LAST week I had a 'transient ischematic attack' while watching TV with the wife. A mini-stroke. The FAST test (Face, Arms, Speech, Telephone) showed no facial dropping, but I couldn't raise my right arm and my speech was very slurred — it lasted about 30 seconds, by which time my wife had phoned 999 and Steve, a paramedic, attended — a marvellous man who kept things calm and assessed the situation by phone with a Doctor on call. Out-of-hours medics in Devon are spread very thinly! Four urgent tests the next day with the stroke team at RDE Exeter and I was booked in to have an operation the next Friday. Several of us turned up Friday morning but some were turned away because there weren't enough beds to put us in. Shameful, but a reality of the 'on-demand' health service run to a strict budget. The operation under local anaesthetic took over one hour with a team of 10 highly professional people and they cleaned lumpy things out of my carotid artery. I have the lumps in a container if anyone wants to see what 35 years of smoking does to your arterial system. And that's my point. I started smoking about 1968 at age 20 and gave up 10 years ago age 57. It is a very stupid habit — given what we know now — and the brilliant surgical team asked me to encourage smokers to give the habit up, especially young ones. If you smoke, think about the future, maybe 37 years hence, when you will certainly want to be with sons, daughters, grandchildren longer. Invest in the future now and give it up, please? I was very lucky, not least because we actually have the best health service in the world, so don't let's knock it too much. As with your own body, treat the NHS with respect, don't abuse it with un-necessary tasks and it will serve you well, much longer into the future. Bob Rush, Okehampton