I’ve been laid up recently after suffering from a heart attack a couple of weeks ago. One minute I was fine and the next, I started feeling a bit ‘unwell’ and then I felt Like I’d been hit by a train. The pain in my chest was staggering and intensified and spread until it was down my left arm and jaw in the classic heart attack symptoms.
Anna called for an ambulance and whilst waiting for it to arrive, the operator stayed on the line in support mode, which was very reassuring. Before the ambulance arrived, a lone paramedic turned up by car and it transpired that we knew each other from when I worked in Brighton and he had in fact been one of the paramedics that had turned up to a bike crash I had a few years ago! Must admit, it was good to see a familiar face and it helped to put me at ease during this stressful time. Once the ambulance arrived, I was loaded on board, given a load of Morphine (nice) and taken to the RSCH A&E and then up to the cath lab, where instead of administering clot busting drugs, they did an angioplasty straight away and a stent was placed to open up the blocked artery.
After a few days care in the hands of the coronary care unit, I was released to go home and recuperate. I have to say that the care I received was first rate and showed the NHS at it’s very best. The staff were incredible and a credit to the profession.
I’m now well on the way to a full recovery, although not allowed to drive for another few weeks which is a bit of a bummer. I still have to go back in a few weeks time as there is another artery that is causing some concern and may have to have another stent fitted. Once all that is sorted, I’ll be on my way to full fitness again, although I’ll be monitored by the cardiac rehab nurses and have to get used to the new drugs I have to take now. Hopefully, I’ll be up and running again in time for the spring squid hunting down at the marina.
Now, apart from the obvious bad points, having a heart attack is no fun. Being a bit of a hirsute person, it was bloody painful when they later peeled off the adhesive heart monitor lead connector patches stuck all over my upper body – cheaper than a body wax but not my idea of fun. My chest now resembles the coat of a mangey old hound with bare patches everywhere. My bruised groin, although a fetching purple and green colour is no good when the other side doesn’t match!
The good points to come out of this; I got to see my eldest daughter for a few days after she travelled down from Sunderland to check and confirm that I was still alive. My Mother came up to visit and made her first coach trip from Southampton to Brighton. My wife Anna – unruffled, calm and bloody fantastic. She’s had to put up with a lot, what with keeping everyone informed and being on the phone for hours, looking after Alex, acting as a hotelier for my daughter, visiting me in hospital and generally keeping everything running. You are one in a million my love – thank you