Days 141-146: Joe 90!

Dad had been asked to go for more tests at another hospital, this time to investigate his dizzy spells. If I have to be frank, it seemed like more of these experimental research areas rather than a proper diagnosis.

Firstly, he was seen by this no-nonsense doctor lady, although somehow, she did de-frost towards the end, maybe due to Dad's charm.

Then there was this mad professor-like man. Seriously, think of Einstein and then add a pair of wonky glasses. He was obviously the head of the research facility.

After, Dad was taken into the bowels of the hospital and made to sit in a revolving chair. He was clamped in place ("it's like an electric chair," dad said), a curtain with white luminous vertical stripes surrounded him, left in pitch black and then the chair was spun around and around.

"Stop! stop!" dad cried out in obvious distress. He couldn't see anything but these stripes passing by. I could look at the researcher's infra-red tv and see dad spinning around in the chair just like Joe 90.

After a few more go's, Dad had had enough and the testing stopped He really hated it there, described it as 'torture'. Looking back now, though, we have a little laugh about it.

Anyhow, after waiting for eons for the mad professor to see us (by now, the cleaners were putting away the waiting chairs and hoovering the floor), the diagnosis was that they weren't sure what was wrong. Dizzy spells probably due to his eye problem left over from the stroke. Well, I could have bleeding well told them that, couldn't I.