It’s been a while since my last post. The world’s gotten on top of me in a few ways.

Work

MAK renewed my contract for another 3 months, which will take me to June. In theory, there should be one more renewal after that, to take me to September.

Now, it feels like the contract will end there because they’re recruiting permanent staff and have a strong drive to save money by getting rid of the contractors - but in any case, I’m gonna have to be clear that I can’t accept another 3 month renewal beyond that point because that would end the contract in December - a point where you’ll be guaranteed to be out of work for 3 months because no one will be hiring.

So, my current plan is to finish this extension, assume there will be one more, but from June onwards, search for a new role. The market is awful at the moment but hopefully I’ll find a bit of luck. I’ll need it because, with this arthritis, I need a fully remote gig until I get it fixed.

It’s a shame about the way MAK is winding down. I love working with these folks and there’s easily a year’s work they need completed but this is way things are going in the industry currently.

Health and Hospital

And speaking of health, I spent the previous weekend in hospital.

It’s - a long story.

Basically, where I’m in constant arthritic pain, I’m prescribed co-codimol. But that doesn’t completely get rid of the pain, you’re only allowed 8 tablets a day, your body builds resistance to it, and apparently it can become addictive - so not an ideal long-term solution.

What I was doing, was taking ibuprofen and naproxin alongside the co-codimol. In large quantities. What I didn’t know, is that both of those irritate the stomach lining and at some point, my stomach started to bleed. This made me feel very ill and nauseous. So, I stopped eating. And drinking. For almost a week.

So, here I am last Thursday, starving but not hungry, dehydrated but not thirsty, barely able to walk without getting out of breath and dizzy, struggling to stay awake, and what I didn’t know at that point was that I was ready to slip into a coma.

Cheri gets home from work at lunchtime that day, takes one look at me and demands I call NHS 111. I do that and they arrange for my GP to call me within the hour. The GP listens to my symptoms and tells me to call an ambulance. They can’t get an ambulance to me for 2 hours so we arrange for my son-in-law to take me to Basingstoke Hospital ER.

I get there, and they run bloods and immediately see that I have Ketoacidocis where my body is burning fat and my blood’s gone acidic. Peachy.

I’m then immediately given a cannula in each arm and they give me drips with glucose, insulin, potassium, something to suppress nausea, and Omeprazole. By 4:30am the next day, they think I’m finally stable enough to be moved to a ward where I could finally get some small amount of sleep.

Two days later (day 4 now) - and I’m about ready to self-discharge myself. I’ve had x-rays. I’ve had a CT scan. I’ve had a camera put into my stomach. I’m fed up of these horrible hospital beds and their plastic mattresses that make you sweat. My hands are black and blue from having had so much blood taken. And the SNORING of the other patents.

But luckily on Sunday, they let me out. On Monday I’m horrified to see my weight’s fallen to 76 kilos.

Lessons learned. No more abusing over-the-counter painkillers, and even if I feel sick, I still need to eat and drink. I’ve also booked an appointment with my GP to re-discuss getting this hip fixed.

And - my birthday

Yes, today was my 52nd birthday. It’s good to be alive.

Not much of a notable one but I feel like I’ve been 51 forever. My original plan had been to go to the local Mexican restaurant for my birthday meal, but as my stomach is a little too delicate for spicy food, that’s gonna have to wait until next week.

Got a nice shirt and some new sweats from Cheri, but with all the drama of the past week, I didn’t have a chance to get myself something. I did have a Steam Deck ready to buy somewhere, but never got around to it. I might revisit that.

That’s it for me and all I can think of. As always, you can add my RSS feed to your reader of choice and if you made it this far thanks for reading!

Chris