There is a new Super Hero in town!

I deleted my last little post because on reflection I was being quite harsh about a certain driver and it did make it look as if I was out to get him. After thinking about it I decided that as he was a complete cock (© 2006 James May, Top Gear) it would be best to let it rest.

So I've ended my third week back at work and I have gained promotion! For five hours a day I have become 'PRINTER BOY'. Impressed? I bet you are green with envy at my important role. Here is a taster of what I do.

Every ten minutes or so the little green light on the printer front panel starts to flash. This is my cue to get ready for action. Seconds later a page is spat from the machine, I grab it, then, pausing only to put down my coffee cup, I race across the transport office and place it on the admin girls desk. Another delivery made on time. Sometimes to really test me it might print two or three pages together. I know it sounds tough but I'm coping well. To reward myself I'll have a little sit down and finish my drink; a smug satisfied grin might even show on my face.

Man and machine in perfect harmony.

Sometimes when my boss has to go to a meeting I get to sit in his chair, answer the phone and play with the tracker screen. Great fun watching certain drivers and finding out their little hiding places :-)

You can't blame me for trying to big the job up; I have never in my whole working life done anything so boring and tedious as this.

My hopes were raised on Saturday morning when a brown envelope hit the doormat with DVLA printed on the front. I made myself a cup of coffee, sat down and ripped it open. Would the medical man have good news or bad? Nothing about my heart attack just a very nice letter saying my digi card would expire in January and would I like to pay £19 to have it renewed. How the hell do I know? Tell me I can go back driving and I'll say yes. 

From the mundane to the serious.

The terrible event on the M5 at Taunton certainly brought home to me one aspect of driving that I don't miss at the moment.

At times I'm as guilty as everybody else of not leaving enough space behind the vehicle in front. The trouble is if you leave too big a gap somebody will slot themselves into it and you are back at square one with no safety zone.

I hope that those horrific images just maybe might make people (including myself) think about their actions in future. 

The anti truck brigade will have a field day. I don't know any of the facts as I wasn't there but with trucks being involved in such a graphic way the blame game has certainly shifted towards, rightly or wrongly, blaming truck drivers. We are already seen as scum by many and already ill informed comments are being made about the 'dangers' of allowing trucks in the middle lane etc etc. 

Fingers crossed that no 'vote catching' knee jerk reactions come from this accident. 

Back To Work

Finally on Monday I went back to work. Well, I use the word 'work' very loosely.

I'm on a 'phased return'; 4 hours a day for the first week, see how it goes, then more and more in the following weeks.

Sounds like a cushy number. Believe me it's not. As I'm still waiting for the DVLA to get to my file, it's no driving. Add to that my company telling me that I also cannot lift, pull or push things then it sort of limits what I'm allowed to do.

I can sit. I can drink coffee. I can file and use the photocopier.

I'm bored out of my skull and slowly cracking up. Hurry up Swansea. Please!

Back Home and Rehab

Sunday 17th July found me back at home after 11 days in hospital. Although, in a strange way, I had enjoyed myself at both King's Lynn and Papworth it was good to be home.

Everything over the next few days is a blur. Spent most of the time sleeping or watching the telly and of course being fussed over by my wife. That would soon change! My mum who is in her 70's treated me like I was about 10. Her poor wounded soldier. I must admit that at times it did all get a bit much and I became Mr Grumpy.

I was quite touched though when I received some 'get well soon' videos posted on YouTube by the Three Musketeers (Paul, Andy and Patrick).

I was stuck in the house as I wasn't allowed to drive. I would be able to drive my car 3 weeks after the operation but my HGV licence was suspended until some point in the future.

 

Days turned into weeks. I spent my days on the computer and slowly getting myself fitter by taking walks along the Chesterfield canal. Even these short easy walks knocked me out and I would come home and have a couple of hours sleep.

 

I joined the cardio rehab course at Chesterfield hospital. This involved twice a week exercise sessions; each week the sessions were made more intense. These really did me good, building up my strength and also making me get out of the house. Great set of nurses yet again. Without exception, every single nurse and doctor I have come into contact with have been fantastic. Smiles, good humour and always ready to help or answer questions. I've lost track but it must be about 60 people directly involved with getting me better. I love 'em all!

At the end of September I took my treadmill test for the DVLA. This involves first getting all wired up to an ECG machine and standing on a treadmill machine. At first you are walking at a slow pace, the speed is increased and the angle of the machine is raised. Every couple of minutes the angle is increased even more so you are walking at a brisk pace uphill. It only lasts about 9 or 10 minutes but it's hard work.

My consultant, Dr Hawley, was in charge and, touch wood, everything went fine. It is just now down to the DVLA to say when I can get my HGV back.

So to bring everything up to date. I am going back to work next week; for a start it will be office based and only a few hours each day. If things go ok in a couple of weeks I'll get back to driving, short runs to start off with.

Papworth Hospital

Arrived at Papworth and got myself settled in the ward. I was feeling a bit of a fraud. Patients there with problems that made mine look like nothing. Everybody was really cheerful though, self pity had no place here.

 

A very young nurse came armed with a razor to shave my bits. It sounds really good but to be honest it wasn't. I felt like a very old man being looked after by a carer. She was great though, quickly got the job done and didn't laugh or compare me unfavourably to her boyfriend!

A couple of mad nurses came and wheeled my bed at great speed along the corridors to go and have an angiogram. This was being done to show where my arteries had narrowed and to see how they would repair the damage.

