My Sense of Smell Seems To Have Returned
Surprisingly, over the last few days, my sense of smell seems to have returned. A lady next to me on a train was chewing spearmint gum and I really smelt it. I can’t say I’ve smelt spearmint that strongly since my stroke.
But that was only one incident out of several.
I’ve Now Got Benign Positional Vertigo
A couple of times recently, when doing my morning stretching, I’ve got a bit giddy. I’ve also noticed a bit of trouble, getting out of bed in the middle of the night. It happened again yesterday with my physio and he said it was Benign Positional Vertigo. Apparently, it’s caused by crystals of calcium carbonate in the inner ear and the cure is to use a particular movement, which is generally taught by a physio.
So I’m going to see a specialist physio next week and we’ll see how it goes.
In the meantime, I’ve cut out my calcium supplement and am going for walks, as this seems to help. But I’m also suspicious of this house and the sooner I get the air conditioning the better.
A Comedian With Cerebral Palsy
BBC Breakfast this morning showed a comedian from Newcastle, with cerebral palsy called Lee Ridley, who works under the name of Lost Voice Guy. If he appears near you, I think he would be worth seeing and not for the curiosity value.
It reminds me of a time in the United States, where there was a blind comedian with a guide dog. I never saw him, but there is one in New York now called Brian Fischler. In the act I heard of, the dog got into it, by reacting appropriately to some jokes.
Cigarettes in Plain Packaging
Surely, if plain packaging became the law, anyone who was smoking from a coloured or fancy packet could have obtained them from illegal sources and should get some well-deserved third degree from the police.
Obviously, if there was no satisfactory explanation, as to how they obtained the fags, they would be confiscated.
Paper Isn’t What It Used To Be
I do find reading a newspaper these days to be an absolute trial, as turning the pages in order seems almost impossible.
I did think it was the stroke, but it now appears to me to be the quality of paper that is now used by papers like The Times and The Evening Standard.
Increasingly, I am using the on-line versions of both papers. And others that I don’t buy or pick up.
I Had Another Spasm In My Arm Yesterday
At lunch time yesterday, I went to a meeting, where I sat in a chair with wooden arms, not unlike the ones I have where I sit at my computer.
As I walked to the bus, I felt that my arm was starting to do what it did a couple of weeks ago. It obviously wasn’t as bad and I decided to continue to my dental appointment at Notting Hill.
Luckily, the spasm seemed to die down in the bus, so I changed my plan and instead of going to Bank, I went to Kings Cross for the Circle line, as if it got worse I could get off at Euston Square for the hospital.
But it behaved itself and nothing further happened.
I should say that in the morning, I’d had physio on the arm and my physio had felt it wasn’t too good.
I’ve now decided to move my physio appointments to later in the day, as the problems seem to happen around lunchtime, after the arm has been working hard or lying in a particular way on a hard service.
I’ve also taken the decision to not sit in a chair, with my hand on the arm.
Thinking back over the last thirty years or so, most of my sitting has either been in a swivel office chair with a padded arm or on a hard stool. I’ve gone back to using the hard stool most of the time.
Dentists
Why does the media ratchet up this fear of the dentist? Children watching BBC Breakfast this morning will have had their fears increased.
My current and previous dentists would be unable to frighten anybody.
I must admit, I’ve had some painful times in the dentist, like when I had my last tooth out. But you have to take it in your stride.
Defibrillators on Buses
If you search for defibrillators on buses, you will find that some companies do have them on buses and train staff to use them.
So perhaps where you have a two-man bus, like the New Bus for London, they should be carried and staff should be trained. Note that some of the newer buses have got bigger, so I suspect there might be a space to store a defibrillator.
Offering Pineapple on the Tube
Coming back from Oxford Street today, I took a bus to Euston, where I picked up my supper in the Marks & Spencer there.
I had read somewhere that pineapple chunks are good when you have a dry mouth like I have, so I bought some to have with my supper and keep in the fridge to snack on.
There were signalling problems when I got to the Victoria line and by the time the train moved off it was very hot. So I took out the pineapple chunks and ate a few.
I offered them round and there were no takers.
When I got home, I then had a thought that they might react with my warfarin. They don’t.
The Solution to Smoking and Obesity
Why not allow towns to have referenda about whether they want to allow smoking and lots of unhealthy food shops?
It would be interesting to see what happened in the towns that voted to allow it after a few years.
Hopefully, they would see sense.
My old GP once exchanged with a doctor in Canada for a year, where there were lots of Native American patients, most of whom were heavy smokers. His statistics and stories about that time, would fill a large book. But sadly he’s dead now.
He was one of the better GPs, I’ve had in my life.
The Anonymous Widower 