PAIN IN MY HEART

 PAIN IN MY HEART - OTIS REDDING

For the last fortnight I've been experiencing sharp pains in my heart - or, I guess, in my upper chest.

At first I wasn't bothered apart from doing a Google search on 'pain in my heart' and, obviously seeing the link to the Otis Redding song above. All the 'medical' information I found discussed radial pain that extends down the arm as related to cardiac  problems. The pain was intermittent but quite sharp and would happen two or three times a day. Yesterday morning, after another one I decided to call the doctors. I thought that it was better to be certain and that, if in a months time I had a heart attack and they asked me if I had noticed any early symptoms I'd be embarrassed to have to admit that I'd ignored them. The practice had a 2.30 slot for an appointment which I took.

At the doctors I discussed the problem and they did an ECG procedure, linking me to a monitor via wires to my arms, chest and feet. The result confirmed the AF (Atrial Fibrillation) that I suffer from but shed no light on anything else to suggest a myocardial infarction. They said that a specialised blood test would be necessary and I would have to get that done at the Emergency Department at the hospital. It was about 4PM at this stage and I asked if I should go there next week. They said that I had to go to the ED immediately and gave me a letter to take with me.

At the hospital, in the ED waiting room there were dozens of people and a big sign on the wall said "RED ALERT - EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT IS OPERATING AT MAXIMUM CAPACITY AVERAGE WAIT TIME 2-3 HOURS". I checked in with the triage nurse, showed her the letter and said that I was told to come there for a blood test. She initially suggested that the blood test place was upstairs but when she asked me why I was wanting it I said that it was due to a suspected heart attack. Bingo! She immediately set things in motion and I was whisked away out back and a consulting room was found (amongst all of the bustle). A blood sample was taken and I was left for half an hour for this to be analysed. In the room there were two bed sections separated by a screen. At one stage a young woman was brought in along with her boyfriend/partner. I saw her as she was brought into the room. She looked to be about twenty. I couldn't help overhearing the reason that she was there and might relate this in a later post but Robert will be shocked.

After the results of the blood test came in I was taken to another room and rigged up for an ECG. They took another blood sample and this time left the blood catheter (?) in my arm as a third sample would be needed in an hour. I was in the ED  for 3 hours all up. During this time three helicopter loads of accident and other emergency victims were brought through. It was manic but controlled with the occasional call like - "We've got a guy bleeding out over here!" I felt like a fraudster lying where I was, feeling no pain and in much better nick than the others there. In the waiting room before and after I was dealt with there were of course the odd drongo who was just trying it on - wasting the staff's time but generally all the cases seemed legitimate.

I was amazed at the courteous, helpful and very professional manner of the staff - reception, administration, nurses, aides and doctors - and how regardless of the business and the stress, nothing seemed to faze them. I made a point of showing gratitude and, on leaving, going to reception and thanking the triage nurse and the admin person. They do a hell of a good job.

The tests came back showing that I hadn't had a myocardial infarction (heart attack) event in the last couple of weeks but they told me that I'd done the right thing in getting tested given my history of heart problems.

The written report goes in to quite some detail but what amuses me - and which I'll incorporate into the heading of my blog is this:

 

"Alert, conversant, speaking full sentences"

 

 

BASSIC INSTINCT

 Richard (of RBB), that old plucker from Wellington has mentioned a few times in his blog posts (no doubt you missed these - very few people don't) that he's been preoccupied recently with practising his bass playing.

Here:

"It's very cold in Nuova Lazio and has been for ages. I've spent the last few days doing quite a bit of practice on both the double bass and the violin."

Here:

"I've done two hours of double bass practice.

Off to do more now - some will be on violin."

          And here (he does go on a bit:

Unfortunately we at Richard's Bass Bag* have been busy with some music projects. We do obviously apologize (sic) to our readers for the shit you've been getting from these other blogs lately. Look, you'd all be better off reading a book. We'll try to post more regularly in future.

That's all very well but this obsession with  bass can lead to missing the important things that are right in front of him. See HERE

 

"SOFTLY, IN THE DUSK, A WOMAN IS SINGING TO ME; TAKING ME BACK DOWN THE VISTA OF YEARS ....." *

 *   From 'Piano' poem by D.H. Lawrence.

Yesterday I heard the song 'Sailor' sung by Petula Clark.

SAILOR - PETULA CLARK

This immediately took me back to my childhood. Clark's version of this song was released in 1961 and was a massive hit. I was born in August 1952 so was about 8 or 9 when I first heard it. I guess my mother must have turned the radio up every time that it was played. She listened to 2ZB and dad listened to 2YA (the forerunner of the National Programme which I tune in to nowadays). 

We never had any Elvis Presley or Rock and Roll music playing back then. When the 'radiogram' was used to play records (78 rpms) it was likely to be Louis Armstrong, The Mills Brothers, The Ink Spots, American Country and Western or light classical.

