I was born in Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia in October 1949, which now makes me nearly 72 years old as I rewrite this.
In my working life, I trained and worked as an Electrician - Electrical Fitter & Mechanic from 1964 until 2001.
I finished work aged 52.
I now help friends and acquaintances with their computers.In October 2014 I went onto the Aged Pension
I lived with mum, who lived until nearly 92 years old.
Very sadly, she passed away March 2019.
As my life took a very tortured path, emotionally and financially - divorces and separations - it led me to living back with her.
Luckily, it worked out well for mum at that stage of her life, as someone was there for her, for company and to take her to doctors etc.
Mum had only recently had a "Pacemaker" fitted and a blockage in the arteries to her legs removed, as she was in pain and couldn't walk.
The blood flow wasn't enough to heal infections caused by bumps, cuts etc.
That helped her walk again and helped her sores heal. She was a lot more alert and enjoyed life a lot more.
She also had two artificial heart valves fitted in 1998.
The "Bionic woman" :) :)
I am now in a relationship with a lovely woman, Judy Daft, but we live in separate homes, as it is practical, in light of our life experiences, even though I miss her company a lot.
She needed both of her knees replaced and a hip replacement!
She had one knee done very successfully but the anaesthetic caused her kidneys to drop their efficiency and it was recommended she not have the second knee done, because of further danger to her kidneys, which has left her with pain and difficulty walking.Recently his year, 2021, she started oozing fluid from her legs and as I write this, she is with me at her son's home recuperating after being hospitalized in Ipswich, so her Cardiac specialist could do as much as he could to help her heart and kidneys, as she has Congestive Heart Failure.
At the end of June 2016 I started getting headaches and was finding my sight was very dull.
Words on the computer seemed to be disappearing in parts of sentences.
At the time I had chooks. I couldn't see the eggs when I went to collect them.
I had to cut a branch away from the house as it was banging against the gutter. To do that, I had to climb a ladder.
I found I was getting disoriented while trying to line up where to cut it.After talking with mum, we came to the conclusion that I might be suffering from migraine headaches which affected her in a lot of her life.
Because it concerned me so much, I contacted my optometrist and asked him to check my eyes.
He couldn't find any problems other than a chance of cataracts well into the future.I then contacted my doctor and as usual my blood pressure was way too high. He increased my medications but had no answer to my dim eyesight.
On the night of 29th June 2016 I was having really bad headaches above both of my eyes and at the back of my head. It felt like sinus headaches, so I decided to take some Panadol Osteo and go to bed and hopefully sleep it off.
Around 3.00am I woke and as I ran my hand across my forehead, I realized it was dripping with sweat. It was a freezing cold night in Winter in Kingaroy,so the sweat was really cold.
The headache was gone but I realized the room was darker than normal and the bedside radio clock wasn't as bright as it usually was.
As I woke completely, I realized something was VERY wrong.
I climbed out of bed and felt my way to the light switch and turned it on. Still very dim light in the room.
As I am a Type 2 Diabetic, I wondered if I was having what they call a "hypo", as I'd never experienced one.
So I found my way to the kitchen where my tester was.
Even with the fluorescent light on I had difficulty reading the LCD screen on my tester, but eventually made out the reading.
It was 2.0! It was supposed to be a minimum of 4.5.
That confirmed to me that I was having a "hypo".
I searched around for something sugary to raise the level. I found dates and some chocolate and woofed them down. I tested again in a few minutes and it had gone up 1.0 to 3.0.I waited a few more minutes and it had risen to 4.5, but my eyesight was still very dim and fuzzy.
Mum was still asleep.
I decided to ring 000 for advice. I fumbled around with the phone trying to see the zero. I eventually found it and pressed it 3 times. An operator answered immediately and questioned me.
I was pretty upset by then thinking I was going blind. She was very calm and asked my address etc and said to wait by the door with a light on.Within minutes a paramedic arrived and took over. He told me he thought I'd had a stroke and was going to take me to the hospital.
Long story short, he was correct and since then my life has changed a lot.
I spent time in two hospitals, been to opthamologists and spent time at relatives as I "recovered".
I am not allowed to drive, as the stroke took out a lot of the left vision in both eyes.
My eyes see as well as they always could.
I still need glasses to sharpen up the image but some of the fibres supplying the information to my brain have been destroyed, therefore my brain has to put the image together as best it can with what it's supplied.The condition has a name, "Homonymous Hemianopia".
So, therefore I am not able to do a lot of things as well as I used to.
One is driving.
In my mind I was convinced I would be able to drive.
I arranged an appointment with a specialist who gave me a test on a computer.I was given an example of driving through streets with cars and pedestrians. I was to click the mouse at certain times to avoid collisions.
I confidently completed the tasks and waited for the results. The examiner asked me how I thought I went. I genuinely felt I'd done well, and said so.
The examiner told me I'd done really well ........... other than colliding with an oncoming car and running over two kids on a pedestrian crossing.
So that was that!
It's amazing how your brain handles things.Another is not updating these pages as frequently as I used to.
I can still see the Laptop screen but as you can imagine, it presents problems at times.
I'm a bit slower using it and the light intensity of the screen can be a problem.
Reading pages of newspapers is a pain as I can't see the full page and need to scan across to take in the full story and pictures.
Movie theatres are the same. But I do manage, although I do notice it tires me from concentrating so much.With masses of people now on Facebook, most of my time is spent there, rather than here, but I still love doing these pages, so that one or two people have something to read. :) :) :)
The doctors say my vision "may" improve and not to give up hope, as the brain is a very complex organ and slow to heal.
I last updated this page on 28th October 2017and there wasn't any significant improvement but I learnt to cope as this is now my reality.
I can't blame anyone, other than myself - maybe a better lifestyle could have prevented it, though my grandfather on Dad's side had a stroke at 75 years old.
Over time I saw others around me have major health problems. I thought of that saying - "there but for the grace of God go I".
I wondered when my turn was coming. Well, it's arrived.
Since the last update of this page, more health problems have arrived.
I still love life and I hope my health holds out a lot longer and that of my loved ones around me who have done everything they can to make my life easier.
I love them and thank them so much.
What a lot of old crocks we've become. :) :)
I've found one thing in life is certain, and that is change, so I try to live each day as happily as I can.