I was in hospital for seven days. During that time I had an echocardiogram, this was done on a portable machine so I was not even moved from my bed. She came to the side of the bed and actually did that there and then. The results of that showed that my heart had been damaged by the heart attack and also gave them an idea of how my heart was working now that the stents had been fitted and blood flow etc.

The nurses also came to me to explain what I would need to do. When I left the hospital obviously I needed to change my life quite considerably. The diet I was on was much too much carbohydrate [laughs]. I have since altered that to a much more fruit, salad and fish type of menu. I also, follow my stroke with not working so the stress levels have been reduced. Perhaps I was putting some of the stress on myself following my stroke that I should be working. I think I accepted after my heart attack that that was the end of my working life, I would not work again and that’s a hard thing to have to accept but it’s a realistic one and I think this is where you have to fill yourself up with things you want to do and things that you enjoy doing.

Did they explain that your heart has been damaged, who explained it to you, how did they explain it to you?

It was explained in a sympathetic way, it wasn’t, and Well sorry you’ve got a damaged heart, that’s it." She explained exactly what the damage had done, what parts of my heart had been affected, how it would affect me in the future which luckily the damage was not great. It was 35% of one side so I was able to not step back and say, "Oh I won’t be able to do anything." I was able to come out of hospital and think, ‘Well I can get on with my life, yeah.

Did they give you any advice or?

Oh loads of advice and diet plans like your 5-day and stuff like that. Yeah and the specialist cardiac nurse up there [Nurse’s name], offered to, said she was learning hypnosis and offered to give me hypnosis for the smoking. And I refused and then after a few weeks she offered it again and I accepted. And it was from that point on that I stopped smoking.

How many sessions did you have?

It was two or three but at the same time I was doing the smoking clinic at the doctors.

At your GP’s?

Yeah at the GP and they were giving me, [oh what’s that drug?] antismoking pill?

Yeah and they were doing relaxation techniques,

Where?

At [Hospital name].

At the hospital

After we’d had our exercise sessions we went in to another room and like we had the pharmacist come in and tell us all about drugs. We had relaxation tapes and general talks on your well being which I thought was good.

It was a very complete programme?

Excellent

They give you a programme of exercises to do. They’ve got, I think it was four or five stages. The sheets are all up on the wall. You start this way depends on how you look to them as to what stage you start on. They started me on the second level and you do, you go through oh 8 to 10 exercises. When they think that you are ready you move on to the next level until you reach the top level. And it was very good, very good. I loved it, yeah.

And how often, how many days a week?

Twice a week, yeah

For how long?

I think it was about 8 weeks. It was 16 or 17 sessions I went to.

And after, the exercise it was followed by relaxation?

Yeah there was something different at each class. You had a programme. You didn’t have to go if you didn’t want to but I think I went to most of them.

And this takes place in the local hospital?

Yeah.

Alan’s wife’ Well we started with little walks. They suggested that didn’t they that you go out for a little walk every day and build it up. And we walk anyway obviously with the dog so we started little walks and then sort of extended them as the time went on and then when we were walking sort of quite comfortably he decided to go out on his bike. didn’t know if it was a good idea or not but he came back and said he was fine. So [ha] he has continued but he does it every other day.

So that is flat?

Alan’ Yeah I just go along the canal at the back here yeah.

How long ago you started going on your bike?

Alan’ I’ve been doing it just over, I think this is the second week, yeah every other day.

Every other day and for how long?

Alan’ I, it’s about. I’ve been going a mile along the canal and back so it’s two miles. I’ve just started, I go I don’t know probably half a mile further now or perhaps a mile further now but I mean it’s all flat there are no hills at all. it’s just straight pedalling like, you know, nice and easy.

And how do you feel after that?

Alan’ Ok, yeah out of breath but ok yeah and enjoying it. Well I do it early in the morning anyway when it, especially now they’ve put the clocks forward I can be out at 6 in the morning and.

