Well, what an eventful couple of weeks we’ve had! As this photo shows, Jo has enjoyed (obviously he wasn’t getting the jabs prods and pricks!!! [Jo]) a few days as an involuntary guest of Queensland Health. This is Jo’s explanation how it happened.
Last week I was in the process of doing my open water dive course. I’d finished the theory part and was at the Rockhampton pool for the day doing the confined water section. I first had to do some basic swimming skills which included 4 laps of the pool. I’m a fairly strong swimmer but after completing just 2/3 of the first lap I got quite tired, out of breath, and had what I thought was a stitch. I kept going and finally finished all 4 laps quite out of breath but still with that stitch in the left side of my chest. We had a lot to get through to complete the whole confined water section of the course in one day so after a short rest I got my breath back and felt better. I just thought I was extremely unfit after spending the past 8 months onboard relaxing and undertaking very little physical exercise.
To cut a long story short, I passed that part of the course and got on the bus back to Yeppoon to prepare my gear for the open water section of the course the next day. I felt ok but I was very tired -- which was understandable as I had had a very long day in the pool.
Mike came with us next day on the dive boat because besides those of us going to complete courses there were a few others going out for a social dive.
I didn’t enjoy the dive very much at all. I wasn’t really breathing as easily as I had on the dives I had done previously with Mike. Even at the pool the day before I hadn’t felt completely comfortable with my regulator (or my snorkel for that matter), all of which I put down to nerves
After a while underwater I signalled my instructor that I wanted to surface. That in itself posed quite a problem as I didn’t have the energy to make my ascent. With some panicking on my part and a lot of effort on my instructor’s part I finally made it exhausted back to the boat where she dropped my weight belt (almost on Mike’s head as he was following us up!!!). I didn’t have any pain - just shortness of breath, due I thought to having been breathing quite heavily in my panicked state.
When we got back to the marina I just went to bed exhausted. Mike was a bit concerned because he could hear some fluid in my chest all during the night. We decided to go to the hospital by bus next morning to check this out. While walking from the bus stop to the hospital I experienced some more mild chest pain. When we got there Mike was intent on getting them to check me out for any water that might have found its way into my lungs, but once I mentioned the chest pain and relayed the events of 2 days ago that was it. They did an ECG, blood tests etc and discovered a high level of an enzyme which indicates that I had had a heart attack!!!
With that I was shipped off by ambulance to Rockhampton Coronary Care Unit where they did more tests including a scan of the heart. This revealed some very slight damage. to the heart muscle An angiogram was needed to find out the extent of obstruction in the arteries that might have caused the heart attack, but that could only be done in Brisbane, and there were no beds available at that time. Consequently, I ended up spending eight days in Rockhampton hospital twiddling my thumbs waiting for a bed to become available, while Mike drove back and forward from Yeppoon marina each day.
You can imagine the comments we received from the medical staff once they realized we had only been married two weeks!! The cardiologist told Mike that even a second hand car came with at least a 3 month warranty!! (cheeky bugger!!)
On Monday a bed finally became vacant in CCU at Royal Brisbane Hospital and The Royal Flying Doctor Service was called in to fly me there. Mike followed along on a Jetstar flight around the same time.
As soon as I arrived it all happened. I had an angiogram. ‘Good news’ they said. ‘No arterial obstruction’. Hmm... what could have caused the heart attack, then? Was it a clot in the lungs? Was it a bit of heart valve coming away during exercise?
So next day came a lung x-ray and scan - no blood clots in the lungs. And finally an ultrasound of the heart - no damage to the heart valves.
‘Go away’ they said. ‘No idea why it happened’ they said. ‘Take these pills from now on, and maintain your active lifestyle’ they said.
The important thing is I am feeling fit and well and raring to go and can’t wait to get back to the boat and carry on as usual, after first going home to see my family - especially my beautiful little Indira who by all accounts is now running around terrorising the neighbourhood.!!!
Jo
So here we are availing ourselves of Mick and Sue O’Sullivan’s hospitality (my in-laws), and making ready to fly back to Geelong for a week or so for Jo to see her doctor and for the angiogram wound to heal - and of course to spend time with Indira!.
And we’re still none the wiser as to the cause of all this excitement!
Mike
