About a year ago, perhaps longer, I attended Kings College Hospital A & E Stroke Unit, for a suspected stoke. I was having a problem with the right side of my body (trembling right arm and complete numbness in the right leg, causing me to drop things and fall over) I have since had the matter dealt with at St Thomas’s and Guys Hospitals by the insertion of a stent which is allowing greater blood flow to the brain and providing the necessary oxygen to vastly improve the situation. I am, more or less, back to what one could call normal. It’s just age and getting older.
Recently I received a phone call from a young person at the King’s Stroke Register asking me to complete a follow up form to gauge just how things have progressed. I confess, I cannot remember the actual date I attended the Unit. At the time I did I not think what I was going through was a particularly severe condition which would classify as a stroke. I was still reasonable articulate, my ability to count backwards was good, I could calculate numbers by subtracting 7, I knew who the Prime Minister was , I knew where I was and I was aware of the date. In any event, it was deemed a stroke of some kind, so I was sent the questionnaire. I am not aware whether the person who rang had full knowledge of the treatment that I have received since that visit so I wasn’t sure what sort of survey the might be, but I suggested she email me the forms and I would send them back a.s.a.p. I have done this but I have yet to receive any acknowledgment that the forms have been received.
I did find the questions a rather mixed bag of straight factual enquiries (date of birth, where you live, follow up repetition of incidents or new conditions, follow up medical appointments, do you have careers, get meals on wheels etc..) and qualitative valuations of ones general feelings about life. (I have just received an acknowledgement - tee hee) The answers to these ‘feeling’ questions where tick boxes with:
Not at all -A little bit -Moderately- Quite a bit - Extremely
And yet others with:
All of the time - A good bit of the time - A little of the time -Most of the time- Some of the time- None of the time.
So when asked “How much time during the last month have you felt calm and peaceful?” and “During the last month, have you felt downhearted and low?” I believe the entire population of the UK might have a similar answer.
There is also a heading:
This questionnaire is designed to help us know how you feel. Please give the reply which comes closest to how you have been feeling in the past week. Don't take too long over your replies: your immediate reaction to each item will probably be more accurate than a long thought out response.
To which one responds:
Most of the time - A lot of the time - Occasionally - Not at all - Nearly all the time - Definitely as much - Very definitely and quite badly - A little , but it does’t worry me - Not Often - Sometimes- As much as I always could - Not quite so much now - Time to Time
( These are all tick boxes)
The general questions relating to these replies are, inter alia:
I feel tense or ‘Wound up’.
I get a sort of frightened feeling like butterflies.
I get sort of frightened as if something awful is about to happen.
I feel restless as if I have to be on the move.
Worrying thoughts go through my mind.
I get sudden feelings of panic
I feel cheerful
I can laugh and see the funny side of things.
For my answer to that last question I ticked - As much as I always could. Indeed, none of the above conditions, in my view, applies specifically to strokes, unless one thinks that just being alive is a form of stroke in itself. I do not think there is a person anywhere in today’s current climate who does not at some point feel wound up, butterflies or that something awful is about happen. Just watching or listening to the news is enough to elicit any of those feelings. I would add that in the current state of affairs, one’s immediate reaction is probably just as accurate as a long thought out response.
It also occurs to me that perhaps it would be interesting to conduct my own survey. I wonder how Messrs Starmer, Macron, Trump, Putin, any Labour MP or Republican Congressman might answer the questions? So herewith below is the relevant section of the forms. Perhaps you could let me know your feelings on the matter? I would love to know how cheerful you are 😁🤣 Replies to edwardklein@btinternet.com.
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