But do you feel out of breath when you are pedalling or?

Alan’ No I must admit no. This morning I put a little bit more. I went that way this morning. I went up the hill there was a bit, well not hills but, you know, and I felt it up there a little bit more than I would do normally but I just had a rest when I got to the top before I went off again and pedalled downhill.

Ok.

Alan’ But really out of breath, no not really. I mean more than I used to be probably but

But the doctor hasn’t given you any sort of advice’ take it easy to start with walking and things like that?

Alan’s wife’ They [doctors] did say to do a little walk when he was in the hospital. They said it was a good idea to have a little walk every day and nothing too strenuous and build it up which is what we did isn’t it.

Alan’ Yeah

Alan’s wife’ Really from the beginning just a little walk up to my mum’s. She lives just up the road, to start with and then sort of increased it and went out with Alf [dog] didn’t we when it was nice.

And for how long do you walk now?

Alan’ [phew] Probably half an hour or so with the dog, just along the canal again that’s all, to the garden centre. There is a garden centre over the back there. We go around there and back around again. it’s a nice casual walk. You know it’s not strenuous.

Alan’s wife’ We started with 10 minutes or so didn’t we?

Alan’ Yeah

Alan’s wife’ And then built it up after that but when it has been nice in an afternoon we have perhaps gone a bit further haven’t we? We have a little sit on the seat half way and then come back.

Can you tell me what happens when you go there? How they assess you? What information they give you?

Right. I went. Well my wife drove me to [Town] and to the [Hospital name] and we had an appointment to see a cardiac nurse who went through the whole thing about what was appropriate. Then she took notes about my medication, everything like that and arranged for me then to go for the start of the programme. I think the following week I think I saw her, about a fortnight afterwards. And I went Week 3 after the heart attack and I went over again they, every time you go in they check your blood pressure and your pulse. And then the first time you go you are introduced to a physiotherapist, specialist physiotherapist who leads you through the sort of exercises and obviously starts you off at a fairly low level.

So you went and you saw the physiotherapist?

Yes and so the physiotherapist then took me around and showed me the machines and then put me on obviously a very low taxing exercise regime. And then after each sort of mini session on a particular machine she would come along and check blood pressure, sorry and pulse particularly interested in pulse. So she came along and checked each time how that was and gradually upped it until she felt comfortable it was something I could do which was, as I’d said earlier and, that was just on the edge of your comfort zone but not over taxing you.

And how often were you going to these sessions?

I went twice a week which was the most you could do but you do have the option of just going once a week if you wanted to.

So have you completed your 10 weeks or?

I complete it tomorrow.

Ok.

Yeah

And then do you have any plans to continue?

They have what they call the graduate programme. So when you finish that you graduate and they will offer you either a place there. Excuse me. They come, you go at different times to the normal programme but they do have supervision a cardiac nurse and physio there or they will offer you a reduced rate at a local gymnasium. I am hoping and I will talk to them tomorrow about it but it will be there. I prefer, it feels quite comfortable to be there and have those facilities on hand.

They start you off. First of all you do something like 5 minutes on perhaps an exercise bicycle but it’s set at quite a low resistance so that it’s just to get you warmed up. Then you probably do 5 minutes on a reclining bicycle at low resistance. And then you do a series of warm up exercises. After that then you go back to whatever machines they’ve chosen for you to do but at a much higher resistance and I’m now up to 10 minutes on each machine. And usually I get through 4 or 5 machines during the time I’m there and at the end of it then you also do a sort of 5 minute walking around just calming down and then another lot of their, we’ll say, wind down exercises but they are the same exercises you do like stretching and so on. So do that at the end. So overall it’s probably an hour and a half to an hour and a quarter that you are there although youre not obviously exercising the whole of that time. But it is probably 40/50/60 minutes of that hour and a quarter is actually exercise.

