It is not pleasant
the word alone – bleeding in the brain – is unpleasant
(however, the photo is not from that day)
It was just past 12 noon
I had just moved from my office to the meeting room
where my wife and I had our lunch every day
“My lips feel weird”, I said
My wife stared at me
In a matter of a few minutes
it became a full-blown apoplexy
at first – I could hardly utter intelligible words
then I lost control of my hand and arm
and within five minutes, the whole of one side was limp
I then kindly asked the Alarm Center
about sending the ambulance without sirens
because there was no reason to alarm the whole village
and they accepted that
I went down the stairs myself
When I was
placed on the stretcher in the ambulance
my arm dropped to the
floor
The paramedic lifted it up
and asked me to hold it with
the other hand
In a marvelous way,
it had almost gone away by the evening
and the next afternoon I was discharged
Apart from Lillian – our former neighbour’s wife –
who was a nurse in “my” department,
there is no one in our family and circle of acquaintance
who heard so much as a word about this episode
I was on an excellent leadership course a few decades ago
and learned there that you only talk about sickness with your doctor
unless your knowledge can help others
and my knowledge can do that now
* * *