Wednesday 4 October 2017
I often admire medical professionals. What they do every day is so much more worthy than what I do for a living.
They also hold an awesome power in their hands and I'm not sure I would want the responsibility that comes with it.
I just overheard a conversation between the weak, bed-ridden man lying in next to me and his consultant.
"Is this what you want?" the doctor asked.
"What do you mean?" was the frail, husky response.
"For us to keep resuscitating you. Some people don't want that and would prefer to be left alone. Do you want me to keep helping you to breathe or to let you be?"
"I'm not ready to die," came the emotional retort.
"So you have more living to do?
"Yes, there are places I still want to see."
"Then that's absolutely fine. I just wanted to check because doctors don't normally ask and it's not always what the patient wants."
"Then that's absolutely fine. I just wanted to check because doctors don't normally ask and it's not always what the patient wants."
"Do you still think I have living to do?"
"Yes. Of course you do... "
"Yes. Of course you do... "
But that was at best optimistic and at worst a white lie. Still I admired the doctor enormously for having the balls to ask the ultimate question.
My time for that question is still far away. The coronary angiography procedure I am to have shortly, whereby a catheter will be inserted into my heart via my arm or leg to determine if I have coronary heart disease, seems trivial by comparison. If I have the disease it can be mitigated. If I don't have it, my Parkinson's medication is likely to be at fault and I can change that.
I still have a lot of living left to do, and that's no white lie.
Addendum - later that afternoon
So the coronary angiography was about the weirdest experience I have ever had. Not at all painful beyond the initial pin prick, but a strange feeling to have a tube pushed up my arm and into my heart, followed by all sorts of chemicals being sprayed into my body. I watched on the screen as the blood flowed through my arteries and my heart pumped. I had a good chat with the doctor as he went through the procedure - it turned out we both went to the same university and had a few other things in common.
The good news is that my arteries are squeaky clean and I don't have heart disease.
The bad news is they don't know what is wrong and my ECG is incompatible with what they saw in the angiogram. I will be discharged in the morning but still need to have a cardiac MRI scan at a later date.
From the research I have done, I'm pretty sure this is all down to a rare side effect of my Parkinson’s meds which will settle down when I switch to something else. I started reducing my dose and already feel better for it. Now I just need to convince the various doctors and professors I have encountered recently about my theory.
Not surprisingly, despite their many great qualities, medical professionals are far from perfect at getting a diagnosis right first time.
