5th November 1998 .. cont

. Suddenly my heart is bouncing around like a ball in a large coffee can. I can’t speak much so I grab the Doctor’s sleeve and tell him that something is going on ! He obviously knows as he is watching the monitor.     The Doctor asks if I agree to a medical trial drug ? I’m barely conscious and don’t care what they do, just stop the pain ! Please sign here .. I think I signed the nurse’s sleeve the first time then I scribbled on the clipboard. I am also shot full of morphine.

I see myself in a park walking between the large trees, I get to a small gate. Beyond the gate is very thick vegetation, trees and bushes. I know that if I go through this gate I will never come back ... No, I don’t think so. I turn around and walk back through the trees away from the gate !!!!

I open my eyes and I’m in an operating theatre. There is a Doctor doing something. I feel drunk on the drugs, “What ya doin Doc ?” I ask. He tells me to be quiet for a minute as he is almost finished.

He rewinds the tape in the monitor and I see a wire thing being pushed around my heart, I can see veins and my heart, the wire thing stops at the end of a vein and suddenly the blood gushes forward like a river towards my heart muscle. I am wheeled out but I hear the Doctor tell the nurse that my blood is now so thin that they are having trouble stopping the bleeding from the artery that they fed the wire thing through. I am parked in the corridor with two nurses applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

In and out of consciousness. I think it was about 2 hours before the bleeding stops enough to transport me the intensive care. I am a bit awake by now and anxious to see my family. As I pass the kiosk I see my son and his girl friend buying coffee. I yell out and give them a wave, except I can’t really talk or move my arms. Really weird feeling.

Finally I am reunited with the family, I can’t talk much except for a whisper.

A couple of days go by and I am getting stronger. I must be feeling better as I am starting to get bored. “Good news” I’m being moved to a ward with T.V. and company of other patients. On the trolley. I see the TV and people. Then I wake up back in intensive care .. What happened ? Oh ! I had another heart attack and they had to Zap me with the paddles. Had some really distinct oval burns, but I’m still alive Wow !

Apparently, Just as I was being wheeled into the ward, my family was on the phone to ask how I was ? Then suddenly, when I had the second attack, the nurses had to drop everything, then my caller heard “Oh, s... his family is on the phone” Panic at Kellyville as everyone gathered to race to the hospital again.

Slow recovery again. Then about a week later I’m O.K. to go home. The Doctor comes in to see me before I go. He said something to me that still rings in my ears 15 years later .. Its O.K. to keep smoking, but the next one will probably kill you. Guess what I have never smoked another cigarette to this day ...

Long ride in the car and a bit shaky. I am no sooner home than the phone rings. It is the guy that helped me in Castlereagh St. I chat to him for a few minutes, and thank him for his efforts.

My family then show me a note that they recovered from the car.

“Please don’t book this car the driver has been taken to hospital” .. Signed Helen McDermott, security David Jones. And her phone number  Apparently Helen got my car moved into the loading dock at David Jones and contacted my family to collect it.

I immediately rang the number. “May I speak to Helen McDermott” I ask ....{pause} “who are you? ...I had a heart attack a couple of weeks ago, and Helen assisted me.  ... “Mmm I suppose its O.K. to tell you . Helen died of a heart attack last weekend, she was 48 years old !”