Matters of the Heart: Visiting my Dad in hospital
My Dad is a fit guy. At 70 he still cycles competitively (both road racing and mountain biking, which I think is so cool) and is a keen fell-walker. Although he nominally retired a few years ago he still actually works a couple of days a week at his old firm, keeping his mind sharp too. He is probably in better physical and mental health than most 50 year olds. So when he started to notice that he was losing pace on his bike, dropping behind the guys that he could normally keep up with and getting short of breath, his reaction was to push harder. In time the shortness of breath started to become chest pains and, after trying to convince himself that it was indigestion, finally went to see his GP. A phalanx of tests followed before he learned that his arteries were becoming clogged and that he would need a triple heart bypass. Only at this point did he reveal to me that he had been having sporadic chest pains over many years but thought that he could stay on top of it by keeping fit
