Tuesday 14 March 2000

Camera still not connected.

I spent the past night and morning in hospital, with my heart being monitored. I had an episode late last evening, where I collapsed after my heart started to vary its speed rather randomly for some minutes. The EKG showed however that there seems to be no serious health risk: My heart is the heart of a sportsman, or so they say (much to my surprise) and a bit of running wild won't hurt it. They are probably right, because when the ambulance arrived at the hospital I was already feeling better. They had me lying there for the night and much of the day with instruments on, which was not very exciting, and then sent me home. Of course I went to the workplace instead.

I haven't been sleeping in a hospital since I was 4, so it was kind of a new experience for me. Now I do not usually get bored, but this was pretty close. I wished I had taken a book with me - but there was not a lot of time for that. At least I have played Theme Hospital quite a bit in the past, so I have a good idea what is going on. :)

Because of this disruption, I'm afraid I have to skip a day in my diary. I have a draft lying around that I may try to insert later.

The folks at VAS (the province hospital) were quite friendly and helpful, but it was clear that they had a lot to do and that the work was organized in such a way that the workforce was spread fairly thin. It seems that people may be lying around there a bit longer than necessary, because there are not immediately people to act on the test results as soon as these are ready. Personally I slept on a wheeled bed in the corridor.

Even my spiritual needs were catered to, as the nearest fellow corridor patient was a lady who spent much of the time chanting Jesus' name. It did not keep me from sleeping, either. I am a christian myself, albeit a heretic by practically any standard.

I must admit that I was a bit worried myself when I felt the strength of my body drain away by the minute. The first thing I did when I felt it was to turn off anything electric that migh be a fire hazard, though I kept the cold electric lights on. I wondered if this was the end of the story already, I said a short prayer and wondered if this afterlife thing would work. I've never been through it before, after all. Then I considered that perhaps I should after all seek help, so I got over to the nearest doorbell, pressed it and collapsed on the stairs in front of the door. Luckily I survived and presumably would have anyway, and the elderly couple was quite scared. But there was really no way to know for sure, at the time.

At the hospital I read an article telling me that 3-8 per thousand have episodes of racing heart, and that it poses no threat unless there are other heart conditions. (One of my best friends died from such an attack, but then again he was born with a serious heart condition, so that hardly invalidates the statement.) I must admit that I had thought the numbers would be much higher.

So that's it, so far. I guess this means that I could run up stairs and stuff like I did when I was young, but I'm not going to try. I intend to continue to walk the stairs, though, rather than use an elevator. And walk up and down the hillsides to buy my groceries. It seems that this wasn't so bad an idea after all. :)