About three weeks ago I had a heart attack. I had been feeling a bit uncomfortable but decided, as usual that a ride out on the ebike would take me through it. It didn't. Towards the end of the ride I wondered if I would make it home, with left shoulder pain, running up into left cheek and jaw. But I got there, slung the bike in the garage and went in to flop out in a chair for the rest of the day.
Next morning I emailed my GP who told me he was writing a letter for me to take to A&E and my wife should drive me there. On arrival I was immediately tested for Covid-19 and admitted to the cardiac unit for an Angiogram next day. This was performed and a stent fitted as part of the procedure and I was discharged next day. Job done.
However, I had further symptoms so got readmitted three days later - again tested for Covid. But the next day I was in isolation since I was now Covid positive! I had been nowhere since the previous hospital visit so presumably I caught "it" during that first stay. Then I was sent home again where, of course, I infected my wife.
So we were now both in self isolation (what's new - we have been religiously self isolating since a month before lockdown began), Not a happy situation with me recovering from the heart attack and my poor wife going down with the plague too. But we have shared lives for over 60 years - and illnesses, so another step along the road together.
Fortunately the Covid was not a serious infection and did not go "respiratory" - just as well since my wife has a very poor immune system due to rheumatoid arthritis drugs.
We are slowly resurfacing, but riding a bike, even the "e" variety is out at present. I miss it - so does my skeleton which is seizing up from lack of use - even the dog is missing her short walks.
15 comments:
Sorry to hear this..hope you recover ok.
Where are our isolation hospitals when we need need them?
Well congratulations on being so fortunate - first to get a stent so quickly and second that you both only have mild symptoms. Your glass is definitely half full!
gz:
Thanks. Where are they indeed!
Tom:
Yes, I have always been a glass half full sort of guy - it comes in handy at times such as these!
That's bad luck on many fronts. You did well to get home and you must be resilent not to go to A & E after arriving home. All the best for a full recovery and for the time being I suspect pottering in the garage will have to replace riding, but hopefully you'll be out on the bike after a while.
Dave:
Thanks for that. I sincerely hope I can get out on the bike again eventually - it's my only available form of exercise these days.
Crikey — so sorry you've had to deal with these problems (which don't sound 'little' to me). All the best to both of you for quick and highly satisfactory recoveries.
P'Pete:
Thanks Pete. i somehow think it's going to be quite a long haul back up. But at least both the missus and I seem to be over the worst of the Covid. All I have to do now is get the ticker in some sort of good order!
How horrible. We are of an age and no doubt either one or both of these eventualities has been at the back of your mind as it has with me. I am not inclined to lecture you with recommendations since it would be like lecturing myself. We have both been up against the ineluctable force of old age. Philosophy is more to the point than medication.
My Damascene moment occurred in 2007, albeit far less catastrophically than yours.. Until then I continued to ski and I imagined my technique (the heart of ski-ing) was still improving. I introduced several members of my family to the sport and supported them with me on visits to increasingly expensive resorts in the Alps. In 2007 it was Zermatt the ne plus ultra of ski-ing, overhung by the magnificent Matterhorn. And suddenly I was a different person: my technique had disappeared entirely, my sense of balance was undermined, and my rapport with steepness had turned into a sense of unease.
I went on to long-distance swimming but that was almost parenthetic; more to do with exercise than enjoyment. I saw the break with ski-ing as apocalyptic. I was 73 at the time - no age at all in retrospect - and found myself reading the writing on the wall. Almost literally, in the "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin" sense. My relationship with the physical world had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. For ski-ing had an emotional as well as a physical appeal.
I didn't want to end up disenchanted, grinding my teeth over memories of Méribel and Puy St Vincent. I needed an occupation that was all-embracing, demanding and which could be carried on into extreme old age until mental implosion left me not caring about anything. I'd written novels before - amateurishly. I decided to do this seriously. Four have been written since, together with fifty short stories and a certain amount of less competent verse. Thus I became a writer instead of a pseudo-sportsman, no longer dependent on the fitness of my kneecaps and the exhilaration of the mountains. Let me emphasise, this is in no sense a recommendation. Writing is a shockingly severe discipline; the better one gets the more burdensome the discipline. But it is something one may pursue whether it's raining or sunny outsde.
Singing, which seemed almost to ambush me, is another indoors activity which is turning out to be impossibly rewarding.
I was re-reading one of my old posts recently and found both of us rhapsodising about working metal. Might that be an answer?
PS: Have just read your comment about my most recent singing lesson. I wish you some equivalent happiness but for it to work - ie, supplant looking back unhappily - it will have to be your decision.
RR:
Thanks very much for that long and interesting comment, Robbie. I can always rely on you to give some thought to a situation, consider options and bring an author's and journalist's opinions and reminiscences to bear on the subject.
Your comments re skiing reflect my own feelings when I had to give up my life's pleasure in motorcycling. Better to find other interests and remember the past with enjoyment, rather than ache for something no longer attainable. Hence my return to cycling, albeit with the electrically assist variety. I hope I rehabilitate enough to continue with that - I loved to work with metal but, alas, co-ordination and muscle/joint strength are no longer available.
But I don't wish to emulate Richard II and "sit on the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings". We'll see. What next? Life beckons and the possibilities are endless (except for the ultimate, of course)
Oh, dear! Looks like what-all went on while I wasn't paying attention. What do you think of bird-watching and photography? Your bike trip photographs have been beautiful, but could your yard could offer some possibilities? Just whatever helps your heart while interesting your mind. I'm sorry I wandered off. Doing the same things every day leaves me with not much to talk about. I wish for you both to be immediately perfect. No matter how unreasonable that wish is.
Vita:
Thanks for those wishes, much appreciated, however unreasonable! I enjoy photography - always have and watching my bird feeders in the back yard can almost be a meditative experience. However, I seem to be feeling my feet and have just pumped up the tyres of the ebike, ready for some gentle rides when our current heatwave (34C which is hot for us) has passed.
They reckon an English summer consists of 3 very hot days followed by two of thunderstorms and we do need the rain here.
Great to hear you are ready to ride. Hope the weather cooperates and there'll be more beautiful photographs.
Oh and I thought you'd escaped unscathed! Until I read this ... so sorry you and your wife were affected, but sure am glad you received good treatment and weathered through. Keep well and take care out there. (No more bike rides for a while, methinks?) However I'm sure you'll soon be 'back on your bike' - when the time is right.
Kay:
Thank you. Time has movd on since I wrote this. We are both well over the Covid and I am back cycling again. Albeit with some increase in the pills I need to take!
get well soon! blogwalking here from Malaysia. Regards! :)
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