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As reported in my last post – back in the early part of winter my doctor referred me to a sleep specialist and sent me for a head CT (without contrast). If you want to know why – read that last post.

Now – we are most fortunate to live within five minutes drive of the Saanich Peninsula Hospital – which is where I get all of my lab work done. I paid them another visit for my head CT – which took all of about two minutes. I was in and out so fast that it hardly seemed worth going at all – but when the results came back they confirmed that I do still have a brain and that it looks pretty much the way that 68 year old male brains should.

This is all good news.

The sleep study was considerably more of a pain. Having had a phone consult with the specialist I was booked in for a night at the clinic – the which is up in Nanaimo, about an hour and a half’s drive up island from here. I had to be at the clinic by 9:00pm on a Friday evening and was told that I would be booted out at 6:00 the next morning.

Things have, of course, been disrupted by the COVID pandemic. My instructions were to arrive at the clinic and to park outside, awaiting a phone call to tell me when they were ready to admit me. This I duly did, in company with the other poor souls undergoing the same ritual. One by one we were summoned, taken inside to our rooms and, eventually, wired up to a huge harness and loads of sensors, which were stuck to our bodies with some sort of unpleasant goop. We were then invited to go to sleep whilst the technicians monitored our vital signs.

I cannot say that I had a good night’s sleep – so I have some doubts as to the value of the data recorded. Sleep was difficult because:

  • the bed was uncomfortable
  • the pillow was uncomfortable
  • I was obliged to wear pajamas (which I never do!)
  • the room was far too hot
  • I was wearing a cumbersome harness of cables
  • the technician woke me up a number of times during the night, over the intercom, to request that I sleep on my back (which I rarely do!)

All in all then – a rough night. At the end of it I was woken abruptly and sent packing (no showers for COVID reasons). 6:00am on a winter Saturday morning, with snow falling and unpleasant goop in my hair… I had to drive back down the island to catch the first ferry of the morning from Mill Bay over to the peninsula. The photo at the top of this post was from that ferry crossing. Not too much traffic at that time of day, you’ll note.

But what of the sleep study?” – I hear you cry. What indeed? The follow-ups with both the sleep specialist and my doctor revealed nothing conclusive. The sleep specialist is convinced that I do have a bit of sleep apnea – when I lie on my back (which I rarely do!) – but couldn’t say anything else definitive. He suggested we wait for a few months and then go around the circuit again.

Joy!!

The one definite thing that he did observe was what looked like a heart arrythmia. Concerned about a heart block he flagged this up with my doctor who in short order sent me back to Saanich Peninsula Hospital to get set up with a Holter Monitor to wear for 24 hours. This monitor revealed that I do not have anything like a heart block – but what I do have is Premature Atrial Contractions (PAC). This is where one gets additional contractions in front of the actual heartbeat. During the 24 period that I was monitored I apparently had some 15,000 additional early contractions.

Did I ever have heart flutters or palpitations?” – asked my physician. ‘”No!” – said I – truthfully. “Probably nothing to worry about then” – quoth he. Even Dr Google agrees with this diagnosis!

I reassured my doctor that he was not the first to have noticed this slight irregularity – and none of the other doctors who did so knew what to do about it either.

Still – gives them something to ponder on, I suppose…

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So – here’s the thing… (this is – should you be wondering- a continuation of my last post, ‘Ask your doctor – 1‘).

Over the last year or so I have experienced a few random instances of an odd phenomenon connected to sleep and to dreaming.  I have always dreamed vividly, but on these occasions I have woken abruptly from the dream to find myself ‘acting’ it out. In other words – if in the dream I was being attacked and tried to retaliate – I would awake and find myself doing just that.

This is, of course, somewhat worrying because of the potential to cause injury to myself or to The Girl. Clearly something needed to be done about it and – naturally –  I did what I should not have done; I consulted Dr Google!

Dr Google knows a lot about parasomnias and in this instance he directed me to some literature on the subject of REM Behavioural Disorder (RBD). It seems that this is a dysfunction of the muscle atonia that the body utilises during REM sleep to prevent one from physically engaging whilst dreaming. This sort of thing can, sadly, occur as one gets older.

The worry lies less in the immediate behavioural issue – the symptoms of which may be ameliorated by such treatments as taking a nightly dose of Melatonin – but in that RBD is thought to be a long-term precursor to other neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsons or dementia with Lewy bodies. These are a considerably less pleasant prospect – even if years in the future.

