IrvineHimself
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
It's just over a year since I first reached out to Streetwork, (beginning of February 2022). At that time, the near certainty I had Type 2 diabetes and a ballooning in my weight had forced me stop taking sugar in my coffee, but, because of the constant thirst, I was not only drinking vast quantities of cordial, but gorging on soft tropical fruits!
As a result, physically, I was in a bit of a mess. Not only was I having difficulty with walking any distance because of infected fissures in my feet, but, with my clothing stained with a white sugar residue, I was fighting a constant battle against boils and fungal infections.
With this in mind, this post constitutes an important update on my situation and I am going to link back to it from my introductory "About Me" post, (see my signature). Also, even though my OCD combined with the near limitless possibilities offered by a very generous grant to 'finish off' the new place
has kept me from posting, I have been thinking of you all.
Finally, after knocking about on these boards for the last year, I know that there are people lurking about who are really struggling with a variety of problems many of which may not be solely related to health. I hope this post will encourage them to reach out to people who are qualified to help.
As you will recall, I finally got to see a Doctor in early April 2022, joining Diabetes UK a few weeks later. There then followed a definite period of adjustment, I think I kinda went over the top when I started 'age-proofing' my old squat. On the other hand, moving into my assisted living facility was definitely a lot easier because of the work I did at that time.
In some ways, I still can't get over how quickly I got placed here. I know single mothers; invalids and pensioners who's situation I would describe as being worse than mine who, while on Edinburgh's waiting list, have been living in temporary accommodation for four, five or even six or more years. -- It's not that Edinburgh's waiting list are particularly bad, it's just indicative of the country as whole. -- Anyway, the point is that literally my very first bid lead to me being offered a little Granny flat in Stockbridge. A very posh part of Edinburgh where people who like to think of themselves as the intellectual soul of Capitol retire. (For those who like precision, because of the bureaucratic lag, I was on the waiting list about three or four weeks before getting an official offer.)
Socially, the assisted living facility is about what you expect. Most of my neighbours are in a substantially worse state of health than me, and, like me, just want to be left alone to get on with their lives as best they can. There are obviously a few malcontents who are best avoided of course, but, on the whole, I seem to be getting on just fine with my new neighbours and have had to make little to no change or upset to my typical daily schedule.
While the geographical distance between here and my old squat is less than a mile, culturally, the difference is vast. To explain: my old squat was down Leith Walk, where I am a well known character. The polyglot culture there has a vibrancy that is difficult to describe. It's a feeling of being a part of something that is organic, growing and alive. Here in Stockbridge, it's like being stuck in Groundhog Day. Walk through the centre, and it's just my peers from the seventies and eighties having the exact same conversations about art, philosophy and science as they did forty or fifty years ago.
The wee studio is okay though. The big problem is the heating, it's an old central boiler with inefficiently positioned radiators. Due to not having a central temperature controller, it is also very difficult to find the sweet spot on the radiators. This means I am either being boiled alive or feeling a bit on the chilly side. On the other hand, because the system is old, water pressure and temperature for my shower are unbelievable.
Health wise, the move has probably been perfect timing. Currently, I am still fit enough, that [funded by the generous grant] I could indulge my OCD. On the downside however, I am keeping a list of stuff to bring up at my next doctors appointment. Not the least of which are:
On the plus side, if I do have a medical emergency, my new pad not only has an on-site care coordinator, but is fully kitted out with movement sensors; voice alarm, medical alert bracelet, and an abundance of pull cord alarms. Meaning, help is only a shout away.
As I have mentioned, Streetwork put me forward for a grant to 'finish-off' the new place. I had been tipped off that the grant awarding authority tended to be more sympathetic to people with a vision. So, when the subject came up, I gave them vision with both barrels: Mentioning my academic background, history with CGI and the concurrent long term study of Network/Computer security, I explained that I had long planned out a home network centred on a bank of workstations set up for number crunching.
In my vision, my 'book-case' becomes an electro-mechanical frame on which to mount, not only books and plants, but also wall-mounts for the various screens in the library, bedroom and laboratory/office areas. In plan view, it forms a 'U' shaped double divider. So, with the 'Big TV' in the centre and the two smaller monitors on each leg, with suitable remote controlled HDMI and USB switches, virtually the entire living area is covered by a wall mounted monitor to which the output of any device can be piped.
