May was always my favourite month of the year but apart from a few days of warm weather it seemed, like April, to be unseasonably cool and wet. Looking back to last May’s blog, I had made it out to the garden by this time, but not this year yet.
In the news this month was US Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush-money trial. The trial itself seemed to have little impact on his electoral popularity; his conviction might make some of his supporters think again. Meanwhile, the USA, despite ever-growing international condemnation of the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza, continues to supply arms to Israel while withholding much-needed aid to Ukraine. As Ukrainian air defences dwindle, Putin is deliberately targeting defenceless civilians in missile strikes, and with apparent impunity. The announcement of a July UK General Election came as quite a surprise. Even more surprising was the Conservatives’ subsequent proposal to re-introduce National Service, 60+ years after its cessation. They also remain committed to a return to Transportation (to Rwanda rather than Botany Bay), abandoned in the 1860s. It’s a crazy world.
My problem with the continuous night-time alarm from my ventilator has been partially resolved, but without human intervention! I suspect the machine must have some self-learning capacity. It has stopped alarming but only if I wear a full face mask at night. If I wear my favoured nasal pillow mask, the alarm still sounds all night. During the day, without a humidifier, I can generally use the nasal pillows without any alarm. Problem solved? Not entirely. I find full-face masks irritating as air escapes through my beard making the hair vibrate causing itching. Worse than that though is the tendency for the mask to damage the bridge of my prominent ‘Roman’ nose! Keeping my beard short and wearing a padded plaster on my nose helps but probably makes me look like a real pugilistic thug!
Following a prompt from Community Neurology, I have an appointment for Wheelchair Services to visit on 4 June. Will they finally provide me with a wheelchair, with good head support , that I can sit in comfortably for more than a couple of hours? I’m usually optimistic about most things but …..?
One thing troubling me recently is blurred vision. It started a few weeks ago when I developed a small but painful lump just under my right eyelid. The NHS website gave two likely causes, both of which would clear up naturally in 2 weeks but the Community Neurology nurse suggested dry-eye drops. The lump did disappear but my right eye remains blurred. I decided I should really have my eyes tested, something I haven’t done since leaving Sussex 5 years ago. Our local Boots Opticians doesn’t make home visits so I tried Specsavers. They advertise home visits on TV, but the earliest they could come was on 24 June, 6 weeks later. Meanwhile, stronger reading glasses have helped.
The end of the football season was less traumatic than I’d feared. Nottingham Forest finished 6pts clear of relegation despite their 4pt deduction. All 3 teams promoted last year are going straight back down again; there is something very wrong there. Later in the month I had hoped to watch the progress of British tennis players in the French Open but they were all knocked out in the first round of the singles – Oh dear! Fortunately the men’s T20 Cricket World Cup is about to start.
I was weighed again this month, for the first time since September. That might be 8 months ago, but I was horrified to be told I’d put on 12kg. Perhaps I need a wheelbarrow rather than a wheelchair!