Way back when, as in May 12, 2019, I wrote a post that stated, "I shall be returning soon with what I believe will be the most powerful and spiritual post I ever wrote."
Then life and a whole series of ongoing challenges, got in the way. I'm battling with chronic fatigue. Yet, paradoxically, I'm struggling to get any semblance of a decent, uninterrupted sleep. Awake, when I should be asleep. Asleep, when I should be awake. A scheduling nightmare, as I constantly feel lethargic and nauseous, both physically and mentally. The frustration of being like this has overwhelmed every facet of my life.
Here's a typical night. I go to bed around one in the morning and at nine in the morning, I'm still awake. I have dude problems. An enlarged prostate that brings on the urge to frequently attempt to urinate. I lie in bed and five minutes later, I'm heading to the bathroom. I go back to bed and five minutes later, I'm heading to the bathroom. This continues all through the night and morning. Eventually, I manage to somehow get some fleeting sleep, even though the pain is ever-present.
The hospital has run a series of tests on me. And yet, it seems I'm going around in circles with the hospital. The consultant at the urology department will be seeing me again in early November. I dread to think that the results of the latest tests will mean that I have to have even more tests. I'm sure I need surgery. In the meantime, because I don't want to travel in such pain, I've had to delay my latest trip back to see in my friends and family in British Columbia.
I'm having a tough time coping with it all. I've tried exercising. I have a routine where I go out for a late night stroll around the retirement living apartment building that I live in.
The late night stroll gives me moments of peaceful reflection. Peaceful reflection until I head back into my apartment.
Just gone midnight, Saturday, August 17, 2019. I was out having my usual walkabout. I was on the sidewalk right near the apartment building. Good-natured banter ensued with a couple of care workers who were chatting to me from the apartment building's office window. It was a nice, pleasant conversation.
I realised that some young man was now very close to my personal space. He was very intoxicated. He started to become very aggressive and started pushing up against me. Despite that, I tried to maintain an air of pleasantness with the rather unsavoury character.
The two care workers who had noticed that the situation was turning for the worse, left the office and came outside. I told the young man that I was going back inside. He proceeded to punch me in the face. I swung back in self-defence. What happened immediately after that was just a blur.
It transpired, as I was told later, that my skull was cracked violently against the pavement. I was knocked out and one of the care workers was assaulted by that outrageous idiot.
At two in the morning, my senses came back to some level of normality. I noticed I was sitting in the office that the care workers had been chatting to me from. Before me sat two police officers. I was wondering why they were there because I had no recollection of being knocked out. The two gentleman police officers got statements from the two care workers. They said they would interview me on Saturday afternoon in my apartment.
The interview never happened because I was taken away in an ambulance around three in the morning. Upon being assessed, I was told I had a fractured skull and a small bleed on my brain. The hospital wanted to keep me in for observation for 48 hours.
After being at the hospital for about 12 hours, a very pleasant lady police officer came and interviewed me. I recalled the incident as best I could. While she was interviewing me, the head doctor came in and asked if it was okay to have me perform a number of tests. Tests that concluded that I was well enough to go home. However, I was told by the head doctor that if my symptoms took a turn for the worse, such as my mild headache, to immediately phone for an emergency ambulance.
With that and most conveniently, it turned out the lady police officer was going to my apartment building to check out the CCTV footage. This meant I got to go in her police car back to where I live.
It was and I know this might seem weird, a very humorous trip back to my place. She was brilliant and despite it all, we had a good laugh. That helped an awful lot. I'm grateful to her.
Unfortunately, the CCTV footage was inconclusive. However, there are several charges against that young guy. In fact, when he assaulted that care worker and me, he had just taken off from breaking and entering a house just up the road from the apartment building. The police were already looking for him when he attacked the two of us. He was arrested about ten minutes after he attacked us.
As of now, his day in court to give his plea, has been delayed. There were even more charges against him that have to be sorted out.
Thus, we wait. During this waiting time, I somehow mustered up enough energy to fill in a couple of forms that the police sent me. Forms I delayed filling in because they were a reminder of what happened. I have found that by not really thinking about it has been a good coping strategy.
I'm frustrated. The events that have been plaguing my life has been a severe challenge to my mental health. A severe challenge to my clinical depression. I've been jittery. I've been anxious. But, I'm proud. So very proud. I have refused to allow these events to completely sabotage my right to a peaceful, positive life. I am determined to to work through this. I visualise a much better life ahead. I still go out for my usual stroll.
I hope you will understand why I've been very much in the blogging background. Until I get better, just interacting with your good self, is something that feels daunting. Besides, I've been told by the hospital to limit the amount of time using my computer due to the eye strain that could impact upon my working through the fractured skull situation.
Thank you for reading, by my standards, a rather lengthy blog post.
The post I was going to do will now be published on October 23 of this year. I will be combining two ideals into the one post.
