Dear
Richard, many thanks for your concern about my faint on Friday morning
at Barham Crematorium where I had gone for the funeral of a member of
Globe & Laurel Lodge - a former GD marine, not a Bandy.
It was a very hot day and I was first in a pew, so up by the wall, and
it seemed increasingly airless. During Eternal Father`s fourth verse
I felt it was time for me to sit down, did so, and I`m told the next
thing was I slipped sideways during Last Post, causing an alert in my
neighbours, who gave me a quick kiss of life and restored me to a more
normal colour. An ambulance was summoned, my wife alerted and I was
shipped off to Kent & Canterbury Hospital Accident Centre. There
I had all the usual ECG, BP & blood tests run and it was confirmed
what I`d already suspected - a vasovagal syncope (faint); which are
not unknown to me over the past 16 years since I started having cardiac
& BP problems. Caused by standing and blood rushing down from the
brain, thereby causing unconsciousness. Fortunately, my cardiac specialist
at K&CH was present and he confirmed the diagnosis. He wants to
see me in eight weeks. I was discharged about 4 hours after admission.
So reports of my demise are unfounded for now, I`m glad to say. I certainly
don`t feel ready to take final discharge yet...! Thank you for your
concern and I`ll copy this to Ken Tyler also since you alerted him,
and perhaps you could copy it on the web-site to calm any worries from
shipmates, sincerely yours Terry.
