My Stroke – I Have Had Better Wednesdays – Part 2
My Stroke, no It wasn’t a Bad Dream…. So, the story of my stroke, where was I? Oh yes, I had arrived at work after having a couple of episodes of double vision and I did not feel terribly well. I obviously did not look too good as Victoria, a colleague, said that I looked pretty dreadful. As I was having a stroke, I suppose that was fair enough, although it is not a comment that boosts one’s ego. Geoff the first aider came to check me out and immediately asked for an ambulance to be called. The paramedics arrived and I was still hanging on to the hope that they would say “go home and rest, it’s fine”. I was hoping that but I kn ew that it was a stroke. Oddly I could still hold my arms up, there was no weakness in my limbs, but the other symptoms were there. I could feel my face slipping on one side (at least I think that I could, it is hard to remember now). I also knew that my speech was becoming more and more indistinct. On the other hand my brain still felt sharp. If I had thought about it I would have expected someone having a stroke to feel their brain slipping away. The problem was making other people understand. After a few minutes the para medics loaded me onto a wheel chair (I wanted to walk to the ambulance, but they were adamant). The only time I felt fear that day was when I was taken down the stairs on the wheelchair. I was strapped in to the chair and if I had been dropped I could have done nothing to protect myself as the chair and I bounced down 2 flights of stairs. Of course, the para medics did not drop me. It did not seem odd to be worried about the wheelchair being dropped but not about having a stroke, just goes to show what tricks the brain plays on you at times of stress. The Ride to the Hospital and My Stroke Buddy. If you could plan to have a stroke my main suggestion would be to have a “stroke buddy”, someone who goes to the hospital with you and helps you make sense of what is a confusing time. I had Carol. Carol is a colleague who suggested that I should have someone go with me to the hospital and volunteered to go with me. She stayed with me in the ambulance chatting and not letting me dwell on what was happening. She also acted as a buffer between the para medics and me, helping me understand what they were saying and helping them to understand me. I am not sure that I thanked Carol on the day but she was of immense help to me. From sharing a secret look and smile when we both saw the nurse with the unusual hair colour, to laughing at my pretty weak jokes, to explaining what was being said when I was distracted she helped me stay calm. I remember thinking that I was calm and being surprised. Looking back I do think that the quiet competence of the para medics and Carol’s presence helped a lot. The paramedics were great. When I asked about having the flashing lights on because it was the only opportunity I was likely to have they said “yes” and the lights were on, for no reason other than I wanted them on. Top Guys. The ride to the hospital was a time for me to take stock. I realised that my left eye would not close and that the left side of my face was dropping more. Although I knew that I had had, or was having, a stroke I did sort of think that I would be going home that day. I was still holding out for a couple of days off work and back in the next Monday. Carol said that she did not think that it would be that simple. The A & E I had never been in A & E before. My experience of A & E was gained from television and Ealing comedies. From the cheeky, heart of gold Barbara Windsor nurse, to the dedicated doctor who has “issues” of Holby General. Judging from my limited experience the truth is that the staff in A & E are professional, a bit cheeky, but they hide any personal issues very well. There were no meaningful looks between the nurses and doctors that I could see, no sly touching or innuendos. (But then was I in any state to notice? Probably not). Carol kept me going. For some reason I felt the need to appear cheerful in front of her, no idea if I managed. I did not want to let the side down. She was being so supportive I owed it to her not to descend into self-pity. After all people get over strokes every day, right? So, with the nurses being calm and professional into my life walked Lauren. Lauren was with the Occupational Health team. She was there to tell me what was going on and ( as I found out later) to observe me, gleaning what she could of my disability before I moved to the ward so that the OT team and the Speech and Language Team had an idea of my issues. She often attends a stroke patient that comes into A & E. If not her one of her team does. It was not until later that I appreciated the importance of her being there. It was Lauren that explained to me that there are 2 basic types of stroke. One that is caused by a bleed into the brain and could need surgery and one that is caused by a blood clot in the brain. I had the latter. As Lauren said that is the good type of stroke. The term “A good type
My Stroke – I Have Had Better Wednesdays – Part 1
