scan done

Deb drops me off at Envision for my MRI.

The scan is no trouble, as long as I don't think about the cannula, ouch!

Actually it does hurt but not enough to class as "painful". I just dislike the concept. But it's quick... then I can lie still for half an hour. Listening to the industrial thumping, whining and roaring of the MRI scanner.

At one point -- I'm almost asleep -- I have a minor feeling of panic. My usual lack of lung capacity, I can't get a deep breath... for some reason it causes a quick feeling of panic.

Only a second or two. Then I relax. Breathe in. And back to normal. Very strange. Very curious.

Scan done, Deb picks me up. We go shopping on the way home. I have a stretchy bandage round my elbow: "We use a large cannula," I'm told, the bandage prevents bruising. I use the bandage to get sympathy at the check-out :-)

Last week, same check-out... they know us and have heard of my complaints... they ask, How are you?

I'm never sure how to answer. I say... It's come back to try to kill me but I'm resisting. A better word would be, Ignoring :-)

Yes, I do have a gloomy, I'm gonna die! feeling. It makes me short-tempered. And sometimes worried.

But it does not stop me enjoying day-by-day life. Perhaps my short-term view makes me even more appreciative of each day.

On the bright side: Getting ready for a run (last week in Collie, for example) I feel that my head is... unsteady. I feel as though running will be dangerous. Will make me fall over. And then I run -- and it's all fine. So my only excuse for slow running is... I am a very slow runner :-)

It will be a week before we know what the scan shows. And yet... the scan is done. Already I have a feeling of relief. The scan is done, the results are fixed... I worry before the scan. I worry till we get the results... but It's a different type of worry. It seems -- despite all logic -- to be a lesser worry... till we see the doc next week :-)

On a different topic:

I believe that "my app" will never get written. The app developers mean well. A few weeks ago they responded to something that I sent... the response was so far away from my expectations that... I have lost hope. 

Either I can't write or they can't read (either is possible). But not to worry... It is not an end to trying. I continue to go through the motions. But... well... you know the end result of motions (lmao :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"It is not certain that everything is uncertain." ... Blaise Pascal===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com/ :-)

away along the trails

Deb and I spend the weekend in and round Collie... for trail running.

Friday: We drive down. It's only a couple of hours so we start a bit before lunch. Before? Well, we want to (and do) stop at Stirling Cottage just before Harvey. The Cottage is now a cafe -- surrounded by beautiful gardens. We often stop there. Today we stop for lunch.

We eat on the verandah, looking over the gardens. They are beautiful. In a pleasant, peaceful, off-season-for-flowers kind of  way.

On to Collie, where we are booked into the Collie Ridge Motel. I usually try for isolated, self-catering accommodation. This year, all our favourites are fully booked. The motel is comfortable and quiet.

After some serious relaxation we head off to the first trail run. It starts at Harris River Dam, just twenty minutes out of town. The run starts at 6:30pm -- just after sunset.

I worry that Deb will fall over. She does. Deb worries that I will get lost. I do.

We do the run "rogaine-style": I run in front with my hand-held torch. Deb follows me, with her powerful head torch. Deb can see me -- and tell me when I (twice) turn the wrong way. Her torch shines past me, to light my way. the trail is marked by reflective markers. It all works well.

It's a beautiful night for a run (Though the pace I set is closer to a walk :-) The bush is peaceful (except at the start and finish, where there is a noisy generator and a couple of hundred people being happy. The run is just under seven km. We finish in one hour 22 minutes. A very enjoyable evening.

We drive home (ie back to the motel) and pick up Chicken Treat on the way. We were lucky that they were still open. They had run out of roast chook. No worries, I had "fried" -- very similar to KFC but much nicer.

Every few years I eat KFC, to keep my disgust fresh. This Collie fried chook is similar -- battered, fried -- but  fresher and tastes much nicer.

Now, tired, pleased and fed, we sleep... after removing the leftover chicken to an outside bin. A good taste -- but not a smell that we want to sleep with!

Overnight, there is heavy rain. Next day -- Saturday -- is drizzly. Forget the Saturday run -- we relax :-)

For lunch we each have a bread roll from the Collie "French bread" bakery. The bread is delicious. Mine is a "Continental roll", full of salad and antipasto. I don't like antipasto but the roll has a good mix. A hearty, tasty meal -- more than I can eat.

Saturday dinner, we eat in the motel restaurant. I have "spicy ribs" -- more barbeque sauce than spicy, nice though. We both enjoy dinner... with dessert :-)

Sunday: another trail run. 5.4km in 55 minutes... I'm pleased with my result -- just two minutes slower than Deb :-)

After the run -- there's a geocache near where we are parked! It's just a short way along the Bibb Track. With a magnificent view of a large lake (part of the dam?) with a huge cliff beyond it. So glad we saw it!

