"Race for Life"

Every year there are races for women held everywhere in the country for Cancer Research. It was a 2K race, which for us oldies is 3 miles.

It was today for Stevenage. Over 2,000 women ran or walked and the estimated amount raised was £350,000! Well done!

I went with my friend Kathy to cheer on her 3 daughters who were running. Tara, Sonya and Gina did well with the latter two coming in exactly with 40 minutes with Tara just nipping in front of them. (In photo it's Sonya, Gina, Kathy, and Tara)



Here are some photos of the day.




The starting and finishing line








Chiltern Radio was there and getting the women all ready to run.


There was also a warm up exercise run by one of the Rosemary Conley groups.








Gina

Sonya and her fiance Danny





Tara and her friend going to the Finish Line.


Gina and Sonya going to the Finish Line.




After the race with their medals

Avast Ye Mateys!!

Yep, it's Carribean Pirate Day here. OOO AAARRRR

I went into town and saw the 'Skull and Crossbones' up on the clocktower.



Shiver me timbers!!

There was a stall with a hog roast. And one of the hog roasters himself.
















We had a chat and he thought it was funny that I was a vegetarian!

One of our local radio stations put up a stage where we had different performers and in front of it dumped some sand so the children could play in it.









And then the Pirates showed up. *shivering in me timbers*
















It got dangerous when 'Jack Sparrow' heroically defending himself lost his wig!














And then they all sailed away to Hitchin to find the lost buried treasure.












There was face painting for the children and prizes for the best dressed pirate. You could join in the raffle and win a convertable for the weekend and a trip to Alton Towers for the entire family.

The kids really enjoyed themselves.

Being discharged from diabetes clinic doesn't mean I'm cured

I just got back from my yearly visit to the diabetes clinic which is held in my local hospital.

I got there early due to buses that don't run on time.

I gave my appointment card to the receptionist. She looked and checked the print out and said, 'You don't have an appointment, it's been cancelled, in fact you have been discharged from the clinic'.

Praise the whatever, I'm cured!!!

No, the clinic will now be for only insulin users and we pill poppers will have to go to our own gp for now on. A Dr. saw my chart and said that I was discharged. This new Dr will be in charge of pill poppers in a general way. If my gp thinks I should go onto insulin, as she did in March, then she could send a letter of referral.

They did say that they will see me. However, my charts were not there. Thankfully I had printed out all my A1cs and other blood results.

Why wasn't I told that my appointment was cancelled? Oh, your gp should have told you. I wonder if she knows.

Good news, my A1c is down. They agreed that I don't have to take the Avandia even though my daily numbers are in the 7-8s. They think the 2000mg of Metformin is doing the trick.

Bad news, I have to take an aspirin a day and a statin. I pleaded and begged not to have to take the statin but was out-voted. :( So I am on simvastatin, 40g a day, taken at night.

Oh I should also be finally be getting a letter for my eye test. And maybe to see the foot man.

No wonder my blood pressure was up.

I won't take the statins until I see my gp. I can't take penicillin so I am always given erythromycin. If you take them then you can't take this statin. Big Grin

Varg CGC, STD, B&BTD

On Wednesday evening, Varg, my sister's Newfoundland service dog, took his Certification Test to become a Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dog. Needless to say, he passed! He has more letters after his name then my sister, his owner, does!

He is now allowed to go into nursing homes, visit organizations to help spread no, not his floogers(the long drools that he can produce so well!),but cheer to those cooped up and unable to get out. He passed his AKC Canine Good Citizen test when he younger than a year old, and now he has this certification.

You can read about the organization at their website www.golden-dogs.org

My sister is going to look into getting him registered for a program that will allow him into public schools for the children to read to him.

When I met Varg in February he weighed in at 115 pounds and was just a year old. He's now heavier and older.

Oh, Varg means 'Wolf' in Old Norse.

It's been awhile

I'm trying to stay off the computer/internet and get some kind of normal life back. I'm failing.

The weather in England has been terrible with flooding oop North. This wet and warm weather makes my arthritis worse.

Today I had to go for a fasting blood test to check my diabetes. I would normally go to my gp's but really didn't want to fast until noon. So I got the 6:44am bus to the local hospital where the pathology lab is. I knew that it opened at 8 so I hoped I would be among the first. I got to the hospital at 6:50 and there were 2 men in line ahead of me. The doors opened at 7:30 and I was in and out by 8:15.

Next Thursday I go to the diabetes clinic to find the results and to see, hopefully, a doctor that speaks English.