When You Are Not Sure if It Is Serious

A Night of Unease

My sleep was a bit disturbed, as I had a dull ache in my chest on the left side throughout the night. At one point, the pain spread into my arm, giving the impression I had lain on it, but every adjustment I made brought no relief.

By 5:00 AM, I was in two minds: get up and go for a walk to wear away the discomfort, or acknowledge that this might be something serious and seek medical attention.

AI to the Rescue

The more I thought about it and keyed the symptoms into my AI app, the more I was persuaded to plump for the latter.

I opened my door, set the secure door on the latch, and called 999 for an ambulance, but I was exhausted by the questions and almost felt I'd be gone before we were done.

In the meantime, I had packed a bag with the essentials: a mobile phone charger adapter, a power bank, a notepad, and a pen. Critically, you need to be able to communicate with loved ones and next of kin; Brian and Kola first, then my manager at work.

On the emergency call, I was told an ambulance might take 45 minutes or thereabouts, to which I suggested I'd rather get an Uber to A&E and be seen promptly, and that is what I did.

Into A&E

I checked in, had my blood pressure taken, and was then called back for bloods and an ECG. The waiting began in the Emergency Room, and when the results were sent to me by email, neither the website nor the app was working, so I could not check what I was about to be told.

Hours later, a doctor called me into a consultation cordon and assured me there was nothing serious to worry about from the ECG and the test for Troponin T, which indicates damage to the heart muscle, but she needed to rule out the presence of blood clots.

Blood and Bedside Manner

Her attempt to draw blood was unsuccessful, and she quickly realised it might be fatigue from five twelve-hour shifts in a row. You can imagine junior and emergency room doctors are seriously overworked; the NHS is somewhat strained, and let's not visit the quality and standard of service from people doing their very best under duress, pressure, and the circumstances.

She immediately invited a nurse to draw blood; that also failed on the arm, so a further attempt was made from the back of the hand, bringing the total to four puncture wounds, whilst my left arm was already sore from the earlier abuse.

The Vampire Association

The D-dimer test result was normal. Another doctor then invited me to relate the symptoms again before ordering a second troponin test, which he said should be at least three hours from the first.

I had been in hospital for four hours by this point, so I was ready for another vampire feast. I probably should cut down on my sugar intake; three blood draws in one morning is one draw short of a venesection.

Another nurse arrived with a phlebotomy trolley, and I asked if she was from the Vampire Association. She smiled and drew blood from the already sore left arm without much fuss.

Waiting for the All-Clear

One new development that has arrived at our NHS, already standard practice in the Netherlands health service, is the use of a tube between the needle and syringe. This puts less pressure on the entry point, and I am glad for it.

Once the second Troponin T test result arrives as normal, I should be on my way home. Meanwhile, the wait continues, and the concerns are being allayed.

The doctor came to speak to me in the waiting room to confirm that the second Troponin T was fine. I already knew, as the website was working in the Ambulatory Care Unit by then; the result had fallen one unit within the middle of the normal range.

I was sent on my way, called an Uber, and settled back into bed.

A Google NotebookLM AI Podcast on this blog

AI Certification in the Thermionic Age

The Test Centre Experience

Adjusting the camera, he surmised that I was a much taller candidate than others who had been there recently. I had just signed on the signature pad, and many unsuccessful attempts were made to capture a picture of my face before I stepped forward a bit, took off my glasses, and he was satisfied with the essential security checks.

Yet he had erroneously added my details to another candidate's profile; we had to do it all over again. I only realised his error when he signed me onto the testing computer. Clicking on the scheduling for the other candidate, I saw a better picture of my visage than the one eventually used for my profile.

How Pearson VUE happens upon these test centres with kit that seems to have been acquired from an antiques shop, in a throwback to a time when computers were powered by thermionic valves, does amaze one. I have been to some dire places, and this tanks the rankings.

A Journey to Altrincham

I was in Altrincham yesterday, some 8 miles (13 kilometres) to the southwest of Manchester, attending the nearest test centre to acquire a new Microsoft certification on Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Whilst I had determined to do this for months, I struggled to get through the material. The German instructor on one of the Udemy courses had a good grasp of the subject, but I could not engage with the accent, the grammar or the delivery. It felt like extreme drudgery, and I abandoned all study with a sense of dissatisfaction and lethargy.

Finding New Momentum

Then, whilst having a long break in December after my birthday and Christmas (I tend to use my holidays for study and tests), I gained some enthusiasm for just completing the cycle and closing the books on this test before the end of the year.

I completed the original Udemy course and took another, gaining the view that I had mastered the material. I then got Google's Gemini 3 Pro AI bot to produce interactive flashcards, along with the code to make them portable and playable as standard HTML files.

However, when I tried the free practice tests on Whizlabs, the gaps in my knowledge were laid bare. I went back to the Microsoft Learn study material, which now included video rather than just text-based training. Where certain concepts were still not as clear, I got AI to provide a layman's explanation with examples and use cases. I use the Poe.com interface to access AI bots, which gives me access to the broadest complement of publicly available AI bots.

Discovering NotebookLM

I discovered Google's NotebookLM in August, but never really exploited it beyond the novelty it provided then. It is a virtual research assistant that takes input from sources you provide on documents and references to turn complexity into clarity.

As a note-taking and study tool, it has amazing benefits of transforming your sources into audio and video overviews, mind maps, reports, flashcards, quizzes, infographics or slide decks.