Dr G also offers the sop that that not everyone with RBD goes on to develop Parkinsons and indeed that there are other sleep disorders that mimic RBD. One should not, of course, in any case rely on the good(?) doctor for diagnosis and I took notice of this. Clearly the thing to do was to actually talk to my own doctor – which I duly did (talk only – of course – because one doesn’t actually get to see one’s doctor these days – only to chat over the phone!).

With a new scent to pursue my doctor was immediately off and running. He quickly arranged for me to have a head CT (scan) at our local hospital – and he further referred me to a sleep specialist (that’s not someone who just sleeps a lot!). This all took place back in the autumn (Fall) and I promise that I will shortly finish this saga in a third and final post – to let gentle readers know where that all went.

Bet you can’t wait!

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”Take charge of hidden, sneaky sources of chronic inflammation that can trigger illness and disease by wearing comfortable shoes daily, getting an annual flu vaccine, and asking your doctor why you’re not on a statin and baby aspirin if you’re over the age of forty”.

David Agus

Yes indeed – ask your doctor… but you had better be prepared for what he or she might say – and indeed what that might lead to. Still, it is good to feel well looked after.

Gentle readers may recall that around this time last year my ever-zealous doctor drew my attention (as part of my annual check-up) to signs that my liver might be developing a certain fattiness and that a change of lifestyle was probably overdue – a diagnosis confirmed by means of an ultrasound of the organ concerned.

Actually – regular readers would not have been able to read about this last February as I didn’t post the pieces concerned until May. Well – one wants to see how these things pan out before committing word of them to an enduring forum such as this.

Anyway – as reported back then, a fair bit of weight was lost by yours truly (and remains so) and a variety of acceptable comestibles were sourced that were apparently both palatable and yet reasonably healthy. At this year’s edition of the examination my doctor nodded approvingly at my liver stats and suggested that – with the passing of another year – we might revisit the ultrasound process with a view to determining if the fattiness were gone… which is, apparently, a quite feasible outcome.

Now – all of these health related shenanigans seem to me quite enough to be getting on with, particularly with Covid lurking constantly in the background waiting for the slightest slip-up. The fact, however,  that my doctor complains (unsurprisingly!) of being swamped with work doesn’t seem to stop him jumping onto the slightest casual remark and turning it into a further investigation…

Actually – that is unfair. He is simply admirably conscientious – and I did raise another matter with him during the year the which set in motion a further unexpected chain of events.

The tale thereof will, however, have to wait for the second part of this missive – which will follow forthwith.

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With regard to the recent strand upon these pages concerning my health issues – here and here – I have in the last few days been in receipt of good news. Having once again been relieved of a goodly measure of my precious blood (analysis for the purposes thereof) my nutrition doctor has declared that my liver enzymes are now firing as they should. I don’t suppose enzymes do ‘fire’, of course, but as the writer and proprietor of this online journal I get to play with language (meaning and metaphor) as I please!

This does not mean that the fattiness with which my liver has been flirting is necessarily all gone – as yet. That apparently takes time and would require another ultrasound to determine for sure, but the good doctor is sufficiently content that he has now parked me in ‘maintenance’ mode and doesn’t even want to look further at my blood for the next half year. “Yay!” – say I to that!

Even the nutritionist herself (not the doc – the other one!) announced proudly that I had excellent levels of Vitamin D (not sure what that has to do with anything) and asked if was taking a supplement. The cheek!…

The point is that my shiny new diet has clearly not only dropped me a couple of trouser sizes and taken me back to the weight of a much younger version of myself, but it must also be doing the job of restoring my internals to the shape in which they should be (sort of squidgy, since you ask)…

Now – I am not normally one to endorse products upon these pages but – in the manner of a good award winner (which is what I feel like) – there are just a few ‘people’ that I would like to thank.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidI have admitted previously to my habitual taking of a single drink each night to accompany my repast – the which I have done since I left home back in the 70s. This was always something of a indulgence but the point was to give myself a little reward for getting through another (hopefully) fruitful day. To be able to willingly give this up I needed some alternative that actually felt like a treat. Water is all very well but is, in my book, for exercise – and that ain’t a treat!

So – here is my new nightly beverage of choice – the very wonderful range of Zevia Iced Teas. No sugar – zero calorie and (should you so require) caffeine-free to boot.

