Numb and Tingly
14 January
Having said that I was starting to feel some movement in my life, it was perhaps inevitable that I should immediately experience a counter swing to the pendulum.
In fact more than that, I feel as though I slammed into a complete brick wall.
It being the beginning of January, I spent a couple of days down in Oxford at the annual business meeting of the national committee that I sit on. It's a hard slog as Phil will tell you - he now sits on the same committee. We had a good meal on the Monday night with a little (though not a lottle) of alkyfrol to accompany it.
The following morning I woke up with the duvet on one side of the room and the sheets on the other. Over breakfast, I had a slight headache and nausea. Now, you don't think a lot about these things at the time. You say "Oh well, that's the result of having two or three glasses of indifferent red wine and then two pints of lager." Anyhow, I braced myself for the rest of the day and, fortified with some coffee, made my usual committed interventions.
By the evening when I got home, I was still feeling rough and was in bed by 9pm.
Didn't think too much of that. Went into work the following day feeling slightly achy and, by the time I left a meeting at the CVCP building in Bloomsbury, I was tingly all down my left side, leg, arm, face. And numb with it too. It didn't help that there were rows and unspoken tensions at work.
I felt worse that night. To tell the truth I was frightened. I felt like I felt two years ago when I really crapped out. To tell the truth, I wondered if I'd had a stroke. I tried to get some healing from Margaret but she was already committed and the regular Wednesday evening clinics that I used to attend have been discontinued. So, I took a deep breath and did an hour's yoga in my top front room with candles and relaxing aromas. And I slept as a result.
First thing in the morning I was at the doctor's. Well, my worst fears were not realised. I had not had a stroke. The most interesting suggestion was a possible migraine-like reaction which had left me with the physiological after-effects.
It's still not worn off. Certainly, when I went for a drink that Thursday night with Chris and Anne from work, they were concerned because I was still trailing my left leg.
The week at work ended with an update meeting as part of my ongoing staff review. Towards the end of the interview, my line manager, Rick who is by and large a good thing, asked me "Are you enjoying working at UCL?" I fudged it.
Thank goodness Ross will be here soon and
we can begin the weekend in the bath.
