AndyBlog

Staphylococcus

These naughty little tinkers are Staphylococcus bacteria. It is they who are causing me such problems right now. I seem to have little or no resistance to them and they run riot, given half a chance. Something which my body apparently does constantly.

There's been a lot of positive press for bacteria recently, so i just wanted to set the balance straight. There are still masses of evil ones as well. Don;t be fooled by their bright colours and engaging shapes, they are nasty. If I didn't think I'd blow my leg off, I'd happily shoot them all.

So, as part of my offensive against the little blighters, I am taking those old stalwarts of the anti-bacterial world, Penicillin V and Flucloxclanacillin. There is just one tiny problem with this. Well, two.

1) They make me depressed. After two doses I feel down, after four I am miserable beyond belief.

2) They don't work. Taking the tablets at home has never once stopped the cycle and saved me from hospital. I must hope that this time it will be different.

Hmmmmm.....

All good things...

And so it was that the Amarylis, having given us of it greatness and beauty, finally started to wither and die.

The sight fills me with the sadness that I dreaded when I first saw the plant at Christmas. I knew that it would have to die, and also that I could not provide the tropical environment which would enable it to grow leaves and build up its resources in the bulb again. I am no botanist.

So, watch with me as it's noble life ebbs away.

Maybe you will, as I do, shed a tear or two.

I'm OK!

See? Much better.

The only down side is the cellulitis which has spread to just below my left knee. A mere detail, I'm sure.

So, the scary bit is over and now I must just look after myself, keep taking all of the many tablets and pray I don't end up in hospital again - something which would be totally annoying.

The previous posting is now totally embarrassing, but I suppose I will leave it.  It's a warning to everyone not to blog when delirious.

Have a nice day, wherever you are.

Temperature

`I can't ever remember doing a blog post whilst feeling so awful. Thanks to Liz for helping me take the picture of the thermometer. This seems to be my current temperature, because when Liz uses the thermometer it comes up 98.5 degrees F.

I obviously have some sort of infection and am taking antibiotics to try and make it go away. Of course, it is leg related. I am in a strange place. Feeling sick from the high temp, feeling dizzy as well - it's very hard to concentrate. I'm not much looking forward to the night ahead and last night is already a painful memory. I disturbed Fiona far too much, so I am sleeping on my own tonight, and Liz is sleeping on my downstairs bed. Weird. I think I might feel confused during the night as I keep losing track of stuff.

I'm afraid this means that Jason will have to wait a touch longer for his computer - and everyone in my life will be once more disappointed in me. I hate breaking my word and missing things. It's horrible. Mr. Reliable is well and truly gone.

Now I must try and sleep.

Wish me luck, folks.

I feel very proud to have finished this blog entry. :)

(Can the temp really be that high???)

Water

My lovely water machine has developed a problem today.

As you know, the delight for me is that my machine not only cools the water, but also fizzyfies it. Sadly, today, the pressure dropped in the fizzy department, and is now nought but a trickle. As the fizz gradually died, the water took on a strange character.

As I drank such a glass, it occurred to me that fizzy water losing its fizz tastes very much like water which has been diluted.

That is all.  Mourn with me.

Care-Ometer

I decided to check my Care-Ometer reading today, so out came the old leather bag, and on went the cranium clips. Soon I was hearing the familiar hum and twiddling the chunky Bacolite knobs. If you've never hooked up in this way and taken a reading, you really should. I was very encouraged with the results today.

You lucky people.

(I appear to have lost my Humility-Ometer)

Yes and No

...but mainly no.

It's been a mixed few days. Some good things have happened, and some less good things have happened. I know that sounds pretty bland, but thinking about the various issues, there is not much I can put down here.

Nor is there anything mysterious going on. Nothing mysterious at all. Put that thought right out of your mind. Everything is fine.

OK, that's better.

My dear leg has seen fit to make its presence felt in a less than splendid way, making everything else so much harder. Sure, I keep hoping it will heal, but it never seems to. I will try to get hold of some new dressings for it - and hope, as they say, springs eternal.

In the meantime, life continues - rather painfully. Having said that, there have been various wonderful compensations. All of which I will leave you to wonder about.

After all, it's more fun that way.

Celebrity Big Brother

CBB came and went without making a significant impact on my life. Sure, I watched the Channel 4 nightly programmes, but I never strayed to the live feed, followed the web columns or let it take over my life. The celebrity flavour of Big Brother never really grips me. Mainly because it is over such a short period, compared to the real thing. There you have it - I referred to the other one as the real thing.

This is not the real thing, it is a mere shadow of the real thing. The celebs this time really did challenge the definition, even, of Z-list. So, to me, it was like seeing normal BB, but for less time and in the knowledge that they all got paid, no matter what.

Bez won. Good for Bez. I hope he enjoys the chemical high his new found money will supply. I really do wish him well, I just cannot seem to care very much for the programme itself. I'll be interested to observe my reactions to the next real BB. Will it grip me as always, or have I really lost my passion for the show?

Poppit In!

It's the new taste sensation that's gripping the nation - well, maybe not the nation, maybe the North East - or perhaps more the Stanley area.... mainly the Griffin House end of Stanley.

Anyhow, here's what you do.  First, buy a packet of Minty Poppits and a packet of Digestive biscuits. Then, take two Poppits, and a bite of biscuit at the same time. Chew.

If you're anything like us, you'll notice a definite niceness to the experience you....erm...experience.

Rock Me Amarylis

OK, folks, I promise these are the last of the Amarylis pictures for now. These last two are pretty striking, so I thought I'd share, even though you are probably Amarylis'd out right now. I am producing Amrarylis, the movie, featuring a rotating Amarylis. I have achieved this by taking 77 very high resolution photos with my big camera. I'll need to work hard on image consistency, but it should result in something a little bit special. Excited?  Yeah.  :)