Tuesday and I wake to my partner leaving for work and the builder badgers arriving to put in more paving for a bin refuge. I take my vitals and get a nasty shock, my blood pressure is up. I spend time listening to meditation music and repeating my vitals measurements. I try to empty my mind and not indulge in an internal dialogue as I try to get my blood pressure down. After a few minutes I manage to get it down to 133 over 75. Its cleat that I must train today. If my raised blood pressure is a side effect of my cancer drugs I need to try and control it and as my oncologist keeps telling me exercise is the single most effective way of doing this. So I get up and get into my training gear.

There are of course things to do before I can train like having breakfast and taking my morning meds, which have been adapted to meet the needs of Thursdays operation. I make coffee for the builder badgers who are putting in the concrete base to house the block paving for a bin refuge. Its raining hard but they are persisting. By eleven o’clock the concrete is in and the badgers are packing up to leave as they have to let the concrete set over night before they can do anything else. It is at this point that I head for the garage and the rower. I am not feeling like training but it is an essential today, so I set up for a 45 minute session and get going. Its tough, I feel stiff and not on top of my game. Finally I get to the end of the session to find that my Fitbit has run out of power after the first 16 minutes so I wont get credited with the full amount of PAI points on my fitness App. As it turns out I go more than 9 kilometres and and burn over 600 calories so I am pleased with the outcome even if I am sweating profusely and feel knackered.

With training out of the way I have a shower and record the session in my journal. I take a walk down to the village shop and get a paper and some odds and ends before popping into the dentists. The receptionist is very good as I explain that I am being asked for the details of my dental work for Thursdays operation. Unfortunately my dentist was not available but she promised to talk to her and let me know if they could do it. Back home I rang the post operation therapist who explained to me what was going on and how much she charged. I booked an appointment for one week after the operation, so I am now all set up. I do todays crosswords and then set about drafting todays blog. Not until my partners friend and our house guest for the night appears do I stop to be host and make tea. Once my partner and friend have gone out to eat do I return to the blog. My dentist has come up trumps with the information I need for Thursday so I settle in for the evening.

I have realised now that I have one day of training left before my operation and then I may not be able to drive or row for a while, so I am going to have to think about what I am going to do and how I am going to do it for the next couple weeks when I can get some use of my hand back. Looks like I might be going to the gym to sit on a bike or walk on a treadmill. The blog is going to take longer as it will have to be a left handed type fest and letters will also take longer. So I hope anyone that comes to the blog will forgive the more dyslexic look to it than usual. So tonight I wait for Tesco on my own and think about things while nibbling panettone. Ultimately it will be more adapted night meds and bed. Tomorrow is train and pack day.