Still not sleeping much. Don't know why. The steroids are down to one tablet a day. I'm not anxious or depressed about my situation, not laying awake thinking dark or bitter thoughts. In that respect I seem to be dealing with it better than Olga. I'm just taking each day as it comes and finding things to keep my mind occupied. It's a bit like being on holiday only without the car to go anywhere or the energy to do more strenuous activities.
Yesterday, despite the lack of sleep, I noticed an improvement in my visual and motor functions. I managed to do some quite tricky work with the soldering iron.
Yesterday afternoon we took delivery of an exercise bicycle which this morning we put together. After that I rode a virtual 5km. Hopefully it will not be a five minute wonder like the one I had a few years ago which ended up in a charity shop when I got fed up with falling over it. At least we now have extra space for it - in the garage.
I do have a reason for getting this exercise bike as it will mean I won't have an excuse not to exercise if the weather turns cold and wet which, this being Cumbria in North West England, it is bound to do eventually.
The exercise bike is an interesting example of retail profit margins. We saw it in the Argos catalogue where it was being sold for £199.99, reduced from £299.99. But when Olga went to the Argos website the same model was now being sold for £89.99, previous price £99.99. However Argos would only promise delivery within 21 days and we wanted it now, so I did some searching and eventually got the same machine from an eBay seller of retail returns for £74.95 plus £4.95 shipping by next day courier. Which is about what it is actually worth, to look at it. But it will do the job just fine, I think.
Julian,
ReplyDeleteDo you feel that you need extra sleep, you don't mention it and you don't sound particularly fatigued. I would be very grateful if I could sleep about4 hours less a night, hi!
Here in Costa Rica I have found eBay a lifeline for stuff I would regularly buy in the U.S. Mostly I get stuff from China as the items are inexpensive and often shipping is free or LESS than to the U.S. Big stuff is a problem though, but one can work around that.
I predict, given your attitude and activity level, that you are going to beat the odds on this illness!
73
Dear Julian, I have finally managed to build your Wonder Loop, I have used a polyvaricon as I don't have an air variable but as I only have 1.5 watts on 40m I thuoght I would go for it, the poly seems to be ok ( no smoke as yet), I had my first portable SSB QSO with the Wonder Loop on 40m in Frankfurt at 15:55 with DK4MH/P Marcus who had activated a SOTA summit near lake Constance, I received a 44 report and heard him with 57 at a distance of 145 miles (234 Kms), not bad at all for 1.5 watts and a small magnetic loop.
ReplyDeleteThank you for putting this great little antenna on the web, our thoughts and prayers are with you, Olga and your family.
Vy 72/3 de Colin DD5CF/G1ZOS