JON: Nothing new on Ritalin yet – possibly my prescription is stuck in the Xmas mail. The sooner it gets here the better. Meanwhile:
Xmas week thick snow covered most of northern Europe and our out-door thermometer recorded a low of –11 C – and that’s without taking into account the wind chill factor. I know this for a fact since I was made to walk around in it.
And that’s it, really, in terms of holiday activity. As often before, Marie and I have ignored Christmas. Okay, we ate and drank well, and were even moderately merry, but I am very pleased to say that there were no decorations, gifts, crackers or silly hats. Some good books, a number of icy walks, much cooking (on Marie’s part) and a fair bit of napping (on my part). Pretty good. I am planning for a repeat over the New Year’s break.
And I have, for once, deserved a break, because earlier this month I was quite the jet setter, flying first to Nottingham (on my own!) to give a lecture and then to Leeds with Marie to see the kids and grandkids, all of whom are wonderful, intelligent, beautiful and charming (though I may perhaps be slightly prejudiced).
The visit to Nottingham went well. I stayed with a friend, and we talked much of teeth, food and ‘the good old times’. Happily, the lecture I was there to give went OK too. I’ve shown this material before and thought I had the timing down to a T, with a number of loops and possible exit points to adjust the length, so my running slow was not too problematic. Near the end I lost it, though, and found myself staring at the screen in bewilderment before admitting that ‘I’m sorry, I haven’t a clue what this slide shows – let’s just move on…’
But I got interesting questions, no-one fell asleep, and I got taken out for what might have been a rather fine meal had I not spent so much time talking that when we finally arrived at the restaurant the chef had gone home. However, they served beer and peanuts so not all was lost.
Giving the lecture was, I think, less stressful than the one I gave last year, This I suspect was mainly due to the timing. Last time my 9am lecture involved a 5am start so I could get my body in gear, i.e. have sufficient time to enter my ON state, whereas this time we planned the lecture so that I would give it during my normal ON period.
Medical bulletin: Hot news is that I have a new appointment (at last) to have my sleep patterns recorded at a special hospital clinic. We tried this last year and it was an utter disaster. I was laboriously wired up to a 32 channel EEG – looked like a porcupine gone very wrong with cables super-glued to head, chest and limbs. Marie left the clinic at about 8:00 pm, I fell asleep at 08:01 pm and immediately ripped the electrodes off my head – very painful if you are awake, quite painless if asleep. By this time the night shift had come on and nobody knew how to replace the electrodes. Which kind of confirmed that I had a sleep disorder... This time it should be less dramatic, as I’m told I just twitch a bit when I’m in dreaming. Well, I twitch when I’m awake, don’t I, but we’ve been down that road. OK, I also jerk about and talk quite loudly in my sleep, which I admit is a bit anti-social. We’ll soon see what the doctors think.
Xmas week thick snow covered most of northern Europe and our out-door thermometer recorded a low of –11 C – and that’s without taking into account the wind chill factor. I know this for a fact since I was made to walk around in it.
And that’s it, really, in terms of holiday activity. As often before, Marie and I have ignored Christmas. Okay, we ate and drank well, and were even moderately merry, but I am very pleased to say that there were no decorations, gifts, crackers or silly hats. Some good books, a number of icy walks, much cooking (on Marie’s part) and a fair bit of napping (on my part). Pretty good. I am planning for a repeat over the New Year’s break.
And I have, for once, deserved a break, because earlier this month I was quite the jet setter, flying first to Nottingham (on my own!) to give a lecture and then to Leeds with Marie to see the kids and grandkids, all of whom are wonderful, intelligent, beautiful and charming (though I may perhaps be slightly prejudiced).
The visit to Nottingham went well. I stayed with a friend, and we talked much of teeth, food and ‘the good old times’. Happily, the lecture I was there to give went OK too. I’ve shown this material before and thought I had the timing down to a T, with a number of loops and possible exit points to adjust the length, so my running slow was not too problematic. Near the end I lost it, though, and found myself staring at the screen in bewilderment before admitting that ‘I’m sorry, I haven’t a clue what this slide shows – let’s just move on…’
But I got interesting questions, no-one fell asleep, and I got taken out for what might have been a rather fine meal had I not spent so much time talking that when we finally arrived at the restaurant the chef had gone home. However, they served beer and peanuts so not all was lost.
Giving the lecture was, I think, less stressful than the one I gave last year, This I suspect was mainly due to the timing. Last time my 9am lecture involved a 5am start so I could get my body in gear, i.e. have sufficient time to enter my ON state, whereas this time we planned the lecture so that I would give it during my normal ON period.
Medical bulletin: Hot news is that I have a new appointment (at last) to have my sleep patterns recorded at a special hospital clinic. We tried this last year and it was an utter disaster. I was laboriously wired up to a 32 channel EEG – looked like a porcupine gone very wrong with cables super-glued to head, chest and limbs. Marie left the clinic at about 8:00 pm, I fell asleep at 08:01 pm and immediately ripped the electrodes off my head – very painful if you are awake, quite painless if asleep. By this time the night shift had come on and nobody knew how to replace the electrodes. Which kind of confirmed that I had a sleep disorder... This time it should be less dramatic, as I’m told I just twitch a bit when I’m in dreaming. Well, I twitch when I’m awake, don’t I, but we’ve been down that road. OK, I also jerk about and talk quite loudly in my sleep, which I admit is a bit anti-social. We’ll soon see what the doctors think.
1 comment:
oh gwad - what my husband does in his sleep is a nightmare for me.
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