STRoke

Today I went to visit friend A in hospital. She has scared us all by having a stroke. She is only 58.  She did not know she had had a stroke because she can do all the things you are supposed not to be able to do when you have had one.   She had a terrible headache and felt confused, so went to bed.  I have been told in the past that the tests for a stroke are the first 3 letters of STRoke -
 
S *Ask the individual to SMILE.
T  *Ask the person to TALK, to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. . . It is sunny out today) 
R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
 
( Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue... if the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke)
If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999 immediately and describe the symptoms to the operator.
 
Poor friend A can do all these things but what she cannot do is read- she can see the letters, she knows what the letters are but she reads the words she is like a child learning to read.  She has also lost 40% of her side vision.
The picture is from the trip back round the M25 when I was experimenting with shutter speeds.