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We weren't going to the big national hospital 5 minutes down the road from the hotel but to the big heart hospital in Athens called the Onasseio, built with the money of Greek shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis. This was, and probably still is, the foremost cardiac centre in Greece. In the years before, patients with serious heart problems had to go overseas for treatment, if they had the money.
Opened in 1992 it is still bright and clean, well organised, extremely efficient and with presumably some of the best heart doctors in the country. It's not cheap though. I have come here in the past for different tests, just to prove to my doctor that I am really am healthy and now he has decided I need to see a specialist for my arythmia (irregular heart beat).
I paid the 90 euros for my appointment, no queues, no hassle and we were sent down the corridor to waiting room number 3. The appointment was for 6pm but we were there just before 5.
All over the walls were big signs saying ' The Use of Mobile/Cell phones is strictly forbidden'. K and I turned off our phones. In front of our row of seats were 6 other people waiting. Five of them were using their mobile phones. They were making calls, receiving calls, sending messages. Obviously greeks can't read, or they just don't like obeying rules. K and I looked at each other and grinned. It happens time after time. I had already noticed how few people on city roads, still, were not wearing crash helmets and our taxi driver didn't even bother belting up. Safety laws are for the rest of the world!
Exactly at 5pm, an hour early, my name was called. It pays to be early! The nurse gave me a cardiogram. I have never had those clips slapped on so quickly. Hell, she was good. Heaven knows how many hundreds of times she does that a day!
5 minutes later I was in with the specialist and 10 minutes later I was out again. Well worth the 90 euros. The doctor asked a lot of questions in those 10 minutes, listened and explained. Looks like most of my problems are caused by the medecine which I am taking. The next step is to take another test, this time on Poros and see how I am without the pills. I can tell right now, one helluva lot better!
For ages I have been feeling like a zombi and blaming it on the heat. I had an extremely low heart beat and low blood pressure. Keeping cool, abstaining from alcohol, caffeine and salt didnt make a scrap of difference. Now however I feel re-energised. Today I made a dish of moussaka, a pureed pear and yoghurt cake, mopped all the floors and even did some gardening. Next week I do yet another 24 walking cardio test and we will see exactly what's what. I hope the solution is as simple as throwing a packet of pills down the loo!
View from the top floor of the Onasseio hospital looking out towards the sea and Piraeus
Swinging the camera the other way is the endless sprawl of the city of Athens. Can't quite see the Acropolis
Wishing you good health, sometimes things are really simple and we only need to find the right solution.
ReplyDeleteVery simple. Thank goodness I agreed to see the specialist!
DeleteSo pleased to hear that you are feeling better and hope that this is the beginning of an upturn in your health situation. Take care!
ReplyDeleteTouch wood. Nothing else wrong with me. I certainly have more energy and feel well.
DeleteHoping they can get things sorted out and continued good health is around the corner.
ReplyDeleteThe hospital looks like a very modern facility, and obviously has some of the best heart doctors available.
Yes, medications have side-effects, sometimes THEY are the problem :(
Hugs,
~Jo
Exactly. I've been on this medecine for years. It must have worked in the beginning but it aint working now!
DeleteSide effects - ughh! I hope your newly found energy stays with you and you can carry on without the drugs that were dragging you down! -Jenn
ReplyDeleteDragging me down, now that's exactly how I felt! Feeling so much better, now if it were only autumn....
DeleteFirst, as a fellow heart issue person (stents 10 years ago), I wish you well!!!!!
ReplyDeleteFor what, were you prescribed the pills, which specialist says to stop? That's my first question, since I have 2 pharmacists in the family.
You have had low heart beat and low BP. And you have been abstaining from all the above. So you don't drink, when everyone else is drinking, at all those big and little events? It always sounded, as if you were living "the good life," on an Aegean Sea Island. :-))))
And did doc say; "Lose weight"? Seems as if, all the world's problems would be fixed, and world peace would break out, if we allllllll lost some weight! Doesn't it? lol
Best of luck, with this!!!!!!!!
Irregular heart beat was my problem. Not that I ever felt it or it even worried me till I was diagnosed. I've been on meds called rhythmonorn, probably something totally different in the states, since 2004. Obviously to normalise the rhythm of my heart.
DeleteThe doctor did say last year that it could be that these meds were 'burdening' my body (can't think of the right english way to say it, but you get the gist). Looks like he was right.
Well..... I do drink a little red wine. just tried to keep the consumption down and in summer the alcohol just makes me suffer more in the heat. I save the wine for evenings sometimes.
I was amazed he didn't tell me to lose weight. I did ask about diet. He said diet had nothing to do with it!!! Love that doctor. It is of course the first thing most doctors will tell me. I do need to lose weight though, I dont need him to tell me.
My heart doc is good, he says. 'just lose 5 kilos'. Seems manageable.
Losing weight is the universal panacea! You're so right
Whoooo-hoooo! This doc did not say lose weight! -grin-
DeleteMine don't even bother. At 82, I think I'm gonna' be somewhat over weight, for good. ,-)
Although I do keep trying!!!!
What's the definition of Insanity? "Keep doing the same thing, over and over. And expect that, this time, it will work!" >,-)
Sooooo happppy, that the "fix" was a simple one!!!! And good luck with the coming stress test!!!!
Haven't had one of those walking/running/climbing stress tests in a while. They do the injection of something, which makes the heart race. All the time, watching you, of course, and checking stuff. It's not fully comfy, but easier than the walking/running/climbing one was. I had to have Nitro, after the last one of those. :-))))
I sure hope that throwing away the pills is the solution. Having more energy must make you feel much better instead of having to drag yourself around like a zombie. Stay well!
ReplyDeleteStill feeling great! Cross fingers
DeleteHope you feel better soon. I have been doing anti stress exercises that I found on the Internet. Just been learning to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth and thinking of something you love for ten secs. I thought of my veg plot. Certainly worth a try LA?
ReplyDeleteI do deep breaths quite often. I need some sort of stress reducer in this crazy environment. I'll google and see what else I come up with.
DeleteGlad it’s nothin serious
ReplyDeleteCholesterol tablets made me very sick and now I have permanent issues because no one listened and I was on them way too long.
Even if you suspect your meds. Seriously just cut them down if you can’t chuck them out.
Next time I'll be more aware of whats going on!!!
Delete