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My Canadian Experience
Report for February to August 2024


Got an assessment of what I might do to make my home more energy efficient and here are the results...

Homeowner Information Sheet
EnerGuide
Renovation Upgrade Report

Got the work done on heat pump and attic insulation and see invoice for costs to do this work. I am due to hear what grants I will receive in May. Through Handy Bros the bill can be paid over 10 years at 0% interest.

Also I got a reduction in my energy bill of $68.00 a month....


Every little helps.

I am on new medication now with an injectable medication called OZEMPIC.  I had a meeting with my diabetic nurse, Heather, who explained that I no longer needed to take the short acting insulin and was able to drop my long acting insulin to 40mg a day.  In the first 4 weeks I take this new product once weekly at 0.25mg and in the fifth week I move this to 0.50mg a week which will likely stay at that rate for the rest of my life. I was also told that I may need to reduce my long acting insulin by 4 units or more depending on how things work out. This new medication also helps with weight loss and indeed I have reduced my weight by 6 pounds in the last 4 weeks.  It also has some benefits with blood pressure and kidneys.

I now drink 1ltr of water per day and am now taking 5mg blood pressure tablet once a day instead of the 20mg I used to take.  I have had to take my blood pressure every few days and note since adding back the blood pressure pill to 5mg that my blood pressure is now fine as you can see below...

Here is my blood pressure record...

Date        Blood Pres  Time  
               / Pulse

27/11/23 173/90/80 15:30
30/11/23 168/86/69 15:15
11/12/23 166/84/68 11:37
19/12/23 133/65/72 13;20
27/12/23 163/73/09 20:11
02/01/24 160/69/83 12:20
11/01/24 172/72/84 19:50
17/01/24 148/59/67 12:24
23/01/24 131/66/65 11:05
26/01/24 147/77/76 15:05
29/01/24 154/80/69 14:54
06/02/24 151/84/68 14:35
07/02/24 150/66/72 12:48 Added 5mg Ramipril
13/02/24 131/63/67 10:08
16/02/24 140/68/66 15:55
22/02/24 130/69/70 14:34
23/02/24 129/68/69 13:57
24/02/24 120/59/68 11:14
25/02/24 129 64/65 13:34
26/02/24 134/67/69 14:12
02/03/24 130/73/66 12:19
05/03/24 122/71/61 08:52
14/03/24 104/62/89 14:23
18/03/24 128/68/68 11:20
19/03/24 129/68/78 18:57
23/03/24 131/63/70 12:56
25/03/24 125/63/66 14:50
31/03/24 124/63/68 13:31
02/04/24 111/67/72 10:21
07/04/24 116/65/67 12:10
13/04/24 132/69/74 11:08
15/04/24 111/63/78 14:29
19/04/24 134/66/71 13:06
02/05/24 119/62/69 09:14

I now go to the Anjema Eye Institute every 7 weeks to get an injection in my good eye to preserve my sight.  I've been doing this for the past year or so and so far no issues.  I was going every six weeks and they tried eight weeks but 7 weeks seems to be the sweet spot. 

In April I got my second ever parking ticket in Chatham for $15. Just popped into the bank to get some cash to pay for lawn mowing as it's that time of year. 

On the International front the Ukraine/Russia and Hamas/Israel wars are continuing with Iran now launching rockets and drones at Israel on 14th April.

Donald Trump is ahead in the polls in the USA and Labour is leading in the polls in the UK.  The SNP are losing ground in Scotland and looks possible that Labour might take overall control at the next election. The SNP First Minster announced his resignation. The Conservatives in Canada look to be a certainty to win the next election. Since writing this Labour have won a major victory in the UK with a 100 seat majority.  The SNP are down to just 9 seats in Scotland and at time of writing President Biden has said he won't run for re-election and backs his vice-president to take his place. Also an attempt was made to assassinate President Trump with the bullet hitting his ear.

Brexit seems to be working out OK in the UK although there is continuing false reporting on that.

Likewise in Canada it looks like the Conservative party might well win an overall majority in the next election. They are campaigning on axing the carbon energy tax, building more homes, being harder on criminals and promoting our energy industry by building more nuclear plants, hydro and also the making of LPG for export.

Weather here in Chatham has been mild with hardly any snow over the winter/spring season and really quite mild weather on the whole.

I got a quarter lamb from Ewing Family Farm in Tupperville Ontario which was delivered by Rod, the farmer himself.