Anyway, the upshot was that after I got the award, my 'book-case' fast became a community legend.
After much consideration, the details of my final budget were:
Additionally, Streetwork were so impressed, they gave me a brand new tablet for which I had to buy a rechargeable blue-tooth keyboard and mouse.
For those of a technical bent, while I will almost certainly migrate back to either Arch or Gentoo, for a number of reason I felt it best to get the bugs out of my new network using Fedora. This meant migrating the various system management tools I have written. There was not really a lot to the migration itself. Mainly, because most of my system management tools are decades old, I felt it prudent to run them through a linter, make sure I had installed any dependencies and otherwise clean up the code. While doing this, I reviewed the literature on SSH, and started to plan out my new network and the tools I will need to maintain it.
To sum up, I have finally got the new place looking and functioning the way I imagined it. I am writing a few shells to operate and maintain my new system with mouse clicks, but have already started to consider my next projects. As hinted at above, I have a 'project' budget of about £130 a month. Currently the projects I am considering are:
As a result, physically, I was in a bit of a mess. Not only was I having difficulty with walking any distance because of infected fissures in my feet, but, with my clothing stained with a white sugar residue, I was fighting a constant battle against boils and fungal infections.
With this in mind, this post constitutes an important update on my situation and I am going to link back to it from my introductory "About Me" post, (see my signature). Also, even though my OCD combined with the near limitless possibilities offered by a very generous grant to 'finish off' the new place
has kept me from posting, I have been thinking of you all.Finally, after knocking about on these boards for the last year, I know that there are people lurking about who are really struggling with a variety of problems many of which may not be solely related to health. I hope this post will encourage them to reach out to people who are qualified to help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As you will recall, I finally got to see a Doctor in early April 2022, joining Diabetes UK a few weeks later. There then followed a definite period of adjustment, I think I kinda went over the top when I started 'age-proofing' my old squat. On the other hand, moving into my assisted living facility was definitely a lot easier because of the work I did at that time.
In some ways, I still can't get over how quickly I got placed here. I know single mothers; invalids and pensioners who's situation I would describe as being worse than mine who, while on Edinburgh's waiting list, have been living in temporary accommodation for four, five or even six or more years. -- It's not that Edinburgh's waiting list are particularly bad, it's just indicative of the country as whole. -- Anyway, the point is that literally my very first bid lead to me being offered a little Granny flat in Stockbridge. A very posh part of Edinburgh where people who like to think of themselves as the intellectual soul of Capitol retire. (For those who like precision, because of the bureaucratic lag, I was on the waiting list about three or four weeks before getting an official offer.)
Socially, the assisted living facility is about what you expect. Most of my neighbours are in a substantially worse state of health than me, and, like me, just want to be left alone to get on with their lives as best they can. There are obviously a few malcontents who are best avoided of course, but, on the whole, I seem to be getting on just fine with my new neighbours and have had to make little to no change or upset to my typical daily schedule.
While the geographical distance between here and my old squat is less than a mile, culturally, the difference is vast. To explain: my old squat was down Leith Walk, where I am a well known character. The polyglot culture there has a vibrancy that is difficult to describe. It's a feeling of being a part of something that is organic, growing and alive. Here in Stockbridge, it's like being stuck in Groundhog Day. Walk through the centre, and it's just my peers from the seventies and eighties having the exact same conversations about art, philosophy and science as they did forty or fifty years ago.
The wee studio is okay though. The big problem is the heating, it's an old central boiler with inefficiently positioned radiators. Due to not having a central temperature controller, it is also very difficult to find the sweet spot on the radiators. This means I am either being boiled alive or feeling a bit on the chilly side. On the other hand, because the system is old, water pressure and temperature for my shower are unbelievable.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Health wise, the move has probably been perfect timing. Currently, I am still fit enough, that [funded by the generous grant] I could indulge my OCD. On the downside however, I am keeping a list of stuff to bring up at my next doctors appointment. Not the least of which are:
- The loss of sensation in my feet seems to be getting worse. This could be psychosomatic, but I don't think so.
- My right knee constantly feels like it is going to lock-up and give out from under me. This is worrying, because I am fairly sure that if it did give way, it would be a really bad break.
- My cataracts are coming on in leeps and bounds with a corresponding, frighteningly fast, deterioration in my eyesight .
