So, weekend is here, and Cardioversion is done. Nicky and I went up to London on Tuesday afternoon, and had a wander round - mostly seeking to kill time so that we weren't sat in our hotel thinking about the day ahead. We walked all the way along the South Bank to Blackfriars Bridge, across there and down Fleet Street / The Strand, and up past Covent Garden and through to Leicester Square. Along the way we stopped off in a few shops, had a coffee and a muffin at EAT, and went to our favourite travel bookshop, Stanfords (where we bought a Lonely Planet guide to Coastal California and a pop up map of London - not of the bus routes this time!).
When we got to Leicester Square, there were crowd barriers up, and it was about to be the premiere of The Lovely Bones. We waited around for about an hour, hoping to see a few celebs, but it turned out that we were at the wrong end of the red carpet, and the stars weren't doing a very good job of being punctual. Given that the rain had started to come down pretty hard, we decided to abandon our posts, and went to Chinatown for a meal.
After dinner we walked up Charing Cross Road and went to Blackwells and Borders - I was determined to buy a new book so that I would have something to read in hospital if I finished the book I'd brought. Finally, I settled on a book of short stories by A.M. Homes (who'd written "This book will save your life" which I'd read and enjoyed whilst we were sunning ourselves in Nice a couple of years ago). Then it was cab back to the hotel and off to bed.
Early start on Wednesday as I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything after 6am, so I had a Nutrigrain and a cup of coffee. Nicky opened her birthday cards and her pressie from me which was a Tiffany necklace in the shape of a heart with a small cut out heart for the chain to go through (big heart = Nicky, little heart = me!).
We arrived at Evan Jones ward promptly at 8am, and once I was settled in with books, newspaper and ipod, Nicky went off to the shops. I think that she probably spent more time texting than shopping during the morning - probably sending and receiving about a hundred. At hospital I read the paper, did the crossword and the kenken, and sure enough did finish my book (Then we came to the end by Joshua Ferris).
I went off for my Cardioversion at about half past two, and all went fine. I was enjoying taking deep breaths on the oxygen mask as they injected the anaesthetic, and I could feel the cold fluid coming up my arm from my hand where it went in, but I don't remember the feeling getting much past my elbow! Next think I knew I was waking up again and all was done. I think that we had to wait longer for a porter to take me upstairs than the procedure actually took.
Once back on the ward, one of the nurses retrieved my watch and phone from the ward safe, and I texted Nicky to say that I'd been done, and got one back seconds later to say that she was on her way. The kind nurses on the ward brought me a sandwich and yogurt to eat, and just after I'd had those the menu came round for dinner. Thinking that I might be there for a few hours I make my choices, but never got to have them as I was discharged before dinner came round!
It turned out that they had needed to shock me three times (which is the maximum they are allowed to do) before my heart decided to behave, but ever since then it has been beating strong and regular. Apparently when the did an ECG to check, there seems to still be some minor abnormality - something to do with a delay in the electrical signal travelling from the top to the bottom of the heart. Don't know whether there's some other issue or whether it was due to the Cardioversion that had just happened, but they are going to get me back for a follow up in January and will check then.
Once we were away from the hospital we went back along to the hotel to drop off my bag and so that I could admire Nicky's shopping haul, before heading out for dinner. We went to the Riverfront restaurant on the South Bank, and then in to Foyles bookshop for a "mooch" (careful with the spelling!) and assuming that there's no way that Jake would read any of this waffle, I can mention that we found another Christmas present for him - a signed hardback copy of the latest Young Bond story by Charlie Higson.
I didn't get a very good night's sleep on Wednesday, because my chest was stinging from where the paddles had been, but we got some E45 from the chemist on Thursday and it is much better now.
I'm still on all of the tablets for the time being, and will still be having my weekly blood tests, but in a way that's a good thing as if I have any problems whilst we are on holiday, my heart rate will still be kept in check by the medication. Talking of holidays, the only downside is that our travel insurance cost has just gone up by about a factor of four. Oh well - nevermind!