It is now just over five weeks since I had my heart bypass operation. I haven't been ignoring you folks because there was nothing to say; rather the opposite, there is (very slow) progress but I just haven't had the time or energy to document it.

Time to put that right.

One immediate problem I have faced was that I could only sleep half-sitting up or on my left side. It is not advisable to spend the entire night in any one position (unless there is no alternative). Sleeping on my left side worked but only for two hours or so. Sleeping on my right side, er, no. Not at all to begin with. Sleeping sitting up, with extra pillows, let me shut my eyes but like that I couldn't cough the gunk out of my lungs. Which meant that it tried repeatedly about every 15 seconds.

Result: very little sleep. I have improved over the weeks but am still only getting 5 hours/night or so, some of which is due to the hot weather. I can now sleep on both sides, though sometimes there is a lot of coughing involved when I change sides. I don't need to sleep sitting up anymore, hooray!

My weight has gone down. I went into St Barts at 81Kg (12st 10lb); I came out at 89Kg - five days later. Water retention, my legs were like tree trunks. Now I'm down to 76Kg (12st), which is about where I'd prefer to be. I have measured myself and compared to before the op there is little difference. How? It has all gone off muscle tone. I still have muscles but there is loose skin around most of them. It could be a pig putting some of that back without getting fat there instead.

The main 'wound' seems to be healing well, but the whole of my upper chest is still sore and sensitive, such that I have to be careful which items of clothing I wear. To keep the sternum together while it healed they wrapped stainless steel wire around it and I can feel the wire sometimes as I bend or twist. I have been told that if it causes too much trouble it can be removed with a minor(ish) op. Earlier patients aren't so lucky, they used to staple the two halves of the sternum together.

I have been back and fore to our local hospital with lung problems. I probably already had some of those before the op, the op has just brought everything to the surface. I had fluid in the pleural cavity, that was partially drained and they took out 1.6 litres. I got bunged full of antibiotics sinces it appeared I might have pneumonia. I'm not certain if that turned out to be true, however.

Oh yeah. The day I had that done it was very cold for a British June. Needles would not find veins to take samples. After the draining they wanted a CT scan with dye to check what might be left. FIVE radiographers tried FIVE times to get a cannula in to inject the dye; the last attempt used ultrasound to find (in theory) a good enough vein. When I went into the machine and the pump was turned on the dye all went into my left lower arm and elbow joint. I screamed and howled and they turned it all off. I spent next hour with an ice pack strapped to my elbow. Two weeks later it still sometimes hurts.

Over the weeks my movement has got easier and I can do a certain amount but I still can't lift very much. My recovery has been slower than most because of the lung problems and the sleep issues. I have been offered a place on a Cardiac Rehabilitation class in September if I'm strong enough by then, it is essentially a gentle form of circuit training and will last eight weeks.

Stories? Well, VotV chapter 90 was half written before I went in. I daren't do anything until I recovered enough to have a clear head and that took a while. I did eventually manage, to my surprise, to find time and clarity enough to complete it but I have barely begun chapter 91. It is all there in my head and does involve "an incident or two". I have another few ongoing threads in other stories which have also had some minor attention.

Because I can't lift anything yet our front and rear gardens have been left to nature. The grass is waist high and seeding which is fine, more grass will help keep the moss out. Our mower has a duff bearing and we were planning to replace it before I got diagnosed with angina. I can clear the gardens with a strimmer, I don't yet know if the one we have will be 'man' enough for the job. I will need help to take all the refuse down to the local tip, though, so that might not happen for a few months.

Oh, we still seem to be Hedgehog Central. The cameras are still up and working and there is at least one hog in each garden every night - the two gardens are separated. So at least someone is enjoying the fruits of summer!

Penny