Sunday 29th May, 2016                   1900

This has been one hell of a week.

On Saturday Joan came with me to the hospital. It was raining again and yet again I forgot to take my new umbrella, as I type it has still to be used.

The monitor was removed and we had to wait half an hour for the printout. Most of it is in Chinese but I did manage to decipher some parts, in particular where it showed my ticker doesn’t sit permanently on overspeed even when awake.

The cardiologist didn’t seem alarmed and even commented to Joan that everyone gets palpitations, something I have been repeating over and over lately. As she started writing down what new drug to buy I felt it prudent to list everything I already took in case there were contraindications. Apparently not and so for blood pressure alone I will now be taking aspirin, alpha AND beta blockers plus ACE inhibitors. The agency seems to think I won’t have a problem on the work front and I sincerely hope the girl is right.

Afterwards we went tp a chemist to buy the medicines, one of which was 22y for 3 days supply of a traditional Chinese medicine. That’s 220y a month I will not be spending! I bought 22y worth just to show willing but I will stick to tried and tested western drugs - they work! Then it was a quick lunch before I headed off to the supermarket and Joan to her part time teaching job.

Stupidly when I had shopped I forgot to retrieve the medicine from the free locker in the store and so today had to go back (I was going to anyway) and rescue it from customer services. Joan informed me last night that when they close they empty all the lockers ready for the following morning. No problems in getting my bag of drugs though. I have to say that after just one pill my pulse is now at a normal rate (it’s been high ever since I was taken off beta blockers a long time ago) and I was advised that in a month the palpitations should be much more infrequent although I recall I still used to get them when betas were all I took for my BP.

Hopefully though the insurers will take a kindly view and today the girl at the agency advised me there were more openings available, some of them further south so hopefully tomorrow she will email them to me. Given that Suzhou have dragged their feet I feel no particular guilt in at least looking elsewhere,  nothing has yet been signed.

Last night Dumpling had her first omelette, having eschewed the opportunity for roast pork and trimmings. She then said she wanted to quit as my cleaner in June. With the cats now gone the job of cleaning has now become a breeze so I suggested she keep cleaning but just came once a week and I would pay the same for the month. She agreed. Once I clear out all the rubbish on the balcony it will need a serious clean and I don’t intend to do it!

Andrei and Juliette’s cat has now escaped. In a way it may be better for them as it will save the cost of the vet looking after it during the summer holidays but they are still trying to locate it. I thought it was possibly in one of the downstairs flats that Lotte shelters in now and this morning I may have seen it on the road outside the old building where I used to live. At least it’s warm now.