Monday 20 March 2017

Matters of the Heart




Think of heart attacks and you picture someone clutching their chests and dropping to the floor, more often than not dead, probably influenced by watching the television. Believe me, it doesn’t always happen that way. Five weeks ago, my lovely husband had a heart attack. Normally very active, fairly physically fit, not particularly overweight, he came out of work with a feeling of discomfort in his chest. As he was driving home, he started to feel unwell and instead diverted to the nearby hospital. Within an hour he was in the resuscitation room wired up to all sorts of monitoring devices and I was on my way there, having been alerted by one of the nurses. Within a few hours he was being whisked to Sheffield Northern General Hospital in an ambulance with blue flashing lights and two paramedics in attendance, feeling, he said, ‘a complete fraud.’ Once there, he was whisked into an operating theatre and had a stent fitted to one of the coronary arteries.

I’m glad to say he’s recovering well and has just this week gone back to work, albeit on reduced hours, which I believe is normal practice. Best of all, he’s agreed to carry a mobile phone with him at all times, something I’ve wanted him to do for years. In a couple of weeks, he’s to start attending cardiac rehabilitation which should help with things like diet and exercise. But this experience has been a real shock to him. He’s gone from someone who ‘didn’t do sick’ and who refused to take tablets of any kind, beyond a couple of painkillers for a headache, to someone who’s now taking eight tablets a day. That will probably be for the rest of his life too.

But it’s been a real wake-up call for both of us, made us realise just how precious life is and how precarious our hold on it is. As a result of what’s happened, we’ve taken stock of how we lead our lives. He was one for going at jobs hell for leather, always trying to get ahead of himself. I’m pleased to report that he’s now pacing himself and actually having ‘a bit of a sit-down’ in between jobs. We’ve also gone low-fat in our diet wherever possible and trying to eat more vegetables and fruit. Will we be able to keep it up? At this stage, I don’t know.

The irony is that I’m waiting for a CT scan to see if my own coronary arteries are silting up. It’s just possible I may need a stent myself!

10 comments:

  1. Things like this definitely make you realise family and life are precious, we all lead busy lives and are quite often 'too busy' to see our family and I've been guilty of the same but I'm going to try my best to do things differently too.

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    1. Thanks, dear daughter! You have so many demands on your time and you come when you can. Doesn't help when we don't live on each other's doorsteps, does it?

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  2. Hope you don't need a stent, Anne and also hope your husband feels a lot better soon. It must have been a frightening experience for both of you.

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    1. Thanks, Nancy. He's progressing nicely and takes things a lot steadier these days. It's been a lesson for both of us really. We do take our good health for granted, don't we?

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  3. Oh Anne - what a terrible thing to have to go through. I wish both you and your husband well and a long fun-filled lifetime ahead.
    Janice xx

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    1. Thank you, Janice, so kind of you to say so. You do right to get around like you do. Unfortunately, I have mobility problems so can't do as much as like. The experience has made me resolve to try and do more myself too while I still can!

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  4. Glad your Hero@Home is recovering well. Make you think of what's important.

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    1. Thank you, Jean. He's recovering well and taking things a lot steadier. It was just such a shock to him (and to me) because he's younger than me and, as we thought, healthy. Just goes to show!

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  5. What a worrying time it's been for both of you, but thank you so much for sharing your experience so we know what to be aware of. All best wishes to you both.

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    1. Thank you, Chris, it seemed such a minor thing to hubby at the time. He knows better now! As a result, I persuaded my middle-aged son to have his blood pressure and cholesterol checked. Guess what, he needs medication too!

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