"You're in the early stages of a heart attack"

[norrahe]

Get well and hope the interview worked out.

[FiveTimes]

bloody hell RC, take it easy

[Mich the Tester]

Bloody hell mate, look after yourself!

[Old Greg]

Good work by RC & Mrs RC for getting straight to hospital.
Good work by NHS.
Good work by all of us who actually pay our taxes even if legally you can not pay them and who are you to tell me it's immoral.

Take care mate.

OG

[speling bee]

I wasn't expecting to hear those words at 45. Mrs RC was even more upset.

But it's OK really and I'm home again now.



Coming home on the train from an interview, I coughed and suddenly had excruciating chest pain; I couldn't breathe.

Eventually I got my chest out of spasm and breathed in and the pain!

With shallow gasps I managed to regain my composure and after about 15 minutes could phone Mrs RC and whisper that I needed her to meet me off the train in an hour's time.

The pain! I couldn't breathe properly or stand up. She was waiting for me at the station and - no messing- got me straight into a taxi and up to A&E.

I felt a fraud: I was sure I'd just torn a rib muscle when coughing. But the big sign in A&E said:



So I did. She sent me through to A&E proper where they did an ECG. A minute later an orderly lifted the sides on the stretcher and wheeled me into a different area. A consultant was waiting there:

"Mr Cranium, you are in the early stages of a heart attack."

Another ECG machine was used and another trace taken.

"The warning factors are here, here and here" says the consultant, pointing to the traces. "And they are worse in the 2nd trace. I am sending you for emergency angioplasty in Liverpool."

Wheeled into an ambulance and ...



I got the treatment! Blues and Twos through the rush-hour to the hospital in Liverpool.

Tubes and stuff inserted whilst in the ambulance; meanwhile Mrs RC is trying very hard not to burst into tears.

Get to Liverpool, wheeled straight into a team of 7 or 8 specialists who are ready to go and do horrid things to my insides.

I get asked very quickly some questions about the symptoms when the top nob specialist says: "Now tell me all that again, slowly, from the start."

So I did.

"I thought so, Mr Cranium. You're not having a heart attack."

They did some other tests and some ultrasound and something else and decided my heart was in spiffy condition. Except for the surplus-to-requirements hole in my lung or the infection within my pericardium. One or the other.

I asked him how he knew so quickly: "Because, Mr Cranium, I see 12 to 20 heart attacks every day. I know what they look like now."

So they send me back to the hospital I came from for blood tests and X-rays.

To cut a long story short, I'm not dead and painkillers + anti-inflammatories + taking it easy will see me right.

Phew!

To say Mrs RC is relieved is something of an understatement.

Can I take this opportunity to congratulate you for not letting your standards slip in a time of great stress. In particular, your use of the semicolon is masterful.

[sasguru]

Fook me RC. Take it easy

[mudskipper]

Blimey, take care!

(One for MF down the pub - "I knew this bloke, right. He had a cold right. He coughed so much he made a hole in his lung. True story!")

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I wasn't expecting to hear those words at 45. Mrs RC was even more upset.

But it's OK really and I'm home again now.



Coming home on the train from an interview, I coughed and suddenly had excruciating chest pain; I couldn't breathe.

Eventually I got my chest out of spasm and breathed in and the pain!

With shallow gasps I managed to regain my composure and after about 15 minutes could phone Mrs RC and whisper that I needed her to meet me off the train in an hour's time.

The pain! I couldn't breathe properly or stand up. She was waiting for me at the station and - no messing- got me straight into a taxi and up to A&E.

I felt a fraud: I was sure I'd just torn a rib muscle when coughing. But the big sign in A&E said:



So I did. She sent me through to A&E proper where they did an ECG. A minute later an orderly lifted the sides on the stretcher and wheeled me into a different area. A consultant was waiting there:

"Mr Cranium, you are in the early stages of a heart attack."

Another ECG machine was used and another trace taken.

"The warning factors are here, here and here" says the consultant, pointing to the traces. "And they are worse in the 2nd trace. I am sending you for emergency angioplasty in Liverpool."

Wheeled into an ambulance and ...



I got the treatment! Blues and Twos through the rush-hour to the hospital in Liverpool.

Tubes and stuff inserted whilst in the ambulance; meanwhile Mrs RC is trying very hard not to burst into tears.

Get to Liverpool, wheeled straight into a team of 7 or 8 specialists who are ready to go and do horrid things to my insides.

I get asked very quickly some questions about the symptoms when the top nob specialist says: "Now tell me all that again, slowly, from the start."

So I did.

"I thought so, Mr Cranium. You're not having a heart attack."

They did some other tests and some ultrasound and something else and decided my heart was in spiffy condition. Except for the surplus-to-requirements hole in my lung or the infection within my pericardium. One or the other.

I asked him how he knew so quickly: "Because, Mr Cranium, I see 12 to 20 heart attacks every day. I know what they look like now."

So they send me back to the hospital I came from for blood tests and X-rays.

To cut a long story short, I'm not dead and painkillers + anti-inflammatories + taking it easy will see me right.

Phew!

To say Mrs RC is relieved is something of an understatement.

I had one whislt working at Clientco a couple of years ago - a PCT - I was in a meeting with the medical director who uttered those immortal words. I was cr*pping myself. Spent 11 days in hospital and had some stents fitted.

I am in fine fettle now with the libido of a 18 year old

[RichardCranium]

I am in fine fettle now with the libido of a 18 year old

What became of the 18 year old?

[ThomasSoerensen]

I had one whislt working at Clientco a couple of years ago - a PCT - I was in a meeting with the medical director who uttered those immortal words. I was cr*pping myself. Spent 11 days in hospital and had some stents fitted.

I am in fine fettle now with the libido of a 18 year old

wow. This gets me thinking. How many "young" (as in not old) people have heart attacks?

Is this something I want to know the result of or is it better to live in ignorance?