AFTER breakfast I go to the studio to try and sort out a signature capo order so I can fulfil a merch order.
The system with G7th has changed and new instructions lead to s simpler, easier process, I get an order in for my customer 🙂
One of my ‘in-person’ guitar student arrives for his lesson and we pick up were left off a few weeks ago. He’s only 13, but picking things up fast.
After lunch we discuss some of the computer hassles and decide to head into Braehead and get a new Mac Mini for the studio. I;ve been waiting for the M2 version. but it’s still not ben announced and things are getting desperate.
We have a couple of Apple vouchers from old iPhone recycling and Margaret can get an education discount. That means we can just about squeeze it onto a credit card.
Back home we have dinner then wander along to see Betty for a wee while. My first gas of wine – or any kind of alcohol – for a fortnight!
MARGARET’S away into Glasgow early…I call the doctor’s surgery to see if I can get a phone appointment to discuss this diverticular issue and maybe clarify a few things then jump in the shower,
After breakfast I get on with some work. there’s some Dave Arcari merch to go out amongst other things
There’s a mid-morning Zoom session with one of my ad hoc guitar students which, typically, is interrupted when the doc calls. My student is happy to noodle away in th background while I take the call.
It’s a locum doctor who, despite my attempts to get the info I want, goes round in circles telling. me stuff I already know about a higher fibre diet. He doesn’t seem to hear me when I say there was a sickness element (apparently unrelated to my ongoing ‘mysterious’ vomiting bouts of the last 20 years) which is what took us to A&E rather than the ‘pain’.
Back on Zoom I carry on my guitar session then head back to the house to reheat some leftover pizza in the air fryer for lunch.
In the studio I make a quick video of an acoustic run-through of Walk the Walk and stick it on TikTok before doing same on my other socials.
As well as my accounts, I’m still trying to get to the bottom of the website/s and server related malware problems.
I go out for a walk before dark…the furthest since I wasn’t;t well. I feel a bit ropey when I get back and hope that /m just needing a(nother) shit and not about to experience another diverticular-or-whatever flare up. regardless, I prepare some land steak, vacuum seal it and get it ready to sous vide,
Margaret gets back with the shopping and I have a wee rest after which I feel a lot better, Phew.
EVERYTHING’S still pretty much at a standstill in Scotland with the traditional two days’ bank holiday for new year carrying over because of the weekend.
Having been given the bum’s rush by my hosting company I have a dig about some of the rogue files on the server that are messing with all my websites.
Still a lot of work to do on my accounts so the rest of the day is spent trying to knock things into shape.
It’s after 8pm when I head back to the house, prep some pizza stuff and go out and light the pizza oven….
ANOTHER lazy start to the day, and feeling a little better again.
After chopping some wood and getting the fire going I have breakfast then hit the studio. Accounts. I’d planned to finish them in the run up to Christmas and get my tax return done between Christmas and New year…that clearly couldn’t;t happen.
Yet another lesson in why things shouldn’t be left ’til the last minute. I need to get busy today regardless of how I feel.
Moreover, the website malware issue is getting me down and gonna need sorted 🙁
Mid-afternoon we take a walk to see Betty and enjoy a coffee and a bother.
Back home I get some more work done on my accounts then the first Zoom session of the year with one of my guitar students.
The garden concert and livestream is re-scheduled for Sunday 8 January 🙂
IN KEEPING with tradition we have a long lie…the only difference is I have no hangover!
Slowly feel like I’m getting back to my ‘normal’ self.
I go to the studio to update my blog while Margaret makes breakfast and hear a car roll up..it’s Catriona, Will and the kids. Nice to see them.
We hang out for a couple of hours then they head off and we take a wander along to first-foot Betty but no-one’s home.
Back home we decide to re-scheduled the missed garden concert and livestream for next Sunday – 8 January. I check my ‘special guest’ is available then set up a private Facebook event for local guests and a livestream ‘event’ for the wider audience.
In the house I sit in front of the fire with the lap steel before dinner then we watch a Bond movie and have a relatively early night.
ANOTHER restful morning…up to take may 8am antibiotic then back to sleep until early midday!
Still feeling a little under the weather, but this period forest and zero alcohol has got to have a positive effect not just on the current state of affairs, but my general well-being too.
After breakfast Margaret takes a drive to the village and drops me off en route. I have a locally bought CD to deliver and I wanna refund the (unnecessary!) postage. I was gonna try and walk there and back but Margaret is insisted that it’s too much, too soon. OK.
I deliver the CD, have a chat and bump into a load of folks on the way back. It’s nice to see everyone and have a blether,
I’d then a notion to learn mandolin the other day…and then reminded myself that I have various instruments– banjo and lap steel – that I’ve hardly scratched the surface of learning. I grab the lap steel and some bits and bobs from the studio and take them back to the house so I can meddle a little over coming days. For some reason I’m not really feeling up to sitting – or spending time – in the studio.
There’s still some turkey left…and some ham. Rather than have th same old, I suggest to Margaret we make a turkey , ham and leek pie. She does, and I spend an while in the kitchen taking in the process.
The wee pies turn out great and we have a nice dinner then settle down to watch our pal Billy’s Hogmanay livestream from the USA…it;s meant to start at 10pm, but internet hassles delay thing ’til after 10.30pm but it’s worth waiting for 🙂
Not only are Bill and Dorothy great friends, but those of us that tune in to his livestreams have become a wee community of virtual pals.
