Tuesday, May 24, 2005

City again

Who'd be a cardiff City supporter? well me for a start. Probably why I'm losing hair at a rate of knots. They avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth, but the division's so tight they actually ended up 16th - looks quite good (unless you were there to see them play!)

On top of that £30m in debt (ouch). Sam Hamman has taken us for a big ride these last few years. Lots of promises but none of his money, but plenty of everyone elses.

So, we're likely to see big changes this summer. Already the Manager's gone - some would say far too late, but I thought it wasn't his fault.

Now they want us to get our season tickets early as the money will help them through the summer. I know season tickets can be pricey, but covering a 30m debt?

Actually they've got us by the short and curlies. Buy now and prices are frozen. Buy in 2 months and they'll be another £100. Bugger.
I've bought mine & my son's. Will we have any players to watch though..........

Still, at least I've the comfort of knowing I'm helping to bail Sam out of his BIG hole.........is that a comfort - isn't he supposed to be helping us.......???????????????

Magnotherapy

On the subject of creaky bones and dodgy treatments, I treated (sic) myself to a magnotherapy bracelet on the premise that I'll give anything a try. The theory is, that the magnetic field oscillates the red blood cells and stops them sticking together, making them more effective - yeah.....

Frankly I'm a cynic. Especially when the person selling it to me (at an extortionate price I might add) said as soon as I put it on "can you feel anything, any sensation?"

"No" I said, "apart from a lighter wallet" and 4 weeks later I still can't. The fact that she repeatedly said ".....and don't forget to drink plenty of water", and has recently rung me to see how I'm getting on and gave the water another push, leads me to wonder if it's the magnets or the water that are supposed to be the help.

In any case, it hasn't helped me yet. "Perservere" she says, "you might only see a diference once you take it off..." - is she on comission? I'm glad I didn't go for the "executive" bracelet!

Personally, I think the best teatment I've had so far is Nurofen fast acting caplets, but I didn't tell her that.

What's you view of "alternative medicine" and stuff like magnotherapy. Does cynicism make it less likely to work?

Saturday, May 21, 2005

New disease

Well, my gammy bones (at least in my hands) have finally come out of the closet. Apparently I've got Psoriatic Arthritis (PA). I wasn't even sure I had psoriasis, but there you go. Two fingers on my right hand are like little fat sausages and extremely painful at times, and as you may have read before, my feet are regulalry sore. Doc blood tested me to the hilt, put me on regular anti-inflammatories (I was taking about 8 ibuprofen a day anyway) and referred me to a rheumatologist. They said it's PA and said they'd see me again in 8 weeks. After 8 weeks they said the anti-inflammatories weren't working and I should try a new treatment. Sodium Methotrexate (SM). Hmmmm..... not impressed. SM is basically chemotherapy, and at 45 I don't fancy taking something that might help but runs the risk of making me sick, breathless, have rashes and lose hair (and those are only the headline side effects!!!!) for the rest of my life (coward). Saw my GP again and I've decided to stick with the anti-inflammatories for the moment. If it gets really bad, I'll consider the SM again. I'll let you know how I get on.

New house

The walls were closing in at our old gaff. Or rather the kids made the place look small with their increasing size & paraphenalia. We talked about moving or extending, and in the end we decided the best thing was to uproot and move on. So we did. Luckily, at a time of housing slowdown we found somewhere we liked, vacant and got a cash buyer our end pretty quickly. All over in just over 6 weeks. Now we've got twice as much room (and twice as much cleaning & decorating!).
DIY is not my forte, but so far managed to decorate 3 bedrooms, put together a dining room suite and a bed. Believe me, that's good for me. I should have taken out shares in Focus and B&Q before I started though!

Been away......

So much for blogging.six months since my last post. Still, no-one was reading it anyway.
A lot's happened since then though, and you'll be chuffed to hear that it is my intention to keep you all informed.
Where to start?
New house.
New disease.
Read on..........