One Day...

I got too hot today!

The sun shone.  No wind freezing ones nether regions, no rain to drench you.  Extremely strange after what weather we have had recently.

I had the ECG.  I had blood taken.  I had my oxygen checked, 94, good.  I think its out of a 100.  Lungs listened to, they now think the crackle in the right lung is probably permanent.  I knew that already.  After all its my lung.

The good news is there is a new inhaler been developed which is for COPD sufferers.  I have to wait 4 weeks for the practice to make it available, but as its cheaper than prescribing 2 inhalers they probably will.  

I was told that if I have another chest infection to start the antibiotics I have in but also to get steroids.  When I said I was reluctant as steroids had caused me to get Osteopenia.  I was told 'Well its a Catch 22 situation...'  Well I guess I didnt die from having a fractured spine, and if my lungs dont work thats it, so hey ho.

I then went to the Prom.  The DP saw me in the car park as he returned from our butchers, so joined me.  And took some photos, I cant do selfies.

And here I am.  Without a coat, or a hat, or gloves.

And a big smile on my face.

One rarely sees a sight like this in the middle of Summer!  But this was today.

Lots of small boats coming home to the harbour.

The Gull Gang in the sea as it was high tide and not much beach for them.

Back home.  So blissfully warm.  I had the door open into the shedudio.  Sith cat making the most of it.  Sprawled outside.

Really need to get that patio sorted!

Really enjoying this Crow.  Still on with all the others.  But with watercolour you have to be patient, so whilst waiting for one to dry you carry on with another.  One day I may find I have completed some!

The air could turn blue.

This morning I bathed, perched on a shelf provided by Occupational Health.  Now facing the taps as they fitted it with my back to the taps ?  I then washed my hair leaning over the bath using the shower attachment.  In agony.  The air turned blue.  But to be fair I only had COPD when the shelf was provided.  We none of us knew about the fractured spine and compressed vertebrae which were a result of the steroids prescribed for the many chest infections with COPD that I had.

I then insisted on driving my car to the Esplanade.  I proved I could do an Emergency Stop when I saw this.

My beautiful hedge !  Destroyed.

Fortunately covered by Insurance.  And I never did like Leylandii anyway.  So I now need ideas of what to replace it with which is far more bird, etc friendly.  And lower maintenance and tank proof too.

This is how it was.

One of those hedges you had to keep trimmed to keep up with the neighbours.  Oh yeah.  This arial photo was taken just after we moved in in 2011.  The garden is a wee bit more interesting now.  We have the Spinney Cemetery in the right hand corner.  Beneath most of the wee trees is a cat corpse.  There is my path from house to Shedudio and in front of the shedudio a paved patio area.  So - an excuse methinks to give the whole boring space a rethink.

So we eventually got to the beach.

Lots and lots of sea birds and seaweed.  I walked .59 of a mile.  And drove back again.  Could this be the turning point?  Well I didnt scream or swear once apart from when I saw the hedge.

A Busy Day.

A good day.  The weather is being exceedingly kind.  Very little wind, most unusual for this part of the North East of Scotland.

The Dunes grass is normally horizontal.

The Dawn Patroller left before dawn.  He went off to Grantown on Spey birding.  Have you seen his blog yet?  2017 My Birding Year.  Its on my bloglist.

I went for my walk.  It is important to exercise when one has COPD.  I have been on a number of Pulmonary Physio courses which were very enjoyable and successful apart from the other participants coming with chest infections, which spread and felled the rest of us.  So I prefer to walk.  I have all the weights and stuff but it upset the cat !  I dont know why but he was very concerned at my antics with a weight hanging off a walking stick and raising it above my head.  Or a weight round my ankle and lifting the leg.  And as for the dumbells being raised, up, to the side, and to the front.  He just kept trying to paw/claw  me.

You dont get the same views, when exercising, from the bedroom either.

I often paint Oystercatchers.

After lunch down to the shedudio and a different kind of birding.

Goldfinches.  

This (sodding) Barn Owl.  It is a commission.  Fortunately from a very good friend.

Here in his camouflage gear.  Birdwatcher.  They get everywhere.  And photographer.  I have had three attempts at this owl.  And still not happy.  Could be a fourth.....

My granddaughter asked for a painting of a cheetah.  Lots of them in Fraserburgh...

