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I was sitting on my bench this afternoon waiting for my friends (sea lions) to travel by when this pretty bird settled in front of me to fish at the cut… Pretty isn’t it?

There is never a day when something doesn’t have to be fixed around here.. Between the three boats, cars and houses we keep an eye on.. Something always needs fixing…Today it is the muffler on our diesel generator.   E spent some time trying to fix it with what he had available but it became apparent he needs the help of the island welding genius. But JN is off island at the moment. He should be back soon, so all will be well. In the mean time we just took the muffler off and have the door open to the generator shed… Luckily our neighbours aren’t here to listen to the racket..

So with all of the goings on this week with E’s scare.. I will just repeat what we have learned. E couldn’t smile or speak a phrase clearly and we thought one of the other sure signs of a stroke was an inability to whistle.. But it is sticking your tongue out…Small difference but the difference between stroke and Bells Palsy.. If this is old information…. go have a glass of wine… If it is new to you as it was to me….. I hope you never need to know…..

Signs of a stroke..

S – Smile…. Can the individual smile?

T- Talk …..   Can the individual speak a simple phrase clearly (Chicken Soup)?

R- Raise…..  Can the individual raise his arms over his head?

T- Tongue … Can the individual stick out their tongue?

I am going to remember it by                SANTA. TIPSY. RUDOLPH. TIPSY.

Other interesting facts for those of you living here… The ambulance was at BH as fast as we were able to get there with good weather and a speedy driver taking us across the channel… The ambulance came from Ladysmith…and I needed to know the address to BH.. Which I did have on my phone but couldn’t access without my glasses as I was driving down Cardale.. It was lucky I gave the 911 operator my cell number because it was coming up as private and I lost contact half way to PC in the cellular dead spot… They were able to call me back when we were out on the water to confirm details..

Once again, I have been reminded this week that I am not a Doctor… Years ago, I thought my eldest had a bruised wrist but it was broken (after making him suffer for 3 days)… In 1999, I thought E just needed more fibre in his diet but he needed a heart transplant….

Although this  didn’t turn out to be a stroke…We are glad we called 911. It was the right

thing to do