The Three Weeks - The Day My Life Changed Forever - Part 6

Now home at long last after what seemed to be an eternity in hospital. It's been only four days but it felt more like four years!!! However my ordeal is far from over and I am certainly not out of danger. I am now regarded as "chronically ill". I would never have thought this would happen to me in a million years. My wife have always had chronic illness which simply got more and more over the years, but me!!!??? No way!!!! It goes to show that things can change in an instant even when leading a healthy active lifestyle.

One of the first things taught to me was the use of this spray. If I get chest pains then spray this substance once in my mouth. If the pain persists after five minutes then spray again. If the pain still doesn't go away after another five minutes then spray again and call Emergency.

Next thing is getting used to taking all these pills morning and night for at least the next 12 months. So I went from taking not even suppliments to being virtually a pill bottle. These pills being designed for various functions such as lower my cholesterol levels, thinning my blood so it won't clot and cause another heart attack, and lowering my blood pressure.

The biggest thing however is the days of 30kms walks and 80kms bicycle rides are now over, at least for a long time. I am off my beloved bicycle for at least six weeks. And for insurance purposes, I cannot drive for two weeks. I am off work for about another 10 days. The hospital has given me an activity plan which includes starting my walks twice daily for five whole minutes!! That's just three times or so around my back yard!! A far cry from my 5 hours walk along the river!! Each day as I am able I slowly add a minute or two each day to my walks, that is, just a couple more laps around my back yard!!

One of the first things I did was to take out ambulance cover which could easily be done online. I know from back in the days of my wife and dealing with her sickness that a Priority One trip costs about $900. My wife's trips to hospital would always be by ambulance but her trips were non-urgent so each trip would cost "only" $400. However I am destined for a $900 ambulance bill. I never took out ambulance cover cos I thought I'd never need it in a million years!! As it is said, Hindsight is a good teacher but it doesn't come with a Tardis.

So I took out ambulance cover which cost only about $70 for the year, so any subsequent Priority One trips won't cost me a single penny.... as long as I can survive without such a call out for the next seven days, the waiting period before the insurance kicks in.

Next to find a GP to manage my long road to recovery. I haven't been to a doc for over three years, since the days of my wife's health problems. The last GP we been to was a holistic GP, that is a qualified GP who also does alternative medicines such as herbals and essential oils. But it turns out he is no longer in practice. So I am currently trying to find another holistic GP, or failing that, at least a reasonable conventional GP.

So now a very long road to recovery..... this 8D Taygeta soul in now a much broken 3D body.... but my uncle is my inspiration. He suffered a heart attack over 30 years ago, he was just in his 40s, a bit younger than me when it happened. He hadn't suffered one since and is as fit and healthy as ever. So one CAN recover.... and recover I will.