the Monday Musings column from that consultant bloke

Asset management is very much at the forefront of my thinking at the moment, and in a very personal sense. It was about 4 weeks ago that I took a long look in the mirror and decided that I needed to apply some first principles to my main asset; myself.

It had been a hard day out and about, but the weekend had arrived. Over the course of that break I resolved to organise myself an Old Man check-up to put my mind at rest over those nagging concerns that a fast approaching 60^th birthday was bringing. Yes I had healed remarkably well after all three of the operations that I had between 2008 and 2010, all of which suggested a healthy body, but a check-up would do no harm.

I decided that the following week I would just do the voluntary work on national awards judging that I was committed to plus a coaching session and would otherwise take it easy whilst I found a new GP and organised a full medical. I got through the week, but was not feeling 100% and the sky fell in on me on the Saturday. The Berkshire Belle, aided by my son, managed to cancel all of my appointments for the following week and the initial medical diagnosis was that I had the “nasty bug” that was doing the rounds.

Feeling better I started to pick up the threads and, confident that some bug would not hold me back too much I started to pick up the threads, but on the Tuesday lunchtime I collapsed. The Wokingham Wonder called the emergency services and, over the course of the rest of that day, a serious infection was confirmed and treatment commenced that quickly resolved that problem. The full medical was booked for the coming Saturday and I was confident that things had been sorted after the original misdiagnosis.

I arrived at the clinic with the Berkshire Belle in tow and was poked, prodded and otherwise subjected to various indignities, but emerged in the knowledge that the infection from earlier in the week had been cured, a secondary infection was responding and that all of my various bits and pieces were all in the right place and the right size and shape. Feeling good we left them with an armful of blood and went home to relax.

After a very nice dinner I stood up to clear the table, but was interrupted by the telephone. Probably one of the family ringing for news I thought, but it was the doctor that I had seen earlier; the blood tests were in and I had a problem. A bed was waiting for me at the hospital and I should go there now. There are moments in your life that you don’t forget and this was one. I packed a few things in a bag and cadged a lift the couple of miles to the hospital.

Over the next 24 hours it became apparent that I had come uncomfortably close to closing my story and that, whilst I felt OK, I was a lot worse than I thought. Thanks to the team here the problem is being slowly resolved. That it will take 6 weeks or more to conclude is no fun, but that is what in needs.

As with more traditional assets you choose your maintenance regime, but there can often be something lurking that you miss and symptoms can be misleading. Assets that are business critical should not be neglected and I know that well enough; I just didn’t apply it to myself quickly enough.