Well, that's that.

[caddyman]

Well, there we are.

The Quack has increased my prescription so that I am now on four different things for my blood pressure - although this additional thingy which I have yet to get is actually for cholesterol. Apparently my cholesterol is actually OK at 5.1 (whatever that means), but Herr Doktor decided to knock it down a bit anyway since I am a smoking fatty with hypertension commensurate with inflating a dirigible. As I've said before, I'm not fat, I'm inflated.

My tale of woe, insomnia, pointless dickey fits, tension and over taxed nerves prompted him to write me a note for two weeks sick leave starting immediately. Although that runs out on 2 April, I am under strict instructions to see him again before I go back to work, so effectively, I am off until the afternoon of the 6th at the earliest. I'm not sure yet what to do with this sudden bonus in free time, although some of it will be used in writing.

My good friend wallabok has already invited me to the wilds of Cambridgeshire where I can get toughed up by my little goddaughter. We'll see; I may well take him up on the offer, but I think I want to spend little time with myself first.

Two weeks is a long time when you've made no plans.

I worked out on the train back that I've had a total of nine sick days in twenty-one years as a civil servant. And now I'm having thirteen and half in a single sitting.

I managed not to say 'I told you so' to my boss when I gave her the medical note.

I think I shall lounge around and listen to a little music now, and then recommence the Search for the Nile, or Operation Dancing Pigmy, Part 3.

Comments

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

I'll just about restrain the mutters of bah, humbug and tell you to go and have two weeks doing absolutely bugger-all.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I'll really go mad if I do absolutely bugger-all.

Tempting, though! ;-)

[romney.livejournal.com]

The point to remember is that you're not faking this.

Get the rest that's been prescribed. Don't make big plans. Potter around. Tidy up. Take a trip. Read, write. Don't spend all day in the Caff eating lard.

Be prepared to find some emotion coming out now you've the time and space for it.

The next firm date is the return visit to the GP, NOT a date to return to work.

Get well. Plenty of friends out here that don't want you to go "bing"!

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Emotions are there to be repressed, Vulcan-like.

I fear it will take more than a fortnight to break a 45 year habit.

[keith-london.livejournal.com]

Cholesterol is measured in the chemical units of millimoles per litre of blood. Blood cholesterol levels should ideally be below 5.2 mmol/l. Did your doctor give you an lipid lowering drug? Or did they recommend diet?

"Soluble fibre, in foods such as as oats, baked beans, grapefruits and apples, helps to reduce blood cholesterol, probably by binding to cholesterol-rich bile acids which are released into the gut during digestion. However, for a really significant effect you need to eat the equivalent of two large bowls of porridge daily." [Source: Cholesterol Q & A]

I'm just particularly interested in cholesterol and of course health implications :-)

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Well, it seems that despite my lardy nature, I'm just below that 5.2!

It appears I have been prescribed Simvastatin which apparently is an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor. Google helpfully tells me that this means they reduce the body's ability to produce cholesterol.

In the meantime, I'm on calcium antagonists (which still sound like a punk band to me)to reduce the muscular take up of calcium, and bendrofluazide which makes me pee like a cart horse. And aspirin to thin me blood.

Oh, and now ramipril which apparently is an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. The reading of that on medical sites sounds bloody horrible; it makes me wonder if the old ticker is less well than I thought.

Probably precautionary.

I haven't filled the prescription yet. That fun comes tomorrow.

I have no idea what these two new thingies will do to me other than making me rattle since I'll be so full of pills.

Even at the highly subsidised NHS prescription costs this is all beginning to turn into major expenditure.

Just think what it'd be like if I was ill?

Blimey.

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

romney is right.

I was given a six-month sicknote for my skin at the end of '97; that six months ended up stretching itself into nine. It's crucial to remember that this is time to relax and get better from a real and measurable ailment, not to sit feeling guilty about being off work.

The quack knows best in such instances and management cannot argue with a sick note.

Relax and catch up with your videos, man.

"Sicknote For My Skin..."

[romney.livejournal.com]

...is SO the name of the next Mars Volta albumn...

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I'll give it a go. Actually, the more I think about it, the more long neglected hobbies are creeping out of the woodwork.

I'm hoping that my suddenly dormant but previously voracious appetite for books wakes up again. If nothing else, this tidy up of mine has illustrated the sheer mountain of unread books I own.

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

Painting.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I may well have a go - though pencil or pastel drawing is more likely.

One of the benefits of my as yet unfinished excavation of the garret is that I have found my pastels. I know where the sugar paper is, all I need now is to obtain a drawing board.

Of course, I might do some pen and ink pictures, too.

But I also need to get some NWO written.

I will get a picture done though.