I was wheeled into the room, transferred onto a table and told to lie very still. Above my head to the left was a bank of monitors and above me a camera on an adjustable arm. It was a very impressive set up. Loads of people were walking around getting things ready and cracking jokes to make me feel at ease. There was even music playing in the background.

I was given a local anaesthetic, the area on the right side of my groin was cleaned, and they prodded around trying to find my artery.

A catheter was then passed into the artery and sent up towards my heart for a good old poke around. With the X-ray camera moving around just above my chest I could just see on the screens the images of my heart. Amazing pictures as they injected dye to highlight the arteries. A very strange feeling as the dye goes in, you get a hot flush all over your body. Not unpleasant, just weird.

Within half an hour it was all over and I was back in the ward feeling very sore.

In a few days I would be back down there for a couple of stents to be fitted. For the next couple of days it was again just a case of resting.

Back down again for my angioplasty. Same procedure as before, but going into the left side of my groin. A longer procedure this time as two stents (a short tube of stainless-steel mesh) were inserted. These are put in with a catheter with a balloon on it; the balloon is inflated to widen the artery. A second catheter, with a stent on its balloon, is then moved into position. As the balloon is inflated , the stent expands so that it holds open the artery. The balloon is then let down and removed, leaving the stent in place. This all lasted about an hour and I was then sent back up to the ward.

Sore or what! I had bruises all over the top of my legs and down my thighs; when they put the catheter in they do use a lot of pressure, it feels like they are trying to ram a hose pipe up you!

Because of all the blood thinning drugs the entry point takes a couple of hours to heal. It is your femoral artery supplying blood to the leg, cut this and you will bleed to death very quickly. For this reason you are looked after very carefully for the first few hours. A clamping device is strapped to you and a high pressure pad keeps the wound closed. This I found the most painful. The nurses make you drink lots of water. Fine; except one of the straps is tight across your bladder. I was soon bursting! Having to lie on your back and empty your bladder involves some very strange movements, a lot of luck and the wish that you had more in the trouser department to make filling that bottle a little easier. Dignity goes right out of the window. So a painful few hours but well worth it. The really good thing was the ward sister said I could go home the following day. A quick phone call to my wife to arrange things and then a good nights sleep.

I was quite sad to leave Papworth; it's a fantastic place. I can't put into words my feelings for the staff there and what they do.

The NHS gets a lot of stick, deserved sometimes, but when you really need it they are second to none. 

Off To Hospital

So for little old me the mighty NHS swung into action

Within seconds I had been put through to the ambulance service control centre. A lady spoke to me and I told her what was wrong and gave her my location.

"I'm going to stay on the phone until the ambulance reaches you. Don't worry they are on their way"

I then started to cry! I couldn't help it. I wasn't scared or even worried about myself.

It was just something about the cool, calm way that she spoke to me. 100% professional; I just knew that I was in good hands.

Within minutes I saw the blue flashing lights and as the ambulance swung into the space in front of my truck I felt as if this was all a dream.

The crew helped me into the ambulance and soon had me wired up. I was given an aspirin to crunch to try and open up my blood vessels and a spray under my tongue to try relieve my pain. That didn't work.

A quick blast down the road and we arrived at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn.

Into the emergency dept and it was all a blur as tests were done and I was seen by the doctor. I was given some drugs and told to rest. Luckily for me in the grand scale of things mine wasn't a major attack.

There then followed a few days of tests etc while I waited for a bed at Papworth Hospital where any surgery or procedures would be carried out.

So I spent my time chatting, eating and sleeping while all the time being looked after by a group of fantastic nurses. Was I complaining!

A bed became available and I was told I'd be taken by ambulance the following morning down to Papworth near Huntingdon.

Two of us went down together for the hour long journey and the next stage of treatment.

Something Is Not Quite Right!

Wednesday the 6th July started with clouds in the sky and the odd hint of rain in the air.

As usual it was a 4am start from Alfreton in Derbyshire; destination North Walsham in Norfolk. A regular run that we do and a nice easy day along the A17 to King's Lynn then over to North Walsham via Fakenham and Cromer.

I didn't feel that great but put it down to just being tired and made my way to my drop.

I got there about 7.30, made myself a coffee and opened my curtains ready for the goods in opening at 8am.

An easy handball job of a trailer load of mattresses. Paperwork signed and I was ready to go. By now I was feeling pretty awful but again just put it down to tiredness.

Off I went heading towards King's Lynn where I knew I was going to have to get a break in. As I headed over that way I started to realise that maybe I had a little more to worry about health wise!

I pulled over into a lay-by just outside Lynn and put my seat back, shut my eyes and grabbed a cat nap. 15 or 20 mins later I woke with an almighty pain in my chest. A drink of water did nothing to relieve it and pain had started in my arms.

It then hit me. I'm having a heart attack.

One quick call to my office and spoke to Carl, a fellow driver who had gone through this a couple of years ago. Said I was thinking about dialling 999 and he said, 'don't think about it just do it'.

I picked up my mobile; dialled 999 and thought; shit, what is going to happen now?

A Good Idea?

I've been thinking of doing one of these blogs for some time but have never got around to it.
Until now.

I really don't know if this is a good idea.
Will I get bored?
Does anybody really care?
Will nobody read it and my thoughts just swim around the web like lost souls.
We shall see.

Stay tuned for more exiting stuff!!