Followers

Saturday 5 August 2017

Different Strokes for Different Folks

At this time of year I would normally be posting a few words and some pictures about Claymore but instead I have a different topic in mind. (Hope the show went well).

This Wednesday I felt a touch unwell (ever-so highly understated) and I found myself whizzing up the road in an ambulance, blues and two's going loud enough for me to hear without my hearing aids.


Not sure if it was this one as they all look the same on the inside with one eye open and one eye shut.

Step forward a few hours, an injection or two, some tablets, a CAT scan and a LAB report (veterinarian joke available on demand), a trio of doctors, one of whom was a consultant (I got his business card as a keepsake) and a little summary of events.

They told me that I probably had had a TIA (miniature stroke [not bad for a miniature gamer]) and my symptoms had now diminished to almost nothing. Blood pressure had been very high but was more or less normal now.

They did a few more tests with ultra-sound on my throat as they thought I might need my carotid arteries cleaned out (two separate operations, both highly dangerous). I seem to be off the hook on those (phew).

I am booked in for future heart tests but they let me go home for much needed rest. It was certainly bloody hard to get rest in the hospital ward as I had a noisy lunatic in the bed next door who was also quite ill and them damn nurses (love them really) kept waking me up to check if I was still breathing.

Seen a GP since and we mapped out my life for a wee while: some more tablets, diet change, exercise regime, you know, all the boring stuff. They'll let me drive again in a month or so, just in time for Border Reiver in Gateshead assuming my nasty symptoms stay away.

Being an adventurous chap I slowly shuffled out to the wargames hut and I spent at least an hour looking at a pile of lead on my workbench. None of it moved at all until I eventually picked up a hobby knife and promptly cut my finger. It bled and bled and bled. Did I mention the blood thinning drug they have put me on?

I eventually managed to splash some white undercoat on a few figures although some of them have a pinkish hue (think blood red mixed with artic white).

So that's where we are today. I had hoped to cut some plywood hills later on but I have banked that idea for another day.

Watch this space.

48 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear of your troubles , hope you are on the way to getting better take it easy and do as they say ! (never easy to do ) , Tony

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  2. Not even sure I'm a fan of this mortality lark. Get well!

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    1. Mortality is apparently less boring than immortality.

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  3. Jim,

    I was sorry to read that you have been unwell, but it sounds as if the medical intervention has you back on the road to good health. Just take things easy, gradually get back to normal, and will luck - and the ongoing support of your many friends - you'll be wargaming and blogging again in no time at all.

    Good luck,

    Bob

    PS. I also managed to cut one of my fingers this afternoon ... and it also bled profusely. It is currently covered by a substantial plaster.

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    1. Thanks Bob.

      At the moment I am probably furiously painting or building something for about 10 minutes then spending the next hour or so admiring what I have achieved.

      I am hoping to improve the differential ratio.

      Jim

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  4. Take care Jim, you'll have to be careful if you're on Warfarin, I was on it for years. All the INR tests are a bind too.

    Look after yourself,

    Paul.

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    1. Thanks Paul

      Fortunately I am not on Warfarin.

      The drug they have prescribed for me is Clopidogrel and it is a substitute for aspirin as I am aspirin intolerant.

      I am also on Amlodipine and Lisinoprol which make my blood vessels more flexible and wider.

      I am not able to use statins of any type as they give me crippling side effects.

      I will be under observation for a while to see how they pan out.

      Jim

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  5. Glad to hear we're not rid of you yet Jim. And your painting to gloating ratio sounds pretty realistic to me!

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    1. Am just about to give it another 10 minutes of a go.

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  6. Glad to hear the intervention and continued treatment are working.

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    1. Having a stoke aware daughter in the house helped and the ambulance arriving within 20 minutes was handy too.

      I live in a cul-de-sac and it took the ambulance about 10 minutes to get back on the road due to badly parked cars from the bowling club across the road. We complained before to the police, they come and look and they say they can't see a problem.

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  7. Sorry to hear that what happened to you. Hope you are better right now. Show was great with a plenty good games. I will post on my blog some pictures soon. Get well and see you around!

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    1. Thanks Bart

      I am expecting to make a complete recovery unless these tests to come show me a previously undiagnosed condition. We'll cross that bridge in due course.

      I look forward to your photographs.

