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Isolation
The current COVID outbreak hasn’t turned monstrous as yet. We’re still getting new cases each day but the numbers are staying in the tens and twenties so far. I am honestly surprised but I’m not complaining. Most of the new cases have already been isolating so I guess people by and large are doing the right thing.
As with many other places, the COVID outbreaks have affected supply chains on a lot of essential items. This has been ongoing for weeks now. But now there’s an added problem with the worst flooding in South Australia in 200 years which is preventing trains from getting through with goods. It brought to mind a trail derailment many years ago which prevented a shipment of a pre-ordered game from reaching us in time. Except this is more about essential items. I’m not too sure what the flooding situation is at the moment but I hope the situation improves soon.
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Ill-fated bicycle ride
After having a good bike ride recently I decided I’d try for another one yesterday instead of going to the gym. It wasn’t extreme heat yesterday but it was hot and I left home just after 4:30 pm with hopes it would be cooling off soon. The first thing I noticed was the ride wasn’t as easy as the last time. But I pushed on and lowered gears to make things easier. Things were going okay for a while but then the heat started to get to me and instead of continuing to my usual turnaround place, I took a short break to drink some water and stopped once more along the way. I was mostly feeling okay but as I approached the ramp onto the overpass, I realised it was going to be a huge struggle to reach the top. It just happens the path has an offshoot that goes under the bridge so I headed that way to find a stopping place in the shade. One thing I didn’t know is part of that path now shows a sign not to enter as though moving onto a one-way street. Except this was the pathway. I continued anyway because I was desperate to get out of the sun for a while. I did find a small shady area and stopped. I finished my first bottle of water and sat on the path where there were fewer ants around. When my heart rate finally returned to some normality, I started off again.
This is where things got rather tricky. I didn’t have the energy to ride very fast so I kept to as slow a pace as possible. But then I noticed my back tire wasn’t feeling right and it soon became clear the air I’d pumped it up with had gone out and I was riding on the rim of the wheel. I pumped it up and it was wobbly for a while before deflating again. This was a terrible place to be stranded as there was no access to the path for several kilometers. I got off and walked the bike for a long while and then called the Scientist. It took a while for me to communicate where I was. It was noisy from the highway next to me and my pronunciation may not have been clear to him. We finally connected and it was clearer where I was headed. There is one street that crosses with the highway and intersects with the bike pathway so that was my target for us both. I carried on walking my bike and got there about ten minutes later. Part of the pathway was shaded there so I got off and waited. I was nearly finished with my second water bottle at this point.
I knew my bike wasn’t going to fit in the car so my plan had been to lock up my bike near my location with intentions of returning the next day. The Scientist, however, was too concerned it would be stolen and decided he would walk the bike home. I was about 4.5 km from home via the bike path at this point. I took the car and returned home where I showered and rehydrated with V8 juice I had in the fridge. I wasn’t quite sure how well that would work but figured it was better than just water. It seems to have been fine and I started to feel better after a little while.
Meanwhile, the Scientist opted to walk the bike along the road he’d travelled to reach me instead of along the pathway I’d been on. It was quieter there and there was some shade for part of that way (although I’m not sure that was his consideration). He ran into issues closer to home that required a lengthy detour. In the end, he’d walked 8+ kilometers and was about to drop once home. Also, his leg was battered from the bike pedal hitting it regularly along the way. He’d already done his own exercise not much earlier so I can’t imagine his exhaustion.
I guess it might be a while until I ride again. I can get another tube easily but I’m concerned about the wheel being damaged from riding on a flat tire. That said, I will have to replace the tube in order to get it to the shop.
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Assorted
The premier of our state just did his daily update and there were nine cases of covid. It seems all were related to previous clusters. So far the numbers haven’t exploded but it still seems likely to happen at some point. While I haven’t been avoiding going out, I haven’t been spending as much time in more crowded locations. The press conference also outlined the plan to deal with high case numbers when we reach that point. That is still a long way off but obviously could change at any time. I also noticed that rapid antigen tests are now available locally and must be in demand because my pharmacy has a sign saying they don’t have any. The Scientist ordered some tests a couple of weeks ago but they haven’t arrived yet.
I’ve been attending a pilates class at a local leisure center for the past few weeks and I feel like it’s really helping with core muscles. Meanwhile, in the gym, I’ve been avoiding those exercises and doing more cardio and more weight machines. Still, my muscle mass hasn’t changed from several months ago even though I can feel changes in arms and glutes, etc.
One of the support workers who share support for my client has been promoted to a coordinator position. This opens up several more hours per week with him and I’ve taken on Tuesday hours. I chose this day in order to provide an opportunity to attend a special exercise class on a regular basis. The changes in support workers are going to be disruptive for a while but I hope he is able to settle in for the longer term. This does create another day where he may be unsupported while I’m away though. The extra hours will nice after losing so many hours from my other client. I don’t want to take on too many with this client, though, because he’s a family friend and I want to keep a decent balance between work and personal life.
