An adventure in Cushing's and stroke

Last Friday, I gave a presentation at Elton about, well, everything. It was about Cushing’s, stroke, fundraising, my attempt to write a book (in progress) and my plans to do a PhD next year (whether I do that or not I’ll find out next month). My friend Mel who works at Elton was the one who asked me to do it, and when I was talking to her about what the presentation should be about, it seemed that it was supposed to be everything on this website in presentation form.

I did the presentation in the form of 30 Things I’ve Learnt In The Past Year, complete with lots of pretty pictures. These are the lessons.

1. How to say “endocrinologist”
2. What an endocrinologist does
3. How important the medical team looking after you is.
4. Some of the differences between the public and private health systems.
5. How much healthcare can cost (a lot).
6. That people in the medical profession are wonderful and often very willing to help.
7. That people in the medical profession are exactly that – people, with lives and stories.
8. How to say “pituitary”
9. What the pituitary gland does.
10. What Cushing’s Disease is.
11. What the symptoms of Cushing’s are.
12. What causes Cushing’s and how it can be “cured”.
13. What a stroke is
14. What can cause a stroke.
15. The number of people involved in the stroke recovery process.
16. What being half-paralysed is like.
17. What freedom is like.
18. How wonderful fresh air is.
19. What being in hospital for an extended amount of time is like.
20. How much you rely on the people around you.
21. How depressing hospital menus are.
22. That the public health system is so important, and doesn’t deserve all the flak it gets.
23. That Medicare is a really damn good system.
24. That if there’s anyone who deserves scrutiny, it’s not the public health system, it’s the private health system.
25. That fundraising is hard, stressful and frustrating, but so worth it.
26. That you really don’t forget how to ride a bike.
27. One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure. – William Feather
28. The best way out is always through. – Robert Frost
29. Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall. – Confucius
30. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I think it somehow works better when you see the pictures and actually have me explaining the story behind each lesson, though. I can’t really convey the same effect in one post, unfortunately.