Stormy Weather

[Anna]

Dear S_A, so sorry to hear your news As Cali says, take it easy but I hope with your stent, and the fact that it was caught early before major damage will mean that life can resume as normal in due course even if the bike rides have to be a little shorter. All best wishes for a complete recovery.

Major storm directly overhead for hours plus torrential rain yesterday evening here as well. Certainly has cleared the air.

[doversoul1]

Very sorry to hear your news but I hope you’ll adjust to the new regime and be able to enjoy life in full. All the best..

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Crikey S_A !! V sorry to hear that! Scary, but great to have you back - go very carefully but hope you don't have to sell the bike! Take it easy and get strong.

Couldn't've put it better myself - very best wishes, S_A

[amateur51]

Sorry to have been away without the chance to inform everyone. Had a mild heart attack 3 or so weeks ago, it was reckoned - a week's tests interned at Kings Coll Hospital in Camberwell, concluding with a stent inserted in one of the artery valves under the heart yesterday afternoon - done under local anaesthetic! Was released this morn. Seven drugs per day regime from now - seems like the first day of the rest of my life - have to wonder if I'll ever do those long cycle rides again.

Lovely thunderstorm has broken out unexpectedly here in past 5 minutes.

Great to see you back here S_A - the place has not been the same without you and you have been much missed (some have been fretting even )

It's amazing what the NHS can do for you in matters of the heart (hoho! :biggrin) and I have several friends who have been through events similar to yours (and worse) who are now back to cycling, long country rambles, sessions in the pub - you name it!

Please look after yourself and take the meds like the nice doctor says

[mangerton]

I must echo all the messages above, S-A. Great to see you back, and I'm sure with all your forecasting abilities unimpaired. Someone close to me has had a stent in place for a good number of years, and she is still very full of beans.

No thunderstorms here. There were a few drops of rain and strongish winds when I went to the shops an hour ago, but the sun is out now.

[eighthobstruction]

Ah boom boom boom boom S-A....glad you've got that sorted....onward!!....

jobsagoodun....

[mangerton]

Oh No, he said, it's not that Internet wireless, it's proper wireless!, the boiler merely speaks to the thermostat and you can move it about!
Anyway, all the old ugly pipework around the ancient boiler is going to disappear upwards under the floorboards and I shall be left with ...... a huge space! My sister suggests I install a bistro table and two chairs pour des occasions intimes dans la cuisine

In all the excitement of S-A's reappearance, this almost slipped by un-noticed.

Enjoy your new heating, your huge space, and those kitchen-based occasions intimes. Je suis tout à fait jaloux.

[BBMmk2]

Goodness! I must not have noticed this! Welcome back SA!

[Anna]

In all the excitement of S-A's reappearance, this almost slipped by un-noticed.
Enjoy your new heating, your huge space, and those kitchen-based occasions intimes. Je suis tout à fait jaloux.

Ah, you are welcome at my table anytime .... first thing this morning I was in the kitchen armed with my measuring tape .... and nipped out to get colour charts (obviously the whole room has to be redecorated) and, further good news on the home improvements front, my broken washing machine has just been repaired <hurrah emoticon> at a very reasonable price <sigh of relief emoticon>

As Ammy said, God Bless the NHS. Despite everything that is rotten with the system at the moment they do triumph in these circumstances and I too know people who have had stents or pacemakers who swear it's made them feel younger and reinvigorated.

To stay on topic: 18°, fast moving clouds, occasional spitty showers, so not a bad day but we may have some heavier thundery showers this afternoon.

[mangerton]

Ah, you are welcome at my table anytime .... first thing this morning I was in the kitchen armed with my measuring tape .... and nipped out to get colour charts (obviously the whole room has to be redecorated) and, further good news on the home improvements front, my broken washing machine has just been repaired <hurrah emoticon> at a very reasonable price <sigh of relief emoticon>

Good to hear your washing m/c has been repaired. You mentioned a measuring tape.

