Wednesday May 26th 2021
05:30 Lois and I get up early to have breakfast - I'm not allowed to eat after 6 am because of the angiogram they're going to give me at the local general hospital. Then we go back to bed - ha!
07:30 Lois drives me to the hospital and drops me off. I will call her when I'm ready to be picked up. She tells me not to worry and assures me that everything will be fine. Or maybe that was what I said to her - one of the two anyway!
[That's enough schmaltz! - Ed]
I make my way to the Hartpury Suite and get there on time. They settle me down in an armchair by my bed, but little do I know at this stage, that I'll be sitting there now for the next nearly 5 hours, not able to eat anything. The delay is due to two unexpected emergency cases that come in for treatment: one patient became ill overnight in one of the hospital wards, and another critical patient was brought in mid-morning by ambulance from Gloucester. Oh dear! Luckily I've got with me my Philip Leacock biography, a birthday present from Lois.
The hospital in fact first invited me in for an angiogram in January but when I read about the details of the procedure in their letter, I chickened out, giving as an excuse the fact that I hadn't had a coronavirus vaccination yet. One of my problems is that I've been too fortunate over the years, and I have had very little wrong with me, which has given me a bit of a lifelong anxiety about doctors and hospitals.
13:45 A nurse and a porter take me across this huge hospital to the operating theatre or whatever it's called. I have to lie flat on an x-ray table. I decide not to ask for sedation, because I've noticed that other patients coming back to the ward, who have had sedation, have to take longer to rest before they're allowed to go home: they're not even allowed to go to the loo by themselves - my god!
The hospital carries out the procedure either through the wrist or the groin. I get the wrist option, it turns out. A small hollow tube is placed in an artery, and a catheter is passed through the tube into the heart - yikes, scary !!!!
As I lie there, just above my head is an X-ray machine, which is moved several times during the procedure to give multiple images of the arteries. A contrast medium (dye) is injected via the catheter to allow the coronary arteries and heart chambers to be seen clearly.
To my relief I find out that the procedure is nothing to be alarmed about - it's completely painless and only takes about 5-10 minutes, which is the main thing.
I've been told that if the arteries are slightly furred up it can be controlled with medication, but if the problem is worse, there are escalating actions they can take, starting with stents and then going up to by-pass surgery and suchlike.
I'm in luck, however. The consultant cardiologist carrying out the procedure tells me, there and then in the operating theatre, that my arteries are clear, which takes me by surprise, to put it mildly.
My god!!!!!
16:00 Lois comes to take me home. I have to follow all sorts of precautions over the next week, e.g. taking it easy, no strenuous activity, no heavy lifting, being careful of pressure on my right wrist, that type of thing. None of which I mind very much haha!
Thursday May 27th 2021
Lois and I take a tour of our back garden to check how things are going. The weather is taking a turn for the better.
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