under another sun

In contrast to the blue beauty of the day, I was under a cloud of apprehension. I set off for Lewes by train and went to the hospital there for my pre-op. I was early and as the person before me had not turned up I was seen almost straight away, with my bottle of wee in my bag. Text from Jane while I was waiting. However much I try, I don't fail to get agitated when having my blood pressure taken. This inevitably results in a high reading. As I was feeling very tense anyway this resulted in a very high reading. I then had to have a relaxing ECG, having clumps of body hair shaved off me. Luckily my heart was still beating in the approved manner. A no-nonsense nurse, made things even less good. Second nurse decided to do a blood test, but then had to get blood from my hand, dripping some on the floor afterwards. However I was released back into the wild with a date for the operation in a month. Apparently I am not allowed to sign any legal papers for two days afterwards. Rapidly ...

A different beat Off to work as normal this morning, thinking happily how this is the penultimate day's travel for some time. Just before I arrived at the agency I experienced some rather spectacular palpitations. I called Lorraine who was very reassuring. I then decided to walk into the agency and sit quietly in reception to gather myself. In so doing I bumped into Betsy who was concerned for me and very supportive. After a while the receptionist decided err on the side of caution, and call an ambulance as I was looking a bit wussy. Soon I trotted outside and was seen by two delightful ambulance paramedics called Pat and Nat from the Charing Cross hospital. By then the palpitations were over, and they ran an ECG, which was absolutely fine. After some other checks, they released me back into the wild, recommending I take it easy for a couple of days. Had quite a few laughs with them, and I requested a Brazilian when they were shaving my chest hair. One said she was famous for talk...