....that I was caught within a 60-minute timespan on Saturday morning when tight chest-pains started. I tried to pooh-hoo them as Mrs Ed and I set off from the house in the Bumblebee. A block later I had to pull in, she turned around and beetled back and by this time it was quite severe and was I sweating profusely. Mrs Ed took matters into her hands and dialled 999 - 5 mins later a motorbike medic rang the door bell!

10 minutes later I was stuffed in an ambulance and 15 after arrived at emergency....two or three after that I "woke up" with a doc apologising for using electricity - I hadn't felt a thing.

I'm now the proud owner of a stent which took the surgeon 18 minutes [according to the student overlooking] to insert, and now I'm back home, 2 days and 7 hours after the event. I'm not a prime candidate for this, as those who've met me know I'm the wrong build and actually have lowish blood pressure. But it doesn't take much [junk] to fall off an artery wall and land sideways....

So I consider myself lucky, closer still to all my family who were so attentive, incredibly grateful to the NHS advances and expertise, and should make as full a recovery as possible.

PS a couple of downsides - I have had to cancel a concert this Sunday and now have 100's of posts to catch up on

Blimey! Must have been a shock. Glad you are OK.

PS You really ought to cut down on the deep-fried Mars Bars.

Glad to hear you are ok, lucky lad indeed !

Wow, glad you are OK. I spent all day Thursday in A&E, (attached to machines, xrayed, blood tested), with a suspected heart attack, luckily for me it turned out it was a severe muscle spasm. Still has made me think though... and I AM a prime candidate.

Wishing you a future of rude health.

Wow glad to hear your ok.

Good job NHS. And mrs ed.

All the best health for the furture.

Hi Edinburgh
Sorry to read of your health scare. Great to hear your on the mend.
Very best wishes.

Flippin 'eck, Simon!
I was just saying to Mrs Jimbob this afternoon how odd it was that you were taking longer than usual to reply to an email & that i hoped all was okay.
Thank goodness you received treatment so quickly, best wishes for a speedy recovery.

no excuses for a Christmas present for Mrs Ed .... get well soon

You have been lucky Simon

Glad you're back home and wish you a speedy recovery

+1

As has been said, Simon - bloody lucky there.

Look after your stent. And stop reading those 'I modded my coupe and now its grate innit' threads!

Get well soon Simon.

Take it easy Simon. All the best, and don't keel over before my road trip next year !

Good luck, and take it easy. Worrying you're not a prime candidate, yet it still happened, and a lesson to everyone not to ignore the symptoms.

At least now you know Mrs Ed does like being with you

Glad to hear you are ok mate.

W

Crikey, don't say that; you nearly gave me... oh, wait.

Very pleased to hear that you were so "lucky". Do take heed.

Blimey, close call mate

Well done MrsE and the NHS staff, get well soon Simon and take it easy

/puts down the cookie.

It's crazy to think that you can be getting on with life one minute and something like this suddenly happens.

Makes you want to just roll up in a duvet and hide in bed all the time.

Good to hear you're on the mend, and the other upside is , now that this has happened, yourself, your family and your freinds (and all of us on here) will now be much more aware of the possibilities.

Well done - glad you're OK. Wonder if you have one of "our" stents - medical device companies sometimes get a bum rap (and sometimes deserve it) but we can take these things for granted too. Glad you're well

Mind you, I do always wonder just how non-typical any of us might be. It's good to be slim, non-smoking, etc., but apart from blood pressure there are all the other things we are supposed to be watching and regulating. Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, Blood glucose, etc. Plenty of exercise, too.



[As you might guess, I am rather pleased with myself. Blood glucose down to normal.]

Close one right enough Simon. Glad you made it. You just never know what's round the corner that's fore sure. The main thing is you're still with us, & yes it's good to have a strong bond with the family. Best wishes...Jim.

Wow, glad you are ok Simon, Hope you are on the mend and back to concerts/tutoring very soon.

WOW that's a shocking "What did you do this weekend" post.

From what I hear it's handy you were out when the put the Stent in, can be interesting if you are awake whilst it is fitted.

Good to hear you are home safe and sound

Bloomin eck! Glad your ok

It'd be a shock for us all, and a reminder that it could happen to any of us. My dad died aged 49 of a heart attack with no apparent problems or history of heart problems for a relatively fit bloke. I will never know if he had any warning signs.

I can't be more touched by your responses although I suspect one or two were targeted at me dying with laughter, ahem...it's a paradox that good vibes can still exist between complete strangers and yet brothers or sisters can sometimes wish they were knocking six bells out of each other. But out of these events must come humour, the medication for the crestfallen.

All your kind comments deserve individual replies but I'm not convinced it's practical. So yes, the NHS scored 11/10 for their policy, rapidity, expertise and care, even though I have been heard to question some aspects of their decisions in the past which makes me feel a bit guilty.

It's got people at work a bit jittery especially as one of my colleagues had the same only last week and I'd texted him with a get-well message the day before my event. They're carrying more weight, smoke a bit, don't exercise ....they need a Coupe - oh wait maybe that's more stressful.....

Let it be known that the chippie down the road [which also offers gluten-free batter ] sells deep-fried Mars Bars regularly - for £2. A real psychological boost for lecturers with time on their hands

The angioplasty [or stent] as it's known is a cunning device looking remarkably like the outer layer of co-axial cable. I don't know the source of these products but they come "collapsed" around a tiny balloon and are inserted, by preference, at the wrist and pushed up a blood vessel all the way round until the offending area is reached. Sounds like one of the infamous sat-nav deviations. Once located the balloon is inflated by turning a small screw at the business end, thus forming the stent into its final tubular shape which will support the artery. This shape is irreversible. The balloon is then deflated and withdrawn, like the famous Haynes' Manual phrase. It's done under local anaesthetic so you can feel a "filling-up" of your arm below the elbow, but after that the passage widens out and I was unaware of anything much apart from the constantly shifting head of the X ray monster just above me.

This adventure will mean a rethink as I've always been rather a dasher-about. It also means controlling cholesterol by means of a daily statin tablet. I learnt that an acceptable level is 4, maximum 5. Mine was 6 which may or may not have been contributory. Fortunately for me Mrs Ed is an ace cook therefore my diet, although wheat-free, is already fairly healthy, so perhaps previous decades of bacon and butter-worshipping might have crept up on me.

So lads and lasses, perhaps time to reconsider quite so many bikkies [sorry Joe ] and o/d-ing on strong coffee. Also taking a little more time over eating, not necessarily as well as the French, but better than common British practices.

It was tricky I have to admit to take this on the chin, also to see the worried family faces. Very touching was to receive a phone call a couple of hours ago from my former wife's brother - in Florida - where he lives and whom I've only seen once since 1979....

Good news that you survived it.
I can't believe they turned you round within 3 days.
My Dad was in for 3 weeks after his!

Not surprised John standing so close to Jess Ennis

Glad you came out ok though, maybe some of the recent events had taken their toll, hardly surprising.



I think it's to do with the initial speed of attention. Up here in Lothian at any rate it seems they've got paramedics loitering on street corners. It's an investment both ways and the rapid attention I got has meant only two weeks off driving instead of four.
Only slight drawback is the coupe is now being driven by someone other than me....

My Dad was in Kirkcaldy which may explain things a little.....

I always wondered about those people lurking on street corners around Edinburgh and now I know

Good wake-up call, then. That's good. But a couple of observations:

1. there is actually very little evidence correlating cholesterol levels with cardiovascular disease. Blood pressure, sugar, HDL ratio, yes, but cholesterol ???

2. there is tons of evidence to indicate the value of regular exercise. It really does work near-miracles.