What is more – they are delicious!

Not cheap…

…but delicious…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidAt the other end of the meal I still need something sweet. Many such lovely things are now ruled out – but how about a little… chocolate?…

Surely not” – I hear you cry – but worry not, for this is no ordinary chocolate. This is Lily’s ‘no sugar added’ chocolate – and it is yummy!

It is sweetened with Stevia (of which I am a huge fan) which has apparently no downsides (unlike sweeteners ending in ‘ose‘ and suchlike). Some folk gripe about the aftertaste. All I can say is that Lily’s seem to have cracked the Stevia thing in this case – this one, for example, having only an aftertaste of salted caramel.

Yummy, indeed!

Not cheap…

…but yummy…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidFinally – there are snacks. You know – late night munchies! Nothing that a thick slice of toasted sourdough and marmalade wouldn’t fix – or maybe a nice strawberry jam sandwich. Hmmmm!

So for those occasions – there is Fatso!

I have, as it happens, never been a fan of nut butters. They just don’t quite do it for me; something to do with the texture, mayhap.

But Fatso… A range of low-carb, low-sugar nut butters made with plant-based fats… right here in Victoria!… These things are awesome – and quite addictive. A nice big dollop of Crunchy Salted Caramel (or Maple) Peanut (or Almond) butter on top of a couple of Walker’s Oat Cakes (“They’re delicious!”)…

TDF!

Not cheap…

…but TDF!

There now – dieting’s not so bad…

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Image by Brooke Lark on UnsplashSomething that surprised me greatly on our arrival in British Columbia back in 2015 was the discovery that the province had a considerable shortage of GPs… doctors! For the first year and some I had to resort to visiting drop-in clinics to get repeat prescriptions for the hypertension medication to which I referred in my last post.

Fortunately a new clinic opened in Sidney and I was finally able to land myself on the books of an excellent physician who has the added benefit of being a relatively young man – who should thus (barring unfortunate incidents) see me out.

The good thing about young doctors is that they tend to be keen and thorough. That is also, of course, the problem with them… discovering things that one wishes they had not.

Several years back now my new doctor determined – in the course of my annual checkup – that I now had stage one chronic kidney disease. There is, apparently, nothing really to be done about this and it makes no practical difference – as long as it doesn’t develop into a higher stage (which I gather from the Doc that it may never do. Fingers crossed!) How did I get it? Apparently is is a common side-effect of hypertension!

Now – this year the doc had a new treat for me. I now have early signs of fatty liver disease. What?! How did I get that? Well – apparently if one is not overweight (which I wasn’t) and doesn’t have a drink problem (don’t even go there) then it is quite likely to be a side effect of – you’ve guessed it – hypertension.

Thanks, mum and dad!

So – what is to be done? Well – diet apparently – for which I have been referred to a nutritionist. According to him I need to be on a low-carb, low-sugar, preferably plant-based diet… and I should abstain from the demon booze!! Well – I can be pretty dogged if it leads to staying healthy for as long as possible and I don’t mind making some sacrifices, but there are limits…

So – out goes bread, white rice, all manner of sugary treats (including cakes and jams etc), too much red meat, processed foods… ice cream! All that sort of thing. In comes more fruit, salads and vegetables, lean and white meats, fish, pulses and no end of less fun things (like seeds… bleuch!!).

On the alcohol front, until this started I was in the habit of taking one drink a day with my evening meal, the which I had done ever since I left home back in the 1970s. Now I only drink on occasion – maybe one or two times a month (boo!).

Is it working – I hear you ask? Too soon to tell, though blood tests next month will give a clearer picture.

It is having one big effect, though: I have lost a fair bit of weight. Having clocked in at around 13 stone (182lb) for as long as I can remember, in the three or so months since this started my weight has dropped to a tad below 12 stone (168lb). As a result  I have had to purchase several new pairs of jeans, my waist having dropped from an optimistic 34” back to a guaranteed 32”. I really can’t remember when I was last this size, but it was certainly back in the 80s (or even earlier).

Oh well! I will of course keep the gentle reader up-dated as things progress.

 

 

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Broccoli is not as bad as people make out. It might give you wind, but I’d prefer to have wind and have good health. Health is the number one thing on the planet. However, I am quite partial to rum and raisin ice cream.”

Chris Eubank Sr.

