On the way to the station

Today, I got the 5.15pm train. I never usually get this train, because it involves walking quite fast from work to the station, and I don't like walking quite fast because it can have a bad effect on the old ticker. I was persuaded to go for the earlier train by two of my colleagues, and I was glad I did really because I got home at 6pm, instead of 6.40pm (if I get the earlier train on any day other than Friday) or 7.05pm if I get my usual, later train. However, we did walk quite fast, and although one of my colleagues said "that wasn't a brisk walk" it was brisk enough to make me feel nauseous due to being out of breath. I felt the need to tell them I felt ill (not sure why, maybe to warn them I might have to stop), then I had to explain to one colleague about my dodgy heart, and so colleague one wanted to know why having a dodgy heart should lead to feeling sick. I realised I did not know the answer, but I thought it was due to lack of oxygen. I will now attempt to find out.

Mr C says it's some sort of defence mechanism: to prevent you from harming yourself by further exertion your body forces you to stop. Not knowing whether Mr C was right or not, I had a look on the web, and the only site I could find with an explanation was one about mountain biking! It was quite helpful. Apparently (according to the writer of the site) the nausea is the body's reaction to severe physiologic stress. It's the same type of nausea that you may feel if you injure yourself. That makes sense to me. I suppose Mr C was partly right - your body isn't liking what's happening to it, so it reacts, and does force you to stop, if the physiological stress gets so bad you have to stop and throw up. Sorry, this isn't a particularly pleasant thing to blog about!

I have my annual MOT next week. I dreamt about it the other night, which was unusual for me. I do dream a lot, but not usually about medical things. It was a classic anxiety dream - I was at my appointment with my consultant, but it wasn't my usual consultant, and she was foreign and I couldn't understand what she was saying. Then I was getting lost in hospital corridors and realising that Mr C wasn't there when he'd said he would come with me, and I was emerging from a tunnel out onto a corridor and thinking 'this is where Professor Yacoub met Princess Diana' and then I woke up. The strange wanderings of a (n assistant) Librarian's mind.

I think I'm more concerned about it this time because I have to ask the consultant about having the valve repaired, and timescales relating to this. Also I have had some trouble with wires which were left in my chest after my heart surgery - I think they were used to join the sternum back together. They lay low for 26 years, but last year I felt something pricking the inside of my chest (sorry, it's a bit hard to explain). It's more uncomfortable in certain positions, and doesn't do it all the time (which is just as well). It's quite a weird feeling, and can be quite painful. I mentioned it to the consultant last year, not knowing what it was (although I suspected), and she said she knew exactly what it was. She said that there was no need to do anything about them, as they weren't making a particular nuisance of themselves, but since last year there have been times when they have been painful and at the moment I can't lie in certain positions because they poke me, and it's not very nice. I don't know whether anything can be done, and I suspect that anything that could be done would involve surgery, and I don't think I want that. I expect I'll just have to put up with them/it. It's quite strange that it only happens some of the time - normally for a few days to a few weeks at a time. I've tried to work out what could cause them to poke sometimes and not others, but I haven't discovered anything yet. If anyone else out there has experienced this I'd be interested to hear about it.

Well, that's enough medical stuff for one night. Mr C is waiting to watch some more LOTR documentaries, so I'll go and join him.