Well I, you know, I do what I can around the house. I do the washing up, tidying up, make the beds, take the dog for a walk.

OK

You know do what I, what I can do.

Do you get tired easily or

Not really no. I did, I met my daughter and my grandson at a local park and I was probably there for about three hours that made me feel a bit tired when I got back but that was all walking round and
And that, you know, I was a bit tired after doing that butust doing chores round the house now, doesn’t bother me a lot.

I feel like I want to do more but can’t. It’s, you know, it’s a bit frustrating.

So the nurse told you to, to do things but within measurenot to overdo it?

Yeah

OK and you find it difficult to pace yourself?

Yeah I feel like I want to do more but you know I can’t.

How was your lifestyle before you had your heart attack?

Well I thought it was alright you know I kept fairly fit. I’m not like, you know, I’m not overweight. I do a manual job and I’m, you know, on my feet all day and I thought I was reasonably fit for my age.

OK so you did quite a lot of physical activities?

Yeah

What about, I don’t know drinking or smoking?

I don’t drink at all but I did smoke a lot.

A lot?

Yeah, yeah thirty, probably thirty a day but I had stopped smoking four weeks before I had the heart attack.

Any particular reason. Are you, were feeling bad? Your chest

No it was when, when they went up in the budget [laughs].

Ah because of price?

Yeah they got too expensive so I just stopped.

And did you have any problems stopping?

No, no not at all.

And you smoked for how long?

Twenty years.

Twenty years around thirty a day?

Yeah

And then you gave up with not much problem?

No, no problem at all, just stopped.

OK [laughs]. How much do you think smoking contributed to

A lot I think. Yeah I think a lot of it was to do with smoking.

Anyone in your family with a heart problem, your father or

Yeah my dad had a heart attack at fifty two but he was a heavy smoker as well.

Well I’d had no symptoms in the past until, you know, the 15th till the day it happened. I’ve never had any pain or anything.

And what happened on the 15th?

I’d taken my partner to workand which is only like five minutes away and it was when I drove back and it was you know when I entered the flat. I just started, you know, I got like a fluttering feeling in my chest, no pain but it made me feel a bit drained, you know, like blood had drained from my head and I started to sweat a bit but other than that no real pain just a fluttering and it didn’t get any better and I was starting to get light headed so I phoned for a 999.

You called 999 yourself?

Yeah

OK. So you were alone?

Yeah I was on my own yeah.

OK and how long it took for an ambulance to arrive and what happened when the paramedics arrived.

It took about ten minutes for the ambulance to arrive although it seemed longer. But by this time I had made my way out of the flat and I was waiting out on the road for the ambulance and you know I was getting a lot dizzier.

Where you standing up, sitting on the pavement?

No I was standing up but I was starting to get a lot more light headed. Then the ambulance arrived and they got me in the ambulance and shaved my chest and cut my t-shirt off and put their
Electrodes?

heir electrodes on and by this time I’d phoned my partner. She was on her way back from work and they let her in the ambulance and I don’t really remember much after that.

Yeah I had three cardiac arrests in the ambulance. And then I had another one when I was in theatre but I don’t remember any of them. I must have had one as soon as my partner got into the ambulance, I think I had one then. I can remember speaking to her and I had one then and then I don’t remember anything then. Although when I first got in the ambulance the paramedics sprayed under my tongue and made me chew half an aspirin but I don’t remember anything after that.

I should have been seeing him [consultant] in October but it’s been brought forward to tomorrow because I still get quite out of breath.

You’re breathless?

Yeah

OK.

And the cardiac, the rehab nurse, cardiac rehab nurse at [Hospital name] I think she’s had the appointment brought forward, you know, because I don’t think I should still be out of breath like I am.

What makes you feel breathless?

Just talking can. You know if I’ve, you know, I can feel myself getting a bit breathless now.

I feel like I’ve been talking longer than I should without taking a breath, do you know what I mean? I have to [intake of breath] but you know, it does it after a short sentence. I do, I do get a bit breathless but I don’t know whether that is because I’ve stopped smoking because I did get a bit breathless before the heart attack. I was a bit wheezy after I stopped smoking.

Yeah

So I don’t know whether it’s that or whether it’s, you know, effects of the heart attack I don’t know.