In the early hours of the morning on Wednesday 23rd September I had a heart attack. I didn´t know it at the time as I thought it was heartburn brought on by a fatty evening meal. The pain went away at about 3 AM and I went back to bed (Di was still asleep). However, after I had breakfast the pain was back and worse than ever, it was starting to effect my arms, so Di took me to White Cross A & E in Avondale. I was third in the queue but once they heard I had chest pains they bumped me to the front and did an ECG straight away. The doctor told me the ECG looked unusual (an understatement I think) so they gave me some GNT spray (opens the blood vessels) and morphine (opens the blood vessels and relieves the pain) and called an ambulance. So off to Waitakere Hospital with Di following in the Explorer. Another ECG and more GNT in the ambulance, which was like a mobile emergency dept. When I arrived at Waitakere Hospital I was assessed in the Emergency Dept, told I had suffered a heart attack and then admitted to the Coronary Care Unit. By this time the pain was more like a discomfort but they aim to make you totally pain free so more GNT and morphine during the day. Also, they started me on blood thinners, one in tablet form (Clopidogrel) and the other injected into my stomach (not as bad as it sounds). By 10 PM the pain was still there so they gave me a significant dose of morphine, which finally got rid of the pain and enabled me to get a little sleep. Good stuff that morphine. The cardiac sspecialist Dr Patel came round on Thursday morning and said the next step was an Angiogram to determine what arterial blockages were present. If possible an Angioplasty would be done to fix the blockages at the same time. The procedures were to be performed at North Shore Hospital, probably on Monday. Until then it was boring hospital routine, pills, injections, observations (ECG, blood pressure, sats, temperature), reading books, watching the telly and looking forward to Di´s visit and mealtime, which had become the highlights of the day. Di popped in every day to cheer me up; she looked more tired than me. Jeff and Pam Foster also visited regularly and frequent texts from Gordon Ross (aka Gords, a bowling buddy) helped brighten up the days. On Monday it was off to North Shore Hospital by ambulance. The procedure was performed by Mark Webster (from Auckland Hospital), described by one of the staff as ¨the best of the best¨. During the Angiogram he found two blockages in my right coronary artery, which he fixed with two stents (Angioplasty). The procedures are explained here. After resting up for about an hour I was transported back to Waitakere Hospital by ambulance. The procedure was a success and I was allowed to go home on Tuesday afternoon after I saw a doctor, a cardiac specialist, a pharmacist and another doctor who provided the discharge letter. Di came and picked me up of course and it was really good to be at home again. to be continued
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