Who?

A quick 'plug' for Scientific Frontline, a site I'm a fan of and hope to work with soon in some small way. Say hi to Heidi from The Wheelie should you pay a visit. :)

Been thinking. Something I should have thought about years ago, but never got around to.

I'd had my front door open, much to the annoyance of me and mine, because it was pretty chilly, and I overheard the tail end of conversation between a neighbour and what I presume to be a door to door salesman.

".......there's the disabled bloke there", she said pointing our way, "but he won't be interested" My first thought was' "Aw, bless, thanks J. for looking out for me"

Then I thought. "Disabled bloke...?"

Disabled bloke. Hmmm. Gosh. She's right y'know. Had my first brain attack years ago, but I was in my late thirties, so I'd had nearly fourty years of reasonable health.

I've seen myself as an able bodied chap who just happened to have developed an anoyance called 'A Disability', as though I'd grown an extra leg or something. Yeah, bit's don't work as they should, if ever, the face droops, the speech comes out wrong, and people speak esperanto (it seems) sometimes, and I had to learn to think straight and recognise there was a world outside my head, sure. A 'disability' yup. Disabled though? No, never.

I had been told. My medics wanted me to claim disability benefits, handed me the forms and pre-arranged for an appointment with an advisor at the GP surgery. I was annoyed. But Bear and I went, and the advisor asked me a load of questions armed with the forms and a pen.

After half-an-hour, he said "Stop. Enough. I don't care how well you can cope with being disabled, and what you can do. I want to know what needs you have. What can I do to help?"
I sulked, Bear took over.

I'm disabled. I'm of the disabled community. It isn't a bolt on extra I just happen to have acquired. It's me. It's who I am. I don't yet fully understand why I've come to the realisation. Perhaps it's that the word itself I've refused to accept. Disabled? Does that mean I'm lacking in some way? Less than human? DISadvantaged compared to 'normal' people?

Overhearing that comment from a neigbour got me to re-reading the emails of the friends I've made as a stroke survivor, and realising that my friendships have come from being who I am now. A lot of them are very deep and loving and have enhanced my world. I love them because I love them because for who they are. Like my Bear and I, we've become good at finding ways around problems and barriers.

Being disabled, my diabled friends and I have become encouraged to accept our bodies and minds and feel comfortable with ourselves.

Certainly, it's given me more courage to express myself. More later.

Blimey, has it been that long?

Had another small stroke a little while ago. The medics like to call them 'T.I.A' -transient ischemic attack

Typically, a temporary stroke is when a blockage in a blood vessel in the brain lasts briefly, and the symptoms of stroke (F.A.S.T - Face Arm Speech Test) last a few minutes. Only in my case, it lasted a few hours - not that it was easy to tell :) Me being stubborn and pig headed, I thought I'd trust my gut instincts and ride with it. And I was right :) Phew. All I've been left with - on top of the usual - is periods of intense tiredness and confusion, which reminded me of the early days of my 'biggies'.

Not, I should hastily add, the recommended way of dealing with stroke symptoms, and I have been told off for it - but I'm an experienced stroke survivor, and to be honest, one can get pig-sick of hospitals. Me bad.

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At long last the Uk Government has woken up to a Stroke public public awareness campaign.

I like the tv adverts.




The message is being pushed by the Stroke Association UK

The message is simple, and I hope you don't mind if I repeat it?

F.A.S.T - Face Arm Speech Test call an Ambulance.

Face - is one side of the face 'drooping' - particularly around the mouth on one side and eye?

Arm - do they have weakness, and/or they've lost the use of one arm and/or leg?

Speech - is their speech slurred or confused? Do they have difficulty understanding speech?

Test - them all.

Though there are two main types of stroke (there are others) - a bleed or a clot - the clotting problem is more common. It's thought if more stroke victims can get an anti-clotting treatment within the first four hours, thousands of lives could be saved and many, many serious disabilities can be prevented, and those disabled will recover much more quickly.