The radio songs that I remember and that still have resonance for me were ones like Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas' (1942), Harry Simeone Chorale's version of The Little Drummer Boy' (1959), Pete Seeger's version of 'Goodnight Irene' (1959) and Patti Page's version of 'The Tennessee Waltz' (1951).

It's pretty lame stuff compared to the music I later listened to but I still get a thrill hearing The Little Drummer Boy' (frowned on nowadays by the PC Brigade) and hearing 'Sailor' was a real treat.

"I HAVE A VAST EXPERIENCE OF LISTENING TO MUSIC AND AM A BIT OF AN EXPERT"

Richard reported this in his latest blog post about his daughter's engagement party:

A lady in the room told us that she had a vast experience of listening to music and sort of implied that she was a bit of an expert.

OK, I think I know what she meant but it does sound a bit silly like saying " I'm very experienced in drinking so I guess I'm like a winemaker".

I listen to a lot of music but I don't consider myself an expert. I don't concentrate on one type of music and tend to leap about a bit (not literally as dancing isn't one of my things) in my listening. I have catholic tastes in this regard which is the only bit of catholicism I'll admit to.

Eeeew! Tastes funny.

I never managed to learn to play a musical instrument having unsuccessfully given piano, bagpipes and guitar a go. I guess, like in most endeavours in my life this was attributable to laziness rather than any inability to appreciate music and nice sounds.

I don't know why some musicians get a bit uppity about how non musicians appreciate music (I'm not saying that Richard does). After all, if there were only musicians in this world and no non-musician audiences the whole thing would be a mess. The musicians would be forever arguing amongst themselves on how the other guy messed up his double note and choked on his hemidemisemiquaver.

Generally non musicians who like music can easily recognise rhythm, melody, harmony and timbre and at least hear dynamics, texture, and form without knowing all of the technical minituae behind them.

 

HEART AND SOUL

 Yes, getting old sucks but it's not all bad. One of the great things about , well, living to a greater if not a GREAT age is in having a much bigger memory cache (as long as it doesn't suffer a malfunction). Older people have so much more stuff to sort, reflect on and, hopefully enjoy when remembering all of the things that they have seen, heard, tasted, touched and smelled in their life. Add to this the general experience in reading, loving, (hating), learning and living that can, and should provide material for some pretty nice memories.

Tonight, while doing essential stuff on my laptop (blogging) the TV was on and I heard in the background the music from an advertisement on TVONE. It was the excellent Heart and Soul song by the Narcs (1984). The ad (I didn't take notice what they were advertising) didn't use The Narcs version, instead using some studio cover group but it was still good. It was evocative and took me back - way back to 1984.*

I moved from Wellington in 1981 to live in Auckland and forged a career there. In 1984 I had just been promoted to manage the, arguably, best retail wine and spirit operation in Auckland - Macindoes which featured strongly in magazines like Metro and newspapers of the time (pre internet and social media). I had left Wellington with a broken heart and was lonely but at the time (1982 to 1988) had really nice casual relationships with some wonderful women before meeting the true love of my life, The Old Girl in 1988. In 1984 I was 'seeing' Miranda from Wellington and Jenny, Deborah and Carole in Auckland. 

1981 was memorable also because that was the year that Richard and Shelley married. I attended their wedding in Wellington. Richard may remember that - the fact that I attended the wedding. At his age now, he probably forgets the wedding date and gets into trouble at home with Shelley on anniversaries.

But. I digress. The song Heart and Soul hit the spot with me at that time in my life and did so again tonight.

HEART AND SOUL - THE NARCS

You took me heart and soul
Over and over
You took me heart and soul
You took me heart and soul
Over and over
You took me heart and soul

Still works.

* Yes, yes, I know The Curmudgeon wrote a quick post on this a few years ago but it does show that we (I) are consistent. The Narcs - Heart and Soul

 

"WATCH OUT, MUSIC IS A POWERFUL FORCE"

 

Richard wrote an interesting comment on a recent post of The Cultured Curmudgeon:

I kind of like that and wonder if the song he refers to is 'I'm Not In Love'.

I wrote about this song a while ago on this post: 10 CC

It was written by Graham Gouldman, a prolific songwriter of many hits by not only 10 CC but for The Yardbirds, Herman's Hermits and others.

I've mentioned before the excellent recordings on YouTube of Gouldman, Neil Finn and Roddy Frame performing acoustic versions some of their own songs and helping each other with the chorus. This is well worth a watch in its entirety but here is Graham Gouldman performing his "I'm Not In Love".

(Robert, you can look away now).

I'M NOT IN LOVE - GRAHAM GOULDMAN

"I TOLD YOU I WAS ILL"

 

For readers of Spike Milligan's wartime autobiography series you will find this interesting

THE BILL HALL TRIO

The Bill Hall Trio was a band that Milligan played in in the last days of the war and for a couple of years afterwards and features strongly in books five through seven. The band was made up of Bill Hall (violin), Johnny Mulgrew (double bass) and Spike Milligan (guitar). They met through the Combined Services Entertainment programme during World War II and the trio continued in the original line-up until 1948 when Milligan left to pursue his solo career (music and comedy).