I am experimenting with watercolour on canvas.  First you have to put ground on the canvas, away you go, make a total mess of its right eyebrow, hopefully correct it, varnish it and there you go.

Finally this beautiful cat.  Well it is in real life, not sure about the painting.

So my deciding to reduce the pile of work in progress did not work.  Hey ho.

Here is the sunset tonight taken as I returned from Lidl with a compensatory bottle of wine.

Nearly the big C.

Much better now.  

Back to charging up the Esplanade.  

And up and down the Path of Doom.  I call it this as it took me a long time to actually get to the end which is where the sand dunes start and no through road for my chariot.  It measures .59 of a mile there and back from where I park my car.  Every bit of fence I know intimately as I leant over and struggled to get control of my breathing again.

There has been some fantastic weather recently.  Temperatures into double figures, very little wind and sunshine.  Okay not much in the above pic but what a beautiful sky.

Oyster Catchers

Redshanks.

Plenty of material for my paintings!

Although not enough daylight for doing much painting.  I do have a daylight bulb in the shedudio, but it is not the same as the real thing.

3.30 p.m.  Sunset.  

So quite a struggle to .....

crack on and the cheetah looks more like a monkey...

The Dawn Patroller was out doing what he likes to do,  and does well,  taking photos.  He met a fellow bird watcher and photographer and they got talking.  Turned out this chap had less lung function than me, had COPD, but was quite obviously fitter.  All down to this.

Vaping.  I have struggled for many years to pack in smoking.  Tried everything including some drug which was guaranteed by the NHS to work and sent me doolally.  Obviously as I have COPD I probably was doolally smoking.  Well I stopped - 3 weeks ago.  Now I vape.  The difference is -  I feel as if I have got my life back.  

Best Christmas Present ever.

Nearby.

The photographs are by the Dawn Patroller.  

The Ythan Estuary The Ythan Estuary is the tidal component of the Ythan River, emptying into the North Sea 19 kilometres (12 mi) north ofAberdeen, Scotland. Wikepedia.

It is also a favourite for seal pupping.

Little Egret.

Grey Heron.

The DP takes the photographs and some of them I turn into a painting.

He enjoyed himself today.  He also saw Avocets but in the distance.

I enjoyed myself as I went to the hair dressers. Well I enjoyed the end result. NOT the instrument of torture to get there. The rubber hat and the hair being pulled through with a crochet needle.

When I finally got to breathe easily, after I had arrived at the salon, the lady waiting for her personal torture asked me if I was okay and why did I have the chariot.  So I explained about COPD and the chariot was a walking aid which really helped.  

She said, " I have incontinence."

And do you know what I said "You wont want to cough then."

I really should get my brain into gear.

Oh boy do I need that.

Some of my readers will remember I have attended Pulmonary Physiotherapy Sessions which have been of great benefit to me.  I really need that.

The good news is that I am on another round.  

It was picked up by the physiotherapist that I was now using my shoulder muscles to breathe instead of the chest ones.  How come I never noticed it?!

So I got plastered.  

Which 2 days later was removed. This hurt......I did not need that.

Verdict after much tapping of muscles was it was working.   So I was replastered. ( I had also noticed that I was 'better'  - more puff.)

I had to remove this second lot myself.  Advised to use baby oil.  This I had to google.  As I didnt know whether you soaked the plaster in it or what.

 Apparently you put the baby oil on afterwards to remove any bits and to sooo-ooothe. And boy did I need it.  The soothing.  The plaster goes right up to the back of your hair line and above.  My hairdresser was horrified.  She could not do the usual neck clipping.  She didnt need to worry, when the plaster is removed it does a more thorough job than any clipper. ....Plus you have to be very careful not to aim the hair dryer at the plaster.  I can only assume it sets it in concrete.  Which would be even more painful.

Furthermore baby oil is the most difficult thing to remove.  The removal of plasters  was carried out on Valentines Evening.  I then  dropped the bottle of wine......just slid out of baby oiled hands.  And boy did I need it.  

Fortunately my reflexes are still good and the bottle was regrabbed before too much spilled.  

Red wine is very good for getting rid of baby oil too - now who would have known that! Unless they dropped the bottle and quite a lot splashed over ones hands.