I'd also like to personally add that it can happen any time, any place. Much like diabetic hypo's, it's not unknown for stroke survivors to be considered drunk - heck, it can happen when someone is drunk. If in doubt - FAST

Unsung Hero's

Apologies if I've not replied to emails or been in contact for the last 4 days or so. If you've mailed, visited or phoned, my apologies, I don't remember. Totally out of it. High fever, hallucinations, rambling (more than usual) and lots of other unpleasant things you really don't want to know about. Seems there's a very nasty influenza bug about.

The blessed Bear has spent most of the last week being awake with one or another of us, and she's getting some well earned, and well overdue sleep. She's tells me she's not being getting more than two hours unbroken sleep for days.

Unsung hero.

Everything on hold for a couple more days.

Mix'n'Match

At a routine medical, I'd lost a couple of kilo's in weight, but managed to put an inch on my waist. However, my blood pressure for the second time in a row was 104/64, the lowest ever (Yay!). It was so low compared to the last few years that it startled them, and we had a bit of fun re-checking it 6 times - three per arm, manually and on the machine!

As usual, I joked, that if that's the case, I can stop taking meds altogether. And as usual, they said that in their expert opinion, the technical term for that is spelt seriously d-e-a-d. :)

That led to an interesting discussion about the side affects of medication.

On the rare occasions I've had additions to my tablets, we've always gone through the possible side affects the manufacturer reports and any diet changes. For instance, I can become quite ill if I have contact with anything containing grapefruit or pineaplle, and as I've discovered on two occasions, if I don't take any tablets, I develop powerful flu-like symptoms and become unconscious.

I was intrigued to discover that though it's possible to check how any two tablets interact with each other, it's actually quite difficult to determine how a whole group of medications interact. My dig around the net seems to confirm that.

Below is a list of my 'core' tablets - the tablets I've been taking for a long time, that are unlikely to change, and I'll be taking for the rest of my life. If anyone knows how to work out the possible downside of the combo, and suggest any remedies (short of changing them) I'd be pleased :)

Clopidogrel Hydrogen Sulphate 75 mg once daily
Asprin 75 mg twice daily
Atenolol 25 mg once daily
Felodipine 10 mg once daily
Doxazosin Mesilate 4 mg twice daily
Ezetimibe 10 mg once daily
Ramipril 5 mg twice daily
Cocodamol 500 mg twice daily
Pravastatin 40 mg once daily
Metformin Hydrochloride 500 mg three times daily
Folic acid 400 mcg once daily

Cheers!

You might remember that a little while back, I was promoting the uk Stroke Associations F.A.S.T. campaign.

F.A.S.T. Stands for Facial weakness, Arm weakness, Speech problems, Test all three.

It's thought if people are aware of the classic symptoms, then thousands of lives might be saved by getting people into hospital for prompt treatment. Well, you'll be pleased to know that the UK Gov have promised a 12 million UKP for a public awareness campaign, as part of a 100 million UKP three year stroke strategy. Report Here

The Stroke Association (UK)

May contain Nuts....

Oooh! I'm into the blog - however briefly. I had to jump through hoops to get here (following an idea by My Bear, to give credit where credit's due). It'll probably be temporary. Sigh :(

Had a friend visit the other day. Who promptly told me how I make tea is wrong, in great detail, and how "crap" my teapot is. In great detail. And my tea was "crap" anyways. Now there's one thing you don't tell an Englishman , it's how to make tea, and a Yorkshireman to boot. Being a Yorkshireman, he was bloomin' lucky that I didn't charge him for his cuppa.

Or charge him admission to Wheelie's.

Instead, I ran over his foot. Slowly. Twelve and a half stone of a Wheelie poised on his pinkies shut him up nicely. I must remember that technique. I wonder if it works on door to door salesmen, or annoying little old ladies who insist on carrying yorkshire terriers in scotch pattern bags-on-wheels?

Or worse, people who say "Does he take sugar?" (no, sweeteners, top pocket, one please..)

To be fair to the chap, he had made me feel much better about myself. While I listened to him, wide eyed, I was thinking of the number of times that I've been called 'slightly potty', or even better, 'eccentric' (bless 'em).

I don't mind being called 'eccentric'. In fact it's a badge of honour. Took me awhile to get there.

