It was a relief to remove the heart monitor which had been
stuck to my chest all week, just above my left breast. It had itched madly and finding
things to wear that hid it was a nightmare. I’ve only got a few tops with a
high enough neckline.
It had accompanying mobile device
that was supposed to pick up a signal from the monitor and send it to a
computer in the hospital. Or not. Mine didn’t work. The nurse kept ringing me. “We’re not
getting a signal. How are you?” “Yes I’m fine, no problems. I’m not dead.” “That’s good.” I kept resetting it. It worked
for an hour then it lost connection again. He told me not to worry, so I
didn’t, and when I went up for Day 7, my ECG and vital signs were, of course,
normal. I hadn’t had an adverse reaction. They agreed I could continue the
trial.
It’s been an interesting
experience so far. I’ve had to think hard about my MS history and how it has
progressed. But fortunately not too hard. I dug out the copy of it I wrote for
my Ill-health retirement application. I just needed to add the few years since then.
I had been fascinated by the cognitive tests. And Alistair, the doctor assessing me, had been full of
wonder. “She’s really good as this,” he said to the nurse as he came back for
me to draw the six shapes again ten minutes after I’d looked at them. I’d
already twice looked at them for ten seconds then drawn them without looking.
Could I remember the right shapes in the right places on the page? I’m pleased
to report that I scored either very high or almost maximum. I scored high on
the adding up test too. That was listening to a list of numbers and adding the
last one said with the one before, but not adding them cumulatively. “You made
that hard for me,” he said. “You said the answer as the next number was said,
then gave that answer too.” I may be physically falling to bits, but my brain
still works.
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