Ageing? Me? No way!

On Thursday, at 1:30am I was still watching the England versus Ukraine game when suddenly I felt this massive pain in my chest and my right hand went completely numb. Yes, I know - WTF! Going by my little knowledge of diagnosis based on symptoms, the right hand was a good sign. I tried to remain calm and first called Rami then Herbert who woke my mum up. My mum, obviously extremely worried gave me a quick round of 20 questions on what I was feeling and then asked me to get a few meds (from the very dependable 24 hour medical store in Bombay, that delivers to your home). Her next set of instructions were for me to call some one who lives close by and let them know I may not see them ever again. That was a joke. She basically wanted to make sure I had someone close by who could take me to the hospital if needed. At this time my pulse was at about 130. 

So at about 2:30am I called a colleague of mine, Jerome, who obviously was sleeping away after a long day of hard work (may be), and he jumped out of bed to come over to my place. I had a difficult time convincing him that I will be alive the next morning and see him in office, but it finally worked. I went to office the next morning, worked the entire day, also drove 4 1/2 hours to Pune the next day and lived to write about it on my blog! The doctor did come over to office on Thursday and after doing a round of quick tests and asking me another set of 20 questions, she said it was gas ('caused by the one I didn't let go - I assume). I don't know if she intended pun. But how does that explain the numbing of my arm?  Well, that was due to the Cervical Spondylosis that I also apparently suffer from. It just got aggravated, possibly by gas(?). Some questions are best left unanswered I guess.


This was last week and I can tell you I'm absolutely fine now save for the Cervical Spondylosis. 

Although not serious, incidents like this do put a little seed of doubt in the mind. Am I really alright? Will I wake up in the morning? Should I drive for four hours straight? Should I drive at all? Most of all, is this all worth it? I know I'm not getting any younger and the sedentary lifestyle I live, it's a miracle I've not had anything serious. Well not yet at least. But a check up is in order soon and I have to admit I will be very nervous before the results come out. Is it possible to fail a blood test?

When I look back, I think this over confidence about my health issues does come from all those years of playing (being a "jock" as Kima put it). I remember inspite of being injured, I would still carry on with torturing myself. It was fun. But how those days come back to haunt me on a cold day. I know what my grandmother (who once fell off a cliff, down about a 100 feet) must feel like. I also think the reason I survive all the punishment I put my body through now (and let me tell you there are several) is because of those years. So at this rate, I should be able to get through a couple of years more before I need the walking stick, hearing aid, pacemaker, insulin shots, etc. The collar on the neck might happen much sooner though!

The good news is, I'm still here. So, smile (or frown if it suits you).

P.S.

Me - Doc, but why was my pulse 130?

Doc - Maybe because you thought you had a heart attack

Me - Oh, you mean like the storm before the calm? (heheheh)
Doc - But your pulse is absolutely fine now. Like the calm before..!!

BITCH!

Shaken, stirred and more

I know it’s been a lifetime since I wrote my last post. I’ve just been lazy and quite content with putting up fleeting thoughts on Facebook. Yes, you read that right and yes, for all those people that got trolled last year, you have been vindicated. I even have 585 friends (fuckin’ hell yeah!). How many do you have, huh?

A lot has happened in the last 5 months (damn, has it been that long?). The last post I wrote was about La Verde and since then, I’ve been to Manila twice again (for 6 weeks the second time), La Verde shut down, relocated and re-opened.  I was present for the shut down but not for the remaining festivities. But the good thing was that because they shut down, I discovered many other places and boy, am I glad I did! People think it’s awesome that I get to travel on my work to foreign lands (they also assume these are full of naked women ready to fall at your feet or… ahem). But honestly it is not all that. When you do travel, almost every single minute of your day is planned and every last drop of blood is sucked out from your body!! Okay, that may be a little too much but it is usually quite hectic and not always fun filled.

So what made me write after so long? I have been following this blog for some time now. Rami recommended it to me. Kima is a Mizo guy that lives in Bombay and after reading some of his stuff today, I really felt inspired to write again. Even if that means it’ll be just this one post. Apart from that, I’ve also been feeling completely betrayed at work, and I would usually hold back on saying something like this in a public forum so you can imagine the extent of my frustration right now. I would like to go into the details of what happened, but I don’t think anyone would be interested in that. Let’s just say, that after having worked my ass off so hard for the last one year, ignoring my near and dear, never having the time (and being absolutely pooped or shitfaced when I do have the time), I have just been let down  so bad. I usually like to think of myself as someone who would pick up the pieces and move on pretty quickly. But not this time, no. I refuse to be tormented by corporate decisions anymore. What am I going to do about it? That I will not mention here, but as with everything else in my life I have a plan and a plan B (and Plan B2!). But worry not, It won’t kill me (or so I hope).

The funny thing is I’ve always had amazing bosses. They have all been amazing human beings but I used to have a team of people working with me at one time and I think I was not a bad human being either, but most importantly I think I was a strong boss. This is what people look for; this is at least what I would look for.

Anyway.

Of late, I’m beginning to feel like age is catching up with me. Yes, I’m going to be 30 in November (*realization - holy shit!) and I still feel like I have so much to do. A lot of my friends, who not too long ago were getting married, now have babies or are pregnant or realizing their marriage is not working and I’m still a long way off square one. And I’m not a commitment phobe (well, not completely at least). To start with, I have started liking veggies, I love watching the news (financial news is orgasmic) and food shows and I cannot cross the road without thinking everyone of the motorists are a part of some conspiracy to knock my behind off the road. The other day I almost wore my trousers till my chest! Is anybody feeling what I’m talking about? The cock up is that people generally say the body ages and not the heart. For me it the other way round**! I FEEL OLD!! I think I’m just going to pick up my walking stick and leave now.

I haven’t stuck to the resolution that I made in the beginning of the year and that is not anything new as far as resolutions go. I remember about 10 years ago I started making resolutions every year for the next 5 to quit smoking. I quit making resolutions after.
More later. Hopefully.

P.S. **If your nose runs and your feet smell, you’re built the wrong way