A Kind of Limbo

My life right now is rather odd.  Being ill has left me in a kind of limbo.  As I'm currently being signed off work on a weekly basis, it is difficult to plan ahead - I just don't know whether I'll be back at work this time next week, or not.  My day-to-day life has dissolved into a series of doctor's appointments, hospital tests, tablets, pills and capsules.  All of this interspersed with daily bouts of exercise to try and help reduce my blood pressure and diabetes.  On top of all that, I'm having to reduce my sugar intake (I now take sweeteners instead of sugar with hot drinks, for instance).  I also understand that it is difficult for other people to grasp that I'm actually too ill to go into work right now, as externally I look perfectly normal.  There are no obvious symptoms: no rashes or spots, no limps or physical impediments.  But the fact is that my blood pressure is still so high that work-related stress would likely push it back up to the dangerous levels it was at a couple of weeks ago.  Maybe things will have changed by next assessment at the doctor's on Monday.  We'll see.

As I say, at the moment it is difficult to make plans.  I'm sure that most people think I'm just sitting at home catching up with old movies.  But my daily walks rather preclude this.  Even when I do try and make plans, other things, beyond my control, intervene.  Today, I had another set of blood tests at the hospital, so I decided to walk there and back this morning, thereby killing two birds with one stone: daily walk and tests, thereby leaving my afternoon clear to do other stuff.  But I awoke to find that the electricity was out and had to spend what felt like the entire morning trying to deal with Southern and Scottish Electricity.  First of all the power was going to be back on at 12:30, then 16:00 and finally 19:00!  Their main concern seemed to be whether or not I was able to make a cup of tea.  As I pointed out, I was more concerned with the fact that I had no heating, no lighting, no hot water, no internet access, an inoperable cordless phone and no way to recharge the dwindling battery on my mobile.  So, I didn't set off for the hospital until the afternoon.  When I got back home, still no power, so I resorted to sitting in my car, where I had enough light to read the paper and could charge my phone.  So, that accounted for my afternoon, all my planned activities ruined by SSEN's inability to maintain power supplies to domestic properties in the middle of a major urban area.  (The power was restored at around 17:30 in the end).  Hopefully, tomorrow, they can keep the power on.