Good evening, all!
Sorry I haven’t written for a while, but things have been a wee bit busy over the last few months.
Following on from all the medical madness of March, I was back in Wellington for a follow-up appointment in August to figure out if I was going to get an ICD as an insurance policy to guard me from the possibility of future tachycardia.
This trip doubled as our first family holiday away with ToddlerinFrame.
We visited “Six South” – the heart ward I spent almost a month in (the nurses all somehow remembered me) and ToddlerinFrame very adorably said “Thank you for looking after my Daddy” to all of them – So very, very cute!
It was a bit of an emotional trip, with us all visiting the doctors and nurses at the fertility where ToddlerinFrame was conceived. Happy tears and hugs were shared, while our daughter played in the waiting room toy corner, oblivious to the significance of her surroundings.
While there we all went to Te Papa and I toured the “Scale of Our War” exhibit. It is truly breath-taking and not just because you begin the exhibit staring down the barrel of a gun. Well, at 6’8″, I start the exhibit staring down the barrel of a gun – I guess everyone else stares UNDER the barrel…
Considering the purpose of my Wellington visit, it was fitting that you leave the exhibit feeling very heavy-hearted.
It is a stunning take on New Zealand’s World War One participation and a must-see.
Two months later I was back in Wellington having my ICD implanted just after Labour Weekend.
After spending a couple nights staying with our terrific Wellington Twitter friends Laurie and Annette and doing all the tourist things I never got to do during my first stay, I went in for day surgery and a night of observation back in Six South.
The lead-up to the procedure made me a bit nervy, but some rather wonderful sedation drugs (equivalent to a Garage Project craft Beer on a hot day without any lunch) took the edge off of things (but not all the pain) and I experienced my second defibrillation when they tested the ICD – They put you under for the test, but that whack certainly wakes you up, albeit briefly.
The procedure is quick and you are up and about soon afterwards, so I spent my evening saying hello again and catching up with all my nurses.
It was good to see them all again, even if their parting words were usually “Hope we never have to see you again! (in the nicest possible way)” kind of reminded me of my teenage years…
It’s now a couple months since the procedure and aside from having to delay my cricket season start until after Christmas to ensure things healed completely and the occasional tweak of the surgery scar, I forget the ICD is there most of the time (except when ToddlerinFrame inadvertently whacks it).
Everything going well, the ICD will never go off and I’ll only know about it when I need to get the batteries changed every ten years or so.
Considering everything I’ve gone through heart-wise this year, this was a mere drop in the ocean.
The beat goes on! 🙂
