I Have A Good Excuse

I am very late with this posting today. I have a very, very, very, very good excuse. I had a heart attack last night. It's was a minor one, an itsy, bitsy, teensy, weensy one. It almost didn't register on the Richter scale. Yet is was enough to put me into hospital today, and serious enough for them to medivac me out to a major cardiac care center.

So here is how all of this came about. Last night at about 1:00 AM I got up for my usual middle of the night pee. I squeezed myself into the head, using the bulkheads to hold me up. Then suddenly and for no apparent reason, my legs completely buckled underneath me. I have never experienced this kind of weakness before so it would be fair to say I was surprised by this turn of events. I crumpled, crashing to the deck like one of those Hollywood office tower demolitions where the whole shooting match just goes straight down.

After falling down, I managed to slide out of the head on my ass, pulling my legs behind me. All the while I was huffing and puffing, completely unable to get my breath. I attributed this to the whole ALS thing. I was to discover the shortness of breath had another source. Eventually I got myself up onto Ricky's berth and then over to mine. By this time I was so out of breath that I couldn't get ahead of things. I was really worried. My chest was hurting too, something I attributed to the general congestion I suffer from these days.

Alas it was not ALS. It was my heart having a conniption fit. It had a good reason. I had blocked arteries about a decade back. When they did the angioplasty and stents back then, they left one artery blocked, saying that it would have to be done at some future date. I guess this is that future date.

I managed to calm myself with some good zen thinking and managed to get to sleep. However in the morning, this morning, things were worse. I felt like death warmed over and looked the part. I could not get my breath and was exhausted. So we left Bedwell Harbour and headed for Ganges on Saltspring Island. There I went to Emergency and they said "Guess what?"

So now I am in Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, BC. Tomorrow at 8:00 AM I go for an angiogram. If the blockage is serious, and I think it is, they will perform angioplasty and put in a stent. Then I will be as good as new.

You see, I said I had a good excuse.