- The Glaucoma is probably my biggest current concern however: When shopping, I am really struggling to locate common items. At first I put it down to slight differences in the layout between my old and new Tesco, but, on several occasions I have had to ask for assistance locating items which are directly in front of me. A few days ago, after embarrassing myself yet again, it occurred to me that my inability to see items directly in front of me is probably the results of advancing glaucoma.
On the plus side, if I do have a medical emergency, my new pad not only has an on-site care coordinator, but is fully kitted out with movement sensors; voice alarm, medical alert bracelet, and an abundance of pull cord alarms. Meaning, help is only a shout away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As I have mentioned, Streetwork put me forward for a grant to 'finish-off' the new place. I had been tipped off that the grant awarding authority tended to be more sympathetic to people with a vision. So, when the subject came up, I gave them vision with both barrels: Mentioning my academic background, history with CGI and the concurrent long term study of Network/Computer security, I explained that I had long planned out a home network centred on a bank of workstations set up for number crunching.
In my vision, my 'book-case' becomes an electro-mechanical frame on which to mount, not only books and plants, but also wall-mounts for the various screens in the library, bedroom and laboratory/office areas. In plan view, it forms a 'U' shaped double divider. So, with the 'Big TV' in the centre and the two smaller monitors on each leg, with suitable remote controlled HDMI and USB switches, virtually the entire living area is covered by a wall mounted monitor to which the output of any device can be piped.
Anyway, the upshot was that after I got the award, my 'book-case' fast became a community legend.
After much consideration, the details of my final budget were:
- £250 for plants
- £150 for 32" TV
- £150 for three folding TV wall-mounts
- £250 for a refurbished workstation with an 8 core, 3.5 Ghz processor, with 16 GB expandable memory and a 1 TB SSD
- £200 for network switches and other peripherals
Additionally, Streetwork were so impressed, they gave me a brand new tablet for which I had to buy a rechargeable blue-tooth keyboard and mouse.
For those of a technical bent, while I will almost certainly migrate back to either Arch or Gentoo, for a number of reason I felt it best to get the bugs out of my new network using Fedora. This meant migrating the various system management tools I have written. There was not really a lot to the migration itself. Mainly, because most of my system management tools are decades old, I felt it prudent to run them through a linter, make sure I had installed any dependencies and otherwise clean up the code. While doing this, I reviewed the literature on SSH, and started to plan out my new network and the tools I will need to maintain it.
To sum up, I have finally got the new place looking and functioning the way I imagined it. I am writing a few shells to operate and maintain my new system with mouse clicks, but have already started to consider my next projects. As hinted at above, I have a 'project' budget of about £130 a month. Currently the projects I am considering are:
- Along with several more plants, particularly of the scented variety, I want to build a frame around the window for hanging flower baskets. The idea is to attach the upright posts to my desk and the section of 'book-case' on the far side of the window. I can then mount cross-beams around the window and laboratory/office area on which to hang the plants. With the scented plants, I think this will cost around £300.
- As a follow on project, I am also actively researching smart venetian blinds to maximise day light while still maintaining my privacy, (remember, I am a bit of a naturalist). There are conversion kits, but I haven't found one that would work with my existing blinds so I may have to go for completely new kit. If I could find a conversion kit, this would cost around £160, but if not, the cost could be as high as £400 or more.
- A hi-tech walking stick designed for modern urban living. (Think: buses, stairs, escalators, big high kerbs..... etc). Allowing for a few experiments to decide on the best fabrication technique, I reckon it will cost up-to £400 for the carbon fibre, resins, polishing tools and varnishes.
- A memoir or personalised history of the late twentieth century. While this wouldn't cost any money, even though it would be partially auto-biographical, everything would still need to be thoroughly researched, fact checked and sourced. And that my friends, is really hard work!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To anyone struggling: As you can see, since reaching out to Streetwork my life has become a lot easier and definitely much more comfortable. Prior to February 2022, I was well known to the outreach teams, but they always respected my desire for independence. When, my chosen lifestyle became unsustainable, I was a bit anxious about radical change, but they were very patient and allowed me to work things through at my own pace. So, although this last year has been an emotional roller coaster, I have to admit that asking Streetwork for help was one of the smartest things I have ever done. While everyone's problems are different, they are not unique and, whatever your situation, there are organisations with the expertise to help. You just need to ask!
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