We had several days with milder weather but that has now ended and we’re back to another heatwave. We haven’t had any rain so far this year but that is pretty typical for this time of year.
I got out onto my bike almost two weeks ago and it went quite well. The last time I went out I had quite a struggle to go very far. This time I didn’t struggle at all and managed what might have been a normal ride back in the time I was riding regularly. This was a nice surprise. I will admit to being tempted to go farther than planned because I was feeling well enough. Common sense did prevail and I stuck to a normal distance in the end.
I got a message from my doctor’s office that I needed to come in to discuss some results. I was only there on Monday so I assume some of the tests took longer to be processed. There were two tests from earlier that had been repeated so I suspect this might have been one or both of them. I got an appointment with yet another gp that I’ve never seen since she has the earlier available time on Tuesday.
Yesterday I stopped at a local park to eat a sandwich I’d gotten from the nearby bakery. While there, a black swan approached the side of the pond/small lake where I was sitting and seemed quite interesting in making contact. I took several photos, even approaching the swan and taking an overhead shot. I’ve been to this park before but never had any of the creatures approach me. It was pretty neat.
I started playing the Wordle game that has taken the internet by storm lately and I’m enjoying my daily dose. What I like about it is it’s just a single game that takes a couple to a few minutes and won’t be a major time sucker. It works much like the old Mastermind game but it’s for five-letter words. You get six tries and I’ve been able to solve each puzzle so far. I do it really curious how so many people need to share their results each day. And it’s weird how so many people get so annoyed by that. I personally don’t do it but I have no concerns about others. I just find it strange they need to share so much.
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Iron levels
I had several blood tests done and went to the doctor yesterday to review the results. So the good news is my ferritin is now something like 275 whereas it was 15 before. All the other numbers were fine too. I still don’t feel particularly energetic but perhaps I am not quite so tired either. Less good was the fact I had raised liver tests again although they are only slightly above normal. It seems they alternate between normal and slightly raised lately. I had to see yet another doctor because the ones I’ve seen before are no longer there. One of the reasons I moved to this practice was the lack of continuity of care at the previous one. But I think the problem is much worse where I am. It seems all the doctors aside from the main one are registrars (training gps) and so have less experience. The main doctor isn’t taking new patients although I did see her the one time. There’s another main doctor who is on long-term leave at the moment.
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Cool change
After six days of temperatures above 40C (that’s 104F), we have had a cool change to the lower 30s. We get to enjoy that until the weekend when we start into another heatwave. I think we may have set a record for most continuous days of 40+ temperatures here.
This reminds me that the Scientist and I went to see a friend play music at a cafe about 1.5 hours drive from here. She plays at this cafe about once a month so we take a trip down and enjoy the atmosphere which is lovely. There’s an indoor and outdoor area at this cafe and the artists usually play outside. But it was so terribly hot our friend was looking rather drained after playing for three hours (with breaks). We moved right inside to the air conditioning when she was done. On a good day, we might have stopped at one of the parks on the way home but it was just too hot for any outdoor activity.
On Sunday we went to Fremantle with Lego Lover to visit the Maritime Museum for a Lego shipwreck display. It was pretty cool to see and there were Lego models of some famous shipwrecks and some that are mostly known locally. Afterward, we went to a favorite cafe to have lunch. Unfortunately, the food wasn’t so good this time. I had ordered chips (thick-cut fries) with my sandwich and the chips were really terrible, enough that I left most behind. Also, the menu had changed so that some foods we like are no longer available. It seems we may have to find a new place to eat. We did have ideas of visiting the Fremantle Markets but were wary of crowded places with covid around.
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Uncertainty
It was announced on Thursday that our state borders won’t be opening on February fifth after all. I’m not terribly surprised but there is no new goal in sight currently. My travel plans have reached some snags and they might turn out to be rather expensive. At the moment there’s not so much of an issue in traveling to the US but getting back into Western Australia is. There’s a cap of 40 arrivals per day internationally, based on hotel quarantine limits. The problem I have with this is there’s a totally different rule for people traveling from within Australia. I could return through another capital city in Australia, spend two weeks and then come home to quarantine at home instead. I’d have to change my ticket but it could be done. It’s still two months from travel so I won’t make any decisions yet as it can all change so quickly.
We now have omicron spreading locally so I am curious to see how things will play out here. Yesterday there were 24 local cases but today it was only thirteen. Today’s cases are almost all related to one cluster through close contacts and householders and I think many are already isolating. Interestingly, exposure sites have mostly been in the southern suburbs and not many are anywhere near us. Still, I think it’s unlikely we will be able to wipe this out locally like other strains. So it’s a watch-and-wait situation for the time being.
Meanwhile, my dad ended up at the ER again recently due to really high blood pressure and struggles with a bladder infection. That trip didn’t go well with his bp supposedly being normal even though it was something like 196/89 before they left home. After that, he was left waiting for hours and got agitated enough that my mom took him home, where his bp was still quite high but better than it had been earlier.