I recently found myself looking back over the archives to this online journal. It had occurred to me that – in what is getting on for a decade now that I have been posting to it – I have made very little reference to health – to mine or to anyone else’s.

Whereas I would once have maintained that this was because I have been blessed with an excellent constitution (which is certainly true to a point) I might possibly also have admitted that this is one of those subjects that chaps in general tend to avoid, probably because of the fear that talking about such potentially unpleasant topics could well result in something being raked up that they would prefer not to know about.

Either way – with the advancing of the years it really is time that I addressed some of this stuff. Here goes…

I inherited many characteristics from my parents: most of them positive (and for that, many thanks). There is, however, something else that they passed on to me that is rather more of a pain. That something is hypertension (high blood pressure)!

I don’t recall if they ever discussed the fact that they both suffered the condition. It was the sort of thing that was not much talked about by their generation. I’m not even sure that I knew they were on medication for it – until such time as I was myself diagnosed with it.

This came about as my fiftieth birthday approached. I was working at the time at a very well-known posh boys’ school in the UK and fell into conversation with my doctor (who was both one of the School doctors and a local GP) at a cocktail party at the School (as one does)! Regular readers will know that I don’t normally use real names on this blog but in this case I will make an exception – because the doctor was genuinely called ‘Doc Holliday’!

Anyway – I asked what a chap should do to check on his health at that time of life and he promised to give me a detailed going-over – the which he duly did. This uncovered the hypertension and we discovered (after an extensive round of blood tests, electro-cardiograms, heart echoes and an MRI scan at the Royal Brompton) that the most likely cause was inheritance.

The good doctor advised me as to the probability of my suffering some heart-related incident within a decade should I choose not take regular medication – and not caring for the odds I duly signed up. This all took place not that far short of two decades ago now and things have trundled along in the meantime without further incident – until relatively recently.

Unfortunately that proved not to be the end of things – though for the rest of the tale the gentle reader will need to come back for the second part of the story in the next post.

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‘Aging’ has been bad ever since we figured out it led to dying.

Erin McKean

Yup – growing old is no fun at all… as the saying goes.

Actually – it doesn’t, since if you sell your soul to Google in (pretty poor) exchange for some gobbets of insight all you will find on the subject are remorselessly positive platitudes… as though the ‘quoterati’ run scared of being seen to be ageing anything other than gracefully and with an abundance of hard-earned wisdom – rather than having the tough time of it that some of them undoubtedly are…

…but I really mustn’t sound bitter – because I am not. I am in fact surfing the age-wave like a… like a… surfer ‘dude’!

Hmmm! That didn’t turn out so well, did it?

Anyway – ageing does actually have much to recommend it and I am not complaining… except for the physical aspects. There is sadly no denying that – whatever one does – as the body ages bits of it work less well than once they did.

This is currently foremost in my mind because I have just restarted the fitness class that I have been attending pretty much ever since we came to Canada some four and a half years ago. The class is very popular and I could not get a place for the December or January sessions. What with the Christmas celebrations falling in the interim it has been a while since I put the old ‘bod’ under this degree of stress… and it shows. I have – if I am being honest – never much enjoyed the business of exercise itself – not being one of those odd folk that relishes pain – but I do like the feeling of being reasonably fit. It will take a good few weeks to get back to that point.

There is no avoiding the fact that my body now has a few weaknesses. My right knee starts to complain under repeated stress; my doctor thinking that arthritis is the most likely cause. My right shoulder gives up earlier than my left when working with weights; I know from previous explorations that the shoulder joint does have some bone impingement, which doesn’t help.

I am fortunate in that my hands are not too bad. In the winter I do wake up to find them uncomfortably stiff and it takes a while for things to loosen up, but I guess that just comes with age. I need to be able to continue playing both bass and keyboards for as long as possible, so I am keeping my fingers (ever so slightly painfully) crossed.

No grumbles though. This is just the way the cookie crumbles as one maneuvers oneself into the second half of one’s seventh decade.

There are many far worse off than am I – and I am most grateful not to be in their shoes.

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Medical matters

Image from WikipediaIt is really most remiss of me to have jotted nary a peep thus far regarding an issue here in British Columbia of which I was not aware before we arrived in the summer of 2015 (though I feel sure that I had been told!) but which would definitely be of interest to anyone moving here from another part of the world.  BC as a whole – and Victoria in particular – currently suffers from an extreme shortage of General Practitioners.

