dizzojay | Entries tagged with facts about me

Well, it came and it went!

It's been a nice break from work and Mr D and I have eaten and drunk far too much. We've intentially had a fairly quiet one, caught up with a couple of friends, but otherwise kept ourselves to ourselves. As usual, the highlight of our Christmas break has been Windlesham Pram Race which takes place on Boxing Day (26th December) every year, and it's a day Mr D and I both look forward to.

Windlesham is our neighbouring village and so walking down to the race route and back is about a 3 mile round trip, a nice way of working off a few of the 12 million calories we ate on Christmas day.

The race passes four of Windlesham's five pubs, and teams and spectators are encouraged to stop off and support each establishment, so it's a 'race' in name only, but the main purpose of the event is to raise money for local charities which include upkeep of Windlesham's open spaces such as the recreation ground and field of Remembrance, wildlife rescue and riding for the disabled. There are three winners at the end of the race - the fastest team, the best costumes and the best engineered 'pram'.

Each 'pram' doesn't actually have to be a pram, it can be any kind of wheeled vehicle, but the main rule is that it must only be propelled by being pulled or pushed. It can't have any kind of self propulsion such as a motor or battery.

And that's where the fun starts... there is no end to the imagination of some folks.

I'm never prouder of my community than I am on this day!

( Image heavy post! )

Yesterday marked four years to the day that Supernatural, the special little show that made it's wonderful mark on my life in so many ways aired its final episode.

I thought I'd post today because today marks four years to the day that I watched that episode. I watched it with darling

jj1564.

20th November 2020 was the height of the second Covid lockdown in the UK, so when I said I watched it with June, we were both in our own homes on screen, watching the episode between us. We chatted, we laughed, and ultimately, we cried at the end of something so beautiful. But the fact that, four years on, most of the friends I met through the Supernatural fandom are still an important part of my life speaks volumes about how precious our show was to all of us.

Sadly, as you know we lost June in April 2021, and experiencing the end of our show with her makes it even more special and poignant.

Like many of us, I was devastated about the end of Supernatural. However, four years on, I know the joy and memories it brought me will never end.

This vision of loveliness was me ten minutes after the end of the episode, and i know for a fact I wasn't the only one!( Yikes! )

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I was on the radio a couple of night ago!

There's a radio show on a station called 'Absolute' and I listen to it most afternoons. The DJs are called Bush and Ritchie and they're great fun. They do a feature on their show whereby they talk about something that has happened to them and invite listeners to contact the show with their own similar stories.

On this afternoon, Ritchie was talking about how he was planning to travel two hours by public transport to try out a new fried chicken shop which he had been told did the best fried chicken ever, and so listeners were invited to contact the show to tell of times they'd travelled a long way for something small or inconsequential.

I decided to text in and tell them about the time that Mr D and I travelled four hours each way up to and from Lancashire to buy a table. I sent the text and carried on with my day, not even giving it a second thought. A few minutes later, my phone was ringing and when I answered it, a familiar voice said, 'hello, it's Ritchie!'. Well, you could have floored me with a feather! Thankfully he assured me I wasn't live on radio! XD

He proceeded to ask me all about our trip and we had a lovely conversation. Then it was played on their show half an hour later! I had to laugh when it was played, I definitely sound a bit flustered!

So the recording is below - ignore the picture on the video, I was just trying to get as close as possible to Alexa to get the best sound. It's in two parts because I'm a numpty and fumbled the phone and cut it off after ten seconds!

Hope you enjoy!

(8) Radio star!: dizzojay — LiveJournal

I'm a member of a Facebook group for my home village, Lightwater, and today I logged on to see a local photographer had uploaded these wonderful drone shots of the village.

I was struck by how green the village and it's surroundings looked, and it did make me think how lucky I am to live in such a lovely place, so I thought I'd share it here!

As you look at the picture, the heathland on the left is the military ranges, the dark patch of trees across the top and right is Lightwater Country Park and the landcaped patch of trees in the triangle of roads at the bottom right is the local arboretum.

The pink arrow is my house!

The village centre is just disappearing off the bottom of the picture, but he took a lower level picture of that:

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Welcome to Lightwater, everyone!

