Went for a 37 km ride on Sunday (Karori – Northland – Aro – Brooklyn – Ohiro Bay – Lyall Bay – Greta Point – Oriental Bay – Home) and managed that in 1¾ hrs, then had a consult with the Cardio people today ….and now it appears I need a puncture a repair!!
Ann took me over for the 1030 appointment with a good hour to spare, but do you think we could find a park? Bloody hell, I look at the watch as we were walking in and it was 1015. It was hard case, because I checked in at the Clinical Measurement Unit, took a seat to wait for the ECG and we were soon led in for that, only to find that I am World Famous in the unit …or at least, it appears my reputation has preceded me because nursey mentions, “you were sent to ED last time” to which I replied, “Yes” and she goes on to say, “But you didn’t stay” and I’m thinking, oh FFS, so I responded, “No, I needed to go home so I could pack some gear for admission.” ….but she just smirked and knew I was a bad liar! Anyway, ECG was done prior to the appointment time of 1030, then we waited to see the Doc. Finally got in, had a quick review, then he summed up the situation that was confirmed from the TOE (Transoesophageal echocardiography) procedure. So it turns out that there is a small hole in the heart, there from birth, and to do with a flap that is there to allow highly oxygenated blood to bypass the lungs and go straight to the brain as a foetus. Once born and the lungs kick-in, the pressure shuts the flap and it seals up, but with me it appears not so, or not quite. In the last couple of years this has allowed a couple of tiny bits of crap/clot to get through to the ‘clean’ lung/brain side of the blood system and cause the three minor strokes, so now the plan is to carry out a puncture repair on the hole and all will be sweet. I say puncture repair because that is exactly what it is. The procedure is called a PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale) and the thing (double-sided patch) gets fed into the artery via the groin, sent up to the heart and through the flap/hole, then woomfa, Bob’s-your-uncle, they let it go, it snaps shut, we’re all done and I should get sent home the same day ….with the same likelihood of another stroke as the next Joe-Blow in the street. Sounded good to me, so I do that then try to get a clearance to get back on into cordura and back on the road! Doc mentions it might get done just before Christmas, so this time we pulled the Health Insurance card out to explore that avenue, Doc prescribed me with some Clopidogrol (Blood thinner to be taken three days prior to the procedure), we leave and he advises he will check it out with Wakefield Hospital. We did a few things on the way home, had lunch and hadn’t been there long, in which time Ann had checked with Accuro that we were good to claim, and we get a call from Wakefield, who confirm I’m all good to go on 04 November. Wacko Blue you bloody beaut’ ….it looks like the end of this saga is in sight and Long John Silver might have Johnnie Walker kicked into touch by Guy Fawkes! I suppose I should mention that the weight is now in the 85’s, has dipped to 84.8 Kg and is still drifting down, but I have eased restrictions since I’ve now lost 9-10Kg since June and I’m ‘in the ballpark’.
0 Comments
Nothing’s been happening with respect the strokes or pacemaker but I’ve continued to drift along on the quest to lose weight, making the odd tweek to ‘what’ and ‘quantities’ that enter the temple. Hmmm, I guess I can’t really call the bod’ that after all the years of throwing crap into it??!! Anyways, I’ve started to get a better idea of what’s working and what’s not, deciding if I can treat myself or ‘stay on the path’, so that’s going quite well with the weight finally dipping into the 85’s!! ….two or three times now!!?? ….but I have managed to stay under 87 Kg for over a week now! This has really been a milestone because 86Kg is just over 13½ stone and that was my ‘playing weight’ in the later period that I was still playing Rugby or League ….although I guess if I’m going to be real about it, there was probably quite a bit more muscle mass back then ….so I’m still on the fringes of ‘Fat Bastard’!! …albeit skinnier fat bastard.
I’ve just gone past week 6 since the pacemaker got fitted, so that means I should now be free to extend the movement envelope of my left arm (ie raise it above the shoulder and resume doing weights etc). That’s probably not going to happen for a bit though as I’m now into a daily groove on the spin bike and riding the push-bike to work plus the odd longer ride …and I’m quite e3njoying both the exercise and the benefits. Last Saturday I went for a ride to Petone and along the Esplanade to Ewan Park. That was just over 28Km and took about 80mins, with a defuel at Ewan park (thanks to a coffee before I left). It was a bit windy at times, with a bit of misty drizzle, I caught a car going down Ngaio Gorge, but didn’t pass it (as has occurred in past years) mainly in case SWMBO found out and it wouldn’t be worth the misery. I took the cycle/walk track along the Hutt Rd, but found it a bit narrow with grit and stuff on it so came back on the road and would probably go out on the road in future. Same once I got to Petone and I took the cycle/walk path out but used the Esplanade coming back as it was smoother and easier going. I should mention here how, when I got to the top of the Gorge, I went back down so I could come up again…but I don’t want to show off ….and that didn’t happen because I’m not that stupid!! It was a good ride but! Todays ride I wanted to extend that a bit as I had a few things I needed to get. One being a couple of LED bulbs from Mega Mitre 10 in Petone and the other, a couple of maps for the Distance Riders 1600 & 800 Km events in October. Initially the plan was to ride to Eastbourne, then come back via Mitre 10 and up the Ngauranga Gorge to J’ville, but in the end I decided to go to Whitcoulls in town …only to find they didn’t have them, but J’ville did. (FFS). Anyways, I got away from home at 0820 and made my way down Ngaio Gorge to the Hutt Rd and along the cycle path to the interchange, then crossed to the vehicle lane to get to Petone and around the Bays to Eastbourne, making the 23Km in 51 minutes. I was quite pleased with that, considering there was about Km when I barely turned the pedals. It was a bit of nuisance too because I seemed to be riding into the wind along the Hutt Rd and thought, “that’ll be alright because I’ll get boost when I head out of Seaview”, but the bloody wind changed. Then I found when I got to Eastbourne that no actually, there wasn’t any wind and I just needed to slow down a bit!! The other thing that is funny is how the mind plays tricks on us. I was pushing the big ring on the front and 6-8 on the back and the mind is telling me, “change down fool, you’re on an incline!” ….but I was cruising along the waters edge and could see that the height above sea level was very constant and so the other mates in my head were arguing along the likes of, “stupid fool, just keep pushing the big gear!” so I did. From Eastbourne it was back to Seaview, then through Moera and Woburn to Alicetown and back to Mitre 10. That took about 20 mins then I made my way back to the Esplanade and into town, getting to Whitcoulls, which was just on 50Km for the ride, then I called into see Ann at the salon on the way home, eventually getting back having done 56 Km over 3hrs 5 mins. I suppose I should mention that before I left I stole the gel-seat cover off Ann’s bike! ….and I’m very glad I did! Nothing’s happening this week coming, but I have an ECG and session with the Cardio doctor on 22/09/20 and received a letter yesterday to advise I was booked in to see the Neuro Team at 1430 on Friday 02/10/20. That’s a real problem as that the weekend of the NI1600/800, so I’ll have to see if that can be moved as I’m supposed to be in Turangi then. |
about
This blog is pretty much just about motorcycling ...but every now and then I might rant or dribble on about other things. Categories
All
Archives
August 2021
|
Proudly powered by Weebly