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Not yet dead

I’d like to thank all the staff at the Coronary Care Unit at the London Chest Hospital and the paramedics who took me there last Sunday night for saving my life after I had a heart attack. I now feel that I have to repay your kindness and unfussed professionalism by keeping my side of the bargain by giving up smoking and eating a healthier diet. There wouldn’t be a lot of point to all your work if I were to just go ahead and screw it up again.

Whether I can manage it in the long term I don’t know. So far I’ve not succumbed to smoking a cigarette. I love nicotine as a drug but do I love it as much as being alive? I think not. I hope I can keep it up.

I’d also like to thank all my friends, neighbours, colleagues and family who have been so kind, understanding and helpful since this happened. Without your encouragement I might have simply given up.

I hope I can get back on my bike within two or three months and, eventually, recover the level of fitness I had before the heart attack. I’m told that I should be able to do so but that nothing is for certain. I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that one. My fitness due to the cycling was, I am told, one of the main reasons I survived (the other being that I called the ambulance quickly). I’m taking walks around the block, and my block includes steep hills, without too much difficulty even if the beta blockers are stopping me from doing much more than stroll. It’s a start and, I hope, a good one. Time will tell. I know I’m not out of the woods yet but I hope to be before too long has passed.

Posted 16 December 2006, 00:56
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