Mr D and I had a week away last week, spoiling ourselves at a posh hotel and celebrating our anniversary. Although it was generally a relaxing week, one thing we did while we were away was visit the magnificent Ludlow Castle.

The Castle overlooks the lovely medieval town of Ludlow and stands on the border between England and Wales. It was built originally in the 11th century, and enlarged in the 14th century. It has a long and vivid history and is linked to such characters as King Richard III, the princes in the Tower and Prince Arthur, Henry VIII's older brother who would have been king instead of Henry had he survived beyond his 15th year.

I may have mentioned in the past that Ludlow was my maiden name, so I'd always wanted to visit my namesake castle (I've been to the Town several times, but never made it to the castle). My Dad jokes that this is my inheritance - I wish!

Anyhoo, here are a few snaps from our day of exploring my past!

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( More pics )

Thirty years ago today, this little shindig took place.

Mr D and I are low key celebrating with a meal at a nice restaurant this evening, then we're heading off for a few days away together in early September.

I'm not entirely sure where that 30 years have gone! I'm older, heavier, and a bit more cynical. A lot of water - good and bad - has flowed under the bridge since then, but one thing that hasn't changed it that I'm happy we found each other!

( pictures )

Some of you may be aware I'm a first aider and have been for a very long time. My qualification is due for renewal again this summer and that prompted me to post on my Linked in account.

I don't tend to post much on my Linked in account, as I like to keep business stuff in, well, business hours. But every now and again I like to stick something on there to keep it relevant in case I need to use it for job hunting at any point in the future.

I've been passionate about first aid and making it as accessible to as many people as possible for a long time, and there's one very specific reason for that. And that's what I posted about...

This is my 'first aid origin story'!

( Read more... )

So, a little bit of good news on the Dad front.

A regime of insulin injections with gradually increasing doses over the last three weeks has got his blood sugar levels down from 26 to 12. Which is still too high, but much more into a high/manageable range rather than a high/how are you still alive? range.

The district nurse is going to keep coming daily and administering the injections for the foreseeable future until they've got his levels down to about 6/7 and can hold it there. Then they're going to teach him how to administer his own shots.

I spoke to my Dad a couple of night ago and he sounded far brighter. I'm not surprised, his blood must have been like treacle, the effort of pumping that gloop around his body for god knows how long must have been exhausting!

The one thing that I've considered in all this, is he must have the heart of a bull to keep going all this long. I hope I've inherited bit of that!

As we spoke, I asked him if he felt better in himself, and he said he really did. He said to me, 'yes, it's all good. I just measure my blood sugar in the morning with a little finger prick, then the nurse comes at lunchtime and gives me the injection in my stomach - only takes a minute. Piece of cake.'

Piece of cake???? I thought, I'm glad you think so, after Mum and I have been worrying ourselves into neuroses for the last however many months!

Anyhow, when the time comes for him to go it alone, I'm going to try to talk him into getting an insulin pump. That way, he won't have to prick himself every day. It's just a canula that stays in place and lasts, I believe, around two weeks, and it measures his blood and administers appropriate levels of insulin throughout the day without him having to do a thing. They're not cheap, and he may not go for it, but both Mum and I like that idea. So my plan over the next few weeks is to do some further research and get together some good reviews and information!

I'm almost scared to say it, but right now, I feel I can take a breath and relax on the parent front for a moment. Let's hope that's the last of the Dad-related curveballs - for now, at least!

via GIPHY

Mr D and I went over to the Isle of Wight today, our last visit of 2023, and I was particularly keen to get over there as my Dad's health has not been in a good place for the last few weeks.

It's a long story, but Mum and I were pretty sure he was diabetic. When all the drama went down with his foot early last year, the doctors told him they thought he was diabetic and that had probably contributed to his trials and tribulations. However, given that he'd just come off a period of not eating and lost thirty pounds in about two months, he'd had sepsis and consequently been flooded with IV antibiotics, they were never going to get a stable blood reading from him.

They told him to rest up for about three months then come back to get checked out for diabetes, but guess what ...

He never went back.