The heart book has been marvellous, I haven’t mentioned that. That, that was introduced to me in the hospital and I kept that faithfully. I’m fairly organised person and I can keep a diary, I do anyway and to read that every day was very, very helpful and fascinating. Lots of it didn’t apply to me, like being overweight or being a smoker or drinker but lots of it I could identify with and say yeah that’s me.

It’s a fascinating book. It takes you through six weeks at home, the first six weeks at home after a heart attack and it will help you build up your exercises bit by bit, which wasn’t all that relevant to me but I still did the exercises that they recommended and walked a bit further each day and that sort of thing.

And then it encourages you to start with at least to keep a food diary of what you’ve eaten and then gives pages of approved food and others that are not, not so good for you. So that was good.

And then the heart manual talks about adjusting your lifestyle really and that’s been really good. To be able to, to space out your work really and I, I always wanted to get everything done at once, this was me you know, fit as much in a day as I can until it’s time to go to bed or until you drop you know [laughs] and you can’t do any more and after a heart attack you realise the futility of that really.

But after, I think it was 6 weeks, 6 or 8 weeks, after my heart attack I was allowed to go to the rehabilitation at the hospital. So I went through an eight week programme and that builds your confidence up. You do an 8 week, 2 days a week for an hour of exercise and it does help you think, ‘oh yes, you know I can do this and I can do that. And they build you up, your confidence and your strength, which is brilliant.

And what type of exercise is it that you do?

You do a warm-up, like a bit aerobics but very slowly. And then you go on to a circuit, weightlifting, press-ups against the wall and little sit-ups, just sitting up, you know lying on the floor sit-ups. Or on the bike, you know things like that. Marching on the spot so it builds you up to be able to do things at home. You think, well yes, I can do that, I can do that.

So it gives you that confidence back, which, it’s brilliant, you know the rehabilitation programme. And then you have a talk about, after you’ve finished that. The one day we had relaxation and then the next, the next time you go in that week, you have a pharmacist come and talk to you or a dietician. And they tell you about the diet you should be having, about the fat and what’s good for you and what’s not good for you. So you get all that information.

Exercise I immediately applied to go on the cardiac rehab programme that they run at our local, local health centre, leisure centre not health centre. The, the leisure centre was great. I did ten weeks of an hour a week where they would check things with me, check my blood pressure, check my heart rate and also ask me whether I, anything had happened during the week, that there were strange, they also checked on what drugs I was still taking, whether I was taking the same ones that were recommended from the doctor in the hospital as against my own doctor who I’d since seen anyway and obviously tied up with him appointments to see him when he needed to see me.

So long after your heart attack and your treatment you started the cardiac rehab?

I started that on the
How many weeks roughly?

Roughly it was, sorry [rustling of papers], roughly it was six weeks.

Six weeks after?

Yeah. 30th of March I started the rehab and that went through till the 1st June and it was, it was good to see other people talk to other people as well. That was one of the advantages of those classes; its fact that you’re talking to people that suffered something like you’ve suffered. Some of them more major you know, where they’ve by-pass surgery etc but the majority of them with stents and the type of thing that I’d been put through and that was part of the therapy is talking to other people, it helps.

So you do an hour a week of kind of

Exercise. Yeah mild exercise to start with which they increase each week trying to get your heart rate up and making your heart work that little bit more so that it helps to repair itself.

And after do you do anything else in term of exercise apart from that hour?

I was walking and also I was playing golf. I go out and I think I amazed the doctor when he said, I said I’m playing eighteen holes because of course he thought I’d only be playing nine with my problems but I was going out and I could play eighteen with not too much problem. A little bit puffy at times especially up the hills but, you know, the rest of it was very, very enjoyable.

OK

You know just thankful that I could still play.

And do you go for a walk how often during the week?

I would try to do walks of at least three days a week and vary it probably between half an hour to an hour you know, I would walk out; there’s some nice little bits to visit that I can walk out to. Shopping just down the town and this type of thing.

