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

Family & Surgery Update…

So 9 days ago I went for my surgery to remove my skin cancer. My youngest sister messaged me with lots of irritating questions, “what time are you leaving for the hospital, what ward will you be on, will you go straight down to theatre when you get there, what is the latest time they take people to surgery, what time is your operation, how long will you be there, will you have many stitches, what’s happening after the operation, is it a day case, will you have to go back, whats the surgeons name” and many many more! She is one of those people who continually ask questions in rapid fire and never really take a breath, and asks many daft questions. I am not the type of person who likes being questioned and find it irritating, and usually close-down or give generalised answers when this happens as I prefer to tell when I am ready and not be under a spotlight.

After the surgery I drove home and replied to a few more texts from my youngest sister and one from my mother, mainly ones of “are you home yet”. Today I finally got a call from my mother asking how I was, but I could tell from her tone she was not really calling to know how I was, then it came. “The reason for my call, can you ask your mate how much a new computer……” When my phone rang, I said to M “oh! here we go! I wonder what she wants this time?” knowing it would be a “can you” type call and not a genuine call of concern.

One of my sisters has not bothered calling to find out, and my little brother has become an ass and does not think he has to ask about anyone, including his father when he was in hospital.

M and I are always suspicious now when we get calls from our family as it is either a call for help or in the case of M’s mum, a mistaken call as she is trying to call someone else. It would be nice to have parents like we see on the Hallmark channel, or to have family like my cousins, but coming from a broken home I realised that would never happen.

So, my surgery went well, and I got away with only 4 stitches. The surgeon said it was deep and he removed skin and what lies beneath in the shape of an ellipse. He said he thought it went well and for me to go back to see him at the end of the month. I removed (yes I did) my stitches on Thursday and boy was I glad to get them out as they were irritating me. I heal really fast, always have no matter the injury. Cuts tend to take about 24/36 hours to fully knit, and usually within a week they are pretty much healed and just faint scars. This is no exception, and on Thursday when I took them out you would not really tell I had surgery. There is a fine scar and very thin mark that will fade to nothing before I go and see my surgeon.

I thought I would share a photo of the surgery, this was taken about 2 hours after. Although 48 hours later I did have a slight black eye as can be seen in the second picture.

Dog DNA Testing

K9 DNA Kit

M and I had our DNA mapped a good few years ago with 23andMe and loved the experience of finding out lots of things about ourselves from traits to health and of course ancestry. But I always thought it would be fun to have the dogs DNA mapped, and see what they are made of, health, allergies and reaction to drugs etc. I always thought it would be a bit of a pipe dream and that no one would do such things. We did have Lilu’s DNA done, but that was in case she was stolen, and having the DNA map meant that we would be able to get her back if she was stolen and her chip changed.

Today, I received an email from our insurers about having DNA mapping for dogs, and that got me thinking again about it all. I found kits on the usual sites, but nothing too exciting. Then I came across Wisdom Panel who are part of the Mars group and do full DNA mapping for dogs. After a good read of the site, I think I will take the plunge and get them done. £75 each and you get full ancestry, breed and health reports with drug sensitivity that you can share with the vets. One of the things I noted that when you buy a kit you get a code that you can share with family and friends to give a discount to them, but when buying 2 kits no discount is given so I will have to buy a kit, then order another one and use the code unless I can find a code on the internet. I have found ones that work with the .com site, but nothing for the British site, which is about right here, most companies are tight-fisted in the UK.

Once I have had the DNA done I will share the results with you all. If it is anything like the experience when we had our own DNA done it will be both exciting and interesting.

