Heart Attack to 10K (part 4.25) - Life changes
Part 4.25 - LIFE CHANGES
(Phase VI - sustaining a healthy life-style)
"Nothings going to happen unless you make it happen."
When I left off I had just been diagnosed with 'Chronotropic Incompetence' (CI), an exercise intolerance. I'm still not totally sure what this really means or how it will impact my life, but what is very apparent is that my parkrun times have suffered a lot since then.
Since returning back to parkrun post Covid, during which time my (intermittent) paroxysmal AFib episodes had become more regular and longer causing some worry and concern, I could never match my previous record with my finishing times settling around 30-33 minutes whereas I was coming in around 27-28 minutes before the pandemic. This took a further knock once I moved up to 'persistent AFib' in May 2022 when my times would be all over the place ranging from 37-48 minutes depending how I was feeling on the day. Following a 2nd cardioversion in Jan 2023 and starting on an anti-arrhythmic drug (Amiodarone), which helped to keep me free from AFib, did improve my performance a little with my best time being 34:36, but this drug was never going to be a long term solution and not something you want to be taking any longer than can be helped anyway due to some potentially nasty, and even life-threatening side effects.
So, on Thursday 14th Dec 2023 my son-in-law drove me over the Hammersmith hospital, the nearest hospital capable of carrying out the procedure that was acceptable with my insurers - Dr Quershi would have preferred the Wellington hospital in St John's Wood. The procedure was scheduled for 12.00, but I eventually went down 3.20 after Dr Queshi had to come and look for me and led me down to the catheter lab and introduced me to his team. I came around from the anaesthetic by 6:30 feeling pretty groggy with dressings both sides of my groin (a fashion unlikely to catch on). I must offer my greatest personal thanks to Dr Quershi who took the time to check up on me the following morning before flying straight out on a family holiday, his care and attention throughout the whole procedure whether private or on the NHS, including the consultations, has been second to none keeping me at ease and informed throughout.
My discharge was delayed as every time the nurses tried to replace my dressing one wound kept bleeding no matter what they tried, eventually leading to a call to Dr Queshi for advice after he had just landed in some far off land! Some sort of compression device was strapped around my body to apply pressure on my groin and this solved the problem so I could go home (though still very wary about any sudden movements). I must also thank my son-in-law, Shafique, who had returned to pick me up that morning, but was kept waiting most of the day while they attempted to stop the bleeding and had to excuse himself from a full days work. All this cost just a mere £6,769.00 but I did get a nice private room with en-suite and a TV ... but I think the next time, without the insurance, might have to it done on the NHS!
I took rest of the year (well, the last week before Christmas) off work to recover but after just 7 days flipped back into AFib and was admitted into Wycombe hospital for a cardioversion. While being assessed I realised I had forgotten that morning's anti-coagulation which meant the cardioversion couldn't be carried out for at least another 4 weeks, due to the risk of a stroke - I felt a right idiot!
Instead of a cardioversion, I restarted back on Amiodarone again and within 4 days reverted back to a normal sinus rhythm. Though I really dislike this drug with a passion I have admit it is very effective, though again it is not a long term solution and at the end of my 3 month blanking period was put on a half dose.
Leading up to my retirement I planned to mark the occasion with another charity challenge, my first since running the Maidenhead half marathon course during the Covid in Sept 2020. Due to my declining condition I decided running anywhere was out of the question, so decided to walk the 14.2 miles from Harefield hospital to Wycombe hospital (two sites that treated me following my heart attack) to again raise funds for Hearts & Souls and used this in my farewell message to my former work colleagues on the 15th March to try and drum up some contributions.
As with my previous challenges, my employer Instron came good and donated £500 to kick start my campaign and with further donations from my work mates set the ball rolling, as always I am really grateful for your generosity. It is a strange feeling leaving a place you spent most days of your life for the past 17 years, and Instron were always good and understanding regarding my many health needs and days off sick over the past few years and in particular Eric Madraszek who always showed great care and compasion especially on the days I didn't feel so good over the last couple of years. But, I felt the time was right to break the routine of an early start and working to a strict regimented timetable through the day. Now I can slow the pace and take the day as and when I please.
