Category Archives: Healthcare

Of Love And Asthma II: The Literal Version

September 9, 2013Asthma, Edinburgh, Healthcare, Strokericky

[For some important site news, click on “Blog News” at the top of the page.
No, wait! Read this first. Don’t get distracted….]

A wise man once said, omne trium perfectum. [Good post, that one. Deserved more comments.]

Things that come in threes are (1) inherently funnier, (2) more satisfying, or (3) more effective than other numbers of things.

Friendoftheblogron and I both poured scorn on this idea, but it turns out there might be something in it. Both on a micro (and a macro) level. So let’s clear the last of the asthma trilogy off the decks before we start the countdown to Strokiversary.

Igor Stravinsky — Strokiversary: Widely considered to be one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century.

Continue reading Of Love And Asthma II: The Literal Version →

Share this:

Of Love And Asthma

September 5, 2013Healthcare, Home Care, Poetry, Rehab, Strokericky

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”.

Yeah. No. — I thought you were going to call this post, “A la recherche de la respiration perdu”.

Continue reading Of Love And Asthma →

Share this:

The Power Of Three

July 1, 2013Healthcare, Lists, Strokericky

They say catastrophes come in threes. Today, the cistern went berserk and flooded the bathroom, the printer refused to print text (although images were fine), and the portable heater that was meant to dry out the bathroom took a stroke. Also, The Care Bears Movie, Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation and The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland.

Yay, Rory! — Not everyone agreed with the BBC’s choices to play Stroke Bloke, Paw Broon and Beth

Continue reading The Power Of Three →

Share this:

Revenge Of The (Man Or) Cyberman – Part The Second

June 6, 2013Healthcarericky

On Monday, I returned to Methodist yet again for the removal of the ambulatory EEG wires. It’s always kinda good to go back, ‘cos everyone’s always very nice, and particularly since I have no memory of the original stay. We walked past the more undercover, apartment building-esque, side of Methodist the other day, and Beth was able to point out my old window and related that the ward had a pretty nice view. It wasted on me, though.

Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn — “Passages Malibu looks nothing like the advert!”

Continue reading Revenge Of The (Man Or) Cyberman – Part The Second →

Share this:

Revenge Of The (Man Or) Cyberman

June 3, 2013Healthcarericky

So, after a very pleasant Friday lunch special at Sotto Voce with Diesel (try the fusilli with four cheese cream sauce and chopped walnuts — delicious), we headed a block south to our home from home at Methodist Hospital (The Presbyterian Church of Wales, M.C. Escher, etc.) for me to get fitted up with my ambulatory EEG. Actually, the last time Escher was mentioned in these parts was in relation to our last visit to the social security offices in Brooklyn. Nevertheless, Methodist has a similar Ascending and Descending vibe after you pass through the patients’ and visitors’ entrance to the main building. Beth noted that this is probably directly related to the fact that the hospital is built on a (park) slope. And, unlike at the broo, the approach seems to be deliberate.

Hullawrrer. Again.

on the broo – Phrs. Unemployed, claiming unemployment benefits. Also ‘on the burroo’. [Scottish use]

— Ted Duckworth (@slangdictionary) August 25, 2011 Continue reading Revenge Of The (Man Or) Cyberman →

Share this:

Back In The DHSS

April 15, 2013Healthcare, Strokericky

After last week’s Thatcherite hagiography (sic), we’re staying in the vein of Stroke Bloke’s favourite under-appreciated decade a little longer, with gritty British cinema and thoughts regarding the treatment and merits of benefit applicants. Oh, and a little HMHB.

The animated firemen of Trumpton yell "SCAB!!" at a scab. — “… there’s gonna be riot down in Trumpton Tonight.”
It’s like the ’80s never went away.

Continue reading Back In The DHSS →

Share this:

Sheer Human Magnetism

March 25, 2013Healthcarericky

It’s been too long since we had a good old-fashioned, bread and butter medical post, right? You can’t beat a good bit of medical testing. Unless you’re a bunny, of course. Or a cat. Blimey, our cats got “chipped” the other week, and it seemed horribly traumatizing. Kinda rammed home the point that vegetarianism was a good choice, when you see how the animals reacted to simply being wrapped tightly in a towel by the nice vet man. And having microchips fired into their legs. But human testing? Now you’re talking!

Michael Fassbender as Magneto — Stroke Bloke, earlier today.
He wishes.

Continue reading Sheer Human Magnetism →

Share this:

Reefer Madness

February 11, 2013Healthcare, Strokericky

If you read Time magazine, you may be under the impression that smoking marijuana increases one’s risk of stroke. To quote the relevant article, “[i]n one presentation to the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference, researchers from the University of Auckland in New Zealand found an increased risk of stroke among those smoking marijuana compared to those who did not.”

That's some good gear, man — Researchers at Auckland University, yesterday

Continue reading Reefer Madness →

Share this:

The Cure / Not The Cure, or, My Aneurysm

December 31, 2012Aneurysms, Healthcarericky

This past Friday, I resumed my conversation with mortality. It had been on the way, I suppose, since Beth had first mentioned what a pleasant time she’d had attending her first aneurysm awareness meeting. I’ve since been to one myself, and discovered from fellow attendees that a ruptured aneurysm is quite similar to a hemorrhagic stroke. That is, getting wheeled into the ER, unresponsive, late on a weekend evening, with potentially catastrophic results, and, generally, something to be avoided. Anyway, I guess that was Beth’s way of gently getting me used to the fact that the work-ups from my stroke had revealed that I had at least one aneurysm. Continue reading The Cure / Not The Cure, or, My Aneurysm →

Share this:

Apoplectic Me

the scribblings of a bloke who had a stroke…

Category Archives: Healthcare

Of Love And Asthma II: The Literal Version

Of Love And Asthma

The Power Of Three

Revenge Of The (Man Or) Cyberman – Part The Second

Revenge Of The (Man Or) Cyberman

Back In The DHSS

Sheer Human Magnetism

Reefer Madness

The Cure / Not The Cure, or, My Aneurysm