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  8. Hope you're back to regular activities soon, glad to hear you pulled through this troubling episode!

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    1. It's all been such a whirl. One day speeding across town in an ambulance, next day as a passenger being driven home in my own car.

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  9. Sorry to learn of these troubles, Jim. Glad, however, that you are still operational and doing the things you need to do to stay so. Take care of yourself! -Bill

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    1. Yes, but there's still this little matter of me, my electric jig saw and a pile of plywood.

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  10. Hope you feel better soon

    Take care

    Andy

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    1. I hope to be 'wombling free' for Border Reiver in Gateshead next month.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan

      I am taking it, glacially, slowly.

      Jim

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  12. Missed seeing you yesterday at Claymore. Take really good care of yourself.Alan

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    1. Thanks Alan

      I am well cared for by family as you are too.

      Jim

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  13. Sorry to hear this, hope you're feeling much better now.

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    1. Thanks Rob

      A chance to stop, think and recalibrate.

      Jim

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  14. Hi Jim, good your on the mend, l missed Claymore as well difference was my choice, took one of the grandsons to Lego brick at New Lanark.

    Nodrog

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    1. Thanks Nodrog

      Have a good time with your grandkids.

      I have been told to avoid lifting heavy weights and my grandson, even though he is only 1 is considered to be a heavy weight.

      I compromise by sitting down before I pick him up.

      Take care.

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  15. I had an ambulance ride once, no ambition to take another. Heal well and don't take it too lightly.

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    1. Not the first time I have been in an ambulance and probably won't be the last.

      Take care Ross

      Jim

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  16. Jim, one of those moments of reflection. Hope the new regime goes well and at least with the follow up visits you are in good hands and will be getting a good M.O.T.

    Bummer about Claymore, these things certainly pick their moments.

    Wishing you well, Norm.

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  17. Was quite relieved when I passed the carotid artery blockage check as the consultant introduced a chance of two serious operations if blockages were found.

    Tough luck on Claymore as it is my local show.

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  18. Poor you! Having a Transient Ischaemic Attack is not to be sneezed at!
    I am glad the Docs have you on the regime you are on, as TIA's are in the same family as strokes, and you want to avoid having one of those, don't you!

    Be well, and remain so! - hope to see you in Gateshead fit and well!

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    1. It was handy that my visiting daughter spotted the symptoms and an ambulance wasn't too far away.

      Gateshead is Plan A for a return.

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  19. So glad you are recovering. I was in hospital once to have a new knee installed - the nurses would wake me out of a sound sleep at 2 in the AM to give me the sleeping pill that was prescribed. Got to loveit!
    Dick Bryant

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    1. Hi Dick

      Didn't help that the old guy in the bed next to me had so many alarms attached to him that he kept setting them off if he so much as twitched. To be fair to him he was in a real bad way. I spoke to him the following morning, he was an ex Royal Scot (my Grandads Regiment) so I let him off.

      The nurses woke me up from a dozy sort of sleep several times: cup of tea?, check your BP, time for a tablet. Can't really complain.

      Anyway, I'm home, had a good nights sleep, a bit sore and stiff, covered in bruises (well a few), painting for about 10 minutes at a time then resting for an hour.

      I wonder if my wife will let me out of the house tomorrow?

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  20. Sorry to hear your story Jim, get well soon eh? I also missed Claymore as I had to organise the wife for a trip to the deep South (of England).

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    1. There's always next year or how about Border Reiver in September.

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  21. Good Lord you have been in the wars!

    Keep your chin up.

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    1. This is a war I am quite familiar with as I have lost both parents and my sister as well as a few chums to cardio-vascular problems. I hope to be the exception.

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  22. Jim,

    I hope that you are still on the mend. We are all rooting for you.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  23. Jim,
    I doubt Moira (Mrs Duncan) will let you anywhere the front door. Hope you are getting better. But mind and stay a bit grumpy for effect.

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    1. Moira did let me go to a works funeral yesterday and I didn't even have to go 'grumpy'.

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  24. Sorry to hear this, Jim. Best wishes as you recover and take good care of yourself.

    Aaron

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    1. Thanks Aaron

      I received your message just as I arrived home after a planned 20 minute walk which actually took me 40 minutes. I needed a lie down after that.

      Slow but sure.

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