Too Much Information!

/ Books & Bonsai

Life in the Dawes household is on a knife edge now, as the date for Anita’s next and hopefully successful visit to the hospital draws ever nearer.

They plan to be fitting Anita with a pacemaker/defibrillator on Wednesday next week to persuade her poor old heart to start behaving normally. In preparation, we have been bombarded with a cart load of instructions, safety checks and medication updates.

There is so much to remember, and even more information that we really didn’t need, but you know doctors, they must tell you everything, including, in great detail, everything that could go wrong.

Me personally, I like to know what might happen to me, even the bad stuff, but Anita would rather not dwell on that side if things. She hasn’t said as much, but I know she would rather carry on as she is, even with all the breathlessness and fatigue, than walk into that hospital again. If we do get her there, she will be doing it for us, her family and not for herself.

So when the consultant began to describe, in detail, about how he would be feeding several wires through her veins into and around her heart, and that she would be awake while this was all going on, I could clearly see her having second thoughts. 

He then made a tricky moment even worse by rattling off everything bad that could happen while she was on the table. Anita didn’t need him to describe everything she would hear and feel either. I could tell by her face that she desperately wanted to tell him she had changed her mind.

Apart from childbirth some fifty years ago and a broken leg a while back, Anita hasn’t had much to do with doctors and hospitals. Just by osmosis through me and all my many medical problems. For sisters, we couldn’t be more different, even though we look alike…

So, understandably, she is becoming extremely nervous and hating every minute. It wouldn’t take much to have her making for the hills!

These next few days will be an extreme test of everyone’s patience, tact, and diplomacy as we all try to convince ourselves and each other that everything will be fine. Anita will have a Covid test on Sunday and be confined to barracks until the day we leave for the hospital…

35 thoughts on “Too Much Information!”

  2. Having had a brother who had no less than two defibrillators fitted over A PERIOD OF AT LEAST 20 YEARS…with great success, I hasten to try…and put Anita’s mind at least a little at rest! He lived until he was 86, which was no mean feat as he had other health problems too. Of course, no two people are the same, but he also had a few internal and external cancers and eventually – just a while ago.-, succumbed to Alzheimers, bless his memory.. He was the most stoic person I have known and we all said “He’s so laid back, he’s nearly behind himself…” He went fishing over the years to relax and was interested in everything until the last lap. While there’s life, there’s hope , so please wish your dear sister as much luck as my brother had. Joy xx

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  3. There are times in life when ignorance is still bliss, and this is one of those. But based on my 20-odd years in the Ambulance Service, I feel the need to reassure you that it really is a ‘routine procedure’ these days, and hugely successful too.
    I won’t say ‘good luck’, because luck has nothing to do with it, and Anita will be fine!
    Best wishes as always, Pete. x

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  9. I can’t imagine how scary it is for Anita and the rest of you. Part of me would want all the details, and part of me would rather not know. Sigh. Wishing Anita the very best, an effortless recovery, and happiness in the years to come. Sending light and love. ❤

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  13. I have an ongoing battle of the wills with doctors and have made it abundantly clear on multiple occasions that I … I, myself and me … will decide whether I will or will not follow their advice! Needless to say, they don’t like me much. That said, I have several friends who have had the surgery Anita is about to have and the pacemakers have made their lives so much better, they feel so much better and are able to do things they couldn’t do before. So, I am sending warm hugs to you both for Wednesday and I just know it will go well and she’ll be happy she had it done! 💞

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  15. You know, with all the arse-covering the medical establishment does they could’ve made a killing (financially speaking) during the global toiletpaper shortage at the start of this idiocracy. : )
    Seriously though, wanting to stay with the familiar, however uncomfortable and unwell it makes us, is a hallmark of the human experience, as is fear of change, however it may improve our situation. We’re an odd species, us humans.
    There are risks, of course there are, but the alternative is unacceptable.
    Big hugs m’dear … and might I suggest keeping a set of handcuffs on hand as the big day draws near. : )

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