No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition, or A Stroke. My stroke. Wednesday 13th June 2018. A perfectly normal day. I was looking after Meg, a golden Labrador for her mum, Di, had gone on holiday with Jane. I had fed Meg, given her a walk, and then taken her to her house for the day. It was 7.45 and I had half an hour before I had to start work. Just time enough to buy food the evening meal. I was going to have Lamb with smoked aubergine and minty broad beans. I was looking forward to making a new recipe. Driving away from Tesco I suddenly had double vision which cleared after 10 minutes. Although I did not know it, my stroke had started. I drove on to work, feeling none the worse for the double vision episode. Was I worried? Not at all, I had experienced double vision before. That I put it down to one of the known side effects of Sertraline, my anti depression medication. I drove into work and parked up and the double vision started again. Again, I waited for a few minutes and when it passed I clocked into work, 8.20 5 minutes late, BUGGER! My Wednesday, it gets worse. Up the stairs and into the office. “Mornings” all round. Victoria looked up and asked me if I was OK. I said something about me having one of my dizzy and double vision episodes and that it would pass, as it had in the past. Then the double vision returned and I knew that I could not stand up without falling over, this was going to be a bad day. Victoria kept looking at me, obviously a bit concerned. By this time I was as well. I held my arms out in front of me, no weakness there, so I knew that it wasn’t a stroke and I said as much, laughing, to Victoria. However, the words did not come out properly. I stopped for a few seconds and said to Victoria, ” Is my speech slurred?” She said yes and I said I think that you had better phone the first aider. Even as I said it I knew that it was a stroke and there was nothing I could do to alter what was about to happen. Everyone Else Looks Worried Geoff, the first aider was with me within a couple of minutes and almost immediately said “call and ambulance”. He knew that it was a stroke and confirmed that when I asked. He stayed with me, asking all the right questions and keeping me calm. Although I already felt calm. There was nothing that I could do. Besides there were enough worried people in the office without me adding to the number. I wanted to stay calm so that I could tell the para medics exactly what I was feling. They needed to have the right information as quickly as possible. It actually did not occur to me that they probably could not understand what I was saying….. One of the many bad things about having a stoke is that your brain works (or you think that it does) but holding a conversation can be impossible. The upshot was that I had a list of symptoms and observations in my head but could not make anyone understand. I also thought that it was all rather unfair. I had stopped smoking (with a couple of slip ups) 10 months previously. Very unfair! At some point I realised that this was going to be a seriously bad Wednesday. For more information about strokes visit http://stroke.org.uk Be sure to check out how to recognise when someone is having a stroke and what tom do here.
Come to Clitheroe, Pothole Capital
Come to Clitheroe, Pothole Capital John Lennon wrote about 4000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire after reading about the state of Lancashire’s road in a local paper and the number of potholes. If he were alive today he would replace Blackburn with Clitheroe. Clitheroe is now the pothole Capital. Pothole Slalom, the new sport. One benefit of having numerous potholes in our roads is that those of us who live in Clitheroe are way ahead in the growing sport of Pothole Slalom, There are graded routes that we use to train on. The junior course is Henthorn Road. This is good beginners course as the holes are continuous and fairly obvious. Have alook at this; The great thing about this beginners run is that you can practice running along and escaping the holes. The holes themselves vary between 1 standard depth (the International Pothole Slalom Committee has decreed that a “standard depth” equals the size of one British 50p piece, about 1and a quarter inches) and one particularly surprising hole that is about 3 Standard Depths. The feeder gates into the run also have interesting slalom features. I am taken by both the Speedall and Faraday Avenues. They both use the rippled and flaking obstacles so beloved of the good people of the Lancashire Highways Service. At the end of the Henthorn run there is a lovely example of deep hole and ripple combination responsible for the unsettling of many a slalom novice. Although this is a novice level pothole slalom run Clitheroe’s roads have many more advanced pothole slalom obstacles that I will review in the future. Next In Pothole Slalom Series. The Sainsbury’s mini roundabout invitational pothole slalom event that attracts many competitors each day! (In the unlikely event that you are not a fan of potholes, find out how to have them fixed here).
