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middleofnowhere
Ramsaye
Now my news. I was knocked off my bike (yeh I know) 7 weeks ago (see above) by a car driver who hit me sideways on a roundabout and broke several ribs (mine not his) and a toe and obvs some serious bruising. I checked in at AnE and they decided my resting heart rate is abnormally low (35 bpm) and after various tests and some monitoring it transpires I need to have a Pacemaker implanted. (Nothing to do with the accident). That’s happening next week. The problem is diagnosed as Complete Heart Block. The signal from my central nervous system to my heart is interrupted before it gets to my ventricles. Instead an escape mechanism cuts in and my ventricles beat at their own sweet pace which is not connected in any way to my atrial rhythm. The ECG trace tells all. Weird. The risk of not having a PM fitted is that my heart slows down further and I may blackout. Or I may suffer what they refer to as ventricular standstill which I think means dead.
I have no symptoms – typically weariness, chest pain, breathlessness and feinting. This they put down to the fact that I have done a lot of cycling over a lot of years and that my heart pumps a lot of blood each time it does decide to pump. I’m getting enough as they say!
The PM will monitor me in situ and kick in if the beat drops below say 30bpm ish or if my heart stops. So it’s a safety net I suppose, an insurance policy of a kind.
I am fine to cycle – even encouraged to do so. In fact nothing changes except my trip thru airport security!
And here’s the bonus. I was furious with the guy who knocked me off. Bloody incandescent! Then I claimed on his car insurance and they’ve paid out a few thousand pounds for my trouble! So not only has the guy possibly saved my life but I’m getting a new bike, a holiday and other goodies too.
OK – my ribs are still sore but they’ve healed. But I’ve always got something that’s hurting. Wouldn’t be me otherwise!
So the moral of the story? stay safe – but if not – get his number!
Cheers