Landmark moment?

It seems that I'm feeling the cold much more than Clare or Ann. Both find the apartment comfortable and warm, and wonder if it's something to  do with my metabolism or a side effect of the medication. I'm none the worse for yesterday's medication chaos, but getting up in the night half a dozen times to empty my bladder, I lose body heat and it takes ages to warm up and return to sleep. If I leave an arm trailing outside the blankets, the arm gets cold, then my exposed shoulder ... etc. Eleven hours in bed last night, four hours sleep lost. 

I remember this effect during my covid sojourn in Ibiza. Night time sea air seems to draw heat from my body when the temperature is ten to eleven degrees. If it's ten degrees higher, the air doesn't have a chilling effect. At home I can add a fleece jacket if I feel cold, but didn't bring one with me as I had too much to carry. I'll have to wrap up warmer from now on, bed clothes aren't enough. I may have less sub-cutaneous body fat now as I'm fifteen kilos lighter than I was in my sixties. Waking up and getting going was a slow process. 

It was cloudy with occasional drizzles of rain when Clare and Ann went shopping after breakfast. I stayed behind and rested to recover mental and physical energy and cooked lunch for myself, as the others had a snack lunch in town. Then I slept for over an hour before going out for a walk when the rain stopped. The wind is a little warmer today than it has been since we arrived.

 It's been nine months since the stroke. Rufus said it took him nine months to be rid of brain fog and regain clarity and mental sharpness. It's a landmark moment in recovery. I think this is true for me, sort of. I'm not getting the quality of sleep I need to avoid cumulative brain fatigue. This affects the coherence of my perception and memory. I don't forget much over time, but retrieval and retention is slow or erratic, and linked to my need for visual or memorised cues. Working hard to exercise and rebuild the required neural pathways in the brain is essential, but fatigue sabotages the effort. It reminds me of how physical muscles behave when recovering from exercise or from a night's sleep. I'm anxious about losing control and failing to get done that which must be done, conscious of time running out. Sometimes I feel as if time is accelerating and I'm lagging behind.

Owain called and chatted with us after supper, and Rachel later on, both using WhatsApp. I chatted with Ann face to face after Clare went to bed, and ended up going to bed later than is good for me.