105 – Staying Alive, Part 5: 24 November 2024

I walked my full perimeter circuits at Morialta on Sunday 27 January 2019 and I maintained my perimeter circuit every Sunday morning after then.  The time I needed to complete my perimeter circuits gradually became less and by the middle of 2019, I was again doing the circuit in 3 hours 45 minutes.

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Photo above is of the creek at Morialta on 2 October 2016.  The rainfall had been unusually heavy just before this photo was taken.

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Adelaide and suburbs as seen from high up the mountains in Morialta.  

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After my discharge from hospital, I had to take doses of a medication called Warfarin.  Warfarin is – quite literally – a major component of poisons used to make rat killer baits.  Warfarin is a potent poison but it is also a powerful medicinal blood thinner. 

Warfarin is a standard, essential medication for patients who have had open heart surgery, but because it is so powerful, its effects must be closely monitored.

While I was in hospital my blood samples were taken daily and tested very quickly to ensure that I was not being poisoned by the Warfarin.  Once I got home, my Warfarin dosage was 8 milligrams per day and the GP came every day to take a blood sample. It was not until February 2019 that it was thought safe for me to be taken completely off the Warfarin and given alternative mediations which were not quite so dangerous in their possible side effects.

I had so many blood samples taken over the period of my hospitalisation and recovery at home, that I became completely accustomed to having needles stuck into my body and blood taken into a test tube.  The more experienced blood takers were usually able to get the blood on their first attempt.  Less experienced blood takers often had trouble getting the needle into the vein and it was not unusual for them to then begin to panic – which always made it more difficult for them to get the needle into the vein.

I was always able to be completely relaxed about blood taking.  It was an essential part of my recovery and the process always went more smoothly f I simply relaxed and let the blood takers take the blood as easily as possible.

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I participated in a Cardiac Rehabilitation program at Ashford Hospital on these dates.

·         Tuesday 9 January 2019;

·         Tuesday 15 January 2019;

·         Tuesday 22 January 2019;;

·         Tuesday 29 January 2019;

·         Tuesday 5 February 2019; and

·         Tuesday 12 February 2019.

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Before I started the rehabilitation program, I had to fill out a questionnaire about my health.  This is the questionnaire and my answers.

During eh past month, have you often been bothered by feeling down, depressed or hopeless?	No
During the past months, have you often been bothered by little interest or pleasure in doing things?	No

	Not at all (0)	Several days (1)	More than half the days (32)	Nearly every day (3)
Little interest or pleasure in doing things	X
Feeling down, depressed or hopeless	X
Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much	X
Feeling tired or having little energy	X
Poor appetite or overeating	X
Feeling bad about yourself – or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down	X
Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television	X
Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed.  Or the opposite – being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual.	X
Thought that you would be better off dead, or hurting yourself	X
If you checked off any problems, how difficult have these problems made it for you to do your work, take care of things at home, or get along with other people	Blank	Blank	Blank	Blank

I truthfully answered all questions on the questionnaire.  My recovery was indeed remarkable – probably because I had complete trust in Margaret’s love, in my treating doctors and because I was totally determined to recover as quickly as I could force my body to do it.

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The rehabilitation program consisted of an initial measurement of how many times we were able to walk a measured distance of 30 metres in a period of three minutes.  My score on the first day when we did this test was neither good nor bad.  I was average in the distance I could walk in the allocated time,

After this initial assessment of how far we could walk in a measured time, each day followed the same pattern.

We started at 9.15 am and did supervised exercise until 10.30.  Then there was a 15 minute break and the final hour consisted of educational sessions by trained professionals on topics that were directly relevant to us as cardiac patients.  Topics covered in the talks were:

·         The importance of diet and healthy eating;

·         What the heart does and heart diseases;

·         Cardiovascular disease in Australia;

·         Cardiac medications; and

·         Cardiovascular medicines.

On the final day of the rehabilitation program, a final measurement was taken of how many 30 metre laps we could do in the set period of time.  When this finished, I was told that I had done far more laps than anyone had ever done before.  I was thrilled.

I was on the way back to good health.