EU Referendum – Not Project Fear, Project Reality
The EU Referendum campaign was a nasty, divisive affair. Now comes Project Reality. They called it Project Fear, it is turning into Project reality. The Brexit campaigners won, but what has been the fallout? They said that everything that the Remain campaigners were saying were just the establishment lining up to scare the public. Really? What has happened in the 48 hours since the EU Referendum? So far; EDF are considering pulling out of Hinkley Point. Now, that may be a good or a bad thing depending on your point of view. The fact was a large infrastructure project is in doubt. Airbus, that employs 15,000 people in this country, say.as that it is actively reviewing its future investment. We all know what means. Ford, that employs 14,000 people in this country, says that it might be preparing to cut costs. We all know what means. The third runway for Heathrow would be killed by Boris. Large parts of HS2 could be stopped in its tracks. The pound plunged to 1980’s levels. Here comes more expensive petrol and imports. There is more fallout from the EU Refrendum Tata Steel, there are now doubts about the sell offs that were going to save at least some of our jobs. There has been a marked increase in far right racist attacks, graffiti, and the neo nazis are cock ahoop. That Cameron has signaled that he is going and we will not have a PM with any credibility for 3 months. Who is running the country? The Blairite jackals in the PLP are lining up to oust Corbyn. The French want to close the camps in Calais, agreen light for the people smugglers to up there despicable business. The FTSE 250 has had millions swept off its value. The FTSE 250 is a far better barometer of the UK based companies rather than the FTSE 100. 1.2 million Brits who live in the EU now are in fear of what might happen to them. Scotland will seek another independence referendum. The end of the UK. There are calls for the re-unification of all Ireland. The end of the UK. HSBC have announced that they could relocate 1,500 jobs from London to Paris. Farage has been forced to admit that the £350m a week windfall for the NHS was just a lie. Danny Hammon (?), Nigel Evans (my MP) have both admitted that leaving the EU does NOT necessarily mean that immigration will fall. The EU referendum has plunged this country in turmoil. Edmund Burke said, to paraphrase, that the views of constituents should be given due weight by their representatives. However, to give them directions that have to be obeyed strikes at the heart of our representative democracy. Referendums can destroy representative democracy. There is a place for them. However the EU Referendum asked a far too complicated question to be answered by a simple yes or no. God help us all.
Politics – General Election 2015 – The Polls
The latest General Election polls I saw 2 polls in the papers yesterday. The Observer Con 34%, Lab 35%, Lib Dem 6%, UKIP 14%, Greens 6%. YouGov Con 34%, Lab 34%, Lib Dem 8%, UKIP 14%, Greens 5% So the pattern of The Conservatives and Labour being neck and neck remains. Since 2011 Labour has been ahead in the polls, but never very far ahead. What does it actually mean for the result of the general election? The traditional wisdom was that with both the main parties on 35% Labour would win a majority. The trouble is that the traditional wisdom does not hold. Labour’s vote in Scotland has collapsed, some heartland constituencies have seen a 25% swing to the SNP. The Tories are challenged by UKIP, which has picked up most of the votes that would have gone to the BNP. There are other factors to consider, even in 2012 The Telegraph was arguing that the Tories could not win a majority. One of the reason being that the Tories attract less than 20% of the ethnic minority vote. As they move out of Labour heartlands they take their votes with them diluting the traditional Tory vote. What else is going on as we move towards the general election 2015? Look at the Liberal Democrats. Their vote has collapsed so where will it go? In the past Liberal Democrats have looked to the left to ward off the Tories. Well, that did not work, all Clegg did was to rush into bed with Cameron. That does not persuade Lib Dem supporters to return to the fold, they fear that he might do it again. Those that voted Labour last time will stick with Labour. Those that voted Lib Dem last time have had their fingers burned, many will not do it again. They are also, as group, very likely to vote for soemone. They will vote Labour. Some Tories are saying that they need an 11% lead in the polls to win a majority. That is too high but they certainly need a bigger lead than Labour does to win a majority at the next general election. The truth is that unless there a significant shift we are heading for Labour being the biggest party at the next general election, but without a majority. So, a coalition. Maybe not. Cameron, wanting to hold on to power, would probably try to run a minority government if the Tories were the biggest party or could argue that they won the popula vote. Not an impossible scenario. A difficult trick as their only natural supporters would the rabid UKIP mob. Labour could try running a minority government without a formal coalition. They would look for support from the SNP and the Liberal Democrats on a case by case basis. Who said that the general election 2015 is boring?
