14 October 2012

In the recent exchange of emails with the good Dr Michael, in Australia, it would appear that although he is ready and willing to come and spend a week or so with us in November, that is, subject to how his son Tom is getting on at the time. He is part way through the preparation for stem cell therapy, so just how that will fit into things we can only see. Clearly, Tom must come first when it comes down to Michael’s. priorities. Whether or not they will know anything about the course of Tom’s treatment in couple of weeks time, which will take us to the beginning of November, remains to be seen.

Paul the ‘computer’ came over the lunch period. I knew that ‘my lovely’ was going out but it was not made clear to me, until she returned, that she had been gallivanting about and attending yet another golden wedding anniversary (Ba and John Goldworth) Lucky ol’ her. My problem is that I can’t even go to funerals – which are becoming more numerous – mainly because there is no wheelchair access. The same applies to most parties. Very few houses, in fact, are completely step free, which makes attending parties, very difficult. We did go to a couple of parties this summer, but I am only too aware what a nuisance it is for the host. Therefore, although I still get invited out of courtesy, my party days are over. This will not be a great loss to me. When I was at full strength there was nothing I enjoyed more than a small dinner or supper party, say, with four couples, where good conversation took place and some lively controversies were argued out. As for Paul and I, I thought it about time he had a break from fiddling around with my laptop systems, so we settled down and watched the first episode of Hornblower, which Chloe and family has kindly sent to me for my birthday.

As I have mentioned in the past, my daily calorie income has shrunk to probably less than 1000 a day, which is what a human being needs just to survive. Concerned about my weight loss-I would guess that I am somewhere between 10 ½ – 11 stone – Dr West has prescribed some calorie supplement. Its commercial name is Fortisip Nuticia. It describes itself as a very high energy Nutritionally Complete Completa hypercalrica. 24 kcal/ml. The good news is that it comes in four flavours. Banana; vanilla; strawberry and one other. It is not too bad to take and, in my case, quickly made me feel as though I’d had a good meal. I will stick to the doctor’s recommendation, at least for the time being, and see if the added calories give me more energy