Another day gone by. Determined to do more, but keep putting things off. Gets frustrating as I know my time here is limited. There will be lots of regrets eventually.

Trying to push things forward, have great hope for the Exeter Respiratory Innovation centre http://eri.org.uk. #eri. It will however require a lot of work. We need a pathway for new projects, and a continuing conversation with all respiratory departments in the regional hospitals.

The web-site is available, just needs maintaining with new information as it comes in.

There needs to be a small group to verify and validate projects before they get added to the web-site.

A lot has happened

 Can‘t believe how long it‘s been, but as only a couple of people see this blog, I guess I‘ve not been missed.

It seems that the one of the tools that academics use to progress in their careers is the amount of grant funding they have received for research projects. When they apply to a post at a university they use their past success in applying to for funding to bolster their chances.

Sadly this results in the researcher often losing interest in the project once the funding has been received - especially those projects which require a lot of actual work to get going. Although all funding grants will require progress reports and reports on completion, it is relatively easy to ‚fudge‘ such reports to give an illusion of progress, or to find excuses for a lack of progress.

This can have a detrimental effect on other people, especially collaborators, who often put a lot of effort into the project, and have high hopes that their work will have long term benefits only to find that the lead investigator has moved on to other things.

There needs to be a way to encourage real progress. To encourage but also monitor benefits. 

Testing emergency services - they work well

Haven‘t been feeling well for a week or so, total loss of appetite, pains all over, and sharp pains in my head.

On the Thursday started feeling better and was able to eat again.

I was doing the LFT Covid tests and they were all negative.

Saturday morning I was sat in the kitchen having some breakfast when I suddenly felt a bit giddy. Next thing I knew I was lying on the floor and someone was talking to me on my watch.

It took a little while to realise what had happened. The ‚Fall Alert‘ on my watch had automatically dialled 999, and also sent text messages to my emergency contacts. The 999 responder was trying to find out what had happened - had already called an ambulance, but said that if I had a way to get myself to the hospital I shouldn‘t wait.

My son and daughter arrived within a few minutes - they both live fairly close, and my daughter drove me to A&E. She was mainly concerned about a lump on my head where I had hit the floor, otherwise I seemed to be OK. At A&E I was triaged within a few minutes and they started on blood tests, ECG‘s and a lot of other tests quite quickly. Even had a CTScan of the head.

All in all I was in hospital for about 5 hours. Nothing found that would explain anything. I surmise that my blood sugar was very low which caused the collapse. 

My consultant thinks that was also probably the case.

My appetite isn‘t good but is getting better with the help of some high protein drinks and soups.