Thursday 30 August 2012

Oh my giddy heart















At the end of June I am sorry to say I suffered a heart attack, and then two weeks later a second one!
I spent weeks in hospital wired up and watching my blood pressure on a screen beeping away. I had an angiogram after the first one and was asked whether I wanted the good news or the good news, a slight furring of a tube due to high cholesterol, a huge amount of medication given to take for a year and sent merrily home.
Two weeks later I had the second one, once again I had another angiogram, which is a strange experience, half a brazilian done and wheeled down to the theatre. There you lay on a metal bed beside a bank of tv's, a little scratch in the groin area and then they feed in the wire to make its journey up to your heart. Once it's there you can feel it moving around, it feels similar to a piece of thread being pulled, they pump in the dye and you can watch the procedure on the tv screens, when they have finished they flush out the dye which makes your heart feel quite warm and you also get a warm feeling as if you have peed yourself.
It is no way near as bad as going to the dentist which I so hate with a vengeance :)
The result of the second one showed that I had a valve that was spasming so then I had to go to another hospital for my third angiogram and for two stents to be fitted side by side in the same valve.
I am now fully recovered and have been back at work for the last two weeks. Initially I suffered a little from the fear of it all happening again, but that has now faded and I feel much more confident that all is well.
As for the heart attacks both times I felt clammy, could not settle, then my left arm felt heavy, my jaw and neck ached and I did feel a slight tightness around the chest, all this in a matter of minutes, so at least I know what to look out for. But once the ambulance guys had been and sprayed something under my tongue, and gave me gas and air, within minutes I felt that I could have got out of the ambulance and gone back in the house :)
The outcome is that I take lots of meds for just one year, after which I will only need to keep up with the aspirin.
Just a timely reminder of how precious my life, my husband, my daughter, my family and friends are.

2 comments:

  1. I'm so glad to hear you're okay! Wishing you a speedy recovery and long term solution.

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    1. Hi Lianne
      Thank you for your lovely comment, it was a bit of a shock at the time, but all is well now :) x

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