So consequently he's never had a firm diagnosis and therefore wasn't getting any medication. And he wouldn't go to get checked out because we couldn't convince him that diabetes was serious.

His health had been declining fairly rapidly over the last few weeks, and over the last couple of those weeks he's been going to bed in the afternoon and sleeping a lot. he's also been glugging drinks by the gallon - classic diabetes symptoms.

So, in the end Mum and I discussed it and decided that she should take the initiative, so she went to see the doctor last week without telling Dad. They booked him in for a barrage of tests, and he went along very much under duress.

The test results came back early this week and - shocker - he is diabetic. His blood reading is 26 mmol/l and for context, in an ideal scenario it would be about 5. It's a bloody wonder he's still upright and conscious.

So now he is on a strict regime of finger prick blood tests every morning, and a district nurse is coming to give him insulin injections every day. The doctor wanted to send him to hospital but he refused. Of course he did!

Anyway, when we got to their place today, his reading was 23, still scary high, but slightly better than it was. It's going down slowly, but they're gradually increasing his dose of insulin to find the optimum level.

So here we are again, back at the 'hanging on by a thread through his own inactivity' scenario. I could scream!

*sigh*

Anyhow, just to finish off on a not quite so exasperating note, we had a very early crossing on the ferry this morning and the Solent looked lovely in the sunrise...

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My first attempt at a panoramic wasn't quite so successful when Mr D deliberately walked across in front of me!!

I have multiple Mr D's XD

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It's been a crazy busy, but lovely weekend that started off on Friday evening with me catching up with Amy, my lovely God-daughter.

( Read more... )

Mr Dizzo and I went away last week for a few days. It had been a long time coming due to various factors such as conventions, eye operations, parent strife and also logistics around getting someone to take care of the fluffy little ratbags, but finally, we headed off for a few days in Somerset, a county in the south west of England, which is a long time favourite destination of ours.

The weather was hideous for the first couple of days, but after that it eased off a little and enabled us to get out and about to enjoy a bit of fresh air.

First stop was to a lovely valley called Batcombe Vale, a previous favourite camping location. Although we haven't been camping for a few years, we haven't said never again, and I really hope to be back here under canvas at some point.

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( Pictures here )

Last week I went for my third follow-up appointment following my surgery back in July. I was really hoping that I'd be discharged and then that would be it, no more hospital appointments.

Alas it was not to be!

The doctors were really happy with my right eye, the eye that was operated on. It's healing well, the macular hole has closed and remained closed and my vision has improved enormously. But...

(There's always a but!)

Now the scans have shown early signs of the physical conditions which can cause a macular hole in my left eye. Not devastating, but not great either!

The thing is, this may lead to a macular hole, or it may not. If it does lead to a macular hole, it might be tomorrow, or it might be in ten years. So it looks like I'm now on a three monthly monitoring programme for, well, the rest of my life, or until I get another macular hole.

At least this time I'll know what's going on and I'm in the system so I can get it sorted quickly. And, of course, I was warned right from the outset that having a macular hole means that you are at increased risk of getting one in the other eye, so although it's a bit pants, it's by no means a shock.

But hey ho, such is life. In the grand scheme of things, this isn't so bad - as long as I can still look at this gorgeous bugger, then all's well in the world!! :D

So my parents' move is finally here.

All the parties involved finally got their shit together, and barring unforeseen disasters, it's all set for Friday next week.

I'm going over there to help on Friday, and I'm so happy that I'm able to contribute because I was convinced it was all going to coincide with the aftermath of my operation when I couldn't drive.

I was over there today and took my Mum shopping, and we bought an ironing board, a mirror, a set of placemats, a duvet cover, pillow cases, a rug and four lightbulbs.

When my Mum started looking at wardrobes I had to call a halt because my car isn't that big!

So this is the end of this chapter of their lives and the beginning of a new one. I'm so relieved for them, and just glad I can be a part of it.

I got back from the hospital this morning, and it's good news!

The operation was a success and that pesky little hole has closed!

I'm now just waiting for the gas bubble to deflate, (the doctor says it it's deflating quite quickly so will probably be gone in 2 - 3 weeks), and then I'll be back to something approaching normal vision again

If anyone's interested in what the world looks like when you have a vitrectomy gas bubble, this is a fair approximation. (The lower bubble area is a little darker and more domed than what is shown here), but now that the bubble is shrinking, this is roughly what the vision in my right eye is like!

