A Slice of Tart.

Actually, a slice of M&S’s excellent Blackberry and Apple pie …..and with cream no less.

And so : I finished my first term of medical rescue coupled with weight loss, as my weight dropped below 100 Kg for the first time with I felt a well deserved treat ; a slice of Blackberry & Apple pie with thick double cream. I’m glad to say that Nurse Jackie enjoyed a slice too and then the rest went into the freezer until the next time I have cause to celebrate. I had it in my mind that I would treat myself again at 90 Kg achieved and then once again if and when I make it below 80 Kg although for that point iv’e promised myself that i’ll treat myself to a motorbike after a long absence off bikes. My eventual goal for weight is to be somewhere in the 70s and I suspect it will get increasingly difficult to get there although I don’t see 90 and 80 being too much of a stretch.

If my posts about this have been a little self congratulatory as in ‘hey look at me losing weight without using a GLP-1 Agonist’ then please remember that iv’e got a long way still to go to achieve cheesecake and motorbike stage.

The reason for setting a final target is that this week nurse Jackie took me into the city for my orthopaedic review and the outcome of that was simple ; that what I need is a surgical revision of my unicompartmental knee replacement to a total knee replacement. The timing looks likely to be the end of 2026 according to the consultant surgeon who saw me, talked me through the Xrays and had a good waggle of the joint. I had that kind of outcome in my mind and what it means is that I have to be in as good condition as I can to have surgery again ; what that means is that I have to be as low an anaesthetic risk as I can be and as light as I can be to give the new knee as much as a chance of functioning well as I can give it.

According to the BMI calculator i’m still overweight now and would still be so, although only just so, at a weight of 80 Kg. Even though a raw BMI calculation doesn’t tell us much it’s a good place to work from and where that suggests I should aim for is around 76 KG – which is pretty much what I have in mind. In a recent post I wrote about contingencies although what I was talking about was the stated preconditions that I created in my mind that were the essential preconditions to building another boat. As it worked out I hadn’t met any of them but also as it happens my sudden rush of enthusiasm to the brain quickly faded and iv’e moved on the developing new enthusiasms for much more important projects ; one of which is set to arrive any day.

Below ; intended as the basis of the central crafting table (minus existing top and potted plant) in the workshop

And so I have a new set of contingencies or preconditions for buying a motorbike again : first, that I have to get to less than 90 Kg and thus be fit for surgery. However, iv’e decided that the precondition for buying a Royal Enfield 650 is to get to less than 80 Kg and that iv’e saved up enough money to buy the one I want ; there is small change to consider as I would need to pay for insurance, a new lid and new leathers – at my age I won’t ride in soft clothing.

There is another contingency although it’s not exactly a precondition for buying a big snorting Royal Enfield 650. I had a very positive consultation and that sets up what I have to do over the next six months until surgery : rather than adopt a mentally lazy maintenance mode as I recently wrote I have to go ‘pedal to the metal’ on my weight loss and fitness. Another factor though, and a more serious one, is that the lovely Jackie has potentially got a more serious haematological condition and her consultant review is a few weeks away as I write. Jackie has managed her PMR like a boss such that she is at the final stage of coming off steroids completely but is now concerned about the new potential problems as haematolgical conditions run in her family history. We don’t know what it is yet so all I can add is that all bets are off until such time as we do.

Be well Y’awl