Wildlife Therapy
I went for a lovely walk this afternoon at Fen Drayton Lakes. Is trying to spot and identify birds with my perhaps less than perfect eye-sight, good therapy after a stroke? It won’t hurt, that is for sure. But I did see a common tern, lots of swans and lots of dragonflies.
I also spent an hour walking the stud. Sad to say that there is now only one baby duck, as the moorhens or something else has killed or eaten the other eleven. Saw quite a few hares too!
I’ve also taken to walking around the stud carrying a 2 kilo dumbell, throwing it sometimes from hand-to-hand to try to improve my left hand. Is this a good idea?
Let’s All Support Nobby
Nobby Stiles, one of the heroes of 1966, has had a very small stroke.
I wish you well Nobby and here’s a deal; you get well and I’ll try to do the same!
What is it about a problem shared?
Don’t buy a Nokia X6 if you’ve had a stroke!
I have one of these phones and for my situation, they are designed all wrong.
My biggest problem is that I have had a stroke and I drop things or knock them on the floor. If I dropped my Nokia 6310i, it just carried on working. The X6 falls apart and you need to reenter date and time. It is totally unfit for my purposes.
It is a bit of a pity really about this lack of robustness, as I liked a lot about the phone.
I have just phoned O2 and they have agreed to swap the phone for something hopefully more suitable. So that at least is a positive thing and a couple of stars at least for O2. But they are generally very good over the phone and I’ve stayed with they for nearly 20 years.
Warfarin
I don’t know whether I said, but I’m on warfarin now.
It’s a complicated regime with regular blood tests, the need to be careful with certain foods and alcohol, and avoid getting cut or bruised. But it obviously works, as there wouldn’t be so many people on it.
It strikes me though that it’s a big opportunity for the pharmaceutical industry, in that if you could create a new and much better drug and regime, which was less hassle and avoided the expensive blood tests, you’d laugh all the way to the bank.
If you search the literature, things are stirring, so let’s hope.
Left Handed Mouse
To train my left hand again, I’ve switched the mouse to left-handed. I think I’ll keep things simple though.
I’m lucky though in that I can work a left-handed mouse with my right hand. I used to use someone’s computer who was left-handed.
Thick and Easy
I was given this in Hong Kong to help me swallow. I thought it affected me. When I finally got hold of the tin in Addenbrookes, it said it had no allergies, but contained maltodextrin. I react to the latter, but then the EU says it’s OK for me. Is the EU a coeliac? No!
Keep Taking the Tablets
I sometimes worry that I might miss a tablet as there are quite a few of them.
So I’ve set up a daily alert in Outlook. At least I’ll be nagged.
My Next Goal
This is to use a proper toilet unaided.
Back in My Own Home
I arrived at my house at about eleven this morning.
It’s good to be back! Except for my left side and possibly a bit of vision, I’m not too bad either. I managed a trip to Waitrose with just a driver.
Feeling Better
Ensconsed in Ward R2 at Addenbrookes and hopfully I’ll be really home in a few days.
Food is not bad and it’s much more relaxed than Hong Kong.
The Anonymous Widower 