A year on, and what a year it has been...

A few days after my last post here, back on 20th May 2018, I was feeling a bit strange; listless and a bit achy. I was just not feeling my usual cheery, happy-go-lucky, self (my description of my general demeanour - some may disagree). I decided to visit the local doctor. This was not as simple as I first thought.

Back in 1999, Sue and I were looking after her father's home, after his death, until it was sold. As we were spending most of our time there, we had registered with the local doctor. Since then, I had not had any reason to visit a doctor, so I was doctor-less. I had to re-register with my original surgery. This I did and was instantly booked in with the nurse for a blood pressure test and sent off to get a blood test. This I did, and the next day, I received a telephone call asking me to have some more blood tests and to make an appointment to see a doctor. Not reading anything into this I just did it, thinking it was all just the NHS catching up with my medical notes.

A couple of days later, I saw a doctor, who asked me "Did you know you are diabetic?" "What!" "You have type two diabetes" I was utterly gob-smacked. While I was computing what he had just said, I was aware of him telling me to "stay off the milk-shakes". He made several other unhelpful remarks and told me I needed to cut down on my sugar intake and eat properly. This coming from a man who was obviously overweight himself. He told me to make an appointment with the nurse for more tests a few days later.

I was so shocked that I did not think about his assumptions that I was a fast-food eating couch potato, until afterwards when I got home and was talking about it with Sue (My other half). I went to see the nurse, who was most helpful and explained I should try and lose some weight, eat fewer sugary foods and fewer 'bad' carbohydrates. By now, I had read up about my diagnoses and was starting to understand the implications. She also booked me on to a one-day course that explained exactly what type two diabetes is and how to deal with it. She also booked me an appointment with the practice's diabetes specialist, who just happens to be the principle doctor at the practice. He is all together a much better doctor than the first doctor I saw, who must have been a temporary addition, as I have not seen him since.

All this was happening just as we were thinking of putting the house on the market. It was also the start of the hottest summer we have had, here in the UK since 1976. Once I understood what was happening to me, I took it all on-board and set about doing as I was advised. The biggest problem was the medication. The side effects were far worse than the condition, and it took me a full six months to get used to the medication.

This meant the house did not get on the market until November. We had a buyer by December and accepted an offer in January. Since then we have been mucking about with solicitors, surveyors and all manner of questions. Finally, we have exchanged contracts, and completion is now just a matter of a few weeks away, very few!

Over the past year, I have lost several stone in weight, six inches off my waistline and taken up regular exercise. My last trip to the doctor, a couple of weeks ago, confirmed that I am now in the 'normal' range as far as all my test results are concerned and I am no longer classed as being diabetic. The doctor was amazed that I had reversed my situation is just a year. I am now off the blood pressure medication, and the stuff for diabetes has been halved for the next six months, to get me off of it more slowly, rather than a sudden stop. To say I am delighted is an understatement. I feel so much better and have much more energy. That is apart from the stress of having to replace my entire selection of clothes. The only things that still fit me are my socks! Even my fishing hat falls down over my eyes. Who would have thought it possible to lose weight from around one's head!

What next for the Workshop?

When we put the house on the market, I had decided to leave the workshop behind as a home office for the new owner of the house, and build a new one from scratch at our new house. To my surprise, he has decided he does not want it and was going to have it demolished. I jumped in and offered to take it away for nothing. He was delighted, and I have all the materials I will need to rebuild it at the new house. It will not rise again in its current form, in fact, I am not sure how it will end up. At the moment. We also have a small shed that we use as a woodturning shed, that will stay behind. We will have to decide precisely what we really need. The current workshop is big, and we don't really need a space that size in one building. Maybe we will have two or three smaller workshops to cover the various thing we want to do in future. The jury is still out on that one, and no plans will be made until we are ensconced in our new abode.

Now the clock is ticking, it will be a race to get the workshop down before completion, but I do like a challenge! I will shoot some pictures of the workshop being dismantled as I go and post the story here. I had planned to cut the cladding to manageable lengths as it will not need to be as long as it is now. That way, it will fit inside the van and negate the need for a roof rack. However, today we have just booked a 7.5 tonner, and that will be more than long enough to take the full length so I will not make more work for myself unnecessarily. De-nailing the tongue and groove cladding does damage the surface, and it will only be reused on the back and out of the way places of any new buildings. We have already decided to use new material on the sides that are in view. Just what we are going to use remains, again is something that is yet to be decided upon, but whatever we do it will not be dark 'shed' brown this time.

Ralph.