But that was all a bit of a false start to retired life as within 5 days I was back in Wycombe hospital with chest and jaw pains, typical symptoms of a heart attack though I never really felt that was the case (but then I thought the same with my actual heart attack). It turned out just to be angina but I was kept in overnight and had my 5th angioplasty and yet another 2 stents bringing the total to 6. The hospital became concerned about bleeding in my right arm, keeping it elevated until I was discharged later in the day. However I returned to the hospital still suffering with haematoma 6 days later which was causing serve bruising the in my forearm and pain in the elbow.
The bruising eventually disappeared early April just in time for Wycombe Wanderers visit to Wembley for the Bristol Street Motors Trophy final against Peterborough United and although we may have lost 1-2 to a 'lucky' strike in the last minute of the game, this still made a good distraction from all my troubles and marked the start a proper retired life.
On the19th May I reached yet another personal and pleasing landmark in this recovery journey when I completed my 200th parkrun coming in at 41:27, some 343 weeks after my maiden run in Oct 2017. Not my best time but that was not unexpected as I was stuck in a rut around the 40 minute mark around that time, a long way from my peak pre-Covid. However, we were running a slightly longer alternate course due to flooding down the Rye which made a reasonable excuse.
That about brings the blog up to date other than I was offered and received my first injection of Inclisiran, I believe it is then 6 monthly. As I understand it this is a fairly new treatment to lower bad cholesterol and only offered to people with a history previous cardiovascular event such as a heart attack, unstable angina or stroke and a high cholesterol not controlled by normal statins. There still seems to be a lack of general knowledge on this treatment at the moment and some of my questions have remained unanswered but my GP did say it costs £1,500 per dose so it better be good, though I think the NHS probably gets it a much lower cost.
Until you come to write things like this you don't really realise just how much has happened in fairly short period of time. What I haven't touched upon above over the same period includes trying to sort out my pension while going through the ablation and adjusting to retired life, being tested for sleep apnea at an Oxford diagnostic centre, my constant battle with my weight, England reaching the Euro final, working on the house and garden, my duties with Hearts & Souls and joining the Hazlemere Fete planning committee - I don't know how I ever had time to go to work and it's no wonder I never got around to updating this blog!
Following the Chronotropic Incompetence diagnosis, my energy levels seem to gradually decrease over the next few runs going from 36:56 to 44:15 and I'm not really sure if this was a mental thing or I was just more fatigued due to this condition. Having been taken off the anti-arrhythmic in May 2023 I started to flip back into few shorts spells of AFib, each getting longer than the last, before finally going back into persistent AFib in Oct 2023, which again affected my performance levels.
To date I have ran 212 parkruns with my last finishing in 38:41. I'm definitely finding it more difficult to get into a proper stride due to angina and a gerenal lack of stamina, making any run very stop-start. Despite the struggles I still achieved my second best time of 2024 and my 12th sub 40 minutes out 36 since being diagnosed with Chronotropic Incompetence - so, not too not bad for a veteran with a dicky ticker!
However, as a side note, I have only twice managed to better my maiden run time (my first run post heart attack or even since July 1993) in any parkrun since being diagnosed with Chronotropic Incompetence. A record I'm not too chuffed about.
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| Full parkrun record (blue dots where I run with AFib) |
By now I was under the Electrophysiologist (a cardiologist who specialises in diagnosing and treating heart rhythm problems), the excellent Dr Quershi, and agreed with him to a catheter ablation (a procedure that destroys the area in the heart causing abnormal electrical signals). The waiting times for this procedure on the NHS are something like 18 months and there is no guarantee it would be successful the first time and a second couldn't be carried out before the end of a 3 month blanking period (the healing period). As I was due to retire from work the following March, just over the 3 months’ time, we decided to go 'private' to take advantage of my work healthcare cover and move this along so we could possibly get a second ablation if needed before the insurance expired.
My discharge was delayed as every time the nurses tried to replace my dressing one wound kept bleeding no matter what they tried, eventually leading to a call to Dr Queshi for advice after he had just landed in some far off land! Some sort of compression device was strapped around my body to apply pressure on my groin and this solved the problem so I could go home (though still very wary about any sudden movements). I must also thank my son-in-law, Shafique, who had returned to pick me up that morning, but was kept waiting most of the day while they attempted to stop the bleeding and had to excuse himself from a full days work. All this cost just a mere £6,769.00 but I did get a nice private room with en-suite and a TV ... but I think the next time, without the insurance, might have to it done on the NHS!