My 15 year old washer dryer gave up the ghost recently. Its propensity to flood the kitchen became rather difficult to live with, so I bit the bullet, went online, and ordered a replacement from a well-known nation wide outfit. Delivery men arrived. Through the front door. To the kitchen door. Couldn't get it through. Delivery man: "Did you check the dimensions of this m/c before you ordered it? You see, the door on this model sticks out quite a bit." As indeed it did. "You'll need to take the door and the doorframe off." I had measured, twice, and interestingly, the dimensions on the website took no account of a protruding door, so they'd have been on a sticky wicket. However, I suggested that if they turned the machine through 90º, it might conceivably go through. "Oh yes, so it does!" He then installed the machine. I discovered after he'd gone that he'd connected the cold fill machine to my hot water supply, in spite of assuring me he had not. I had asked, because I had experienced this piece of brilliance thirty years ago after a house removal.

OT - Still very warm and dry, but there is a strong wind a-blowing.

[Serial_Apologist]

As Ammy said, God Bless the NHS. Despite everything that is rotten with the system at the moment they do triumph in these circumstances and I too know people who have had stents or pacemakers who swear it's made them feel younger and reinvigorated.

Thanks to you, Anna, and all who have posted well wishings on my behalf, to coin a phrase possibly.

What still seems astonishing is that I should have been suffering from heart problems and yet still nonchalantly going about my daily modus vivendi, given I've always thought myself a bit of a hypochondriac!

I cannot speak too highly of the Kings College Hospital in Camberwell - caring being the, ahem, operative word in every detail applying to their staff, sometimes in the face of outrageous behaviour from individual members of the general public who seemed unable to grasp that there are people of all origins and cultural backgrounds prepared regardless to look out for them, and I was fired with rekindled enthusiasm for our cash-strapped NHS to tick almost all of the best categories in the questionnaire they ask you to fill out on being discharged, minor criticisms being reserved for such things as unpractical loo paper dispensers, an absence of chilled water drinking fountains and ditto food blenders for people with swallowing difficulties. If the nominal choice actually exists regarding where one is sent, KCH is the one I'd recommend all Londoners unhesitatingly.

[Anna]

What still seems astonishing is that I should have been suffering from heart problems and yet still nonchalantly going about my daily modus vivendi, given I've always thought myself a bit of a hypochondriac!

With your healthy lifestyle – vegetarian, daily cycling/walking – you would seem an unlikely candidate and with ‘mild’ or ‘warning’ heart attacks a drastic change in lifestyle is usually recommended but I cannot see this would apply in your case. (I guess that without a regular and thorough MOT, and to be honest, they’re not readily available via GPs, we just don’t know what may be in store)

I imagine you’re feeling pretty shaken up now, depressed, and dreading the thought of being on meds for life but you have to be positive and think that this is a fresh start, you had a fright which you weren’t expecting but – keep taking the tablets, do exactly what the Doctors tell you regarding rehab and it'll be onwards and upwards from now on!!

[salymap]

Good advice, I've had several fresh starts forced upon me but life goes on and you'll soon get used to a routine for taking the meds.

Do read those little leaflets that come with theb meds, they've helped me a lot.

bestio, sal

[antongould]

Welcome back S_A ......I'm sure you'll be back on your bike very soon.

[Anna]

Do read those little leaflets that come with theb meds, they've helped me a lot.

Also, can I recommend the booklets available from the British Heart Foundation?

Anyway, completely offtopic from things medical: Mangerton’s story reminds me of when I had my new sofa delivered …. Much scratching of heads and muttered curses before the penny dropped that something wider than a doorframe suddenly changes shape and dimensions when tilted!

I’ve had a lovely day! The showers and clouds disappeared and although very breezy it’s been a pleasant 22°, I’ve washed (with my repaired machine) and dried some of the backlog, and picked my first harvest of French beans for tonight’s dinner - tomorrow I think the first ripe tomato is ready for eating!

Next door invited me over to meet Aged Aunt and her friend who are staying for a long weekend and we sat on the patio with a glass of wine. Aunt is 91 years old and until about 5 years ago a regular Prommer and every year attended the Vienna New Year’s Concert, both extremely knowledgeable about classical music and we discussed the Proms. Talk then turned to Radio 3. Aunt enquired “What is it with all these Tweets? Do you think it’s some sort of obsessive-compulsive behaviour?”