What happened waaas.......

Right, what the hell happened on Friday night? So far this is what we have managed to piece together.....

Bit of background first of all; went out for supper in the Brasserie with Sam, Jenny and I, John F (I blame him entirely for this, he is the responsible adult!), Dan, Nuala, Paicey and Corrinne, Frank J and Lisa (sorry I forgot you chey!!!). Had a great meal, and then went sleighing as is our wont on a snowy night.

On the inaugural run I was zapping down Philomel Hill behind Frank (wearing John's best coat and boots!!) the next thing I remember I woke up with my head in Frank's lap feeling very very odd! It seems I had been out cold for about 5 minutes and an ambulance had been called. (I actually made the Police news on the radio later in the week, nothing in the paper though must have a chat with the editor!) [This pic is from a previous sleighing expedition - a few weeks earlier.]



I was shipped off to hospital with a suspected head injury and met in Casualty by the formidable team of Dr Bex and Nurse Janice (who, for those who don't know, is Frank's sister. Small world the Falklands!).

To cut a long story a bit shorter (mainly because my memory of this is v hazy) Bex checked my noggin out and found nothing really wrong then they noticed my heart was going berco. Pulse rate went up to around 240 bpm and stayed there!

Needless to say this caused some consternation; I was blissfully unaware of the seriousness of the situation and kept insisting Jenny went home to bed but Janice kept insisting she stay (a common reaction among women when I am in my cups, I have come to notice!!). Pulse stayed around 240-250 and Bex decided that the only safe option was to shock it back into its proper rhythm.

I was duly knocked out and the procedure carried out. When I was awake again (covered in electrodes and things!) Bex explained a bit more of what had been going on, basically my heart was vibrating instead of beating, BP was getting low and erratic and if I sat up I would feel faint. The was because the heart was not actually pumping blood properly. They gave me two shocks, the first 50J shock put my heart into VF for about a while (the printout from the ECG is awesome! will try and get a scanned copy for the blog) then the second 360J shock got things sorted out again.



That is the story of Friday night, will add a bit more about the rest of my week, including how we got to Santiago, soon.