Hard2Kill – Heart Attack

https://anchor.fm/mrknitter/embed/episodes/Hard2Kill–Heart-Attack-e197vli

Last week (13th) I was about to leave work and go home for the day but started to feel unwell. I got into the car but did not start the engine, after a minute I decided to go back to the office as my friend and employer just happened to still be there. After a few minutes of telling her how I felt and thinking I had pulled something things started to get worse, so the decision was to take me to the hospital. I called M to tell him I was not feeling well and that I was going to the hospital. Luckily enough A&E/ER was only 1.6 miles away and I was there in no time.

The receptionist was rude and dismissive and was not interested really in my plight, shouting at me to put a mask on. At this point, I was struggling to breathe and was in mass amounts of pain and felt ready to collapse. Both my friend and I told her I needed help and both times all she was interested in was telling us that my friend could not wait with me and had to go. Luckily my friend takes no prisoners and said to me that they will have to bring security and drag her out before she will willingly leave. Within 20 minutes of being there and begging to be seen, I was taken through to triage and had my first cardiac arrest. I had a total of 4 cardiac arrests, suffered three fractured ribs from CPR, and 7 very large defibrillator shocks in order to bring me back to life. The doctor who did all that said it was a struggle to keep me alive and that I was very lucky to have been at the hospital when that happened as the timing was critical. If I had gone home I would have died on my driveway.

Once I was stable, I was taken to Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital, which is the leading heart hospital in the UK, and again I was lucky enough to be close to it. As it was dark I was taken via ambulance at high speed to the hospital, if it was daylight I would have been transported via the helicopter. Sirens and blue lights all the way once I was there I was rushed into theatre to have an angiogram, that is a stent fitted all whilst awake. Whilst I was in Southport hospital I kept vomiting every time I was moved, which was not nice for the staff there as it was very unexpected and dare I say exorcist style. I did the same in theatre, however, the staff I managed to take out said it was not a problem as they deal with that all the time and not to stop myself as it is better out than in.

After a few minutes after me claiming down the operation began through my wrist (details below). 20 minutes later a blockage was removed and a stent fitted and I started to feel a little bit better but was still in pain with the fractured ribs. Now I was starting to stabilise I was taken to the critical care unit for my recovery. I have to admit, life in Critical Care was amazing, one on one nursing, doctors in and out many times day and night, wired up to every machine possible monitoring everything from oxygen levels, heart, pulse, blood pressure, several drips and transfusion machines and of course I was also on oxygen as my lungs were filling with fluid because my heart was not working properly.

My angiogram was through the wrist

Whilst in hospital I had many x-rays, 4 transfusions, blood was taken every day, injections into my tummy daily, and lots and lots of medication both IV and orally. I had many heart scans to determine the extent of damage my heart had sustained, unfortunately, the news was not good. I have severe damage to the left side, muscles are no longer working there, however, the other muscles are overcompensating for the damage. The doctor did show me it after the scan which was amazing to see, but worrying as I could see when he pointed out the lack of movement in the damaged part. I still have another blockage, but they said medication will get rid of that and they are not concerned at this stage. Unfortunately, it looks like the heart attack was caused through DNA as heart problems are on my maternal Welsh side, with my uncle dying of a heart attack at 31, my grandmother also at a much later age, and others. The doctor said he thinks I have a good lifestyle and this change to my life will only make things better.

I am now home after my 8 days in critical care and being honest feel quite well considering. I have been for a couple of little walks in the village and this morning we took the dogs for a little walk too. I have been signed off work for 4 weeks and not allowed to drive until 17th November, but that will be here in no time.

Next is recuperation and rehabilitation starting next week (I hope) and building my strength, counselling and more.

I am lucky to be alive and owe my life to my friend for getting me to the hospital. She has been a real champ during this as she has checked on M every day, both through visiting, calling and messaging. She took him to hers for Sunday lunch last Sunday along with the dogs to get them all out of the house. M enjoyed it a lot, and needless to say, the dogs enjoyed running about her garden.

So, onwards and upwards, here is to a fixed heart and better times to come. Pics below with captions to see changes.

Me, 1 hour 20 minutes before my heart attack.

Me 24 hours after my heart attack in Critical Care

Right arm

Left Arm

Me finally at home with M 10 days after my heart attack

COVID-19

COVID jab, Done and done. Glad it’s all sorted. Just have to wait for M to have his final one and we are safe to start living again. On saying all that we have no interest in going to the pubs, clubs or on holiday at the moment. Knowing our luck we would book a holiday and then the world would go to hell again and everything would be cancelled. I am hoping that my reaction to the jab is the same as the first one, which was no reaction at all. M had the AZ vaccine and was ill for about a week and I don’t fancy that.

I have to admit the whole process was so easy. I received a text with a link, clicked it then was offered a series of appointments to which I picked the first available to get it over with on both occasions. The medical centre was great as they had the whole thing worked out and everyone was in a one way system. I give the whole process ten out of ten.

This week M and I have been doing the rapid lateral flow tests and will continue for the next two weeks. All clear, but we expected that. I have to do the test tonight, so it will be interesting to see if my vaccine will show up, I doubt it, but I’m not a scientist.