Cooking for Dogs…

Mazikeen and Harper looking out at the Natajack pool

I was talking to the trainer last week regarding the food that I make for the dogs, including the biscuits, and she said that she used to do that but after a few weeks gave it up as she didn’t have time to do it.  This I found odd.  I prep the veg, usually carrots, sweet potatoes, cabbage, green beans and broccoli and shove it all into the electric pressure cooker, and press steam.  That’s it!  Not hard or time-consuming at all, it takes all of 5 minutes to prep and the cooker does the rest in 5 minutes.  The only thing that takes more time is cooking the meats.  I usually make them lambs liver, kidney and hearts, turkey, chicken, pork, but even that does not take much time.  I usually just put some olive oil in a large pan, and lightly fry the liver and kidney for about 10 minutes.  The liver I cook as it comes, which is usually slices, which breaks up in the pan, but the kidneys are whole, so I slice them before cooking.  So about 10 minutes whilst the veg is cooking and cooking.  The whole lot get decanted into dishes and popped into the fridge.  I timed it today and it took less than 30 minutes, and that is done every two or three days.  I also do rice in the pressure cooker all of 3 minutes and that too goes into a container in the fridge.  In a week I would spend about an hour to an hour and a half each week to cook everything for them, which in my mind is not that long at all.

The biscuits obviously take longer but when it is raining like today, there is nowhere to go, and so I may as well make a batch for them and put them in an airtight container.

Last week I decided to do the kidneys in their own doggie gravy and added some garlic granules, this went down very well.

One thing I have to keep in mind is that balance is the main thing.

• High-quality protein (meat, seafood, dairy or eggs)
• Fat (meat or oil)
• Carbohydrates (grains or vegetables)
• Calcium (dairy)
• Essential fatty acids (egg yolks or oatmeal)

I also give the dogs boiled eggs and add pure salmon oil to their meals, and of course, they get dog vitamins.  All in all, I think they have a healthy intake of food, and I enjoy making them lovely foods.

A little of what you fancy?

They say, “You can’t have/do that, it’s bad for you.” “That carcinogenic, don’t eat that.” and much, much more.

I agree on some things, like heroin, smoking, and eating glass. However, on the measure of food, I consider it all hokum. Yes, radical thinking I know, especially in the age of 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, sugar-free, low calory, light, non-GM rubbish.

My grandmother was born in 1883 and died of old age in 1979 at the age of 95 (just before her 96th). She believed in eating what you liked, and would eat the fat off meats, dip bread in beef dripping, smother food with salt and only every use proper butter, no spreads or margarine in her store cupboard that’s for sure.

I know people who have an amazingly healthy lifestyle, no rubbish in their diets, no trans fats, salts, carbs and other fads, yet they are the most unhealthy people I know. One was rushed into hospital after a stroke. This person was fit, did marathons (not the chocolate bars) and worked out at the gym all the time, but no matter what, he ended up with problems. His wife, the same, but again she became ill.

I take pride in eating what I want. Although, I do not eat Gluten as I have coeliacs and just cannot tolerate it, or at least my stomach and bowels cannot tolerate it, but, as for bad foods, bring them on. I am not a chocolate lover, but savory is the fastest way to my heart. I am healthy and happy to smother my jacket potato with a pound of butter (from grass fed cows), drink coffee all the time (freshly ground by me) with two sugars and full-fat milk, eat chops with the biggest rind of fat you can find, and yes, I will suck the bone clean of meat, fat and marrow. I love bacon rind, raw, oh my god is he crazy? yes maybe I am but rind mmmm. I love cabbage cooked then thrown into the bacon fat in the frying pan to give it an extra taste. Coke is a staple along with peanut butter (Whole Earth as it isn’t sweet) which I eat by the spoonful. Ice cream is another staple, especially Ben & Jerry’s.

I had my DNA tested to see if I had to worry about anything in the future, and it would seem that I am going to live forever, unless I get hit by a car, fall off a really high building or bridge, or am shot in the head or heart. My DNA showed I have no markers for anything.

I drink alcohol rarely, but it’s because I am out driving every day, so just don’t want to risk losing my license .
With all that in mind, I believe in having a little of what I fancy, covered in peanut butter with a large side order of fried chop rind/fat. Anyone care to join me?