With Dad, Christmas Day 2016. Copyright Sal Schifano
I need to tell you something.
I haven’t been able to write anything here recently because I’ve not had the time or the head space to be able to do so, and I’m very sorry about that. I want to explain why.
A couple of weeks before Christmas my fit and healthy dad had a cardiac arrest. In case you don’t know, a cardiac arrest is when your heart stops and, unless you’re very lucky, you die. Amazingly, my 78 year-old dad was saved and is now recovering at home, slowly. His life was saved by a kind passer-by who saw he’d collapsed, stopped and gave him CPR and then by the wonderful NHS care which he received in hospital after that. It seems that his heart stopped because of an irregular heartbeat. He’s now been fitted with an internal defibrillator (ICD). This marvellous device monitors the heart for abnormal rhythms and uses electrical pulses to try to return the heartbeat to a normal rhythm if necessary. Astonishingly, Dad was discharged from hospital in time to join us for the family celebrations at our house on Christmas Day.
Thank you to everybody who has sent gifts and messages of kindness to me and my family. I really do appreciate your support, even though I couldn’t always reply.
I hope that you have a healthy, peaceful and happy New Year – and I’ll try to get back to writing about travel stuff after this, I promise!
x
Gretta, I only just read this. How stressful for you all, but also how fantastic that a passer-by stopped and was competent in CPR. Everyone should be trained in this. Hope he is recovering well now.
Thank you Jane, he’s doing really well, thank goodness.
Happy New Year Gretta! I am so glad your dad is recovering well. Thank goodness for the passerby who knew CPR what a legend! A very scary time for you. My husband had a cardiac arrest a few years ago. Thankfully he was in hospital and they brought him back. So happy you all got to spend Christmas together. Lots of love xx
Thank you Elizabeth, and Happy New Year to you too. Yes, it’s been very hard but we’re all just endlessly grateful to the woman who saved him. I’m so sorry that this happened to your husband, it must have been terrible for you all – thank goodness that it happened in hospital xxx
Best New Year’s present ever, I guess. Seems like a resilient dad.
Yes, he definitely is that!
Happy New Year! Best wishes for 2018!
My old Dad was recently rushed into hospital with a suspected heart attack which turned out to be a false alarm, thankfully. My heart sank for a few hours, so I do know what you must have gone through. Here’s hoping your Dad recovers quickly!
Thank goodness that your dad is OK – and thank you for your kind words.
Hoping for a full recovery for your Dad and that you all get lots of peaceful and happy time together in 2018 x
Thank you Steph – he’s recovering well x