The wet-ware between my ears has undergone some extensive rewiring over the last few years, and is a source of amazement and endless amusement to even little 'ol me. I've earned it, I've worked for it, and by golly, it's the only one I've got, even if it does try to kill me now and again.

I count myself lucky. In the battle between brain and bod I've won so far, and I'm well proud of it, even if the little bugger tries to embarrass me occasionally. I'm Waaaaaayy past embarrassment.

Having the brain of a stroke survivor has left me with a mind like a mischevious puppy. And like a puppy, you have to let it do puppy things now and again, like chase it's tail, dig up the yard, or bark at nothing in particular, otherwise it's likely to chew up the nearest slipper or furniture. Or worse, bonking the hoover. Not the sort of thing you want your brain doing unexpectedly.

Hence I became cheerfully eccentric. I like that :)

At least I don't go on a rant about other peoples Teapots.

Catchya laters!

Yay! Got my main machine up and running, and no data loss. Son O'mine and I had to fit a new motherboard - but the one I bought is a better board, so it feels like a new machine.

Now what else can I buy? :)

Having been without my main beast for a couple of months, and depending on an old but cranky one, shared with at least four other people, has really made me appreciate this one, and how much I'd tailored the software on it to suit me. Because the family get to use it now and again, (they're big Unreal game players) I have it set up in such a way that there's an area set aside for family use, and my private setup that only I can access. Man, have I missed it.

Privacy is very important to me. I'm the oldest lad of a big family, s'perhaps that's why. Personally, I don't know why. It amazes me that I blog every time I do it :) A bit of me leaking out I guess.

When you're a private person, everything about stroke hits you hard. One, is the bodily functions stuff. I hang around the uk Stroke Association website sometimes. But no-one likes to get into detail. But detail is what we have to deal with day to day. Perhaps it's peculiar British thing.

In hospital, it was sorta divided into male and female, but it was was a bit too open-plan for me. They pull a curtain around, but it felt like an advert every time they did that. To be honest, in retrospect, there was a lady who'd been in some time, who wobbled round, and held my hand in the difficult times, and promptly disappeared. I don't know her name, she never said. But if she ever reads this. Thank you. Thank you very much.

I'm tired, and Little Bear wants her dad, so I'll post more tommorow, if that's ok. xx

Random

Cracking up I am. Found myself apologising to El'Stupido the Cat when we ran out of Tuna. Actually, she doesn't think she's a cat. She thinks, as my Bear put it, that she's 'one of the girls'.

She's not called Stupid of course. That's what Bear calls her ("Hey, Stupid !!") When its cold, wet, windy and freezing and Sniff the Cat is sat on the windowsill late at night warming herself from the warm draft from the open window. And Sniff speaks English. Cat style. Either that or my strokes have sent me Cat-o-pathic.

Why call a cat 'Sniff' ? Ah. That's the nickname of my stalker. Who hates cats. It's a man-thing joke. If you've ever had or have a cat, and you're a lady with a partner, ask him :) It's not for good reason female cats are called 'Queens'. :)

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I've come across so many stroke survivors who when hit with the disability stroke brings, think it's the end of the road. I've really thought about this, and when I'm feeling a bit better, I intend doing a few posts on life after stroke.

I apologise to those who have been waiting for some posts about sex and stroke, but I've had a lot of opposition from both atheist and religious friends who think it's wrong I should talk on the net about sex. I'm a bit disappointed to be be opposed to be honest, mostly because everything in stroke has to be tackled one way or another, and I don't think gender, sexual orientation, or the price of fish has much to do with it. I have no intention of being explicit.

Gosh!

Sky News today.

'The solo pilot of a light aircraft who lost his sight in mid air as he flew from Scotland, to Essex, Southern England, was guided to safety by a Royal Air Force jet. It is thought he had a Stroke'

Let me see if I've understood this correctly. You're alone, flying an aircraft, survive a stroke, but become blind. You radio for assistance, and are able to follow instructions, and land safely.

Blind.

There's not much I'd say is Inspirational nowadays, but I'm well impressed.

I mean - Wow. I'm not easily impressed, but that is a classic example of what guts and determination can do. Just shows what you can do if you put your mind to it. Nice one.

BBC News