I took rest of the year (well, the last week before Christmas) off work to recover but after just 7 days flipped back into AFib and was admitted into Wycombe hospital for a cardioversion. While being assessed I realised I had forgotten that morning's anti-coagulation which meant the cardioversion couldn't be carried out for at least another 4 weeks, due to the risk of a stroke - I felt a right idiot!
Leading up to my retirement I planned to mark the occasion with another charity challenge, my first since running the Maidenhead half marathon course during the Covid in Sept 2020. Due to my declining condition I decided running anywhere was out of the question, so decided to walk the 14.2 miles from Harefield hospital to Wycombe hospital (two sites that treated me following my heart attack) to again raise funds for Hearts & Souls and used this in my farewell message to my former work colleagues on the 15th March to try and drum up some contributions.
As with my previous challenges, my employer Instron came good and donated £500 to kick start my campaign and with further donations from my work mates set the ball rolling, as always I am really grateful for your generosity. It is a strange feeling leaving a place you spent most days of your life for the past 17 years, and Instron were always good and understanding regarding my many health needs and days off sick over the past few years and in particular Eric Madraszek who always showed great care and compasion especially on the days I didn't feel so good over the last couple of years. But, I felt the time was right to break the routine of an early start and working to a strict regimented timetable through the day. Now I can slow the pace and take the day as and when I please.
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| Hands up if you're retired! |
On the19th May I reached yet another personal and pleasing landmark in this recovery journey when I completed my 200th parkrun coming in at 41:27, some 343 weeks after my maiden run in Oct 2017. Not my best time but that was not unexpected as I was stuck in a rut around the 40 minute mark around that time, a long way from my peak pre-Covid. However, we were running a slightly longer alternate course due to flooding down the Rye which made a reasonable excuse.
After chasing up on it, I was taken off the Amiodarone on 14th June 2024, just over 6 months since starting it. So far I have gone 52 days and still clear of AFib. This probably way too short a period to say for certain if the Ablation was successful or not but with the British Heart Foundation suggesting that you should know by about 10 weeks whether the ablation was successful in halting your arrhythmia, and I'm now well over 8 months since the procedure, it is looking hopeful so far.
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| All set for a long walk! |
Due to of unexpected angioplasty, and after talking with the cardiac rehab nurse who consulted the cardiologist, we felt it best to postpone my sponsored walk until such time as I felt confident enough to complete it. In the end we did this on 29th June 2024, some 11-12 weeks of training walks later than originally planned. I was joined by my daughter Kaitlyn, her boyfriend George, Josphine Chaplin and an old pal who has done most of my daft challenges together with me, Paul Szefer. We were joined en-route by Tim Dawson who walked a short distance with us through Chalfont St Peter as well as Imtiaz Turab, Muhit Khan and Matteo Donati who joined us on the Rye towards the finish and I offer my thanks for all your kind support as well our drivers Kris Chaplin and Michael Collins who got to the start at Harefield hospital in the first place. It took us just over 6.5 hours with stops and a coffee break in Beaconsfield on a bright dry day and raised in total a credible £1,610.00 bringing the total raised over 5 events to £6,214.00 - I extend my most sincere gratitude to all who have sponsored me at any time. [photos]
My JustGiving page will remain open for further donations until the end of September .... https://www.justgiving.com/page/peter-jemmett-harefield-wycombe
My JustGiving page will remain open for further donations until the end of September .... https://www.justgiving.com/page/peter-jemmett-harefield-wycombe
Just out of interest, below I have tracked the number of hours per day my heart rate is in a 'fitbit exercise zone' (above 78 bmp) since I was first went into 'persistent AFib' in May 2022 and it is interesting looking at the different phases I have been through since then. Initially in a permanent AFib with the hours very irregular then following cardioversion and short while later starting on antiarrhythmic which reduced the hours significantly to an almost steady flat line, then back in persistent AFib, the short lived second cardioversion and then following the ablation and going into retirement where it has become a bit more erratic again, but much lower than when in AFib. I have tried to maintain a similar level of activity throughout, though I wouldn't push myself so hard while in AFib but still be in an exercise zone most of the day.
