Gordon Lightfoot Forums - View Single Post - Lightfoot Concert Cancelled. Sept 16, 2006.

johnfowles · 09-17-2006, 06:29 PM

Many thanks Annie for that great explanation regarding the TIA being a warning of an impending full stroke.I suddenly and for the first time realised what might well have happenned to me in January 2000 (within two months of my ambitious and sucessful North American tour in November 1999).during which I flew or drove the following itinerary:-
London>Montreal>Ottawa>Massey Hall (via a view of Christian Island)>Denver>Lubbock (Buddy Holly grave etc) Clovis NM (BH recording studio)>the grand Grand canyon>Phoenix AZ>San Fransisco>Vancouver>London.
Finally back at home and faced with the urgent necessity ofimproving my untidy English home n and a long and overdue process of adapting our non year 2000 compliant accounting/invoicing system I was obliged to spend a series of 24 hour working days during which I smoked far too many cigaretttes.
I am not sure when but one morning I felt wobbly at the top of the steepish flight of stairs leading down from my bedroom, and was extremely conscious that my then next door neighbour was still in hospital and paralysed after falling down her own identical staircase and injuring her back.In retrospect of course I should have consulted my doctor immediately as Gord has now done, but I did not. But instead within about a week on Monday January 16th I arose early and drove myself 120 miles to central London and worked all day helping install a new boiler flue system near Mayfair.I had minor trouble lifting things but climbed about 6 flights of stairs to check the flue as it came out on the rooftop. On the drive home I had some problems with vision on my left side. and retired to bed at about 9:30 GMT.Before I did I wrote a note to anybody who found me that actually said that I was having trouble holding my pen and that I thought I might have had a ministroke, and left instructions to contact my nearest and dearest. That actual note is here somewhere and my hand writing was clearly deteriorating.Fortunately in those days we had a 2 AM GMT chat session every Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning. so I awoke to my alarm and made my way downstairs. It did not take Susan long to see that my typing was erratic and made me call my doctor.See this contemporary, and still on line, article in the London Daily Telrgraph at:-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlConte...Fnemail18.html
(Hence my enthusiasm and efforts to try to keep the remaining Friday chat sessions every week at 9 PM EST going see:-
http://www.glchat.notlong.com
The rest as they say is history and I am naturally extremely pleased to still be around.At the time I firmly believed that my stroke was brought on by my extreme over smoking;
No doubt the effects of carbon monoxide on my clotting-prone blood caused the neck artery blockage that led to the death of too many of my right side brain cells.
In point of fact my stroke I believe provided two strange "bonuses" for me.
1 subsequent cardiac tests over here belied the opinion of the cash strapped doctors working for the National Health Service in Dorset, who had repeatedly assured Susan that my heart was fine,resulting in my quintuple heart bypass operation the following October in New Jersey
Thus I have avoided, so far,a most likely heart attack:-
2. my enforced non-smoking whilst in hospital in England for about three months succeeded in breaking a bad habit of about 40 years and all checks to date show that my lungs though showing some damage are reasonably OK.
So be warned anybody still smoking out there or indeed anybody having a feeling of weekness or sight problems.
John Fowles
Praying that Gord will very soon be fully OK,
(I myself find it very hard to get my affected Left hand around the guitar fret, but my guitar playing had never been that good anyway)

[ September 18, 2006, 07:48: Message edited by: johnfowles ]

09-17-2006, 06:29 PM	#11
johnfowles Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: New Jersey U.S.A. ex UK and Canada Posts: 4,846	Many thanks Annie for that great explanation regarding the TIA being a warning of an impending full stroke.I suddenly and for the first time realised what might well have happenned to me in January 2000 (within two months of my ambitious and sucessful North American tour in November 1999).during which I flew or drove the following itinerary:- London>Montreal>Ottawa>Massey Hall (via a view of Christian Island)>Denver>Lubbock (Buddy Holly grave etc) Clovis NM (BH recording studio)>the grand Grand canyon>Phoenix AZ>San Fransisco>Vancouver>London. Finally back at home and faced with the urgent necessity ofimproving my untidy English home n and a long and overdue process of adapting our non year 2000 compliant accounting/invoicing system I was obliged to spend a series of 24 hour working days during which I smoked far too many cigaretttes. I am not sure when but one morning I felt wobbly at the top of the steepish flight of stairs leading down from my bedroom, and was extremely conscious that my then next door neighbour was still in hospital and paralysed after falling down her own identical staircase and injuring her back.In retrospect of course I should have consulted my doctor immediately as Gord has now done, but I did not. But instead within about a week on Monday January 16th I arose early and drove myself 120 miles to central London and worked all day helping install a new boiler flue system near Mayfair.I had minor trouble lifting things but climbed about 6 flights of stairs to check the flue as it came out on the rooftop. On the drive home I had some problems with vision on my left side. and retired to bed at about 9:30 GMT.Before I did I wrote a note to anybody who found me that actually said that I was having trouble holding my pen and that I thought I might have had a ministroke, and left instructions to contact my nearest and dearest. That actual note is here somewhere and my hand writing was clearly deteriorating.Fortunately in those days we had a 2 AM GMT chat session every Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning. so I awoke to my alarm and made my way downstairs. It did not take Susan long to see that my typing was erratic and made me call my doctor.See this contemporary, and still on line, article in the London Daily Telrgraph at:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlConte...Fnemail18.html (Hence my enthusiasm and efforts to try to keep the remaining Friday chat sessions every week at 9 PM EST going see:- http://www.glchat.notlong.com The rest as they say is history and I am naturally extremely pleased to still be around.At the time I firmly believed that my stroke was brought on by my extreme over smoking; No doubt the effects of carbon monoxide on my clotting-prone blood caused the neck artery blockage that led to the death of too many of my right side brain cells. In point of fact my stroke I believe provided two strange "bonuses" for me. 1 subsequent cardiac tests over here belied the opinion of the cash strapped doctors working for the National Health Service in Dorset, who had repeatedly assured Susan that my heart was fine,resulting in my quintuple heart bypass operation the following October in New Jersey Thus I have avoided, so far,a most likely heart attack:- 2. my enforced non-smoking whilst in hospital in England for about three months succeeded in breaking a bad habit of about 40 years and all checks to date show that my lungs though showing some damage are reasonably OK. So be warned anybody still smoking out there or indeed anybody having a feeling of weekness or sight problems. John Fowles Praying that Gord will very soon be fully OK, (I myself find it very hard to get my affected Left hand around the guitar fret, but my guitar playing had never been that good anyway) [ September 18, 2006, 07:48: Message edited by: johnfowles ]