Hospital São João 2021-04-13

CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Graft). I didn’t know the term. Now, it is all too familiar. My surgery was seven hours and I was in ICU for two days. ICU holds the darkest moments – imagined – or real.

One conversation that I know was real before I had the operation the surgeon asked if I wanted a general anaesthetic. I am sure he wasn’t joking. He said it was an option. I went for the full unconsciousness.

I’m not sure of memories, some scenes I try not to recall. Tramadol made me hallucinate and fit. Other drugs bloated me so much that I couldn’t eat. Medications were changed at request.

Post ICU – the nights were long – sleep was difficult. Ennui endured. Alarm bells rang, while patients shouted in pain or for attention.

I’m eternally grateful for all the staff that contributed to my recovery and to my surgeon Dr Benjamin Marinho who came in on his day off to say good bye. At our initial meeting, he said, ‘don’t worry, thats my job’.

I will never forget the Portuguese NHS that helped me when I needed help, when they could have so easily denied it to me. The hospital would only let me fly back to England on a medical flight which was impossible.

I was discharged from Hospital São João on 20 April 2021 and took an Uber to my apartment by the sea in Matoshnhos.

Vocabulary learned this week: sternotomy, ennui, quintuple.

Reinforced this week: kindness, hope, compassion, friends, family.

Best bits: humour, a gentle pat on the back, human tenderness, engaging meaningfully with others.

It has been exceptionally frightening at times, pure theatre at others. My friend Tim who was in the year above me at school had a stent fitted after we did the Devizes Westminster canoe race in 2010. His arteries were 90% blocked. I’m guessing mine were blocked too. We have both been lifelong endurance athletes.

Its amazing what you can achieve even with badly blocked arteries. The problem is that it is difficult to identify heart disease accurately wthout invasive procedures such as an angioscopy (please correct me if i am wrong).