The trip back wasn’t quite as dramatic – no doctor escort, no wheelchair, no special consideration at customs and immigration – but, it was wonderful to be back on my own power. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to do any shopping in Singapore as I had just enough time to get to the airport and check-in once I was informed that I had a ticket to go home. Oh well, I’ll be back in December when I retire again, and I’m thinking of staying a few days while I get my new non-working visa.
I actually arrived back Tuesday morning, and co-taught a double biology class. By the time that I was done, I had a terrible headache and went home for the rest of the day. I came back to teach on Wednesday, but had a headache within an hour. I stopped by the clinic to see the doctor, and we discussed the headaches as well as the results of all the tests done on me in Singapore. After a long discussion, we came up with three likely causes of the headaches as it was clear from the scans and blood tests that the headaches weren’t caused by any problems with my brain: stress from trying to adapt to my new realities, a reaction to the medicines that I’m taking, or a reaction to nicotine withdrawal. The doctor told me to take the rest of the week off, and I’m on the last day of my rest period. The headaches have stopped since I’ve modified the amount of medicine that I’m taking, so that’s a good thing for me.
I’ve been thinking about the stress factor a lot during this rest period. At first I discounted it, but after a few days at home, it started to make sense to me. Lots of changes in a short period of time- turning 60, having a new granddaughter, oldest daughter turning 18, wife moving one year closer to being 50, working on my last contract, learning to live without cigarettes, and then a stroke. Yes, it does make sense to me now that I’m probably growing through a bit of stress as I enter another stage of the life cycle. Well, just going to have to deal with it.Tomorrow back to work once again.
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