Birds

We have visitors coming to our bird feeding station just outside our window.  They are good to watch and cheer us up a lot.

This one is a couple of juvenile blue tits and they are looking hopefully at the Chaffinch.  They know it's not their mum - but they still look hopeful don't they?

The other birds that I have been able to snap recently are a pair of Ospreys.  These are nesting in an artificial nest at a trout fishing lake a few miles out of Aberdeen.

Can you see the fish in the Talons of his claws?

Today

... is a good day.

Uneventful.

"When anyone asks me how I can best describe my experience in nearly forty years at sea, I merely say, uneventful. Of course there have been winter gales, and storms and fog and the like. But in all my experience, I have never been in any accident ... or any sort worth speaking about. I have seen but one vessel in distress in all my years at sea. I never saw a wreck and never have been wrecked nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort."

Edward J. Smith, 1907

Captain, RMS Titanic, 1912

Captain Smith was planning to retire after the maiden voyage of Titanic.

Hot Tit action...

The Blue Tits in the garden have had babies and the babies make a lot of noise and they are very demanding...

The Squirrels - the return

So, back from hospital and we decided to try feeding the birds once again. 

Of course the squirrels have immediately returned and started gobbling up the food.  I bought a so-called "squirrel proof" cage to fit around the bird feeder.  This took about 3 minutes for him to work out how to squeeze into - although it's pretty funny because he can't readily get back out again! 

This afternoon Jane was able to open the window and actually whack the squirrel with a wooden spoon and still he was reluctant to move off.

I was wondering about a water pistol but then spotted this...  What do you think?

The ultimate in battery-powered blasting! Be ready for any battle with the N-STRIKE VULCAN EBF-25 blaster - an awesome, fully automatic dart cannon! Fires at a rate of up to three darts per second! The belt feeds automatically through the blaster, letting the barrage of firepower continue as you battle your opponent. Switches to single-shot mode for precision blasting.

Fully automatic blaster holds up to twenty-five darts and can fire up to three darts per second! Blaster comes with ammo box, folding tripod, 25-dart belt and 25 SONIC MICRO DARTS™ ammo and instructions.

It  does say that the toy should only be used by those aged 6 or above.  Do you think that the squirrel has to be 6 too?

Diabetes - an odd thing

Something interesting has happened.

Whilst I was in hospital I was not eating anything... so I had to keep sucking seets to keep my blood sugar levels from getting too low.  If my blood sugar dips too low then I get weak and shaky and need to take some sugary food or drink quickly.

Anyway - since I came out of hospital and started eating again I was ready to start to take my insulin again.  (I have to make sure that the blood sugar levels don't go too HIGH either - complicated isn't it.)

It seems that despite the cancer my pancreas is still able to keep my blood sugar in check.  So far I have not need to inject myself with ANY insulin at all.  This is a real relief as it makes life a lot easier.

Stomach operation - detailed graphic

This is a picture, from my doctor, of what has actually been done to my stomach.

This picture is actually in 3D - if you look at the image with a
red lens over your RIGHT eye and a
blue lens over your LEFT eye...

... you will see the full effect, including the scar on my belly. Amazing technology.

I hope that your PC (or Mac) allows you to see the full effect.

Steve W

Health update - early June 2010

Dear "blog-viewers",

It’s been a while since I have been able to give any news so I just wanted to offer a little update.

Four weeks ago I was suffering some serious eating difficulties, cramping, bloating and eventually vomiting.  The GP made a few visits at home but despite trying various medications nothing seemed to help.  So – I was admitted to the Aberdeen hospital on Monday 24th May.

In the first week I had various tests which were a bit unpleasant but manageable.  Sadly it was clear that I did actually have an obstruction below my stomach in an area called my duodenum.  Finally, on Saturday 29th May I had an operation.

This operation was technically called a “laparoscopic gastro-jejunostomy” -
in lay-mans terms a keyhole gastric bypass, or simply a “re-plumb” !
For a week after this operation I had a tube up my nose into my stomach – very unpleasant.

Regrettably this first operation was not successful in my case – nothing was wrong with the operation itself, it just didn’t work on my particular stomach.  A shame because the tiny key hole cuts were healing nicely.

So – on 5th June I had to have a second operation on my stomach.  This time the surgery was through a full cut from my belly button up about 15 cm.  Very sore this time & I was to spend several days on the high-dependency ward.  I had lots of tubes in and out (a new one up the nose too) and for several days I was being given nutrition directly through my veins.  I also needed some very strong pain relief.

Finally I was able to try some real food again – which thankfully made the journey in the correct direction through my body.

I expect to be fully released from the hospital on Monday 14th June.  STOP PRESS - this has now happened.  I am very weak and stiff.  The wound on my tummy will take a fair bit of time to heal – I will have to take things very gently at first.  My eating has to be little and often, I simple cannot eat a big plate of food at the moment… it remains to be seen if my appetite will fully return.  I have lost about 8 kg over the last few weeks.

I’m afraid that this problem is very clearly linked to my pancreatic cancer.  What has happened is that tissue has become a bit harder around the tumour and this hardness affected the ability of my gut to squeeze food through in the usual way.   We expect that the cancer will continue to cause more symptoms as time goes on.  The operations I have had have not affected the cancer at all, and were simply to try and relieve some of the symptoms; they have not addressed the root problem.

I am grateful for all the messages of support (and especially, of course, to Jane for all the care she has given through this.)  Sorry that I have been out of touch for a while and I hope you find this little update has kept you posted.

Regards

Steve W.