Noteworthy improvement

I went to bed at eleven and fell asleep quickly as I was tired and relaxed, but woke up just after midnight with the thought I had not taken the statin to sleep on, as recommended by the GP. I couldn't work out from looking at the content of the 'blister' pack whether I had or not. Days of the week aren't marked on it as they are with many meds on sale. I have to mark them on each aluminium foil 'blister' as a precaution against forgetting to take one. The trouble is, ink from most pens will not deposit on the foil surface,  but it will leave a visible impression, some clearer than others. On this occasion the mark wasn't clear enough to decipher, and I couldn't be sure my memory wasn't playing tricks on me. I could have woken up from a dream about taking night time medication. I gave up inspecting the pack and went back to sleep, and took the statin when I got up instead after five and a half hours' poor sleep. A miserable start to the day, light headed, ill coordinated, slow thinking. 

We took the bus to town after breakfast to buy Clare a new winter coat. First to John Lewis, then M&S, and several other clothes stores. Somehow despite the 'toxic head' I coped with crowds of shoppers and painfully bland incessant upbeat background muzak, processed by sound editing tweaks until it doesn't sound natural but artificial, composed by AI even if it wasn't. 

Five months ago I'd have been overwhelmed by the stimulus of sound, movement and bright light, driven to  flee from the shopping mall in a state near panic. My peripheral vision impairment seems to be reduced as well. What I see is no longer like looking ahead wen entering a tunnel. It too is a notable improvement.

After two hours traipsing around the shops, lunchtime approached. I was worried that I'd start to feel faint as well as light headed, as hunger too over and my blood sugar dropped, so we hunted for a fast food fix, A couple of Greggs sausage rolls for me and a slice of pizza for Clare. We ate, sitting on a stone bench by the City Library on The Hayes, surrounded by pigeons ready to snatch from our hands any food they could reach. Not the most aesthetic of picnicking experiences on damp grey day. We decided to make up for this by dining out nearer home later in the evening. Unable to find any coat Clare wanted to buy, we decided to go home, and try again another day after a preliminary on-line search.

Having not received a response to my letter delivered a week ago to the surgery asking for a referral to the Tom Davies the consultant I saw in December I decided to email directly his appointments secretary with my request for a referral, giving as a reason for doing so, his advice when I last saw him of making a note of the impact for different medications to establish which one was causing me problems, This was my way of reporting back and requesting a second opinion about the appropriateness of taking statins which impair my quality of life, and doing so while my brain function in many ways is improving. We'll see if this gets a response.

At six we walked to Emmanuela's Italian restaurant in Pontcanna Street for supper early. Seafood risotto for Clare and spaghetti bolognese for me. On returning home we listened on BBC Sounds to yesterday's and tonight's missed episodes of 'The Archers'. Perhaps because of tiredness tonight, when I came to write this, my mind was blank and I need to ask Clare what we did this morning. Once she said "Shopping" my memory recall sprang back to life and I spent the rest of the evening writing this blog, before bed. Tonight I have extra reasons to thank God for noteworthy improvements in my condition. I look forward to there being a matching improvement in my medication regime.