My day

Many thanks to my good friend M who not only is looking after Bruce but also agreed to collect me at crack of sparrow for the hour's drive into Dundee for my appointment. She had to remove frost from her car before meeting me and then as we drove in we were treated to a magical sunrise. The shot you see is taken from a moving car so the focus is really not bad.

Once in the day ward I had to don a very fetching hospital gown which had "hospital use only" stamped all over it in a variety of colours - as if you would ever want to take it home with you! Then charming nurses took details, supplied me with endless cups of tea and water and deposited nifty contraptions into my arm ready for the procedure. I was taken down in a chair - which was just as well as these gowns leave a lot to be desired in the way they fasten and cover (or not) your personal details! The theatre staff were kindness personified and while a couple worked on the artery in my wrist another sent me a delightful sedative of diazepam through one of the intravenous modules shown on the bottom right shot. I relaxed, closed my eyes and lost all my anxiety. About thirty to forty minutes later it was all over and the consultant beamingly assured me that my arteries were in good shape with only a little wear and tear on the left side, but nothing to worry about. Phew! For the next five hours I had a plastic cuff tightly secured over the tiny hole in the artery where, very cleverly, air is trapped under pressure to encourage a scab to form. Over the hours the air is gradually released by means of the green pump and you are only allowed home once the staff are confident that the risk of the artery opening and pumping blood everywhere is gone. So I was able to relax, drink tea and read my book without worrying that I really should be busy doing something more active!

For those of you who have not had an angiogram I have written this to hopefully lessen any anxiety you may have in case you ever need one. The systems in place now make it such straightforward procedure and if i had known all this beforehand then I would have been so much more relaxed about it all.