This email was started on
WEDNESDAY! Finished on SUNDAY!
It's been absolutely pouring rain again - all day -
all week really - and very grey and cold. I don't mind it though -
because it's always nice being inside the yacht in the rain - with it falling
down on the deck and roof. But Penny doesn't like it all that much -
actually she hates raindrops.
Taken the other day - but still the same
today.
And this was the rest of the scene - around the
other way
and it's become much windier and rougher
since.
And this shot was taken - right behind me,
here
So as you can see it's a good day to be inside -
but even so - it's still a great day on the bay.
I had to go to the Medical Centre on Wednesday
for more tests - and apart from that I haven't been feeling crash hot the last
few days - with a persistent chest pain in the region of the heart.
Yes I know - you don't have to tell me - that I should have gone straight
away. So I picked a break in the rain to make the run ashore - which
went OK. But when I got to the medical centre - the Doctor
immediately - put me out on the beds and under the oxygen - and the nurse
stuck all the sensors on me again (you've seen the photos before) and he
did an ECG heart trace.
Now - he wasn't all that happy with the
result
and I have to admit it does look a bit like a
seismic readout from an earthquake.
All those small squiggly lines are the heart in
'fibrillation'
rather than what should be, smooth lines and
regular heart bumps.
This is the actual readout - he gave me a
copy to give to the heart specialist.
The nurse said as it was coming out of the machine
- 'Do you have a pacemaker?' I said 'No' She said
'Yet!'. So then the doctor was not happy with these
readouts - and decided we needed to do blood tests - to see if there was any
heart damage.
He then insisted that I should stay - at the clinic
- on the oxygen - and on the bed - for a ffew hours - until the results came back
- or alternatively - go in an ambulance too the hospital for them to do the tests
too. Well neither of these was all that appealing an
option.
I stayed for an hour or so - had some tea and
teacake just like this - and read the paper - sniffing Oxygen.
I then told the doctor that I would like to go back to the
yacht - and phone for the results - and if I needed then to go to the hospital -
I could make some arrangements - and prepare the yacht.
He was not the slightest bit impressed by this
alternate plan - and insisted that if I decided to leave and not go to the
hospital - I would have to sign a 'release' that it was against his
advice.
I signed - no problem - and went out into the
pouring rain - feeling somewhat better from 2 hours of oxygen - and blood vessel
dilation spray - under the tongue.
It's absolutely pouring down outside now - and the
yacht is getting quite a good buffeting from the wind - which is about 20 - 30
knots - so all in all - it's pretty aweful outside - and we are staying
in. And that's how it's been from the moment I walked
out of the Clinic. The roads were inundated and flooded - the rain
was torrential.
I went to the Supermarket and bought groceries -
which I thought was a bit of a gamble - under the circumstances - remembering
the last time I went to Hospital - we had to toss all the fridge food
out. Got 25L of petrol for the generator. Came
back to the shipyard - and it was still pouring - and starting to look like the
40 days & 40 nights had really set in.
By the time I finally got back out to the yacht -
in appalling conditions on the bay - with wind and chop and heavy rain - and
unloaded all the stuff onto the yacht - I was like a drowned exhausted rat -
soaked through twice over I think - dripping wet - but still feeling
OK. So when I then immediately rang the clinic - I said 'There can't
be anything wrong - not after the ordeal I've been through getting back here' -
and they said - the tests were all clear - and didn't show anything
wrong. So there you go.
My heart was OK - (although it never
recovered from being broken in 1978)
And I was into that hot shower within 60
seconds.
I saw the Heart Specialist on Thursday -
which was arranged when I left hospital 2 months ago. And he stopped
a couple of the medications - increased some others - and kept me on the rat
poison - as is. Otherwise we are fine - and I don't need to go back for 6
months.
And now, just finally.
Yesterday morning I captured a pretty good
sunrise you might like to see.
And then just to try it out - I ran it through an
online program
that converts it to an HDR (High Dynamic Range
Image)
which can sometimes look good - you tell
me.
Either way - it was a fairly spectacular sunrise
through the stormclouds.
The last couple of days have been pretty much the
same with wind and rain - and it's been raining again this Sunday morning,
steadily - but it's starting to clear up at last, I think.
Bye for now
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 11:03 AM
Subject: What's the weather? Very wet days - Heart Checkup -
Sunrise
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