Now – to this point in my life I must admit to having had things pretty easy in this regard. Not only is the UK thankfully well pretty provided for when it comes to GPs, but I was also been fortunate enough over the last three decades or so to have simply signed up with one of the doctors at whichever educational establishment I happened to be employed.

It was thus a rude shock to discover, on arrival in the province last year, that finding a GP in Victoria would be a major operation and that it would undoubtedly take some considerable time to effect. In the end it took me fifteen months and I was lucky in that one of the practices in Sidney, which was recently refurbished, also took on a couple of new doctors. This sort of opening comes but rarely.

Once the practice had let it be known that it was taking on new patients and that applications should be submitted before before an advertised deadline there followed an almost unseemly rush to get on to the list. Applicants were not to be selected on a first-come-first-served basis, the new GPs rather assembling a clientele with an appropriate variety of needs. Fortunately mine are relatively straightforward (comprising as they do in the main a repeat prescription for the medication for the hypertension that I inherited from both parents) making me a pretty good risk and thus the ideal patient.

The only minor fly in the ointment was that the Kickass Canada Girl had suggested that I take out some life insurance here in Canada. It should come as no surprise that insurance companies are as risk-averse here as they are anywhere else in the world. I had no objection to being subjected to further medical examinations, but it did seem that they wanted to cavil at everything. I had to pay several visits to a drop-in clinic, to the Saanichton Hospital laboratory and to an ultrasound lab whilst those in white coats quibbled with the insurers over the sort of test readings at which one’s GP normally just shrugs his (or her) shoulders.

As I have currently been asked to get one reading repeated every three months or so the insurers have gleefully taken the opportunity to kick my application into the long grass.

The Girl is not best pleased!

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Subsequent to my posting of last week regarding my application for Canadian Permanent Residence, it is good to see that we are now properly in the system. As reported, the Kickass Canada Girl’s part in the proceedings is done – at least for now. The Citizenship and Immigration Canada Application Status tool shows the following details for me:

application status Good to see that my medical results have also been received – by virtue of their having been extracted from the online system. This means that the CIC will be aware that my medical certificate dates from the end of April this year – and that the clock is thus running!

I will keep my eye on the status pages and report further progress as it occurs.

How exciting!

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Set_differenceThose who have chanced upon these humble marginalia may well have done so in search of information pertaining to (or – mayhap – to elicit shared experience concerning…) applications for Permanent Residency for Canada. Should that be the case then you might also have happened upon this earlier post which documented the problematic process by which I obtained the requisite medical certificate the first time I started an application some two years ago – shortly before the whole exercise had to be aborted for reasons that have been well documented elsewhere in this journal.

Now – as posted only recently – the whole shebang has been kickstarted again and thus far (fingers firmly crossed!) things are going a sight better than they did previously.

What a difference!

On Saturday I went to get a new set of photos of the requisite size and format – as specified by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). I must have been at the photographers for all of five minutes. The technology is now so sophisticated that the subject’s participation in having his or her picture taken is momentary and almost incidental. Before I knew it I was out of the door, clutching in my hot little hand an envelope containing an acceptably (to my mind – which is a tough ask!) accurate facsimile of my visage!

First thing on Monday morning I posted off the application forms for yet another police certificate. Nothing much had changed regarding this part of the process but then – this was one of the bits that worked properly last time round.

Then – on my way home from the School – I visited once again the CIC designated clinic to submit myself to the required medical examination. The contrast with my previous appointment there could not have been more palpable. Having arrived a little early – nervous of getting trapped in the exodus from the capital – it was immediately clear that this time round my request for an ‘upfront’ medical would present no predicament. The whole process had – in the intervening period – been updated, streamlined and given a fresh veneer of modern technology. I was whisked through the necessary procedures (X-rays – urine samples – blood tests – weights and measures) so quickly that there wasn’t even time for a coffee in the commodious lounge.

The ensuing interview with the doctor was brief and to the point. Having looked me over cursorily he dismissed me in short order:

“You’re fine. Get out!”

Well – I exaggerate slightly – but you get my drift. Not only was I processed in a fraction of the time that it had taken previously, but the clinic further forewent – on this occasion – charging me an extra whack for additional tests. Achieving my sixth decade has clearly not yet had a significantly detrimental effect on my well-being.

Naturally I take all of this as a particularly good omen.

As you would expect of me…

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