The Heart Hospital...

As I am no longer a child (20 in Dec), it’s no more Great Ormond Street Hospital for me. Sad times. No hospital is great (not when you’re in and out all the time) but GOSH had a friendly feel, which made the numerous hospital visits during my childhood bearable at least. I’ll miss it but I’m a big boy now (as the nurse said today) so I’ve got to visit a few University College Hospitals across London for different parts of my condition.

The Heart Hospital in Westmoreland Street is, as the name suggests, a specialist cardiac hospital. Obvious, right? Apparently not to my mum who kept asking people “what floor is the heart bit?” There is no heart section; it clearly is all to do with cardiology. Before people start accosting me in the street about being rude to my mum, I told her I was going to put her foolishness in my blog  (and it’s not mothers day anymore). Like my dad said, it was a typical woman’s comment (love old men being casually sexist. Comedy gold).

Back to the hospital, it’s quite surreal. From the outside, I thought it was going to be like a doctor’s surgery but it actually opens up into a traditional looking NHS hospital. It’s quite pokey but what do you expect in that location (I sound like I should be presenting Homes under the Hammer). It was a bit annoying how we went to sign in, got sent to another reception, then sent for tests before returning to the original waiting area. I’m used to that, thanks to Stanmore. Have to wait for the doctor, then get sent for an X-Ray and then back to wait to see the consultant. Normally takes 5 hours so today I was pleasantly surprised that it only took 2 hours. Not perfect but pretty efficient, by my standards.

The most worrying symptom of Friedreich’s Ataxia for me is the effect it has on my heart. I can live with being in a wheelchair or having slurred speech but the thickening of the left ventricle needs to be monitored because it could be dangerous. However, it was good news today, as it has remained stable. The doctor even said my heartbeat sounds like a normal person and only closer inspection would reveal my problem. He advised that I stay on the medication just as pre-caution but was pleased.

And so was I. Relief. Like I said, it’s my greatest concern and that incident when I ended up in E.R. last year scared me to bits. So, I’m very happy tonight and you can add to that with a simple vote or if you’ve done it, get someone else to help. Here’s that link again: http://www.bigblogexchange.org/blog/72005

Bye for now!