The month started with me in hospital with a ‘life threatening’ case of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) – I’m told if I had waited another hour or so before calling 999 then my March monthnote would have been my last ever blogpost. This definitely shook me up (and continues to weigh on my mind.)

I ended up in hospital for nine days (to add to the previous four days with the acute pancreatitis from the week before), split between a private room and then a ward with five other guys – one of whom passed away in the bed opposite me on Easter Sunday. It didn’t happen fast and it wasn’t quiet. I was even a witness to his family coming to say their goodbyes. That was all pretty traumatic. Since I got home I’ve basically been confined to my armchair barring a couple of small excursions that wiped me out but were worth it. The sun is shining today (Sunday 19th) though and I slept well so I am going to try and go for a walk.

It has been hard and honestly I think the mental and emotional fallout have been equal to the physical issues. I’m still not really feeling right (albeit a great deal improved), my blood glucose numbers remain 😱 and the oceans of insulin I’m taking aren’t really making an impact yet so I don’t really know when the tide will turn properly. I also keep tearing up at the slightest things and cannot watch any TV shows with medical procedures etc without freaking out (so season two of The Pitt has been abandoned!).

I have achieved a few small things.

• I updated my will with Farewill – including my funeral wishes and paying for my funeral plan as well. I got a little obsessed with this when I was on the ward.
• I cancelled my trip to Japan – but managed to get a refund which is good as it was a lot of money!
• Booked a trip to Paris on the Eurostar so I still have something to look forward to. There are a couple of street art exhibitions there I want to see so that should be great.
• I’m also thinking about a more ambitious InterRail trip in the Autumn/Winter. I feel like trains are my future – certainly long haul flights feel terrifying at the moment. The thought of having another health issue up in the air is a firm nope! 
• Sent a bunch of my Hiut jeans back to them as part of their  ‘Deja Blue buy back’ process. I have lost a serious amount of weight in the last month or so and my jeans collection was already pretty baggy before that!
• Managed to find the energy to get to town and have my annual ink (at the third attempt).

If you are wondering, it is a ‘Beastie Boys’ lyric – Mike D on ‘Shadrach’ from ‘Paul’s Boutique’.

I am going back to work at some point – probably at the beginning of May – but I don’t know exactly what that will look like yet. Different for sure. I had a great chat with my boss (who had had a chat with his) and there is a plan so fingers crossed.

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I’ve been trying to distract myself – my reading  mojo is coming back slowly and I have read a couple of books and quite a few comics. TV is easier and I’ve been watching a lot of HBO Max. I’m still finding it hard to concentrate for entire movies.

Read/ing – 

Books

The Last Kings of Hollywood – Paul Fischer  ⭐⭐⭐
The Faith of Beasts – James S.A. Corey ⭐⭐⭐
Everybody’s Fly – Fab 5 Freddy (ongoing)

Comics

Lost Fantasy ⭐⭐⭐
We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Moon is Following Us ⭐⭐
You’ll Do Bad Things  ⭐⭐
Powers ‘25 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Watched/ing –

TV
[HBO Max] Bookie (S1 + S2) ⭐⭐⭐
[Disney+] Malcolm in the Middle (reboot) ⭐⭐⭐
[Disney+] Scrubs (reboot) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
[HBO Max] The Girls on the Bus ⭐⭐
[HBO Max] The Pitt (S1) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Amazon] Invincible (S4) ⭐⭐⭐
[Disney+] Daredevil – Born Again (S2) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Paramount+] Marshalls (S1) ⭐⭐
[Amazon] The Boys (S5) ⭐⭐⭐
[Netflix] Peaky Blinders – the Immortal Man ⭐⭐