Sitting waiting to be seen by the doctor, I noticed Elvis standing silently in the corner. He wasn't saying much but it occured to me that in an area where doctors evaluate how your head is doing, this was a somewhat cruel and unusual situation. Thankfully it was a cardboard cut-out and he and the four-foot bunny-rabbit in a nurse's outfit a few chairs down were not hallucinations. Possibly. Uh-huh.
The doc's given me a clean bill of health, technically. He told me in specific detail what had happened back in November ( the brain: imagine a main river with lots of side-streams... it was a side-stream that got swollen at one crucial point and momentarily threatened to break its bank. If it had, or if it had been the main river, Celene Dion would have been warbling as I sank... and let's be honest, no-one wants that. He told me that forty is a young age for this have happened and while there was no serious chance of it happening again - same chance now as the average person in the street - it's still a case of being in the 20% or so where they have no explanation for why it happened at all (I don't smoke or have high blood pressure which are key contributary factors). So that doesn't quite put my mind at ease. Literally.
However, asking about regular exercise, it appears I have a Get out of Jail Free card in that he simply doesn't advise I do any regime for a while. So I'm trying to do more walking and I need to cut down on the chocolate that has been my crutch since the end of last year, but if I can lose weight without actually having to work up a daily sweat then that's fine by me. Mayhaps I should start after Easter. It also should mean that if I go with the Post Office's annual travel insurance, I should be fully covered - Thomas Cook's more complex policy would have seen me pay over £350 for just one trip and wouldn't have insured anything above the neck.
So, ladies and gentlepersons....Mosby has left the Neurology Building. Thankyouverymuch.
Ain't nothing like doing your OWN head in! I needed a wife to do that for me! :)
Travel insurance is a bit of a minefield, and all too frequently basic features that should be in every travel insurance package by default are inexplicably small-printed out. I'm rather under the impression that the entire industry - which is supposed to be regulated - is operating as a massive con.
While I was waiting for work authorization I spent a full 6 months in the US without any medical insurance at all. Frankly, that was a very scary time. Fortunately I had HMO insurance when I did get hospitalised, and of the $39K medical bill that ensued, I was personally billed all of $9.
If you do get the chance, though (and you're definitely covered by insurance), I highly recommend a week in a US hospital. The drugs are great, the TV package isn't bad either. My only regret, in fact, is that I didn't make it out of there with a few towels and a couple of bathrobes. ;)
I have to say that Leeds General Infrimary did a bang up job with me back in November. When I arrived by ambulance, being sick and double-up with ehadaches, I was seen very quickly and after a night on a basic ward I got my own room up in Neurology with private television and very nice staff. They screwed up my food two days running, but the paentals brought in fruit and jaffa cakes, so all was good. The test they gave me before released me on Nov 4th was fun - being asked what images of certain animals were, what day it was etc. Then they asked who was the US Presdient and I said 'Depends on what time it is!' The doctor smiled and said it was obvious I was fine.
The travel insurance search this time was annoying and it became rather clear that if you go further up the chain with questions, then the default setting is 'we can't cover you unless you mortage your first-born'. However I went through the Post Office insurance leaflet with a fine-tooth comb and even ran them to make sure and it appears that as I'm not still being treated and the doc I saw last week agreed that this check-up was a formality, not a neccessity, I appear to be well within the rules to travel under standard coverage. £90 for the year. Not too bad.
No reason to think the sub-arachnoid haemorrhage will happen again. Having being shot, poisoned and now smited by God. I think I've earned an adventurous life from now on, rather than a dramatic one.
Poisoned?? Did Pete Dixon nearly claim another victim?? :-D