There are times when history can catch up with you. It wasn't planned that way and other circumstances seemed to point in a different direction. Originally it seemed to have levelled out even though there were restrictions, but you managed. Then something happened and...

Sort of an adventure

For me it began during the 2015 San Fermin Festival. The outdoor toilet facility, at Plaza de Toros, sprayed its chemicals all over me and some hours later I was in hospital with severe pain. The chemical stuff had gone through my euretha and damaged my prostrate along with my instestines (a one in a million thing). The euretha infection was sorted out with a dose of anti-biotics, but my guts burned for a year until a hernia operation was done. Whatever 'cylin they pumped into me took care of the burning and believe me it felt great afterwards.

The next few years I managed with the restrictions, being very careful to only drink decaf coffee, avoiding a lot of chocolate and no more Pepsi. A lot of time was spent in the Basque Country with the friends I had made there and enjoying the mountains . Normally the thermometer stays under 40 degress C, so I did not drink a lot of their very high mineral water. I was able to find some interesting out of the way places, like Artajona and Olita.

Everything seemed to be ticking along nicely, other than the pandemic, until summer 2022. It was to be my last full time in Pamplona but things changed there. For two months the temperature was between 38 and 50 C—very hot. The whole time was one probem after another. Normally it is rare to exceed 40 C, only one day was under 38 and that was the beginning of the 2022 San Fermin, when it rained. For some unknown reason, I didn't cross my mind about the high mineral water. I returned to London at the end of July and within 24 hours was in the local hospital, I thought I may have a bladder stone.

A bleak time

The prostate damage mentioned earlier here, has turned into an unplanned sort of adventure (see my About page in that regards). Back in 2015 I attended my local hospital for a check out. A catheter had been worn and this so called nurse yanked it out while I was standing up, blood all over the place. I mentioned this to my sister, who is a retired senior nurse and she was going to immediately call the police because removing a catheter like that was legally attempted murder. My doctor said the same, trouble is the nurse pulled a curtain over the camera to hide the evidence. Fortunately (survival training) your urine has healing properties for your body only. Since then all the man haters have gone, how many men they killed is unknown. My sister wouldn't work for England's NHS because she wanted to be a good nurse and did so in Saudi Arabia for at least 20 years. The writing of this post began in mid December 2022. The preceeding three months have seen me stuck wearing a catheter as different Urologists do this and that, plus all kinds of scans. I had a pre-op consultation on the 23rd of December.

I feel quite alone in all this and wearing a catheter is very strange. This thing dangles between my legs and walking around is a really odd experience. I can't go very far, but have managed some 2-3 mile walks in a nature park, a short ride on the rails from where I live. We had about 2 weeks of below freezing weather, with a vicious northeast wind, to make matters worse. Doing this in long-johns brings it to a whole new level of weirdness.



This is getting just a little bit strange. A short walk in the afore mentioned nature park had me going through a puddle. I did not know that an inch under the water was solid ice. My arms and legs were going in a variety of directions as I struggled to maintain balance.—a futile exercise. Splash! If this had been a comedy program on TV, everyone would have been laughing.

Meanwhile

Waiting for the health system here to set an operation date is stretching out. Other things are happening as well. For instance: the UK has, in it's infinite stupidity, decided to stop all 2G/3G phone usage. As result I've had to go round in circles to buy a 4G one.

Seeing that I rarely use one, this was the least expensive and it fits into my vest pocket. The camera is 13MP (only) and basically rubbish, so won't use it.

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