Leonard
Leonard has had two heart attacks and stopped smoking after the first one. Since his second he has developed coeliac disease, diabetes and arthritis. He links his health problems with having rheumatic fever as a child.
Leonard was pleased that his first heart attack could be sorted out with stents and medicines, rather than major heart surgery. But since my second heart attack things have started going downhill quite rapidly. He has been described as diabetic or borderline diabetic by two different doctors. Leonard prefers the latter diagnosis as the tablets given for diabetes make him feel absolutely terrible. Things are better since the dose was halved.
Leonard finds his coeliac disease time consuming and difficult to manage. He has arthritis across his shoulders and can’t walk very far. Having a mobility scooter makes getting around easier, but he realises that this stops me exercising. He says:
It’s not very nice being partially disabled. I’d rather be like everybody else I suppose but sometimes it’s got its compensations. I do an awful lot of reading, when I go on holiday.
For Leonard, deterioration is seen as a natural consequence of ageing. He got angina whilst exercising as part of recovery after a second heart attack and it was found that one of the stents had packed up.
Leonard is very satisfied with the care he has received from health services: they’re angels in disguise. He currently takes 14 tablets a day and wonders if this is why he has coeliac disease, which affects him more than anything else. Although he attends for exercise therapy twice weekly at a sports centre, he can’t seem to lose weight.