Category: Homelife

As again I am repeating a post I’ve done a number of times, The DOMS, it hurts, I am walking like John Wayne…..

Well dear reader, assuming there is still a read out there, we need to have a conversation, we need to discuss something important and somethings have to change.

Every now and then in life, there is a surprise or a shock and you end up taking stock to some extent. This time, it was a phone call on the way to work to tell me that my mother was unwell, dad was in a panic. Ambulance called, just waiting for arrival.  From the limited bit I got, as panic was in charge, I got that we were having trouble breathing and didn’t feel well. Now for some reason dad went for the 111 non emergency number, but quite quickly it was triaged and become important enough for the flashing lights to be on their way.

I arrived just before the ambulance and tried to calm people down and then they arrived and let them do their thing. Its clearly serious enough, with wires, leads and monitors all beeping away. Information sent to hospital and urgent attendance needed…. so off they go. I chase them down and find them in A&E doing all the things they need to do. We say our bit, and wait for details. Stabilisation is the order of the day and quickly with the appropriate care, improvement is rapid and massive.

Further care needed, and a transfer to another hospital is the order of the day as specialisation means different things go to different places. For the north east, The Freeman is the heart & lung place of choice , infact known around the world. They reject her as not serious enough, so fear not, off we go to Sunderland Royal.

Settled in, treatment discussed, Angioplasty (stents and balloons to you and I) is the order of the day, and its planned in fairly routine.

But then, the first spanner in the works…. A coloured die is injected to see how it all looks and the surgeon doesn’t fancy it, more complicated… its been escalated. Another hospital is on the cards, either Freeman or James Cook (wayyy down south). We suggest Freeman is better suited and easier for us all, but its bed availability that’s key. 3 days of waiting eventually transferred across. New surgery planned, a triple bypass no less! Good effort mother!

Second spanner in the works.  Off to theatre, all planned in – we hide at home as its safer and we can’t do anything of use to anyone at this point. Advised to call after 11…. We watch the clock, watch it some more, and then finally its time to call.  I am given the dubious pleasure.

I call and and told back in ICU all ok, but there are complications. That set my heart racing! But, it turns out what that actually means is that the operation was aborted before it began. It seems mother decided things were not complicated enough, so she would add something new to the mix. Now she has no allergies we are aware of… but (and you can guess where this is going) We understand she went to sleep ok, but then was given the necessary drugs for the op (4 different ones….) and it seems she is allergic to one of them…

They correctly back out of the operation. Back to ICU.

It seems mother isn’t happy with the provided breathing tube, and decides to pull it out. That didn’t go down well with the nurses. Ooops

Plan B is resurrected, with the balloons and stents back on the table, as its a local and not general anaesthetic.  This I am pleased to say worked better, and she’s made it home so phew….

So thanks for reading this far, but you are questioning whats this all got to do with the title…. well as part of the visiting etc etc, and maybe its because barriers are down etc, mother decided life was changing, better food, no cheating, a diet you name it. In short, she outright called me fat, and my dad, and my partner…. So if you know me, its a factually correct statement and I’ve never hidden from this.  But given the scare, and support she needs, maybe it is time to make a change, and properly do something about it.  A lot of heart disease and block arteries are diet related, and to be fair its in my control if i want it to be.

So its time to make changes, eat healthier, get back on the bandwagon…. and support the family whilst helping my self.

Today was day one, and its been good, no cheating at work, less coffee, salad for lunch. A 2 miles walk at lunch. Gym tonight for rowing and weights, and then a little sauna and swim to cool it all down.

Now Rome wasn’t built in a day, and one day doesnt make a week or a month. But its a start, and it needed to start.

Enough from me for now.

Cheers

Stephen