That about brings the blog up to date other than I was offered and received my first injection of Inclisiran, I believe it is then 6 monthly. As I understand it this is a fairly new treatment to lower bad cholesterol and only offered to people with a history previous cardiovascular event such as a heart attack, unstable angina or stroke and a high cholesterol not controlled by normal statins. There still seems to be a lack of general knowledge on this treatment at the moment and some of my questions have remained unanswered but my GP did say it costs £1,500 per dose so it better be good, though I think the NHS probably gets it a much lower cost.
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| I survived the dunes of doom! |
Until you come to write things like this you don't really realise just how much has happened in fairly short period of time. What I haven't touched upon above over the same period includes trying to sort out my pension while going through the ablation and adjusting to retired life, being tested for sleep apnea at an Oxford diagnostic centre, my constant battle with my weight, England reaching the Euro final, working on the house and garden, my duties with Hearts & Souls and joining the Hazlemere Fete planning committee - I don't know how I ever had time to go to work and it's no wonder I never got around to updating this blog!
Heart attack to 10K pictorial record - click here
Thank-you for reading and I would love to hear your thoughts on any subject I have covered, please leave your comments below or email me at peterjemmett@aol.com
My full story - from heart attack to half marathon:
Part 1 - That fateful day. (Phase I - heart attack) click here
Part 2 - Back home & drama at White Hart Lane. (Phase II - home recovery) click here
Part 3 - They tried to make me go to rehab, I said yes, yes, yes please. (Phase III - cardiac rehabilitation) click here
Part 4.1 - Getting FFITer and Harefield & Heartbreak hill revisited (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.2 - Walking for heart & soul & finding parkrun (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.3 - End of year 1 round-up and assessment (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.4 - Falling heart rate: fitter or hibernation? (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.5 - Pain in the bum, going senile and sub 30! (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.6 - Sub 29, attack of the AKI and 1 year old (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.7 - Pushing the boundaries (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Thank-you for reading and I would love to hear your thoughts on any subject I have covered, please leave your comments below or email me at peterjemmett@aol.com
Part 1 - That fateful day. (Phase I - heart attack) click here
Part 2 - Back home & drama at White Hart Lane. (Phase II - home recovery) click here
Part 3 - They tried to make me go to rehab, I said yes, yes, yes please. (Phase III - cardiac rehabilitation) click here
Part 4.1 - Getting FFITer and Harefield & Heartbreak hill revisited (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.2 - Walking for heart & soul & finding parkrun (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.3 - End of year 1 round-up and assessment (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.4 - Falling heart rate: fitter or hibernation? (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.5 - Pain in the bum, going senile and sub 30! (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.6 - Sub 29, attack of the AKI and 1 year old (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.7 - Pushing the boundaries (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.8 - Bling, bling, bling, two 10K's and a 5K. (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.9 - 3 Years On, Ragged Radnage and Pete's bolus journey (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.10 - Coping with COVID-19 and what they say (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.11 - Living in the lock-down (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.12 - Plus and minus 3.5 years; heart attack to half marathon! (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.13 - Is it worth the risk? (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.14 - Mixed bag through Covid (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.9 - 3 Years On, Ragged Radnage and Pete's bolus journey (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.10 - Coping with COVID-19 and what they say (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.11 - Living in the lock-down (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.12 - Plus and minus 3.5 years; heart attack to half marathon! (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.13 - Is it worth the risk? (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.14 - Mixed bag through Covid (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.15 - Getting back in the groove (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.16 - Reintegrating back into society (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.17 - Get that crazy rhythm (the low down on AFib) (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.18 - The 5 year itch, time to cut the CRAP! (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.19 - The last word (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.20 - Persisting with parkrun (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.18 - The 5 year itch, time to cut the CRAP! (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.19 - The last word (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.20 - Persisting with parkrun (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.21 - Stuck in reverse (recap of 2022) (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.22 - Starting all over again 6 years on (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.23 - God bless the NHS (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.24 - What I can, when I can (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.22 - Starting all over again 6 years on (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.23 - God bless the NHS (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
Part 4.24 - What I can, when I can (Phase IV - sustaining a healthy life-style) click here
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