We bring in the new year online and after the livestream’s done we watch the end of Hootenanny….and alcohol-free New Year for me…and I still enjoyed it!
MY alarm goes off at 7.45am so I’m up to take my industrial-strength antibiotics on schedule at 8am. I go back to bed and fall asleep waking up in a panic at 9.57am. My guitar student will be here at 10am!
Jeez. I dash into the bathroom and when I go back to the bedroom check my phone…there’s a message saying she’s gonna give this week a miss as the roads are all flooded. Phew. I go back to bed and fall asleep until nearly midday.
I have a very light brunch and chill until my pal Martyn rocks up. We’d planned a walk, but he’s already walked from his village a few miles away and I’m not really feeling up to it.
We sit in front of the fire, enjoy a snack and blether for a good few hours. Nice to have a chance to catch up properly.
Margaret makes a light dinner then we watch My Old School on BBC iPlayer – a very strange account of a 32 -year old guy going back to his old secondary school as a new fifth year pupil.
In bed I check some social media to find that some of my website links are going to spam sites. Looks like there’s some server-side malware, Jeez, this is not what I need at the moment….
I’M woken a coupla times to get the drips and stuff changed but generally have a pretty good night’s sleep – the first since Christmas Eve.
More bloods taken at 7am then the doc drops by soon after – they’re happy with my progress, bloods and reckon I can come off all the intravenous stuff….and I can go home today 🙂
A chat with the doc pretty much rules out any link between this and last week’s ‘episodes’ and the ongoing and random vomiting issue I’ve battled for 20 years.
This is down to a flare-up of diverticular disease – they ‘found’ it after an ass-cam session a few years ago but it wasn’t a big deal and apparently 80% of folks develop it and most never even know it’s there. I’ve been a bit unlucky.
No cure, but a high fibre diet can help (…mmm….I generally stick to pretty high fibre diet anyway)…and I’ll get called for another ass-cam in six-to-eight weeks.
Can’t help feeling a bit disappointed that none of the CT scans and tests etc have taken us any closer to a cause of the more ‘usual’ vomiting thing that floors me. But at least it puts it back in the line of fire for a chat with the local doc.
While I’m still far from ‘normal’ I’m feeling much better and Margaret comes to get me early afternoon.
My plans for the next week or so? Do sweet fuck all…
After dinner reading courtesy of Margaret – not just the Guitarist Magazine but the cheap reading glasses too. Dunno about you, but I think the colour quite suits me 🙂
AN extremely weird night…ward noises, other folks random calling out and various machines going ding-dong non-stop.
I’m pretty good at sleeping through stuff though…until someone wakes me to take more blood at about 7am
Breakfast somehow passes me by – I’m not meant to have any solids anyway – and then when the doctor and a bunch of apprentices stop by I’m told I can cautiously start solids today IF I feel like it.
Deffo not getting home today…slight chance tomorrow. I message Margaret and ask if she can bring some fruit and yogurt. Having only had a bacon roll on Sunday morning – and a little soup and wee tub of ice cream last night – I reckon my body needs some nutrition/vitamins.
I do get some lunch tho’, and forego the sandwich (might tackle that tomorrow) in favour of a little soup and some more ice cream.
Margaret rocks up with some clean boxers, t-shirts and socks….so as soon as the nurse comes to change my drops I negotiate a release for enough time to get a much-needed shower.
She’s also brought fruit and yogurt which all helps me feel a little more normal.
Dinner is vegetable goulash and ice cream – all sloppy enough to be low-risk consumption. Margaret heads home after I’ve eaten – and another jag in the stomach – and I settle down for an evening of lucozade and crap telly interspersed with patchy wifi/social media.
Sometime around 9pm I’m told I’m being moved to another ward. I try and get my shit together and am deposited in another ward between two guys who were in the previous one….’oxygen man’ with the bleeping machines on one side and a nice guy who keeps pulling his catheter out on the other. Gonna be interesting! The guy opposite’s been in for nearly a month and recuperating from an op….and another, curtained off, who’s in a particularly bad way.
An hour later I’m on the move again! It’s nearly midnight when I arrive at my final destination….a single room and really nice nurses/staff. Might get a good sleep after all!!
MARGARET has been allowed to stay with me and me manage to doze a little on the more comfortable chats in the more private waiting area.
The meds have helped too and I’m starting to feel a little better.
By 9am I’ve still not seen a doctor and we take an executive decision to cancel today’s ‘gig in the garden’ and associated livestream. That means spreading the word to the invited audience….and also the Facebook livestream.
I’m hoping we can re-schedule for a week or two’s time.
It’s after 10am when we see a doc who refers me to a surgical ward for further investigation….there’s a fair wait til I’m taken to the ward.
I’m put on a couple drips – one to replace body fluids and a couple of antibiotic solutions. This is to help combat the weird blood count that’s come back from some of the tests.
I’m not allowed anything to eat or drink as I’m to go for a CT scan…and they need to be able to ‘act’ fast in the results.
The CT scan is a weird experience – one of the doctors comes to chat about the results. No drastic action to be taken but no solids meantime and I’ll be in at least overnight and maybe longer depending on ongoing bloods.
Margaret gets me some lucozade, a charger cable for my phone and a cheap pair of reading glasses then heads for home…it’s dark by now and the roads aren’t great with snow and stuff.
I’m allowed some soup and a tiny wee tub of ice cream…actually, it’s plenty as I haven’t much appetite.
More changes of drops and stuff…and an injection in my tummy….then I update my blog, respond to Facebook well-wishers and watch some telly…