Politics – The Save Dave Cameron Plan – General election 2015
The Sunday Times Says That Senior Tories Want to Save Dave Cameron. The story runs that despite all the public pronouncements about winning the General election outright a plan is being hatched to save Dave Cameron should he not win the general election. In spite of a somewhat lack luster performance by Miliband so far the Tories are worried. So they should be with the polls close and them no where near the sort of popular support that would guarantee a victory. Anything other than a straight forward Tory majority would be bad news for Dave Cameron. He “won” last time against a hugely unpopular Prime Minister but still had to form a coalition to become Prime Minister. Not to win out right this time against a weak leader of the opposition is unthinkable, if he wants to survive as the leader of the Tory party, and he does. Desperately. George Osborne told his MPs that they would all be re-elected, but they do not believe him. Apparently one minister is ready to call for Dave Cameron to fall on his sword if he does not win. The knives are not out, but they are being sharpened. There are mutterings that Dave Cameron and his cronies should be planning to win, not planning and escape route to save their jobs. However, Dave Cameron has a crafty wheeze up his sleeve. Should he lead the largest party, but without a majority, it seems as if he will try form a government without a coalition. The thinking is that there will be about 20 ministerial and government posts available to hand out after the general election in 2015. Those belong to the Liberal Democrats at the moment. 20 posts would make for a lot of goodwill from power hungry Tory MPs. The other scenario has Labour as the largest party. A coalition with the Liberal Democrats would be fragile. This time round they would drive a harder bargain. They would not be so naive. Dave Cameron would say to his MPs that to ditch him then would be foolish. A new, untested leader would be a mistake in those circumstances. Dave Cameron is the one with the big problem. Perhaps the biggest problem for him is that the loyalty of his friends is not guaranteed. The Tory party is a ruthless party.
Roni
Roni and I were really good friends 30 years ago when we both lived in Bristol. She then moved back to Wales and we lost touch. About a year ago she ran across me on Facebook and made contact. Since then we have resumed our friendship. Roni is now a wood turner making amazing bowls, vases and plates. We were talking a few weeks ago and she mentioned that she wanted a web site to help promote her work. I said that she should let me help her set it up rather than pay an arm and a leg to a web developer. And so Roni-roberts.com was born. Naturally, Roni wanted to make a few changes, of course. However, I had not realised that what makes her a wonderful wood turner, the attention to detail, the not being satisfied until some thing was just right would be applied to the web site. I am more of a “that will do” sort of person. Roni is more of a “That picture needs to be a millimeter to the right” sort of girl……. At least it keeps me busy, (but I do love it, to be honest).
A New Start?
I am beginning to question just why I have restarted this blog. It was interesting to re-read the old posts. Some were embarrassing and some I did not recognise. Still, I must have meant it all at the time, so they stay………
dNeero stuff (I will explain later)
There Are Worse Things Than Listening to Dolly Parton.
I was watching Euro 2008 on the TV. During the advert break there was an advert for DP’s latest release and Jane said ‘There are worse things than listening to Dolly Parton’. There was a silence, she looked at me and said ‘Did I say that out loud?’ Naturally, being a caring new man I offered euthanasia, or more alcohol. However she is right. Garth Brookes springs to mind. Frank Zappa said that no music is bad music – he obviously never listened to C&W. I have a good friend who loves C&W but he listens to old C&W. He listens to what is effectively country blues and folk. I have no problem with that. I like quite a lot of it. The music talks about real issues, there are no dogs dying in the sunset, it is real music by real people. I have a similar feeling about R&B. R&B used to stand for Rhythm and Blues, now it stands for some music that is not rock, not folk. By the 1970s, the term rhythm and blues was being used as a blanket term to describe soul and funk. In the 2000s, the term R&B refers to contemporary R&B, which is a modern version of soul and funk-influenced pop music that originated as disco faded from popularity. R&B is not ‘pop’ it is, should be, real music for real people. In other words, R&B is not was it was. R&B just like C&W has sunk to a level where the terms have no meaning. What would Etta James’ classification be? What of Woody? They would be too feisty for today’s classifications. Today, both C&W and R&B have lost their meaning, it is not just me being an old fart. Marketing has taken over reality. The same is happening to the Blues, and real rock. The objective today is to sell CDs. The marketing men want to sell ‘product’ I reject any idea that real music is product. Go and see any local band that plays in your local pub. They may well play sub standard blues rock, or worse, another recycled version of Freebird (a local problem).. At least these people are doing it live. I play guitar, but so badly that it is painful. Even if I could play like Buddy Guy I would not have the guts to stand up on a Friday or Saturday night and put my limited talents in front of people. All praise to them. Live music (with the exceptions of new C&W or Irish folk played by people from Manchester) is one of the great things in my life. Please support it. They are better people than we are, well, they have more front. Perhaps, just perhaps, they may turn out to be the next Wreckless Eric. There is no higher praise.
Phil’s British Heart Foundation Donation – you know it makes sense
