2025, Week 16 journal.

Week 16 of 2025 began with a visit to the Los Alcazares medical centre. I was in pain all week but managed to get out a couple of times for fresh air, a drink, and a meal.

Monday 14th April.

I slept pretty well last night, but was still in a fair bit of pain when I woke up. I had a coffee and then pottered around, working on my website until it was time to go to the clinic to have my leg dressed and to meet my newly assigned doctor for my first visit to the Spanish Health system in the Los Alcazares medical centre.

My neighbour Liz took me to the medical centre, and after a short wait, we went to see the nurse. He did a great job of redressing my ankle and told me he thought I was diabetic and should be tested. I told him I had been tested previously and wasn't diabetic. He made sure the plaster on the wound wouldn't come off before next week's visit by wrapping a bandage around it as well.

After the nurse had finished, I had to wait a little longer before going in to see my doctor. Liz translated for me, and after reading my hospital discharge letters and talking to me, the nurse said I was not diabetic and that my latest test results, which were in the release notes, proved it. She asked about some of my previous conditions and made sure that the health system was up to date with all of my notes from the hospital. I asked about getting my INR blood tests done in the health centre, and after reading my notes, she made me an appointment to have it checked on May 7th. I thought this was ideal as it would give my body time to get used to not being on antibiotics and painkillers all the time. Different tablets have different effects on the results of the test. After thirty-plus years of being on Sintrom or Warfarin, I know what to look for and adjust the levels accordingly, but it would be better to have a clean test for my first one on the Spanish health system. She then made me a new appointment to have the ankle redressed next Wednesday. It was a bit longer than usual to have to wait because of all the Easter bank holidays, which meant the health centre would be shut.

When we left the medical centre, Liz offered to take me to get my shopping, but I was so out of breath I asked her to take me home. After Liz dropped me off, I got myself a drink and flopped into my armchair, where I stayed for a few hours getting my breath back.

At about 3 pm, I went to Buen Sabor on my disability scooter and got some food to have at home to save me from having to stand up and do any cooking When I got home I had one of the meals I had bought myself and put the salad and other meal I had bought in the fridge. 

I spent the rest of the day resting, watching TV and working on my website.

Tuesday 15th April.

I slept very well last night and woke up around 8:30 am today. I slowly got up and got myself a coffee before doing the Wordle puzzle and checking for messages.

I decided to go to Mercadona to get my shopping, and I was leaving to get on my mobility scooter when Martin called me to say he was on the way round to pick up the sofa I had said he could have. I mistakenly thought his wife Kate had said they would collect it on Wednesday. I turned around and quickly removed the pile of junk from the sofa in my lounge so they could take it away. Just this little bit of effort this morning had puffed me out, and I was struggling for breath. Luckily, Martin and Gary arrived a short time later and took the sofa from the lounge. Once they had put the sofa in the van, I took them to my lock-up room in the garage and they were able to take the connecting, second part of the sofa as well. As they left, Martin said he would get his dad to pick me up so that I could go to the office for a couple of hours. I looked forward to getting out of my apartment and seeing some people for a while. Over the last three weeks, I have seen very few people other than nurses and doctors and nothing other than my apartment, doctors' surgeries or the hospital in Cartagena.

At 11:50, I walked round to where Dave usually picks me up, opposite the Mar Menor Bodega on the main road. He picked me up just after midday and we went to Pizzeria La Sombre. Martin was already there, and we sat down for a drink and chatted until around 2 pm, when Dave took me back to my apartment.

Just before leaving the Pizzeria, I had ordered a takeaway pizza to take home with me, and once home, I sat in my armchair and spent the afternoon and evening watching TV and eating my pizza. As I was watching the TV, another one of my friends, Dave Warwick, contacted me to see how I was and asked if I needed anything. I asked him if he could help me move my dining table and my fridge. He said he would come round in the morning to help me.

The fresh air had tired me out today, and I had an early night and went to bed around 10 pm.

Wednesday, 16th April.

I got up and had a coffee before doing the Wordle puzzle this morning. My ankle was still aching a bit, but nowhere near as much as it had been. I took a painkiller and then went out on my disability scooter to get some shopping. I went to Mercadona and was there just after it opened. It was great doing my shopping, there were hardly any other customers, and I didn't have to wait at the till at all to pay for my shopping.

I soon got home again and put my shopping away, and as I sat at my computer, Dave messaged to tell me he was on his way.

When Dave arrived, we quickly moved my dining table. I only wanted it turned so that it took up less room in the dining area. After turning it round, Dave then moved my fridge out of my kitchen and into my dining area, to a new position that I wanted it in. It may sound like a strange place to put a fridge, but the layout of my apartment means it doesn't look out of place there. It works well for me and means I have a lot more room in my small kitchen. 

