Hooray! It’s the long-anticipated return of the stroke news digest!
There have been some interesting stroke stories in the news this week, and I’d like to share them with you…
[Read on, and don’t forget to check out the Apoplexy Newsletter.] Continue reading Digesta Plaga #11
This weekend, Longsufferinggirlfriendoftheblogbeth and I staged a wee karaoke party to celebrate, among other things, the first anniversary of my fortieth birthday.
Hat tip to @Pab_Roberts for drawing my attention to the lovely fact that the word karaoke is a bimoraic clipped compound of the Japanese kara 空 “empty” and ōkesutora オーケストラ “orchestra”. We had great fun, and were glad that, that night, the clocks went back in Edinburgh (and the rest of Scotland and the other countries that comprise the islands known as Britain, and Ireland, too – Ed.).
This brought my attention to the issue of sleep and fatigue, which I’m surprised to find has rarely been discussed on the blog…. Continue reading Never As Tired As When I’m Waking Up
Have you had enough time to recover from the last sex-themed post? Do you want some more? OK…. A couple of weeks ago, apoplectic.me contributed to the tsunami of sexual content on the internet, in a fairly G-rated (or U-rated, depending on your location) post. Well, maybe not a tsunami. It’s not like sexual content has suddenly burst onto the interwebz like a firehose, spraying effluvia all over your laptop. No, it’s more like the Great Pacific garbage patch — an endless build-up of material that’s probably in excess of 5,800,000 sq mi.
[The environmentally-conscious recycling of that metaphor reminds me —
there are exciting times ahead at apoplectic.me.
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Continue reading After The Refractory Period
Have your ever found yourself suffering from a medical condition that you’d never given much thought before, and suddenly found that it’s everywhere?
-My dog’s got no nose. -How does it smell? -Like burnt toast. -You’re having a stroke. -Oh.
— Matt Kirshen (@mattkirshen) October 14, 2013
All Asthmatics, being angry or sad,
do fall into Fits oftener than when
they are cheerful
Sir John Floyer, A Treatise of the Asthma — 1698
Proust cropped up in the blog a while ago. I’ve never read any of his stuff, I have to admit. But I have discovered that he suffered his first asthma attack at the age of nine, and thereafter was considered a sickly child. The pneumonia that finally killed him followed asthma brought on by the young Samuel Beckett’s cigar-smoking. I’ve seen him referred to as “the asthma poet”.
Continue reading Of Love And Asthma
Back to brass tacks. Back to apoplexy, and the latest exciting installment of Digesta Plaga.
Continue reading Digesta Plaga #5 — Apoplectic and Auric
“They #^<{ you up, your mum and dad/They may not mean to, but they do…” [With apologies to Philip Larkin. And my mum and dad.]
They say that a big part of growing up is becoming aware of one’s parents’ mortality. Continue reading This Be The Verse…
[N.B.: This post discusses post-stroke depression and crying, as well as the inspiration to be received from the music of Edwyn Collins. Depression is very common in both stroke survivors and their carers. (Post-stroke depression (PSD) has been reported in not less than 30% and up to 50% of all stroke survivors (Robinson, 1998; DH, 2007a). The prevalence of PSD peaks at six months after stroke.) If you think you or your family/carer may be affected by this issue, please help your recovery by going to your doctor. The National Stroke Association has also published an excellent fact sheet on coping with emotions after stroke, which I’d also suggest you look at if this is an issue for you.] Continue reading Rip It Up
Although when I was taken to Methodist, Beth correctly indicated my religious preference as “atheist” (and if you can’t back it up on your near-death bed, what kind of a rubbish atheist are you?), I’ve always thought that any given piece of writing can’t have enough biblical text in in it. I even whipped out 1 Corinthians 13:13 to send in a text while I was in rehab at the Hospital for Joint Disease. Today’s text is, “Physician, heal thyself.” (Luke 4:23) Continue reading The Hypertension Tolerance Test
So, last night, I took on a big project. Sorting out winter clothes, random clothing rearrangement, and hanging an uber-mod hook from the wall for hanging scarves. All while Beth took a well-deserved break at yoga, so there were to be no falls or putting a screw through one’s hand. Continue reading Being a Man Again: Strokes, Power Tools and James Bond.