DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) DAY 24

ON DAY 2 OF “AS GOOD AS IT GETS PHASE” I PUBLISHED ADVICE ON CORONA VIRUS THAT WAS PURPORTED TO HAVE BEEN ISSUED TO HOSPITAL STAFF. IT TURNS OUT THAT THIS WAS A FAKE NEWS ARTICLE. I HAVE NOW TAKEN THIS OUT OF THE POST AND CAN ONLY APOLOGISE TO EVERYONE WHO READ IT. CLEARLY THE LESSON IN THIS IS TO BE VERY CLEAR ABOUT THE SOURCE OF ANY ADVICE ON THIS ISSUE.

THANK YOU TO MIKE FOR MAKING ME AWARE OF THIS.

More to follow later.

April Fools day and this time last year I was landing in the air ambulance at Birmingham and being transferred to an ambulance bound for Leicester Royal Infirmary. I had seen a spectacular display of the aura borealis as we flew towards Iceland on the last hop back from Jamaica. I was just thankful that I was back in dear old Blighty and amongst familiar sights and sounds. My joy was fairly ephemeral as I found myself being put into isolation for three days just to be sure that  I had not come back with something nasty from Jamaica apart from a pair of dodgy kidneys and a probable bladder problem. As it turned out my kidneys made a very good recovery and are firing on as many cylinders as you would expect for a man my age, the down side was the star of my diagnosis of metastatic prostate cancer and the recent DVT. Still I cannot complain as my current isolation is far more palatable than my previous experience of a year ago. In fact, I feel like I had a practice run. I also agree with George Alagiah the journalist who has been fighting cancer for six years when he said that those of us with cancer have an edge in that we are stronger having faced the ambiguous nature of cancer and faced the questions of mortality that it raises. Its not quite “been there, got the T shirt” but it does build a resilience that is useful in putting other things like Corona virus in perspective.

So today started slowly with a muesli breakfast and a coffee in the quiet of the house as my partner had gone for her walk. I donned my now standard lounge pants and ice hockey shirt and got myself ready to go to the garden shed. It is has become like going off to work each morning and with it come the routines of setting up my office. I settle down and write my first letter of the day, however part the way through my partner appears and tells me that I have just received a food box from the government.

Apparently because I am of the Shielded community, I get free food. Who knew? Well the box was full of goodies as you can see from the picture above. It poses a moral dilemma as I am not sure we need it but the man on a mission who delivered was not about to hang around for a chat. It is something we will think about seriously and resolve as quickly as we can. It is made less clear due to my daughter being furloughed and her boyfriend being put on short time so there is a question mark as to whether they can stay where they are or whether they will need to move in. Its highly unlikely that they will have to move but if they did we would need to cater for them. The box of goodies was interesting. My favourite item was the can of prunes in thick syrup. I think this is a deliberate ploy to keep my bowels open. Boris bowel bombs! So kind of him when he has so much on his mind. So back to the shed to finish my letters until lunch to find that the computer parts to upgrade and old laptop have arrived. It turns out that this is going to take longer than I thought as I need to clone the new SSD before I can install it in the laptop. I spend all afternoon wrangling the lap top and hit a dead end.

So I do what I always do I resort to cooking and wipe up a Thai red chicken curry. Actually, I use one of the pre picked ingredients meals that we had delivered yesterday. To my surprise it turns out to be tasty and easy to cook. A friend calls and I have the pleasure of chatting to someone outside the family and hearing how others are dealing with being isolated. She has children to occupy as well as continuing to work from home, no mean feat. It makes my situation feel much less pressured and quite luxurious. So it will be an evening of research as I sort out cleaning an SSD drive and booting up a brand new drive without cloning the dysfunctional old one. I will see how long I can remain enthusiastic before tiredness over takes me. The good thing is that I have not had time to think about where I was this time last year. Keeping busy in the here and now has kept me from drifting into unwanted revelry about less happy times.