Now I was very worried at this stage. I didn’t want to show to my wife or my children, what was going to happen from here on. Was I going to be an invalid or a semi-invalid? Was I going to be a nervous wreck afraid to go here, go there, do anything?

And about the third or fourth day this nurse came along to me, who was in charge of cardiac rehab. And she explained to me what to do and she said ‘does your wife, I said can my wife come ‘Certainly’ she said and she made an appointment for the Friday morning to come in and meet the wife and I together.

There was also a girl from the British Heart Foundation with her that morning and we discussed the whole thing. I said ‘yes I certainly would do it, because I didn’t know what I could do or what I couldn’t do and afraid to do anything. And it being the beginning of December, the rehab course wouldn’t start until January. Of course I wasn’t allowed to drive or anything. My own doctor wouldn’t allow me anyway, even when the month was up he made me do an extra couple of weeks.

So I just sat at home here very carefully, very dodgy. Not doing anything really and then the rehab started after Christmas. From the first day I went to that, it was twice a week for four weeks, I was a different person at the end of it. They showed me what I could do. I was being monitored, I was doing exercises that I wouldn’t have attempted to do and it did give me great confidence. That really prepared me for the complete rehabilitation period.

The cardiac rehabilitation programme, what were the benefits of that?
It was not just the exercise; it was not just actually doing the physical part. I found the support of the staff, they were great, they were always there for you and they cared for you and checked you and made sure you felt good. They sent me home once when I didn’t feel good and refused to let me do it.

But they were always so positive saying, ‘Yes, you’re going to feel better. Every time you come it’s your benefit. And then you go there and you meet other people who have been in exactly the same situation as you, some worse, some not so bad, and you talk to them and they laugh and smile and so you end up smiling. And as time goes on it does recede, it recedes from the front of your mind.

When you first have this and you’ve just come out of hospital, you can’t think much beyond what’s happened to you, which is probably a very selfish attitude but nevertheless this is at the forefront of your mind.

But seeing other people doing other things and being told that everythings fine then it gradually recedes to the back of your mind and then of course you only think about it periodically when things come up to remind you of it.

What’s been the benefits of the support group?

Actually understanding that you’re not alone, that the feelings that you’re having, the aches that you get, the slight flutters of this and the effects of that drug, you’re not the only person in the world that’s got them.

The mere fact that you can go and speak with, in our case, a hundred odd people, and you’re ‘Oh yes, I’ve done that’ ‘Oh yes, that’s exactly what happened to me or ‘Have you had this or does this happen?’

The mere fact that it’s a shared experience helps, it really does help and we are quite well supported by very, very caring professionals as well.

Several benefits. One, they’re all like-minded people that they’ve all had heart problems or heart attacks or bypasses and all the rest of it. But I found the most beneficial thing was the speakers they get there to talk, and the last time I went was in October and they got this fantastic doctor and he explained everything in a way that I could really understand and I really did enjoy that.

I’d love to have got hold of him after the meeting, ask him some more questions but I couldn’t. But that’s the benefits of it. Plus the fact they organise walks and trips out and things like this, which I’m very keen on being active and all the rest of it. So I find it as a support group, they’re pretty good.

We now as a support group, we do lots of exercise classes. We actually run them, were doing something like ten a week now as a support group. Were getting twenty to twenty five people in each of these classes. Now we encourage partners and carer’s if you like, to come along, so out of twenty to twenty five people in the class, more than half are actual heart patients. It’s good, good fun;

We do all kinds of other things; social activities, we have a dinner dance which we had last week, our annual dinner dance. Wonderful, a hundred people all enjoying themselves and I actually had a comment from one lady, ‘How many of these people are actually heart patients?’ ‘Well at least half. ‘Wow, you wouldn’t believe it. Look at them dancing rock & roll, wonderful disco, this is the way we go on. Life continues, it gets better.