Apologies for a bit of an absence...

On Tuesday, I felt as rough as a badgers backside but for no particular reason. This hasn't been unusual for me as I have had good and bad days for months. After work, we went to the park on the way home as we always do to give Fletch a walk but we had to cut that walk a bit short as I was quite breathless and feeling cruddy. As you might have spotted, I wasn't around here much at all from Monday-ish onwards and it was simply because I was feeling rotten and quite tired.

Roll forward to Thursday and it was a normal sort of day, still feeling rough, online meetings all morning... gas engineer arrived to do the annual certificate for the landlord and he has been coming to us since we moved in, so I've gotten to know him over the years. Thoroughly lovely guy. When I answered the door he was all worried how I was etc and I joked with him "Ach, I'm fine! I've not died yet, get yourself indoors"... I chatted to him a while in the kitchen whilst he was testing the hob and the meter and felt a bit odd; nothing specific, just odd - maybe some palpitations but nothing alarming or standing out. He went upstairs (boiler is in the loft) and as he was carrying the ladders I said I would carry his bag as it wasn't heavy and followed him up. As I got near the top of the stairs, I knew I was in trouble - I knew I was going down, so took myself down using the banisters and managed to get my bum a couple of steps down from the top then rolled onto the landing. Nigel (gas engineer) came down from the loft as I had all but passed out, and then as I came back round we shouted my daughter who was in her bedroom. I was able to crawl to my bedroom and onto the bed but that was me. Ambulance called. After speaking to the ambulance crew, my daughter called Mrs C and I called our neighbour across the road who was over like a shot (more to help with Fletch than anything) - ambulance arrived in ten to fifteen minutes and the crew were superb. They did their checks, and one offered his belief that it was a pulmonary embolism - - the other two were less sure, but deferred to his opinion and asked where my nearest cardiac hospital was, which was St Peters - it was that, or St Georges.

I suggested St Peters was 15 to 20 minutes away, to which the reply was "12, and we try for 9 as I've got blues and twos" - - and he did it in 9 to be fair; I am a reasonably good judge of speed and he was not hanging about, I can tell you that (circa 90-95 on the motorway)

That diagnosis I now know proved to be spot-on (bi-lateral pulmonary embolism) and now, with hindsight I reckon that these clots have been intermittently causing trouble for months. The A&E doctor said that it is often the case that they build up over quite a long period of time. Thinking of it now, I had a couple of episodes like this when out walking Fletch over the winter where I had to stop and hold on to trees or hedges until I recovered, so goodness only knows how long.

So, my apologies for not being around folks - I am home now, and on enforced 7 days complete rest, so should be around quite a bit.

 

I cannot fault anyone from ambulance all the way through the hospital. The last time round, I actually made a complaint about some issues at that hospital - this time, I will be emailing compliments as the care was first class.

 

Thank you @Victoria - I think I was the least scared of the lot, surprisingly, but yes it wasn't pleasant. I am being well looked after here, so no complaints.

 

That sounds very frightening @Fat Controller although could have been worse if you had tumbled down the stairs. Glad they have made a diagnosis so now they can fix you for that. Hope you recover quickly. Take it easy.

 

Us Admin will also keep a close eye on him

 

Thank you @Upsydaisy - I will be footering between TV and internet and that is about it. Surprisingly, I don't drink all that much nowadays (since my prior hospital foray) and indeed the docs were not perturbed in the least at me having a pint or two of beer/cider.

There was one lady in A&E, very poorly condition with some very complex health issues including cardiac problems and two strokes who quite casually told the doctor that she "don't drink much.. maybe three or four bottles..." the doctor asked if that was beer to the reply that it was spirits! Puts a couple of pints of cider into perspective.

 

I won't, I promise. There is no doubt that this is linked to my history back in 2018 as I had a lot of DVT's whilst in a coma and have been left with considerable damage to nerves and circulatory system as well (no radial pulse on my right arm or leg for example). I've just had a wee pad to the back door, then popped upstairs to the loo (resting a while before coming back down) and that is about it at the moment, so I will need to build it back up again.