Today is the first day of Skepticon. I was supposed to be there. I wanted to be there. But instead, I’m at home.
What happened is that on Tuesday I had my second encounter with a transient ischemic attack — the first was about a year and a half ago. I was just sitting at the computer, typing away, when suddenly I couldn’t remember how to spell anything, and the letters and words were swimming about on the computer screen. It was disconcerting. After a short while, everything went back to normal, but I called my doctor anyway — I got a CT scan yesterday (alles klar, no gross observable bleeds or anything like that), and I feel perfectly fine now. I’ll be visiting a neurologist in the near future for a more thorough checkup.
I suspect it was recent grief and sleeplessness and exhaustion and too damn much travel recently that brought it on, so I’m treating it by getting enough sleep. I woke up at 4am this morning, and often I’d just get up and start my day, but this time I got up, walked to the bathroom, and came back to bed and got an additional 2 hours of sleep. No more absurdly early bird for me.
Unfortunately, one thing I cannot trust my brain to do is to hop into a car and drive for 11 hours to St Louis. Once upon a time, yes, no problem, but now I picture suddenly becoming disoriented and confused on I35 because I’d pushed myself too far. Of course, my other nightmare is that happening in the middle of a class, which would be a bit awkward. What good is a professor who loses the ability to read and write?
At least I’ve still got my fall-back profession of exotic dancer to rely on…unless there’s also motor involvement. I’d better take care of myself and stay rested for my own good.
Have them check for patent foramen ovale(PVO), an often overlooked source of arterial microemboli. From memory you’re on all the right drugs already, so ideally this shouldn’t happen. All the best!
Too old for academia? Have you considered politics?
Well, if your motor functions won’t let you Fan Dance in real life, there’s Final Fantasy 14. Dancer job comes with Fan Dance I-IV as you level up. /s
Hope all goes well and your medical team puts together a good plan quickly.
PZ – Sorry about your episode; glad you’re recovered enough to write it up. I think we’re about the same age, and I gave up 11 hour drives and low-sleep nights years ago.
At our age, we have to play a strong defense.
At my age, I’m also one of those who avoids blasting down interstate highways; and that’s the main reason why it’ll take me about 45 minutes to get to the hospital for my last chemo treatment today.
I still feel confident about driving on city streets, especially since I consciously take extra care in avoiding doing anything stupid; but I also note that we H. sapiens find it easy to delude ourselves.
Wait a minute. You mean getting enough sleep is voluntary?
Dear PZ, please take good care of yourself. I say this for your sake, for your family, your students and selfishly, because we value what you contribute in the way of important information and allowing further good info to be provided by commenters (except for the smart-asses – hey, wait, I resemble that remark).
I suspect all the recent extreme stress and poor sleeping habits may contribute. Sleep is critical. As you well know, it is where you pull into the garage at night and your body fixes itself. Don’t drive out before the repairs are done!
I’m sorry you are missing Skepticon, but not making an 11 hour drive seems a wise choice. Grief takes a lot of energy and you need to nurture your health and give yourself plenty of downtime. Rest is especially crucial.
Take care!
They say that young parents don’t get any sleep. The young part: this is not you.
As delightfully adorable as all these new babies you’ve been getting at this time of your life, now is perhaps the time to source a little help with them?
More sleep is good in my book. I hope that the neurologist is helpful and further incidents can be avoided. Sorry you are missing Skepticon, it’s obvious how much you enjoy the whole thing, although perhaps it’s for the best after all you ended up bringing more spiders home last time IIRC, and . . . I hesitate to say this, but you’ve probably got enough with all of the egg sacs, and the spiderlings, and the adults.
Ah PZ, I think you have reached that stage in life called “not as young as I used to be”.
Glad you are seeing neurologist, TIAs mean something, and after my 2 strokes I can tell you that you really don’t want one. If you have another incident get to hospital emergency as fast as you can, every minute past about 30 can make a difference to effect and recovery.
And 11 hour drives? Oh come on PZ, the last I did of those I was in my 20s, and swore never again. Falling asleep/TIA while driving at speed is a recipe for….well, you know.
Get well soon old man.
I agree with @12, nomdeplume. TIAs should be treated as seriously and urgently as strokes. There’s simply no way of knowing at the time which one it’s going to be.
I was visiting my parents when my mom had her first TIA (that we know of). She was suddenly making no sense when she spoke. Normally very talkative she just couldn’t get the right words out anymore. After about a minute’s hesitation, I called the emergency services who wasted no time in sending an ambulance. Not sure she would have if I hadn’t been there.
Fortunately she had recovered her power of speech by the time they arrived, but she was taken in for a full checkup, and eventually put on the necessary drug regime to reduce the chances of it happening again. Glad to say she’s still alive and kicking several years on at the age of 93. Her heart isn’t in the best of health these days, but her mind is still all there.
Glad to hear you’re recovering from the TIA, PZ. Take it easy. I want to be able to keep reading this blog for many years to come!
@13 well done on your Mum. Yes the secret is someone recognising what is happening, it taking place in daylight hours, and seeking very prompt action before any permanent nerve damage occurs. Our local hospital has a stroke team which can be rapidly drawn together as soon as you arrive in Emergency, they come running from all directions.
Take better care of yourself, PZ!
We’re the same age, and I’m no longer able to drive, and now even cooking (my passion!) is getting more and more difficult.
I have some weird neurological problems due to a combination of a genetically caused leukodystrophy and an autoimmune disease called Sjogren’s.
I have spasms and tremors in my limbs and my vocal cord. The backsplash behind my cooktop occasionally resembles modern art when my hand tremors while I’m making a red sauce for pasta.
I stopped attempting to drive after I totaled the garage door when my leg spasmed.
Our minds try to deny it, but old age has caught up with us.