What Makes One Day Better than Another?
Today I had a good day and this evening I was able to miss out on the Amitriptyline. Not that I take much, but the doctor had said that the Keppra would do the same work. He also had replioed that when I’d said my eyesight wasn’t good enough for me to drive or play table tennis, that you could get round the first, but he’d miss the second.
Today though, I did a lot of chatting, whereas some days I never see anyone. So perhaps that makes a difference too!
I did wear my bobble hat all day to keep warm and it’s still on my head, as I watch the end of the Second Test. Or hopefully!
Perhap that help too!
I also had someone who was interested in Daisy.
Can We Reverse Multiple Sclerosis?
It would appear according to this report, that scientists at Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities have made a major breakthrough in the understanding of multiple sclerosis, which may lead to a treatment that could reverse the disease.
Surely the way to save money in future years in the caring and health industries, is to invest in science now!
My Double Handle Medicine Ball
Ever since I’ve been back home, I’ve been using this medicine ball every day to build up my core strength.
Medicine Ball With Handles
Mine is a 5 Kg. model, but they come in different sizes.
I was given a set of exercises to do from a fitness expert, who puts judo players back together after serious injuries.
The exercises seem to have worked and I feel that my regained core strength has helped my balance and the ability to walk fairly long distances without feeling tired.
I bought mine on-line from Powerhouse Fitness and it doesn’t have a famous brand name, but those in John Lewis are twice the price and have names in the class of Adidas and Nike. So if you want one search on-line and don’t go for a brand you know.
It is rumoured that if ladies use one with the proper exercises, it can help put on a cup size. No-one would believe that would they!
Is it Me or My Cooking Skills?
I sometimes blame the stroke for my clumsiness, but I’m not sure it’s always to blame.
Take lunch today, when I thought I’d have some smoked salmon with scrambled egg. You’d think that the most difficult job would be cracking the eggs without getting any shell into the basin to mix them all up with a bit of milk and some salt and pepper. But no, it was separating the smoked salmon from it’s packaging. I had to pull it to open the outside packaging, which actually wasn’t too difficult, but I couldn’t get the slices apart without ending up with effectively minced salmon on the plate.
Now my mother taught me how to crack eggs and always said you should crack them into a cup first. But remember in those far off days of the 1950s, you occasionally got an egg with a chick inside it. They smelt something rotten too! So I often still crack them into a cup first, so that if I make a hash of it and get half the shell in it, I can get another cup and start again. But of the perhaps several dozen eggs I’ve cracked since the stroke, I’ve only had to go fishing for bits of shell in perhaps one or two. That would have been about the same number as before.
On the other hand, no-one has ever taught me how to disentangle smoked salmon from its tight packaging. So I’ve just learned badly on the job.
Now when it comes to cooking one of my fish pies, they seem very little different than before, except that I do have problems mashing the potatoes, which might be understandable. Or it might be that I just have very bad basic cooking skills! On the other hand I don’t have any problems peeling potatoes, but I think it was something my mother taught me when I was quite young.
So could it be that things taught to you as a small child, stay with you no matter what happens?
All comments are welcome!
Is Coeliac Disease Hindering My Recovery from the Stroke?
Over the last few days, I have been getting out to London and Cambridge and today I will try to get to Ipswich. It all depends whether the taxis are running to get me into Haverhill to catch the bus to get me there for the 10:15 coach to the home match against Swansea.
I saw the stroke doctor at Addenbrooke’s yesterday and he suggested that I stop taking the Amitriptyline, as the Keppra was obviously doing its good work. But by nine o’clock last night, I was having a lot of discomfort in my face and in a tooth, so before I went to bed, I decided to take the 20 mg. I should also say that yesterday evening, I was choking slightly on some sort of muck that was getting to the back of my throat. I also had a nose bleed, for a few minutes before I retired. But it was just one of the usual ones that have plagued me all my life, from where I had a wart removed from my nose. But I do worry because of the Warfarin I’m on! But in the end, I slept very well and had about eight and a half hours of good sleep. I was only woken by the lady who organises the Ipswich coaches just after seven calling me on the phone.
My ENT doctor on Monday had given me an all-clear on my sinuses and he had advised me to keep going.
But I can’t get it out of my mind, that something due to the coeliac disease is not helping me recovery as quickly as I should.
But then I’m an engineer and a scientist and all my life I’ve been solving problems. This is probably the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced in my life and I’m determined to beat it. I owe it to my late wife and son to win.
Or it could just be the cold? The basset has decided that she’ll sleep the weather out in the warmest place she can find, only waking for her lunch.
As I write this piece, I’m being watching by the stallion, who has his head over the fence guarding the gate. As I said in an earlier post he’s twenty eight on January the first which is a very good age for a horse. He’ll probably outlive us all!
I Can Now Shuffle a Pack of Cards!
I tried this a few months ago and couldn’t do it, but I thought I’d have a game of patience about an hour ago and I shuffled them without too much trouble.
So my left hand must be getting better!
But the patience didn’t come out!
Digital Rectal Massage
According to QI, this is a cure for hiccups. I didn’t believe them, but I found this on the New Scientist‘s web site.
So next time you have hiccups, you can either try this or that other favourite remedy of drinking a pint of beer from the other side of the glass!
Am I Feeling Better Because of the Keppra
My typing has improved again and I seem to be making fewer mistakes. I seem to have much more control over the Shift and Control keys and I don’t make the spelling mistakes I did a few days ago.
Could this be an effect of taking the Keppra?
Melanie Reid
I follow her articles as she recovers from breaking her neck in a horse riding accident every week in Saturday’s Times.
She is an inspiration to anybody fighting back from a serious medical problem. Myself obviously included.
I hadn’t realised it until today, but I had written a post based on one of her articles in August 2009.
A Setback Yesterday
\i spent most of yesterday in hospital at Addenbrooke’s after what they thought was a post stroke seizure. I was back home by eight with a prescription for Keppra, which is an anti-epilepsy medicine. They also gave me a CT Scan, which showed there was no new damage. So that is good news.
The Anonymous Widower 