Close call

[SD67]

I had a close call of sorts yesterday.
I woke at 6am with tingles, pins&needles  type sensation in my left arm and a mild but annoying headache, I reached over to turn the alarm off and promptly dropped the phone (aka alarm clock) as I tried to switch it off.
Thinking I might have slept funny and it would pass, I went off to work. It didn't pass, so I head up to the local hospital to get checked out. Well, the ED staff were less than impressed that I had worked all day before coming in (I was the only mechanic on duty as the other has left for holidays the day before). Any way the Doctor was immediately concerned and tried to get me in for immediate head CT, which made me feel really relaxed.
Turns out I had to stay the night and get woken every few hours for nuero obs, and got shipped off to the local Base hospital for a CT this morning. Seems all is fine on the stroke front, but sometime in my life probably due to riding insane motorcycles hard I've damaged my upper spine, with chronic degradation in the C6 vertebra and am in need of a MRI to fully assess the damage.
I'm still getting odd sensations in my left arm, it feels like I have someone else's arm on, it's quite odd.
On the good news front, I got my pedals today! It's going to take some getting used to, they don't quite sit as I'm used to in a real aircraft, the tension is lighter and the brakes pivot differently, but that'll pass I'm sure I got my first kill on my first sortie out in a HurriII which was pretty good, I was expecting to die tragically.
I continued to scout for the inevitable M3 run at the freshly deacked Vbase, but got discoed so I decided it was an omen and called it quits for now, but I'm keen to get back on soon. I really have to fix my computer so I don't have to steal Sarah's

[nirvana]

Hope you're alright SD, that's scary stuff.  Those pedals are something else though, really a large improvement once you get used to them.

[Benny Moore]

What brand of pedals?  I've always used CH Products but I am very dissatisfied with them for multiple reasons and I think that my next set of pedals will be Saitek.

[SD67]

They are Saitek pro pedals, they do look pretty good. I'll know more about them as I get used to them.
Thanks nirvana, yeah it was scary stuff particularly since it didn't go away as I'd hoped and the reaction of the ED staff here in Ballina didn't help either . I'll call and book the MRI on Monday

[Shamus]

Make sure you have the monitor at eye level with a good head/neck rest.

I have screwed up C4/5 and have similar symptoms at times, its just pinched nerves.

shamus

[SD67]

Thanks for the advice Shamus, I'm looking at ways to get my monitor up at eye level without penalising my already scarce desk space.
What sort of advice was given to you regarding management of your condition? I really don't want it to get worse, I don't want to get my plane project finished in 5 years time only to have to sell it on because flying a high performance aircraft would be too strenuous:(

[LePaul]

That's scary stuff.

If I am on the computer too long, especially with the flight sims with the flight stick and throttle, my pec muscles ache.  Its un-nerving to have any kind of chest pain, but the sticks sit on top of the desk, and the angle just aggravates my muscles if Im flying too long.

Time for a new desk!

Good luck with that MRI

[Jackal1]

Originally posted by SD67
Seems all is fine on the stroke front, but sometime in my life probably due to riding insane motorcycles hard I've damaged my upper spine, with chronic degradation in the C6 vertebra and am in need of a MRI to fully assess the damage.
 

Welcome to the club.
Mine started with 2,  then 4,5......then six at last count. Haven`t had an MRI in a couple of years, but I suspect that they are dominoing because in the last month or so I started having probs with the right side instead of the left. It had always been the left that had given me trouble. Started with numbness down the arm and in a couple of fingers.......then to very hard muscle spasms in the back of the arm, sometimes to point of total lockup. Hope yours doesn`t develop like this. It`s a real day spoiler. In left side the spasm progressed to the upper peck muscles  and below the shoulder blade.
Now the right side. Like an electrical current running down the arm to thumb and index finger especial when I lean forward..........then the spasms.
Way back when the were only two I was scheduled for surgery three times and canceled.
The last doctor gave me the facts of life. He said with surgery I had about a 50 percent chance of it helping some, but it wouldn`t last and a 50 percent chance it would make it worse.
Gee........great news.

[GoldenP51]

Hope you feel better and it passes!!

[moot]

LePaul if you can manage an R2D2, a desk with good ergonomics should be cake...

[LePaul]

Originally posted by moot
LePaul if you can manage an R2D2, a desk with good ergonomics should be cake...

Heh....but that's where all my dang money went  

[moot]

So when's it done anyway?  I can't remember you not working on it yet...

[LePaul]

Originally posted by moot
So when's it done anyway?  I can't remember you not working on it yet...

Started collecting the parts and pieces in 2003.  The Yahoo Club that offers the parts really picked up in offerings in 2005.  As you can imagine, with aluminum prices what they are, the detail pieces are expensive.  I figure I have $3000 -$4000 invested in it.  Technically, if I just wanted a static display, I have a complete R2.  But I still lack the electronics, batteries and motors.  That's expensive, animatronic stuff.  And PC controlled is fun, the controllers I have handle 30+ servos, so all the doors and panels, including the ones in his dome, can be opened/closed.

Sneaking in sensors into places that arent obvious to the eye is another challenge.  The goal is for the thing to be autonomous, not remote controlled.  Kids are smart, they always find the guy controlling the robot.  To have one that does its own thing, albeit incredibly complicated, is do-able.

I've been working with another builder, whose an electronics engineer on the middle foot system, so R2 can stand on 2 legs, then transform into 3 when moving about.  The trick is careful timing and actuating things in the proper sequence (ankle pivot, shoulder pivot).  And, shock absorbtion for the center ankle, so any impacts from an uneven surface do not transmit into the linkages.  The current system I have transmits straight to the motor, which causes stress to the drive cog.

And everyone thinks its an aluminum cylinder and some paint!

[moot]

" Kids are smart, they always find the guy controlling the robot. To have one that does its own thing, albeit incredibly complicated, is do-able."

Sounds cool  It would be interesting to see a kid's reaction to it coming out of standby for the first time...

[SD67]

That sounds awesome, personally I have some 3 years study and CAD work in my highly modified KR2S (I call it a KR2XS) to get it safely to the 175KIAS (200mph) cruise range and have retractable gear, a decent range and keep it in the 1250#gross weight range. So far due to living constraints I've amassed quite a collection of small parts, along with the beginnings of the retractable gear set, derived from that of the Taylor Monoplane (from which Ken Rand took much of the original KR series design).
Hopefully in the new year I can begin to cut wood to build some actual aircraft structure to put said small parts into