So no plaster but my sub conscious is in play and I remember to drop the shoulders and breathe from the diaphragm.  Though I have to have the plastering re-done on Thursday. Better make sure the Dawn Patroller takes care of any bottle pouring when we remove the next lot.

I have had to remember whilst painting to stay erect, not slump, and use the diaphragm and not the shoulders.  (Another bit of useful info is that with my disease your diaphragm thins and is not as effective. My knowledge of the human body knows no bounds.) 

Not sure my painting is any different.

 
This Whooper Swan landing seems to have everything controlled.

And cats always appear to have everything under control.
 
And boy do I need that. 

Independence.

Mixed feelings!

After going through assessment for the second time..... I was awarded (?) a blue badge.
Instead of a local authority clerical officer, with no medical qualification, using a tick chart I was assessed by an Occupational Health person.  She actually stopped me doing the walking test half way through, unlike the c.o. who looked at me askance when I asked for water as I collapsed into a chair.  I have it, as you can see, for three years.  Should see me out then.

So, its official.  I am disabled.  Hence the mixed feelings.

I used it for the first time today.  I swept into the car park where I was to attend a meeting.  Parked, displayed the card, got out the chariot and headed off for the disabled access, to be confronted by a white van.  Parked not in any parking zone, indeed it was chevroned off, indicating no parking.  And completely blocking the way to the ramp..

I had to ask someone to carry in the chariot, up the steps for able bodied, and breathe heavily after it.

Presumably the white van driver was also disabled. Mentally.

The Time has Come -

- to admit defeat.

 Border at the side of the house.  Completely out of control, although you cannot see the weeds ha!

That is supposed to be a new woodland.  There are baby trees in there.  And wildflowers.  Really.

I could go on.  

The Dawn Patroller now does the cleaning, cooking, washing, hangs it out, brings it in, cleans out the stove, re-sets it, well just about everything.  He also cuts the grass which he reckons he can still fit in.....But the rest of the gardening has always been my job.  Planting, tweaking, weeding, pruning, tying up, training, moving, ,,,,,,,,

My lung disease progresses so I do less and less that involves physical activity.  Watching my garden get like this is not good.  When you get to the stage that you do a bit of weeding and then have to spend some time getting control of your breathing after one dandelion leaf, well, there's no fun in that is there!  And most definitely no fun in watching the weeds grow and strangle the plants I want to be there.

Now look at this.

The lovely Lydia and Aileen , my saviours.  (The tractor drivers are taking a very long time to drive past now as the gardeners wear short shorts and tight t shirts!  )

Yes, I am now employing a firm of gardeners .  For me it is worth it to see my beloved plants allowed to breathe and show off their beauty once more.

The DP also has more time and less worry to do the stuff he enjoys.

 

Ostensibly taking photos!  

 

Where I started.

Never, ever done any exercise in my life.  Other than swimming,squash, horse riding decades ago.

Now I cycle.

But dont go anywhere.

I started off doing 3 minutes on gear 2.  Today I was on gear 5 for 4 minutes.

Walking 12 metres x 6 laps, today I did 25 laps.

Started the knee lifts with 2lbs on each leg x 20 lifts on each leg now 4lbs for 35 lifts.

Leading with the right leg,then the left leg started with 12, now 35 on each.

Sit to stand 

 This one is a killer.  Today I did 35.

Dumbells.

Above your head , out in front and then to the side. Counts as one.  Today I did 35. Started with 2kg, now 4.

This one actually consists of a walking stick with a weight wrapped round.  Started with 2lbs, now 4lbs. Started with 12 lifts.  Sitting down.  Now 4lbs x 35 times.

We do warming up exercises and warm down at the end.  

There is no cure for our variety of lung diseases.  

But one things for sure our heart muscles got a work out , the bingo wings are departing and biceps, triceps, muscly legs and thighs are amazing.  

And we certainly exercise our laughter muscles.  After we have sat down.

To catch our breath.  Well actually not catching ones breath, is not allowed.  In through the nose out through the mouth to get control....

I challenge you all to do this.  Breathing through a straw .  Because that is what it is like for us.

Now where did I start?

Ah, yes, BBC2 Scotland 9p.m tonight.  Look out for the old woman in the pink jacket.  Who does not appear to have any breathing problems at all, the way she whitters on.