Because looking through the gas bubble is like looking through water, that part of my field of vision is blurry and refracted like everything is bigger or further away, and I've walked into doorframes a couple of times! It wouuld be just my luck to end up back in the hospital with a broken toe!!!

It's only been a week, but it feels like an eternity!

I had my operation last Friday the 7th. Everything went well, and I was in and out within a day. There was a follow up consultation the next morning and the doc was happy with it so far. I have another appointment next Friday, to further follow up. Hopefully that will give me more of an indication on how successful the surgery has been.

I currently have a gas bubble in my eye so the vision in my right eye is very weird! It's swimmy and blurred, refracted like I'm looking through a bowl of water. I'm having to type this with my right eye closed otherwise I can see my keyboard reflected across the screen and it's all wobbly and sloshy just like moving water!!

However, on the plus side, there has been no pain at all, and my eye is visibly better looking than it was a week ago, so all good!

( Read more... )

All the pre-ops done yesterday.
BP, bloods, ECG etc. It seems like I'm fit and healthy enough that I'm unlikely to peg out under the anaesthetic, so it looks like we're all systems go for next Friday!

So, I now have my operation date, and I'll be getting my macular hole plugged on the 7th of July. I've got a pre-op appointment on Monday when I hope to find out much more about the op and the recovery period. The operation I'm ggetting is called a vitrectomy and it apparently includes a bonus cataract repair for a cataract that hasn't even happened yet!

Can't say I'm looking forward to it, but I am looking forward to getting it all behind me and getting my life back on track!

Anyway, that's if from me for the momeent, but while I'm on the subject of eyes...

Have these on me!

Some of you may have seen this on my Fb page today:

A while back, I mentioned here at my journal that in January I was diagnosed with a condition called a Macular Hole which affects the eyesight in my right eye and I'm currently waiting for a date for surgery to (hopefully) fix it.

Some people have asked me how this thing affects my eyesight, and it's hard to to explain - I've described it as water spiralling down a drain on the focal point of my right eye.

Yesterday, while I was googling some information about the recovery period for the op, I came across this picture which illustrates perfectly what I see when my left eye isn't compensating for the weakness,

This picture looks like it's depicting a much bigger hole than I have in my Macula, but it still looks very famiiar - and really quite trippy!!

I think last time I mentioned my Mum and Dad here at my journal, I was close to my wits end with the whole situation regarding my Dad's health and the resulting stresses on my Mum. Well, it's fair to say the afore mentioned situation has moved on, and thankfully for the better!

Pics and video at Livejournal

So, I had a hospital appointment on Friday, and it's official. I have a macular hole in my right eye. Apparently it's something that's mostly age related - It's most common in people over 60, and I'm 54. So yay me, it's nice to know I'm a statistical anomaly!

The good news is it's a small hole, the bad news is I'll need an operation to fix it. This apparently involves pumping a gas bubble into my eye to put pressure on the hole and enable the edges to heal. The doctor also said that the operation massively increases the risk of me developing a cataract in that eye within the next two years (like more than 90% risk), so while they're doing the biz for the macular hole, they'll pre-emptively repair the cataract as well.

I'm definitely going to choose to have it done under a general anaesthetic - there's no way I want to be awake and aware of all that crazy happening to my eye!

So I'm just waiting to hear from the hospital to arrange a date and then - looking forward to putting it behind me!

So, how's your 2023 going ...?

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dizzojay

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Dizzojay's Dean Dreams

Entries tagged with facts about me

Happy Post: so that was Christmas

Four years on

Radio star!

Home Sweet Home!

Happy post: visiting my ancestors ;)

Happy Post: Where did thirty years go?

My First Aid Origin Story

Dad Update...

Dad update ... sigh

Well, that was that then!

Time for a break in the country!

Eye update!

It's Moving time!

Happy Post: Good news day!

Hello waves

One step closer

Me, myself and eye!

Weirdy McWeirdass!

Dizzo update...

Dizzo Eye update!