You can email them at rod@ewingfamilyfarm.ca and visit their web site at: https://ewingfamilyfarm.ca/

My local handyman, Doug, did the first lawn mow of the year and in the process he discovered my back door was of its hinges and my internal door was also unlocked meaning anyone could have just walked in. Very disturbing to say the least.  Doug has now fixed the door and I've insured that the inside door is locked. I can only assume that Handybros were the culprits for not locking the inside door as they were the last people to use it.

I might add that my neighbours were not best pleased to see Doug mow my lawn as it reminded them it was that time of year again which meant they too had to mow their lawns <grin>  Last year Doug planted lots of new flowers and this year I've been enjoying the Tulips with their range of colours.  Lots of other flowers showing as well. 

In July I got my service done on my furnace and thought I'd copy you into the reports they sent me....

Water Heater  and Furnace

On July 15th I had my regular seven week appointment with Dr. Anjema, my eye doctor, and got my regular injection in my good eye. 

As an update on my new diabetic regime I have found that I almost never have a low since moving to the new regime.  I have reduced my long acting insulin to 34 units, down from the 40 I used to take.  I have found however that I am getting more highs than I used to and as high as 17.  I find however that by the time i go to bed this has usually dropped to around 7-8 and overnight I am down to around 5 or 6. I take my long acting insulin after my breakfast and that's when it goes up to as high as 17 before falling back.

Since the summer has arrived I found that the air conditioning in my car is not working.  I got an appointment at the Hyundai garage and they fixed it... however a month later and it's no longer working so it needs to go back in.  While in the first time they said I needed a new brake caliper so got that replaced and of course as a result of that I also needed to replace one of my tyres.  So of to Canadian Tire and found that they had stopped stocking that tyre and so I ended up replacing all four for safeties sake so this time I went with Michelin. So all that cost me around $2000.  

I would also like to note that I have been purchasing a sweet from the local British Store in Chatham...

Simpkins (Established 1921) Finest All Natural and the Original Travel Sweets, Rhubarb & Custard Flavoured Drops. It's a 17.5g tin at CAN$4.39. 

I used to purchase Soor Plooms but as they don't stock them I was recommended this one and I actually like them better. I find that if I am nearing a low in my blood sugar one of these usually fixes the issue.

There is a lot of discussion on homelessness in Canada and also locally in Chatham.  The issue is mostly to do with drugs as when drug users are homeless they usually trash any place where they live.  So when you provide them with temporary accommodation they will usually trash the place and the surrounding area as well.  Someone homeless and not on drugs can be helped but not the drug takers.  I've seen a suggesting that they open up the local jail to house them as that way they are safe and can't trash the place. I think this is a good idea as this way they can get treatment for their addiction and be in a safe environment. 

Overall I think the education system is to blame and also the parents who also need better education.

As a final note to this issue I'd just like to mention that my new doctor seems to be incompetent.  That's Dr. Mhadi.  I have to tell Dr. Anjema what my A1C is and as Dr. Mhadi hadn't asked for blood work to be done I had to phone here to ask for this to be done.  She then did that but that was all she requested.  I had thought she'd have also asked for my cholesterol and kidney's to be checked but she didn't.   I mean given all the changes to my medicines due to what they found out about my kidney function you'd have thought they would want to check on that?

Anyway... having got the blood work two weeks ago I had still not got the result so I phoned and asked for the result and also to ask why she hadn't checked my other two issues.  Also... when I got my two weekly prescription I was delivered a new short acting insulin.  As I knew nothing about this I checked with my pharmasist and he said it was a new prescription from Dr. Mhadi and he suggested I get in touch with her to check how I should use it.

I mean given that I was told not to use short acting insulin which this new one is it seemed weird.  Any way I phoned to check and later the nurse got back to me saying not to take it.  And she still hadn't been given details of my A1C result or an explanation for why the other tests had not been done.  So I'm beginning to feel that Dr. Mhadi is incompetent. She is a younger person in her 30's I would guess so not sure if she just needs more mentoring. 

I did find out my A1C is 6.5 but no word yet on what other tests I need to take.  I did phone my diabetic nurse and she did explain about the high during the day and also said that I needed to get my kidney's checked.

My regular house cleaner has given up and is now going to work for Walmart full time so need to get a new cleaner.  I phoned CHAPS and they have found someone for me but it will be a three weekly visit instead of the 2 weeks Liz did.  Here first visit to me will be on Sept 23rd.


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