Friday 10th June 2005. A bad day. Oncoming symptoms

I had a bad start to the day.
It was Friday. It was early. I had problems steering my cycle in a straight line when I pulled on the handlebars up a steep hill: a hill where I didn't usually have problems.
I had to decide quickly whether the train at the platform was mine or not, and I dithered too long. The train left. It had been mine.
I put it down to tiredness because I hadn't slept well during the night.

I got a coffee to while away the 45 minutes wait. When my train arrived, I rammed my cycle into the side of the door instead of getting it through the doorway, and spilt said coffee all over the handlebars and everywhere.
I put it down to clumsiness, because I was tired.

I got to work and decided I'd better have a coffee. I spilt it all over the desk and my hand.
Again, clearly I was tired.

I started work in the lab, and my hand was all shaky when I was trying to pipette into volumetric flasks; I had to use both hands. I had had a major run-in the day before with my manager, with whom I was going to work later on that morning, and I really wasn't looking forward to seeing him.
So I put it down to "nerves". Little did I know.....

I kept knocking glassware over.
"I really was clumsy today."

I made several mistakes when writing labels.
"Must concentrate more."

Later on I felt a little wobbly, and ducked out of working up a ladder. My rightleg felt like it was going to give way any minute. By this time I knew something was wrong. I was weaker than usual too.
I thought I'd got a virus or something.

Going to lunch I walked into the handrail at the bottom of the stairs. I couldn't get my spoons of chocolate pudding and chocolate custard cleanly into my mouth and kept having to wipe the custard off from all round my mouth. When I left the table, I couldn't hold my tray horizontally; the bowl kept sliding forwards and backwards. I was slow at work in the afternoon. I tried to point to a piece of equipment, and my hand flew out and I knocked it so hard it hurt. Then, I was having problems writing. Writing was difficult, very slow, very untidy, and I kept using the wrong words or mis-spelling things. My book was covered in errors.
I was very glad to go home that evening.

I was fine cycling to the station, but had a great deal of difficulty getting my bike on and off the train. When I tried to cycle up-hill, I kept steering to the right and having to compensate, and yet there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the bike. Then my leg started to give way, initially at the knee, and then at the ankle too so that my toes would suddenly hit the ground as I tried to pedal. This became more frequent. I was quite scared when I got home. My right leg was really achy, and all my right joints felt they were going to give way. I was extremely tired, and went to bed very early.

Symptoms experienced that day:

• difficulty thinking straight
• coordination of right side only (hand, then arm)
• use of language combined with fine hand coordination (writing)
• weakness of joints on right side only (leg, then arm and hand)

I decided I should see a doctor the next day.