Sunday afternoon, we walk to the Coalfields Museum, just a few hundred m from our motel... luckily, because the museum is closed. We walk a bit farther to the Visitor Centre -- also closed. But we do admire the old steam engines parked outside. Amazing huge things, with some interesting histories.

We find a second cache. This one with with a ghost story (but no ghost). There's another cache -- somewhere on an old army tank. Too many possible hiding places... we quickly give up.

Walking back, we're tempted by some metal cut-out birds... I refuse to buy because the woman in the shop tries a too-hard sell on scented soaps. She insists on squirting hand-cream on our hands. It takes me several washes to get rid of the smell... I don't like scented stuff on me.

Deb decides on fish & chips for dinner. A search for "Collie fish and chips" shows on shop... so we go there  :-)

View Fish and chips, on View Street, surprisingly :-)

There's a l-o-o-ot of grease on the f&c -- yet it is all really delicious! Another lot of food wrapping that quickly goes to the *outside* bin.

Monday, we start with a full breakfast at the motel. I have some problems...

Deb picks a table, I just follow. I look in the dining room and can not, quickly) make sense of what's there. So it's easier to let Deb point me in a sensible direction.

We have poached eggs, bacon, toast, beans... I can cut it all up but can't get anything to balance on my fork. Forget it... I eat with a spoon. It's still tricky but, at least, possible.

It's a good meal but tricky :-)

We pay up, pack up, head towards home. It's been a very pleasant weekend :-)

We stop for morning tea at our other favourite café on SW Highway, Edenvale Homestead in Pinjarra. The weather is a bit cool and windy, so we sit on the sheltered verandah. Drinking coffee and sharing a lemon tart... yumm :-)

Finally... home again. And home is -- unsurprisingly ... much the same.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"It is not certain that everything is uncertain." ... Blaise Pascal===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com/ :-)

optimistic prep

In a burst of optimism, I buy a running backpack. Thinking -- with great optimism :-)  -- that I will run far enough to need a backpack.

Well... this weekend I will: we will run one two or three trail runs.

The first is at night... what will I see?

I go in to buy the backpack -- and bang my head on the half-open door! Half-open to my left. I mean, who would see that?!

No need for a doorbell, anyone inside can hear my... "Oh gosh, I hit my head". Or something like that...

Deb says I have a spot of blood and, now, a bruise.

Look out trees! here I come :-)

Apart from that -- all is well :-)

Though as tired as usual.

I've just read a delightful book: think Pride and Prejudice written by PG Wodehouse. With a tour of the south of England... circa 1909. I just wish that I could write such an enjoyable travel journal :-)

It must be time to travel again...

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"It is not certain that everything is uncertain." ... Blaise Pascal===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com/ :-)

fun run run run...

I'm just back from the Herdies Front Yard ultramarathon.

Yes, that statement is deliberately misleading.

I'm just back from *watching* a couple of hundred runners in the ultra.

It's a run where competitors run as many laps as they can around "our" lake. As long as they lap in less than an hour... they can do another lap. One person wins -- does one more lap than anyone else -- everyone else is second. Brilliant concept :-)

Every hour, they run past the end of our road. I clap, I cheer, I encourage. Phew! I am exhausted :-)

I have another year to get my lake-lap time below an hour (from 90 minutes:-) When I can do that, I can enter and come second :-)

It's an exciting target.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"It is not certain that everything is uncertain." ... Blaise Pascal===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com/ :-)

Told you so!

A bad night with a cold. Coughing keeps me awake.

But today it's (a lot:-) better. Still an annoying cough.

Deb helps me with a RAT -- all clear, so yes it is a cold, not covid.

I'm a bit gloomy with the results of the last MRI. When it did show a shadow -- probably another tumour -- I was meant to say: "Told you so!" So there y' go... Told you so :-)  Mortality just a bit more definite :-)

I really should get going with all those "things to do before I die". Or, maybe... just continue to ignore them :-)

Planning timeline is still an (optimistic) two years... no rush... no worries :-)

Now here's a *real* worry :-(

When I start to type a "to" email address -- gmail does not give me a list to select from :-(  (from which to select...)

Stupid technology :-(

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"It is not certain that everything is uncertain." ... Blaise Pascal===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com/ :-)

too hard to halve

Not sure if it's my eyes or my brain, but something has lost focus :-)

I have a nice piece of cardboard, think I'll turn it into a chess board. Simple enough: draw a line half-way, then halve each half.

I measure one edge, divide by two, measure that half distance. Measure again, connect the dots...

I have two lines. One near but not at the middle. The other is... somewhere else.

Interesting. I put the cardboard away and go  to bed to get some sleep :-)

===

Deb doesn't like me swearing.

Many years ago a son at primary school learnt to swear. We fined him for every swear word. He soon stopped swearing.

Deb has started fining me for swearing. It works!

Simple psychology that worked on a primary-age child. And it works on me.

How embarrassing :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"It is not certain that everything is uncertain." ... Blaise Pascal===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com/ :-)