Isn't our National Health Service just wonderful?
I owe my life to the fantastic Dr Papaspyros and his brilliant surgical team at Leeds General Infirmary.
Medical emergencies can grab you without warning and your fate is in the good hands of others.
It happened to me a fortnight ago today while I was on the allotment.
I suffered the most devastating chest pains so called Lynne to come to my rescue.
She drove me straight to the GP surgery where they called an ambulance.
I went to Bradford Royal Infirmary for a scan then, after they had looked at what was wrong, on to Leeds with blue lights flashing.
I will spare you the details now but without an immediate 10-hour overnight heart operation by Dr Papaspyros and his team you probably wouldn’t be reading this now. Discharged and back at home after spells in intensive care and a high dependency unit, hopefully I am now on the mend.
It’s a very slow process of healing and the trauma impacts on every part of your body including vision, taste and smell. Nothing is the same.
Lynne’s fantastic and I am so grateful for my wife’s care and love.
I hope to recuperate and at the moment I’m reasonably optimistic that I’ll be able to restart writing for you regularly some time this year. After all, I’m only 78.
Look after yourselves and I’ll speak to you again soon.
Oh, and keep fighting for the NHS.
There are many of us, including me, who owe our lives to the most precious of our public services.