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Specialist appointment
I went to see the gastroenterologist on Friday to follow up on the gastroscopy and colonoscopy in November. One weird but good thing was I didn’t get charged for the visit. I am not quite sure how that works but I won’t complain. :) Anyway, I had a good visit with the doctor and after discussing the recent paint job in the rooms, we got on to more important business. What I got from the visit is that it’s quite likely my iron levels will be fine now I’ve had the infusion and we may never know the reason for the drop. But she ordered more bloodwork and a CT scan of my abdomen and it’s possible I may end up with a capsule endoscopy. I’ve been given the information but it’s not a sure thing at this point. There is a small risk of complications on the endoscopy, part of the reason for the CT scan. I go back to see her on the 3rd.
I did the CT scan today and it all went fine. I had to have dye injected. I was asked if I’d had this before and I couldn’t recall for certain. I definitely have had a couple of CT scans before though. The whole process only took about fifteen minutes and most of that was prep time. As often happens the wound from the injection took a bit longer to clot but was fine with an extra couple of minutes.
I have some other bloodwork that needs to be done for my gp so will do it all later this week. I am doing a follow-up with yet another gp next week. It seems every time I find a doctor I like, they end up leaving. The one I was seeing was only there for a few months and now she has dropped off their list of doctors. The other one I saw has no appointments so I am trying a different one who was away but came back recently.
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It’s here
Omicron has now been confirmed to be in Western Australia. I should clarify and say it’s now in the community because I suspect many of the positive cases coming from elsewhere have been omicron already. But those people have been in quarantine or isolation. But now it’s in the community I am curious to see how things play out. We are back to wearing masks here, which I don’t have a problem with. It’s more just getting used to doing so right now. Our borders are still set to open on February 5th so I guess this will just get us ready. One thing I liked that our premier did on that announcement is his acknowledgment of concerns from those who are immuno-compromised. But even so, our hospital system is in terrible shape so I really hope the local spread is kept controlled. But I just don’t see it happening based on what I’ve seen in other states. Even those with better control measures are struggling with high numbers.
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Disappointing
I caught up on all my reviews at Netgalley recently and put in a request for a murder mystery that sounded interesting. Unfortunately, it was really terrible and my most constructive comment was that it really could benefit from more revision before publishing. So many of the details would change from one scene to the next and it seemed that having someone just read through it should have picked this up. The conversations are equally bad with a person saying one thing in a scene and then a very different thing elsewhere. As I understand it, it’s rather expensive to get reviews through Netgalley and the cheapest method is through a co-op on the site. It doesn’t seem like any editing has been done on it so I wonder if they even have editors through this publisher.
I might have thought this was a debut novel but it seems the writer has already done two other books. The previous one was also on Netgalley and most of the reviews were similar to what mine is for this one. It doesn’t seem like the writer has taken on any of the criticism. Anyway, I won’t publish reviews anywhere aside from Netgalley as it doesn’t seem like there will be any benefit to the writer.
On a related note, my book blog is called One More Page. It’s supposed to be on the sidebar but it seems the sidebar is missing in some cases. I’m still looking into it.
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Changes already and other things
Yesterday I received an email from Japan Airlines that my stopover in Sydney is now five hours instead of three. This means I’ll be in Tokyo for fifteen hours. This doesn’t affect my travel time in any way so I accepted the changes. I recall when I made travel arrangements two years ago that there was a change in that plan too. Of course, that trip never happened in the end.
Originally I wasn’t bothered about spending the better part of the day in Tokyo. But I have learned I won’t be able to use the capsule hotel as I am not a Japanese resident, due to COVID issues. So I now don’t know how I will spend so much time. The one hotel is expensive and is not an option unless they lower the rates when I get there. In any case, the capsule hotel is also in a different terminal and I’m not sure how much hassle going to a different terminal might be. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem but there might be limitations.
In other news, even though we have low numbers of COVID cases here in WA, the supermarkets have started placing limits on some items due to shortages. In a lot of cases, it’s hard to source the items at the moment. I suspect in others it’s just some forward planning. I was surprised to find toilet paper shelves empty last night and today while shopping. This is not an issue for us since we have been having it delivered every few months since last year. But it must be quite a problem for others.
I had ordered a few new masks a week ago or so and they hadn’t yet arrived. I wasn’t worried as there have been delays with the postal deliveries. But I got a notice from the post office that another package had arrived today. This was for some melatonin for Lego Lover that I ordered a while back. It’s been sitting in limbo at some place here in Perth for a while. But today it was delivered to a parcel locker. While checking the postal service app I noticed the other package should have been picked up from a parcel locker and was being moved to the post office. I never got a notice to pick it up and most certainly would have done so in a timely manner. Hopefully, it will be available tomorrow and I can pick it up.
I have a follow-up appointment (from the colonoscopy/endoscopy) with the gastro doctor tomorrow. I’m not quite sure what to expect as this will be the first time I see her in an appointment setting. I haven’t had my iron levels checked since my infusion so I don’t know if the levels are dropping still. Like the previous infusion, I haven’t noticed any marked improvement in energy although I am pretty sure I am doing somewhat better.