Keep Yourself Alive

This is an excuse to lead with one of my favourite Queen songs “Keep Yourself Alive” which I believe was their first single , not sure it was a hit , but I bought it , loved Brian May’s phased guitar effects plus the “No Synthesisers” notices on the record labels.

But I was looking at the medication that I am taking which is essentially :

Morning

• 2 Injections
• 7 tablets

Dinner Time (I am a proper Northerner)

• 1 Injection
• 9 tablets

Tea Time

• 1 Injection
• 2 tablets

I haven’t said what I am taking but those who know me can probably guess.

I also take part in trials and although they tell me I don’t need to , I reply and tell them that if people didn’t take part in trials I probably wouldn’t be here today. I have taken part in a few fatty liver trials , and my liver problems were probably caused by me being overweight and drinking too much.

Around the millennium after an ITP incident I lost the use of my left hand for a while . I thought it was from a trapped nerve from the drip but an MRI scan showed a blood clot on the brain, we concluded that the ITP had resulted in bleeding on the brain , possibly a stroke, but as all was under control we decided life could continue.

Ever since my first ITP incident I now do a daily check just in case, scanning for tiny bruises. My ITP story is here.

Then another time I lost the use of my left hand and was unable to hold a fork properly . Initial diagnosis was a TIA , a very minor heart attack. I informed my boss at the time who then told me he wanted to put me under as much pressure as possible, I no longer work for that company.

I always look after myself , not a hypochondriac but err on the side of safety. Further investigations including electric shock treatment identified this as a real trapped nerve , and required surgery , and while it was being done the surgeon asked if I was Ok with the radio being on. It was either Planet Rock or Kerrang because I remember Deep Purple playing and I have my left hand back and pushed myself to do some guitar work to get it working again.

I also took up the million step challenge which is a million steps in three months and kept it going on a rolling basis for a few years . It is only 11K steps a day which is about four and half miles , but that has kept me in reasonable physical shape. I stripped it back to 7K steps a day but I still keep in decent shape.

When I got hit with my latest issue , the main consultant told me normally these situations were not good , but as my physical shape is so good anything they need to do should be no major problem, and things seem to be very positive going forward. Details of my initial treatment are here.

So essentially , even if you have nothing wrong with you , you should exercise and keep a positive frame of mind. As someone said , if you think you are going to die you will.

My problems are all physical but these can take a toll on your mental health as well but I do have some amazing people in my life who make me determined to be around for a very long time.

I have written some other pieces related to mental health with links such as the poems So Movember and So Movember Too.

If you have anything wrong go and see your doctor , look after yourself , talk to people and Keep Yourself Alive.