I suppose I found a formal diagnosis, I hadn’t been terribly familiar with atrial fibrillation before, with what it was. I’d heard used words, you know, term, you know, like irregularities, which are much less threatening sounding. So to have a formal diagnosis of AF was quite sobering. And I wasn’t sure either whether, you know, again, I wasn’t quite sure just well, how serious is that, what does that mean in the greater scheme of things? Does that mean you can continue leading a normal life or does that mean something, you know, could be health threatening, you know, in the longer term? So that was very sobering, as I say. I found the consultant extremely positive about it. I thought he was very, very good and very confident about trying, you know, whatever could be tried. And that really was the first sort of, I mean I’d read about atrial fibrillation and I sort of I spoke to people about it and it just, you know, was came to terms with that fairly quickly.

Sent me for an ECG and then they noticed that it was arrhythmic. And I wasn’t told at the time but I was sent home, but I got a phone call from the GP, my GP on my mobile number saying to come into the surgery. So I went into the surgery and they told me about this arrhythmic thing that I had and they called it AF, atrial fibrillation. I’d never heard of it in my life before and I think that’s the story of most people. When they are told they have AF, they have no idea what it is, and I had no idea. And they said and, We have to put you on aspirin straight away. And I thought, Oh, why’s that? And they said, Oh purely as a precaution. And I thought, oh precaution, heart, irregular rhythm, phone calls on my mobile, put on aspirin, immediately start to worry, panic – and I did [laughs] all of those things. And I sat, I went home and the doctor arranged to get me up to the hospital to the cardiology unit at the hospital here in the city. And but until that happened, I was frightened to move out of the house. I just sat in the garden with a cup of tea and watched things going on round about me and the birds in the garden feeding and things, and I just didn’t want to do anything. Didn’t want to move in case I collapsed.

I was annoyed, because I’ve I’m an incredibly fortunate person. I’ve had enormous rude good health all my life and I have this enormous amount of energy, you know. I don’t get coughs and colds. I’ve had flu three times in my life. I’ve worked for forty years and the only time I’ve ever had time off was I’d got German measles and they wouldn’t let me in work. You know, I had a knee replacement surgery and I stayed off work for like four days or something. So, you know, I I’m incredibly fortunate, so the idea I had something wrong with me I’m afraid I took it rather badly. I was, so I was annoyed really. I wasn’t relieved or anything. I was annoyed. I think that was my reaction. I wasn’t even relieved to find out why I’d been clammy and why I’d been walking round sort of clammy and stuff like that. Anyway, so that was my response. I thought the old body had rather let me down, and I suppose if you’ve had such good fortune with your health, I think it’s a surprise to find that maybe your good fortune has given out a bit.

Round about that time, two very famous people had it. Elton John and Blair, Tony Blair and from what I picked up from listening to what they were going, Blair never stopped. I don’t even think he stopped even to get to get the test done [laughs]. And it was so that was that was it seeing whether they had, I’d picked up both of them up over the over the years and that. They didn’t stop so I said, I’m not going to stop either.

I mean both Elton John still tours. Tony Blair still travels the world lecturing. He’s done the same as everybody else and he’s got a bit older and put a wee bit of, put a pound or two on in places I mean you see photographs of him but, you know, that’s the sort of thing, that’s the sort of thing that you shouldn’t do is allow the weight to go on.

No, I suppose again, a bit like the ostrich, I just stick my head in the sand and if you don’t look at it will go away but no, I didn’t tell anyone. I told my family, immediate family because there were drugs involved with keeping the heart on a regular plane as it were but I didn’t tell anybody else, no, no.

Was there a reason you didn’t or?

No, that’s quite a, that that’s a good question really. I don’t like to admit weakness anyway and I would see that as a form of weakness I suppose. Yes, I suppose that’s the truth of it really. I didn’t want to admit, I wouldn’t like to admit to other people that theres a weakness there [laughs].

I think it’s a bit scary for family if they think, Oh my god, is she going to have a stroke? Is she going to have a heart attack? But I’ve never taken that attitude myself. So I don’t think anybody in the family is thinking that. Having said that, that’s not quite true because two of my sons I think have been quite concerned and one is very concerned that I don’t take warfarin. That would be his view, that or the other one and I think the other one oh, well perhaps just anxious for, you know, for how I’m going to be.