This was the week that almost wasn't
Feb. 12th, 2006 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chrishansenhomeI had a heart attack last Tuesday. Here's the story:
Last Sunday evening we were coming home from Heathrow and I was tugging my luggage out of the Underground. I felt a bit of discomfort but paid it no mind.
Tuesday morning I got up, made breakfast, and sent HWMBO off to work and sat down to do the email and Usenet. At 9:30 I felt a crushing pain in my chest, something like the discomfort one feels when one gulps water fast and it stays in your esophagus for a while. It didn't go away. I called my friend Mark from across the street and he came over, called the ambulance, and that was basically the end of my week.
We went to St. Thomas's Hospital, which is the primary cardiac care centre for most of southern England. This is a good thing, as normally one would have been taken to another hospital, from which one would have been transferred to St. Thomas's. In A&E they evaluated me, and decided to perform an immediate angioplasty and put in a stent, all of which they did. The angioplasty flattens the plaque on the arterial wall against the artery so that the pathway is opened again. A stent looks like a tube made of chicken wire, very tiny. That is inserted to hold the plaque in place and medication is imbued in the stent to prevent clots from forming around the stent. All this was performed on Valium and then I got a shot of morphine, which helped me to understand why addicts like heroin so much. By 12:30 I was in the CCU (Cardiac Care Unit, for intensive care after heart surgery or heart attacks).
The rest of the week was one boring lot of minutes, hours, and days. Luckily the angioplasty (which starts from a tube inserted in your groin and threaded into your heart) left no bruises or scars, and most of the tubes and spigots they put in were taken out by Friday. They were taking blood sugar, blood pressure, and the like every hour in the CCU, and 5 times a day on the regular cardio ward, to which I was transferred on Friday morning.
Had visitors: the Area Dean, the Archdeacon of Southwark, several chaplains, my Rector, HWMBO, our houseguest, and a fellow parishioner. Lots of cards and stuff from friends (some from America!!) I did find out through my sister's card that my brother and sister-in-law have separated (so some sad news too). Got cards from my Masonic brothers too, which was a very nice thing indeed.
So now I'm back home, with lots of email to look at, time to rest and relax before Tuesday's Civil Partnership ceremony, time to think before I begin rehab, time to be grateful that this wasn't the Big One that has done for so many people in the past.
Missed all my lj friends, too! Glad to be back!
Last Sunday evening we were coming home from Heathrow and I was tugging my luggage out of the Underground. I felt a bit of discomfort but paid it no mind.
Tuesday morning I got up, made breakfast, and sent HWMBO off to work and sat down to do the email and Usenet. At 9:30 I felt a crushing pain in my chest, something like the discomfort one feels when one gulps water fast and it stays in your esophagus for a while. It didn't go away. I called my friend Mark from across the street and he came over, called the ambulance, and that was basically the end of my week.
We went to St. Thomas's Hospital, which is the primary cardiac care centre for most of southern England. This is a good thing, as normally one would have been taken to another hospital, from which one would have been transferred to St. Thomas's. In A&E they evaluated me, and decided to perform an immediate angioplasty and put in a stent, all of which they did. The angioplasty flattens the plaque on the arterial wall against the artery so that the pathway is opened again. A stent looks like a tube made of chicken wire, very tiny. That is inserted to hold the plaque in place and medication is imbued in the stent to prevent clots from forming around the stent. All this was performed on Valium and then I got a shot of morphine, which helped me to understand why addicts like heroin so much. By 12:30 I was in the CCU (Cardiac Care Unit, for intensive care after heart surgery or heart attacks).
The rest of the week was one boring lot of minutes, hours, and days. Luckily the angioplasty (which starts from a tube inserted in your groin and threaded into your heart) left no bruises or scars, and most of the tubes and spigots they put in were taken out by Friday. They were taking blood sugar, blood pressure, and the like every hour in the CCU, and 5 times a day on the regular cardio ward, to which I was transferred on Friday morning.
Had visitors: the Area Dean, the Archdeacon of Southwark, several chaplains, my Rector, HWMBO, our houseguest, and a fellow parishioner. Lots of cards and stuff from friends (some from America!!) I did find out through my sister's card that my brother and sister-in-law have separated (so some sad news too). Got cards from my Masonic brothers too, which was a very nice thing indeed.
So now I'm back home, with lots of email to look at, time to rest and relax before Tuesday's Civil Partnership ceremony, time to think before I begin rehab, time to be grateful that this wasn't the Big One that has done for so many people in the past.
Missed all my lj friends, too! Glad to be back!
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no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 01:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 01:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 01:48 pm (UTC)I mean, well, look, no-- EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
Don't do that again!
no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 02:30 pm (UTC)I wish you a speedy recovery!
no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 02:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 04:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 08:48 pm (UTC)I hope HWMBO is taking good care of you...
Great big *huggers*, sweetie!!!
no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 09:19 pm (UTC)You're safe and sound today! :D
Take care...
no subject
Date: 2006-02-12 09:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-13 03:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-13 10:09 am (UTC)Reading that first sentance scared the CRAP out of me!
Eat fish and take care of yourself. :)
HUGS from SF!
no subject
Date: 2006-02-13 10:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-13 11:52 am (UTC)Good luck my friend.
Kap in MA
no subject
Date: 2006-02-13 02:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-15 06:15 pm (UTC)