as well:

Jo with Grace Darling

 We did make it to the coast in the end. This is Bamburgh Castle:

A bit further up the coast is Holy Island, home of Lindisfarne Castle. There is a tidal causeway to cross first and you need to check the timings to find out when it's safe to cross. We were out of luck - only just. The tide was already receding but it would take another hour before it was safe and we didn't have that much time left, so I posed for the photo on the causeway instead:

Our last detour was in to Berwick Upon Tweed for a spot of supper and a photo on the ramparts:

Good fun. Now it's time for me to go see the Doctor.