I have slowly been removing some of the cupboards from my kitchen, and the oven was thrown out and replaced with a Ninja worktop oven, when it broke quite a while ago. I want to remove more of the cupboards on the walls and install a new sink and longer worktop now that the fridge is no longer in the way. Over the next few months, I will slowly do away with more of the cupboards and get rid of much of the stuff that I have never used and that has been gathering dust in the cupboards. I hope then to have new units installed in a way that will give me more room to do more home cooking. I doubt I will ever leave my apartment, and it makes sense to have it how I want it.

I rested again in the afternoon before watching the Real Madrid vs Arsenal football match on TV. It was the 2nd leg of the two-leg game, and Arsenal were already winning 0-3. They played very well again and won the 2nd leg 1-2, which meant they had won 1-5 and knocked Madrid out. I watched some of the player interviews after the game before going to bed a happy man.

Thursday, 17th April.

I was in a bit of pain when I woke up, but I got a coffee, did the Wordle puzzle and started to work on my website. 

One of the extensions on the website wasn't working as well as I had hoped, and I decided to rearrange the layout and the navigation of my website. It was going to be a big job, and because I didn't want the site to be available to view whilst I was working on it, I made it unavailable and replaced the home page with a "Website Down For Maintenance" page.

This evening, my friend Bernard messaged me to see if I wanted to go out to Campbells with him tomorrow night for dinner. He had to drop his wife off for a meal somewhere and would pick me up at 6 pm. I was happy to be going out of the apartment again and told him I was looking forward to it.

I worked on my website until around 11 pm, but it was apparent the work would take a few more days to complete, so I left the site unpublished to the general public and went to bed.

Friday, 18th April.

My ankle felt better this morning when I woke up. I got myself a coffee and some breakfast, and then decided to make a turkey stew in my slow cooker. I prepared the ingredients and then placed them all in the slow cooker on low heat to cook over the next 8 hours.

I continued working on my website until around 5 pm and then got ready to go out with Bernard for dinner at Campbells. Just after 6 pm, Bernard picked me up, and we drove to Roda and went to Campbell's bar. We sat at the bar for a brief chat before going through to the restaurant and having dinner. Bernard had fish and chips, but because I am a bit fussy and don't like cod much, I opted to have steak and black pudding pie, chips and peas.

It was beautiful and I really enjoyed it. Bernad and I discussed our plans for our upcoming holidays and our shared love of Arsenal. The time passed quickly, and it seemed like no time before Bernard was dropping me off at my apartment and going to pick up his wife.

Doing nothing for about three or four weeks has left me feeling tired, and I was worn out when I got home. I watched a bit of TV before going to bed around 10 pm.

Saturday 19th April.

I didn't sleep well at all last night, but not because of any pain. At around 2:30 am, there was a lot of noise from cars and young kids who kept making noise until around 5:30 am. I am convinced that a local drug dealer sits in the square at night and that the cars that keep arriving and stopping briefly before noisily leaving again are people coming to collect drugs from him. The local council had said last year that they were going to put surveillance cameras in the square, so I am going to have to see what is happening with them. I will not put up with youngsters and drug dealers all summer long and will contact the police and the council to do something about it.

At lunchtime, I ate some of the turkey stew that I made yesterday, gave some to my neighbour Liz, and then put more portions in containers to go in my freezer. In the afternoon, I attempted to make some soup, but when I tasted it, I realised that somehow I had put too much salt in it. Even after adding more water to it, it was way too salty, and I had to throw it out.

This evening I did a bit more work on my website and watched some of the day's football on the TV before going to bed at around 11 pm.

Sunday 20th April.

I slept better last night. I was woken up again at about 2:30 am, but one of my Spanish neighbours shouted at the car arriving outside, and they left. I woke back up around 8:30 am and felt much better. My ankle was not hurting much at all, and I got up and got myself a coffee and some porridge for breakfast.

Once I had eaten breakfast, I removed the linen from my bed and put it in the washing machine. I then loaded up the dishwasher and put that on as well before going back to work on my website. I stopped briefly for lunch around 1:30 pm and had a cheese and ham sandwich before working on the website until the Ipswich vs Arsenal game came on TV.

Arsenal played well and were 0-2 up before Ipswich, then had a player sent off for a terrible foul on Bukayo Saka. The rest of the game was even more one-sided and ceased to be a real contest. The game drifted to a result, and Arsenal scored two more goals and were able to rest a few players and give others a few minutes of game time, including Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, who was given 10 minutes and forced a great save from the Ipswich keeper with maybe his only touch of the ball. The final score was Ipswich 0, Arsenal 4.

After the game, I cooked myself some chicken and chips for my dinner, and once I had eaten it, I sat down to watch TV and called my sister. We had a good old catch-up, talking and laughing as only a brother and sister can about our problems and ill health.

This evening I watched more football on the TV made some more changes to my website and went to bed around 11 pm