At The Heart Of The Issue
Photo: Alexander Hayes, 1st June 2018
Tonight I am writing this with the intent of sharing for those who follow my life journey is some way a more considered account of what has occurred in the last week complete with photos.
Last Thursday I was parked outside a clients home and was checking my paperwork prior to entering the property. The day prior had been frantic showering, dressing, feeding and minding another client as part of my very part-time role as a Disability Support Care Worker. I'd taken the role on to bring some extra well needed money into the household.
My phone clock said 2:32PM when I noted a sharp metallic taste in my mouth and looking out through the windscreen noting my vision was blurred and I was photophobic. I picked up some paperwork and blacked out. A minute or so later I became conscious of the steering wheel that my head had collapsed forward into. I immediately picked up the mobile phone and in a haze of lightheadeness and nausea I typed in ".....have just head butted the steering wheel." Pressed send and received a reply back from Magali asking what I meant.
I informed her I'd blacked out in the car. We conversed about not going to the client and going home which was a short distance away. Feeling steadily more nauseated I headed instead to Broome Regional Hospital and presented at casualty - emergency services. Within a minute I was triaged and in a bed being attended to by two amazing doctors who had quickly pulled my file, figured out this was similar to my full blown myocarditis attack in 2016.
A few hours later and I was in the high dependency unit (HDU) with recurrent blood pressure readings of 190/100 and a heart rate of 38 BPM. I had two canulas put in and had long diagnostic consultations with a whole crew of cardio trained doctors and medics. The decision was made quickly to send me to Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth via the Royal Flying Doctors plane service. A day later and via ambulance I was loaded into the plane by stretcher and 6 hours later with one quick stop at Meekatharra I had landed at Jandakot Airport in Perth.
I've been seen by no less than eight world class doctors now and this is four days later as I await to be seen by the senior cardiologist and team. Tomorrow I am informed I am to undertake a stress echo-cardiagram, then I will be given a drug which will be tracked and scanned via an MRI in my bloodstream. If no discernible effects to the heart are noted then they will consider conducting an angiogram and if that fails to show any results then I will be taken to surgery.
I may have to have an Implantable Loop Recorder (ILR) with a three year battery life which will not only record my heart rates and fluctuations but also provide shock treatment for the heart if it should crash into arrhythmia. So that is the plan and here I now sit waiting for the next chapter of my life to open forward and for my partner Magali and those who have supported us to get better news of an imminent recovery. I am grateful for the care, empathy and compassion that Magali consistently demonstrates despite my often irrational PTSD rants, neither am I complacent nor expectant for anything more than her amazing company, partnership, perfunctory prose keeping my soul alive.
Photo: Magali McDuffie, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth, Western Australia.
At the heart of the issue is love.
I fully believe that this can be resolved through a focus on love and trust, rather than repeat discussions and arguments that descend into fear and anger. I know I am the cause of many of the arguments and hostile situations people find themselves in around me and I can only act with love to ensure these do not occur. Fear and anger only results in a collapse of all we know around us and ultimately fear and anger is a self destructive force of no use at all to anyone.
There must be a better way to live a healthier and more fulfilling life than one where every move and mode is mediated through fear and anger.
Love is at the heart of the issue.
