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’.
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This blog is pretty much just about motorcycling ...but every now and then I might rant or dribble on about other things. Categories
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