Really, Queensland!
Top temperature predicted this week by the kind folks at the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or as we used to call it, the Weather Bureau - why a Bureau though?) is a humid 35C. Sounds like no-one has told them it's now Autumn! Putting that aside, we were down the back alleys of Fortitude Valley in Brisbane and I noted these old commercial buildings (read shops and maybe Bubbles Bath House - whatever that could be!!!!) with four old brick chimneys. Well, they are old and back then of course before Global Warming it seemed to get colder for sure in winter. Chimneys are not rare in Brisbane at all on older buildings but I do wonder even then how many times they were lit up.
Thanks to everyone for your kind enquires about my hearts progress this last week, that support is greatly appreciated. After all the tests, they have confirmed that my heart has deteriorated in terms of its pumping capacity since my last echo sound three years back. Well, that's the heart failure for you I guess. It's kind of relentless. One happy note amongst a sea of bad (my blood pressure is also very low too which goes with the above)...when I started my cardio vascular journey as a 34 year old it was high enough 240/150 to blow my head off and get rushed immediately to hospital. My doctor at the time thought his blood pressure machine (it has a name but I can't spell it) was broken and took three readings on two machines. I have battled high BP since and it's an unpleasant change really to swim to the other end of the pool as low BP is harder to treat.
Anyway, the happy note was that I also had a four hour stress test on my heart, that test is a chemical one (walking on a treadmill uphill would kill me) so they do CT's before and after filling you with chemicals that mimic stressing your heart and radio active tracers that allow them to see your heart arteries and muscle - the upshot of which was 13 years after my quadruple by-pass, the arteries are at least still good, despite all those chocolates that our neighbour gave us at Christmas etc etc etc!
So now I am on new drugs for me and new drugs on the market that hopefully will strengthen my heart a bit without lowering my BP further. It's kind of a Catch 22 and complicated journey. I know that many of you have your own to make and of great challenge...getting old isn't all line dancing and orchid growing! Have a happy weekend everyone. And thanks again.
Really, Queensland!
Top temperature predicted this week by the kind folks at the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or as we used to call it, the Weather Bureau - why a Bureau though?) is a humid 35C. Sounds like no-one has told them it's now Autumn! Putting that aside, we were down the back alleys of Fortitude Valley in Brisbane and I noted these old commercial buildings (read shops and maybe Bubbles Bath House - whatever that could be!!!!) with four old brick chimneys. Well, they are old and back then of course before Global Warming it seemed to get colder for sure in winter. Chimneys are not rare in Brisbane at all on older buildings but I do wonder even then how many times they were lit up.
Thanks to everyone for your kind enquires about my hearts progress this last week, that support is greatly appreciated. After all the tests, they have confirmed that my heart has deteriorated in terms of its pumping capacity since my last echo sound three years back. Well, that's the heart failure for you I guess. It's kind of relentless. One happy note amongst a sea of bad (my blood pressure is also very low too which goes with the above)...when I started my cardio vascular journey as a 34 year old it was high enough 240/150 to blow my head off and get rushed immediately to hospital. My doctor at the time thought his blood pressure machine (it has a name but I can't spell it) was broken and took three readings on two machines. I have battled high BP since and it's an unpleasant change really to swim to the other end of the pool as low BP is harder to treat.
Anyway, the happy note was that I also had a four hour stress test on my heart, that test is a chemical one (walking on a treadmill uphill would kill me) so they do CT's before and after filling you with chemicals that mimic stressing your heart and radio active tracers that allow them to see your heart arteries and muscle - the upshot of which was 13 years after my quadruple by-pass, the arteries are at least still good, despite all those chocolates that our neighbour gave us at Christmas etc etc etc!
So now I am on new drugs for me and new drugs on the market that hopefully will strengthen my heart a bit without lowering my BP further. It's kind of a Catch 22 and complicated journey. I know that many of you have your own to make and of great challenge...getting old isn't all line dancing and orchid growing! Have a happy weekend everyone. And thanks again.