Horse Piddle

We live almost equidistant from three hospitals. The nearest one is undeniably crap - or was, I've been told it has improved recently. The slightly furthest one was well regarded but I've heard it has diminished in quality. The third one was and still is excellent, so that's the one I've asked to be referred to.

Just got back from a visit I was highly tempted to cancel so they could give the appointment to someone more deserving, but I thought they might appreciate a success story.

Last winter my thyroid blew up, no not the common hypothyroid but hypERthyroid, which put my blood pressure through the roof. That added to the fifty years of damage from undiagnosed diabetes/prediabetes and yes horror of horrors the smoking caused the circulation to my feet to be broken, and an ingrowing toenail caused an infection which nearly led to the loss of said toe, or maybe the whole foot.

Well the thyroid has now been effectively brought in line with carbimazole (I have nothing against using drugs per se, but a lot against using drugs to alleviate the results of a crap diet).

The surgeon suggested I should walk through the pain in my calves when my circulation shut down and try to revascularise myself rather than going straight for the stent. This proved to be spectacularly successful. Though I can no longer walk as far as I used to, I can walk a lot further than I did, I may slow down for a while until the circulation comes back, then I'm good to go again.

He was as pleased as I was with the improvement. Most of my latest test results were bang in the middle of normal, especially the thyroid. Some numbers were a bit off and he agreed this was probably because I was a bit dehydrated after the fast rather than anything to worry about.

The only real concern was my LDL which went through the floor thanks to the thyroid and has now gone up to 4.2. From my POV since the trigs are ridiculously low and the HDL suitably high (1.11 and 1.4 respectively) I'm not as concerned as he was, in fact I suspect at my age this will be protective against everything other than CVD, especially Alzheimers. Much current research shows the LDL is not a danger if it is large and fluffy as the trigs/HLD ratio indicates. The REAL danger is hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, both of which I have been successfully controlling for the last decade, which helps but doesn't make up for the fifty previous years of ongoing damage.

He's quite right that I should give up smoking - but at this stage in my life I'm more concerned with taking myself out cleanly with a fatal heart attack rather than lingering and continuing to disintegrate.

He told me I should "continue with the diet" and was hugely amused when I told him I was eating the exact opposite of what the dietician told me and that was why I was so healthy.

Normally after the hospital I take a detour into a village with a fish restaurant and smokehouse and treat myself, but since I already have the other half of Son of Jaws (the giant trout) and the crevettes, I decided to put that off until a later date. I've just stuffed myself with some more lamb's liver, mushrooms, bacon and runner beans and am now deciding between the strawberries or blueberries with double cream, ground flaxseed and brandy for afters. OK, I decided the strawberries. I'll probably go for a prolonged walk later then polish off the rest of the trout with almonds and frozen peas.

I got chatting to a lovely old guy (older guy) who also used to be an HGV driver, and one of his jobs was hauling peas to the freezery. He confirmed what I already knew, they are only grown within a two hour drive of the factory, sown in rotation so theoretically they ripen in sequence throughout the season, and despite pea harvesters costing £1/3 - 1/2 million apiece and the picking gangs have from two to six machines, they will think nothing of picking half a field then parking up for half a day until the rest of the field is ripe before continuing. I will eat the peas (an anatomically correct quantity) in his honour as he had successfully beaten cancer.

I am totally in agreement with the "taking myself out cleanly with a fatal heart attack" theory. I've seen too many suffer years of agonising pain and loss of dignity. My wife's grandad died whilst on the toilet, like Elvis ! Quickly, albeit not hugely dignified. I'd take it though :-)

Chris said "I already have the other half of Son of Jaws (the giant trout)"

Chris if you could eat one of these blighter's in two days I would be in awe of your appetite.

You've had a rough time Chris to put things into perspective it makes my diabetes look like a walk in the park, I hope things continue to improve for you.

The reason I gave up smoking was that there was no guarantee it would be the CVD that would get me - if there had been, I'd still be smoking. It was the idea of dying inch by inch with ephysema that scared the cr@p out of me. I've already got one (non-smoking related) lung disease and that unpleasant fate is possibly on the cards anyway. My respiratory specialist said the last thing I'd want is to have both lung diseases together, so that was my motivation for quitting - plus I could never afford to retire if I was smoking - the Australian Government is trying to tax smoking out of existence.

I've never understood why so many people are so petrified of CVD that they're happy to pop statins - it's about the only possibility of a quick death any of us are likely to have. Compared to so many other ways to go, the drop dead scenario is by far the best, IMO. The biggest fear is that you get found and "saved" before the job is done.

I was seriously considering having "DNR" tattooed on my chest, but was told that if paramedics are called they would ignore it anyway and do their worst to resuscitate me regardless.

Indy51 wrote:

I've never understood why so many people are so petrified of CVD that they're happy to pop statins - it's about the only possibility of a quick death any of us are likely to have. Compared to so many other ways to go, the drop dead scenario is by far the best, IMO. The biggest fear is that you get found and "saved" before the job is done.

I was seriously considering having "DNR" tattooed on my chest, but was told that if paramedics are called they would ignore it anyway and do their worst to resuscitate me regardless.

Oh yes me too.

The good thing is, one side of my family (where the diabetes comes from) NEVER gets cancer, and to my knowledge only one of my father's sisters on the other side (we're not sure because it was back in the days when no-one told you). That's something I don't much worry about.

Most everyone dies of CVD or just plain wearing out. Sadly though seldom in their own beds peacefully at home as they wanted to.