I've read Andrews blog as he has listed what happened to his partner Ray. It seems he had a weak area in his aorta, which burst.
The thing is, here in UK men are offered a scan at 65 years to check for this and Dh and I remembered his well, because we nearly missed it.
It was a couple of months after I broke my arm and Dh had been given an appointment for an aorta scan. We'd never heard of it, but all men are offered it at 65 years. It was booked for 4:30pm, in a clinic in Wickford. I was still having an afternoon nap after lunch. as I was still having bad nights with my arm. Suddenly I woke and could hear Dh in the kitchen making an afternoon cuppa. I looked at the clock, it was 4:05! I had slept and he had forgotten! We drove the 5 miles as fast as the speed limit allowed and arrived just after 4:30.. there wasn't a problem, as there was a wait, because the room had several pregnant women there, Dh was the only man!
His scan was fine, and to be honest, we've never really thought about it till now. So thinking about that, we realised we do have a lot of preventive checks here in UK.
At 60, we had a sort of MOT, which is when Dh's blood test showed he needed treatment for high cholesterol and high BP.. Me?? being over weight I was fine!
There are regular checks for:- Bowel cancer, Breast scans, (ouch!) Prostate checks, and a variety of jabs given to older people to prevent them getting the diseases. We've had jabs for pneumonia, shingles, flu, plus all the covid jabs, I have one booked for next week, which will be my eighth. So perhaps our NHS isn't so bad after all.
Life can be gone in a flash.. so get your checks and take your tablets, most mornings I ask Dh if he has taken his tablets just incase he's forgotten, he rarely has, but I asked all the same!
Chrisxx
In my time in the NHS I was involving setting up some of the technology used by the AAA (aortic scanning, don't recall now the full name) project, so that it could take place out in community sites rather than having to be done in hospital.
ReplyDeleteWe all moan, but my sister lives in the US and the price for everything health related is horrendous. We really are very lucky.
ReplyDeleteWe really are very lucky with the NHS, even if they are struggling at the moment the preventative check ups all seem to be in place. My hubby had his aorta scan last year, he was a bit miffed when they were telling him about it after his arrival at the clinic and said it was offered to all men at 65. The pregnant ladies in the waiting room grinned at him when he piped up 'But I'm only 64!'
ReplyDeleteYes, we are very fortunate that the NHS do offer a lot of checks.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Dearest Chris,
ReplyDeleteSuch preventive checks are great!
Post accident they did not even notice the tear in my aorta and they even did a stress test at the local hospital. They could have killed me!
Then more than 2 months after the accident they finally detected the tear in my aorta and I was airlifted to the nearest Vascular institute, some two hours driving away.
After two surgeries and stent–graft placed in the thoracic spine area I'm alive but in so much pain.
But we ought to remember the good days!
Hugs,
Mariette