into the great unknown

We’re back at the Oxford Heart Centre today. 

This could have been Anniemay.   She was wearing scrubs when she disappeared through the doors.  (But not pushing a cleaning trolley.)

She looked very fetching in blue.  With her blonde hair and a name badge hanging round her neck she could have stepped right out of an episode of Holby City.  Or Scrubs.

She has volunteered to spend a couple of hours inside an MRI scanner while her heart rate is artificially raised, so that researchers can see how the heart muscle of a healthy person behaves - what it actually does - when their heart rate is high.  

The experiment will then be repeated with people who have some sort of heart disease.  The outcomes will be used to target treatment of specific heart conditions more accurately.

She didn’t really know what to expect when she first signed up for this.  She thought it might involve pounding away on a treadmill, while her heart rate was monitored; “like they do on the TV.”   She rather liked this idea.  It was only when the paperwork arrived that it became apparent she’d be stuck inside a giant doughnut with a cannula in her arm.  

When the doctor asked why she agreed to do this, she explained that she’d seen a request for volunteers on a hospital notice board when she was here with me a couple of weeks ago.  “You’ve done a lot for my husband - I wanted to give something back.”

I’ve very proud of her.

When it's all over, we head into Oxford for supper.  While I have steak and frites, she has a fish finger sandwich and a Prosecco cocktail.  I'm even more proud of her.