Curating 50 sources of material, including that which its Deep Research feature was able to gather, I produced an extended last-minute audio overview of about 37 minutes in length that covered every critical idea that might be covered in the test. I listened to it twice before I arrived at the test centre. That was my last bit of revision: listening rather than reading. The leveraging of AI to the maximum to ace an AI test.

I had 45 minutes to answer 46 questions; there were not just straight multiple-choice selection answers either. I got caught out in July 2022 when, having not played in the testing sandbox provided by Microsoft, I wasted valuable time understanding how to navigate the interface, though thankfully, I passed the test. On this occasion, I was done in just over 23 minutes. I rarely ever do a review; I ended the test and got a good passing score.

Looking Ahead

Obviously, there is probably a need for a piece on how I use AI for day-to-day activities at work, for study and other aspects of life, including the grammatical reviews of my blogs.

With the AI-900: Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals certificate under my belt, that makes three certifications this year. I can only wonder what next year has in store.

Somebody I used to know

Is that really me?

Yesterday brought some issues into stark relief as I attended a men’s group where a recording of an interview done some months before I commenced radiotherapy had ended up in a short documentary for the organisation.

Hearing my voice amplified and played back to my hearing still feels strange, there is a disembodied otherworldliness about it that leaves me uncomfortable. Having taken some readings at the cathedral, I am getting used to it, and it will only get better.

However, with my voice as it is today, the person I saw and heard looked like I was watching somebody that I used to know. There are differences I am working hard to bring back to who I once knew.

Managing the limits

For instance, I would have a brisk walk to the men’s group from my home in twenty or so minutes, that I was not even contemplating yesterday, I hopped on a bus for the three stops and on my way back, I did the same.

There is an urge to do a lot more, but I soon realise it tires me out quite easily, the occasions for rest are more frequent, and it could be a battle to concentrate. Yet, I do apply myself quite diligently to the tasks I set out to do from cooking to revising for a test among other essential activities.

No breaks in transmission

Earlier in the day before the men’s group, I was out to take a Microsoft certification test. I put in a good week of work on the material and in the process, I learnt quite a bit.

By Monday, I had done enough to tackle the challenge. Distractions impacted my ability to do a last revision overnight and from then, I decided not to bother myself any further with last dibs.

I passed the test and gained a new certification. There are vestiges of that person that I used to know that are still active. The temporary loss of strength and timbre in my voice does not indicate a loss of expression. I can be as forceful as I have always been.

After playing back the documentary, I was invited onto a panel to share views and opinions. Akin is still there, there is no break in transmission.

#Coronavirus: We all need protection and assurances will not suffice

Everyone’s a suspect viral host

The clamour to open up our country is beginning to sound shrill, for a people who have been in quarantine for 8 weeks as business, the world and life as we know it shut down, we have with patience and equanimity borne the strains, the pain, and the hardships with renowned British stoicism.

Yet, we must not be oblivious of the new reality, the reason we are in this situation is that we have to suspect everyone has the Coronavirus and so the ability to infect anyone they come in contact with. We also can be asymptomatic vectors of the virus or vulnerable to contracting it.

That is why we have the social distancing, but the 2-metre rule is at standstill, when you are moving, the distance needs to increase, people walking need to be about 4 metres apart to be out of the draft or slipstream of the person ahead. If cycling, that distance probably must increase to around 20 metres. The rule of thumb does not account for practical considerations.

Cover and test

Then, the use of face coverings, masks and respirators amid great demand and short supply. I hope to take delivery of some face coverings, but we must not be lured into a false sense of security, the threat is around us, unseen and cannot be warded off except by almost absolute sequestration with no contact with outsiders. We cannot maintain that for long.

The next line of protection or rather assessment is testing, identification, contact tracing, isolation, and treatment if required. The testing regime is a shamble, we cannot even be sure of the numbers bandied around by the government. The antibodies test is for now, for curiosity purposes as no one knows if the presence of antibodies confers immunity and if it does, for how long. There is still much to do.

Protect the teachers first

The quest to get the schools open by the 1^st of June in England is fraught with uncertainties and serious concerns. Whilst children might not be vulnerable to that much to the virus, there are indications that those who succumb to it present other symptoms than the known pulmonary issues observed in adults.

Otherwise, they might be asymptomatic, yet dangerous vectors of the Coronavirus to their teachers, parents, and guardians alike. It means adequate provision should be made for teaching and auxiliary staff in schools, probably PPE at the minimum, which might seem excessive, but not beyond the pale.

We must not be cajoled into making additional martyrs and heroes of the teachers after how the Coronavirus cut down the lives of frontline staff in the NHS, in care homes and transport services. These people were exposed to the public without adequate protection and the so-called heroes are dead and buried without ceremony.

Action, not assurances required

To add teachers to the mix only on the strength of government assurances without requisite protection would be murderous at best. We, as a people have sacrificed enough in life and livelihood, that the government now needs to shape up and actively work to prevent avoidable deaths.

Where employers are insistent to the detriment of employee health and safety, it is not enough to offer platitudes of reasonableness, there should be laws to directly protect an employee without running through bureaucratic hoops.

I am afraid, the UK government is still failing to distinguish itself in tackling this virus. Bullshit and bluster do not cut it, neither does propaganda or spin, people need to know they are safe, they will not be led to the slaughter for a cause the government has failed to persuade us of.

Maybe, the Houses of Parliament should fully resume, let the leaders lead by example and maybe, just maybe, we might all by appearance and confirmation come out of our foxholes and play the game they want us to play.