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. |