Hankin Redden Blog

  103 – Staying Alive, Part 3: 22 November 2024 **** This was me in November 2015, three years before the Chain Saw operation in 2018 I spent three nights in Intensive Care – Tuesday 20, Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 November 2018.  In the afternoon of Friday 23 November 2018, I was transferred to Coronary Care.  Each night in ICU was agonising.  When the sleeping pills wore off, as they always did at about 1.00 am, I commenced a long, long, wait hoping the clock would crawl its way through the night out of darkness into morning daylight.  In ICU, I had tubes coming out of much of my body.  Even if the tubes had not been there, it would still have been impossible to sleep properly.  I was sore right across my chest and the pain was immense - even with a full dose of pain killer medication inside me.  I was incapable to getting out of bed for any reason.  My waste body fluids were taken away by a catheter and then later by a pee bottle. I produ...

  102 – Staying Alive, Part 2: 21 November 2024     The Chain Saw Operation After the TOE test and the angiogram, I had to see heart surgeon Dr James Edwards.  He conditionally agreed to do the Chain Saw Operation on Tuesday 20 November 2018.  Before Dr Edwards could definitely agree to do the operation, I needed approval from the anaesthetist.  There could not be an operation at all unless the anaesthetist thought I had the strength to survive the operation. I saw the anaesthetist on Thursday 15 November 2018.  He decided I was fit enough to undergo the open heart surgery. The anaesthetist asked what exercise I did, so I told him about my regular walks in Morialta.  By November 2018, my Morialta walk took 3 hours 45 minutes instead of a mere 2 hours.  By then, I regularly walked around most of the Park boundaries and I always walked from the lowest part of Morialta to its highest part. As I described my walk to the anaesthetist, I saw unmist...

  101 – Staying Alive, Part 1: 21 November 2024   Running Out of Puff There were advantages and disadvantages to living with a woman who had been a nurse her whole working life.  The major disadvantage was the impossibility of hiding any health issues I wanted to hide from Margaret.  At some point during 2015, I told Margaret that I always “ran out of puff” whenever I walked uphill.  Margaret immediately understood the significance of this.  She insisted I see a heart specialist to find out exactly what was wrong with my heart.  Dr Mark Sheppard diagnosed in January 2016 that I had a leaky mitral heart valve. The Australian Heart Foundation says this about heart valves. Your heart has four valves that keep blood flowing in the correct direction between its four chambers (two atria and two ventricles).   Each valve is like a one-way door. During each heartbeat, the valves open to let blood flow from their chambers an...

  100 – Alfred Pearson Enlists in World War 1, Part 3: 20 November 2024   **** Photo of Alfred. This is a copy of the Enlistment form completed by Alfred Pearson when he enlisted on 2 September 1914 in the 18 th Battalion of the King’s Own Liverpool Regiment on 2 September 1914.  I have reproduced the exact layout as well as the content of the enlistment form.  The words “DURATION OF WAR” appeared in red print on the form and they ran across the form in the way shown below.   13 Have you ever been rejected as Unfit for the Military or Naval Forces of the Crown?  If so, on what grounds? 13 No 14. Are you willing to be vaccinated or re-vaccinated?  14 Yes 15 For what Corps are you willing to be enlisted, or are you willing to be enlisted for general service? 15 Yes 16 Did you receive a Notice, and do you understand its meaning, and who gave it to you? 16 Yes...