TULIPS

Last evening I started feeling really unwell.  Mainly due to a pain in my right side.  A mystery pain.  I decided that I should make a doctors appointment and checked out the Health Centre website to find out their booking policy.  What used to happen was that at 8am when the surgery opened everyone who wanted an appointment that day would start ringing the surgery.  When you finally got through you might get an appointment - if you were lucky. Or - as often happened - all the appointments had gone. I had a feeling that this arrangement had changed so thats why I checked.  Turns out that these days they have a 24 hour appointment booking line so any time of the day or night you can ring up and book an appointment.  So it must have been around 2 am when I phoned.  I went through all the automated options and managed to book an appointment for 9.30am this morning.

So after a disturbed nights sleep I headed down to the Health Centre this morning.  I wasn't seen until around 9.50am.  The doctor didn't really have an answer as to what the pain was.  At first she said it might be my gall bladder. I told her that my gall bladder had been taken out.  ( Coincidentally I had a Facebook Memory message this morning telling me that it was on this day in 2014 that I had my gall bladder operation).

She checked my pulse and temperature which were fine. She then decided that blood should be taken to see if that would show up anything.  So I sat in the waiting room for a while until a nurse was free.  4 vials of blood were taken - should get the results on Monday.  Meanwhile I just have to take painkillers and sit it out.  Unless it gets really bad - than I phone 111.

So I came home and pottered about for a bit.  The pain was still there but I decided to stick to my original plan for the day and go to The Metrocntre.  When I got there I started feeling really " rough" and the pain was worse so I quickly got some food shopping in M & S and got the bus home.

I have just spent the rest of the day quietly watching TV with a hot water bottle for company.  I had to resort to taking some codeine.  I really only take them in emergencies as they make me sleepy but today that didn't matter.  It was more important to have pain relief.  At 10pm I'm finally feeling a bit better and the pain has eased.  Just have to see what happens over the weekend.

When I was in M& S I got a bunch of tulips so they are my blip today for Flower Friday hosted by BikerBear . I decided to include the vase in my photo as its a lovely Art Deco style Maling vase.  I got it in a charity shop last year for only £2.  When I was in the Laing Art Gallery yesterday they has some Maling pieces on display and there were a couple of items which were very similar to my vase.

Maling pottery was produced in the North East of England for just over two centuries. The pottery was founded  near Sunderland in 1762 and transferred to Newcastle in 1817.  By the 1890s Maling had decided to go up market and within a few years the quality of the ware was such that it was being sold by stores as prestigious as Harrods.  Eventually competition from more modern and streamlined potteries caused Maling to close in 1963. In two centuries it had produced over 16,500 patterns. Items ranged from simple kitchen wares such as pudding basins to highly gilded, lustred and enamelled pieces for display in fashionable homes.

My thoughts today are with all the innocent people who were killed or injured  in the tragic events in Christchurch yesterday.  Such a shocking thing to happen.  And to hear that the whole thing was apparently streamed live on Facebook and people were cheering on the racist shooter  is just incredible.  You wonder what the world is coming to. 

Steps today - 10,690