Covid Vaccination

Three weeks ago I received my first vaccination for COVID-19 after receiving a text from my GP. A week later I received a letter from NHS England asking me to book my vaccination as I am a registered carer for someone vulnerable to Covid. Today I received a letter of the same ilk from the council’s carers department. Both letters mentioned that the person I care for (my husband) is vulnerable to Covid, however, M has not had his vaccination, and further to it all I have asthma which I have had from birth, and I also have a heart problem. Yes, I have had my vaccination, but only because I am a carer, and not because of my own health problems which happen to fit within the remit of the vaccination rollout.

When I went for my vaccination, one of the nurses who knows both M and me very well asked how M got on after his injection. I had to tell her that he had not had it, nor an invite. Needless to say, she was quite surprised but admitted that people were not getting invites when they should have had one. She assured me that she would speak to the surgery and get it sorted. A few days later she called and said she was having to fight with management over M and others that were missed off, but told me he was now on the list for the next set. The invite never arrived, and after getting my letter from the council I decided enough was enough.

As with anything official involving bureaucrats I knew it was going to be something that I had to fight for and was well aware that I would be sent on a wild goose chase. I called the GP surgery and after being in a queue that said I was number one, waited for 12 minutes to actually speak to someone. However, she was one of the surgeries “gatekeepers”. Unfortunately, most doctors offices in the UK have these gatekeepers who take it upon themselves to fob everyone off. I have had many arguments with these women who demand to know all the details of ailments as though they are the doctors, rather than booking the appointments as per their job description. (Before anyone decides to comment that I am wrong and they are doing their job, I have to stop you there as our surgery confirmed and published that the receptionists are not medically trained and when booking appointments you do not need to tell them about why you are booking it.). Anyway, I told the receptionist the reason for my call, she took M’s details and told me that he was not on any list and therefore would need to wait until they do 45 to 50-year-olds which will be some time. I questioned as to why there are no details on the system, and she informed me that I would need to get letters from the hospital for any appointments attended last year and send them into the surgery for them to look into it. I informed her that he had not attended the hospital last year as all appointments were cancelled due to the pandemic. she told me that if I could not do that I should call the NHS line and speak to them as it is them who decide who has their vaccination and when, but she had no records of underlying health problems. WTF!

Next stop NHS Direct. After going through 8 options I finally spoke to a lady who listened to me and tried to book the appointment. She told me that she could not as the system would not let her and that our GP surgery needs to correct their system to enable her to book it. I told her that the surgery had blamed NHS Direct’s side and said it was their records that were to blame. She assured me that their records are lead by the surgery and that they have “markers” that when the routines are run selects the people in those categories and invites them to have their jab. Feeling that I was getting another run-around I called the council’s carers line for advice. The lady was very sympathetic and told me in no certain words that M should have had his injection and that it is indeed the surgery who are to blame and that they had not coded M’s records properly, and I should call the surgery again and speak to the practice manager and refuse to give details to the receptionist as I would not get to the route of the problem.

Another call to the surgery to be told that the practice manager was in a meeting and she (a different gatekeeper this time) would try to get him to call me back. When I put the phone down I thought that I would not get a call and my request would be binned. However, I was duly surprised to get a call from the practice manager just 20 minutes later. So, on with my explanation to him, repeating everything I had said to all the others and telling of what I had been told by his reception to do, what NHS Direct said and finally what the council carers department told me. He looked into M’s records whilst I was on the phone and could see that something was wrong and he would speak to our new GP and get it all corrected. I told him what the nurse had told me and he said that she was one of the best members of staff and that she knew the patients very well and if she thought M should have been seen, then he needed to act on that too. I mentioned to him that our old GP who left the surgery was very rude about M getting a flu jab stating that those were only for people with cancer. When she said this to M I quickly corrected her and she finally backed down, however, M still had never received an invite for that either. He apologised that this too was missed off and admitted that M should also have been given the flu jab too each year especially in light of him being hospitalised with pneumonia, again, not recorded by the GP in question. I told him that the pharmacist next to the surgery had given M his jab each year and said that M was in the vulnerable group and that the surgery should have sorted this out. Again he apologised for all the mistakes and lack of professional conduct from our previous GP (who left in mysterious circumstances to a new life in Scotland) and promised to get everything corrected and went ahead with booking M in for his Covid vaccination.

Success!

Although I have condensed everything, the calls to all involved took me over an hour and a half. It is a sad state of affairs that we have had to fight for everything just because people cannot or do not do their jobs correctly.

Operation Outcome

Two week after my operation and I can confirm it has been a somewhat success. It is too early to say it was a complete success, as only time will tell once the healing is complete and the scaring has finished forming.

The procedure was to cut away all the scaring in my nose to make the airways wider, reposition my septum and repair the large hole in it. Not all could be done as the surgeon told me due to all the operations I have had on my nose and face, there was very little to work with, therefore she was unable to reposition my septum, most of the scaring was removed, but in parts it was left as the tissue was too thin. The good news was the hole was repaired, but again due to swelling etc., only time will tell if it worked fully. I have another appointment in February to see how it all is, and if I need a further more aggressive operation.

For me, being able to breathe through my nose is great and no more whistling through it.

Hospital Day

As I cannot drive after surgery I got a taxi to the hospital this morning. As it’s another county I ordered it to be early forgetting there the roads would be empty. As a result I was half an hour early and here at 7 am.

It’s going to be a long day I feel, so thankfully they have WiFi and I have my kindle with me.

My view is quite unremarkable though.