Last Sunday, I had a particularly late night as we were giving a send off for a soon to be retired colleague from work.
The event carried on into the early hours however that was no problem as I was not scheduled to start work until 1.00pm on Monday afternoon.
It was almost midday as I staggered out of bed & almost collapsed on the floor, nothing unusual about that with a big hangover after a big night out.
As I took an extended shower to try to wake myself up, several thoughts were going through my head.
What is this strange sensation of pins & needles all the way up from my left foot to the top of my shoulder , even my top lip is tingling.
No time to worry about that now, I'am running late & have to pull my finger out just to get to work on time.
That particular shift was a very busy one which took my mind of the pins & needles.
By the time that I got home that night, the pins & needles had eased in my arm & there was no issue with my upper lip although the left foot in particular & the upper thigh were still tingling.
Tuesday morning & i'm still experiencing these pins & needles, suppose that I had better go to the doc who I haven't seen in several years.
So I ring up & they are booked out for the day , hesitantly I make an appointment for Wednesday morning. ( i'm sure to be right by then in which case I can just cancel the appointment ).
No improvement Wednesday morning so I front the doc.
I must admit that I did start to get a bit concerned once I had related to the doctor what had been happening over the last couple of days as his reaction was to send me immediately to the hospital that afternoon for an M.I.R. scan.
Before I left, he did ask me to clarify a couple of answers that I had provided on a questionnaire that I had filled out earlier.
Les, you've indicated here that you drink on average a dozen stubbies everyday & smoke up to 20 cigarettes daily , that can't be right, you are a respectable weight for your size & you look about ten years younger than your actual age ?
Definitely incorrect Doctor, the intake of alcohol is entirely dependant on my shifts, overnight shifts, absolutely no alcohol at all , afternoon shifts when I finish at 10pm, usually none at all but occasionally & particularly if I start playing chi to wind down a bit then there may well be a few beers involved & as for the day shifts, well that is probably where our dozen a day comes into it but then of course on days off there is no limit so that is how I came up with that average.
After enduring the following 10 minute lecture about how bad these habits were for my health, I was given another appointment for Thursday morning to review the results of the scan.
Sure enough, the results confirm that I have had a mild stroke with no serious brain damage ( any affected brain cells were probably already killed years ago due to excessive alcohol abuse ) there are still a couple of other test results to come back on Monday but i'm sure that they will be ok, the only ongoing issue that I have is pins & needles in my left foot which comes & goes & the doctor says that if it doesn't fix itself within the next two years then you will probably have to put up with that for the rest of your life.