I am an elite athlete
Well folks, I’m out of hospital, off work with heaps of free time for a protracted period. Thanks for all the well wishes.
So, what happened?
I was heading out for one of my daily trips to the Supermarket. A particularly exciting excursion if you live in lockdown Melbourne.
Went to open the car door, and that’s the last I remembered. No dizzy spells or any warnings. Woke up in the gutter. An occurrence that hasn’t been that common of recent years. I lay there for a moment reminiscing on the good old days, until a sense of embarrassment came over me. I dusted myself off, after a quick cursory glance to make sure no neighbors had witnessed me.
Started the car up and continued to the Supermarket. A quick glance in the rear-view mirror and was quite startled with what I saw. My boyish good locks somewhat in tatters, with a good dose of blood and a boxers nose. Planned a quick inflight diversion to the hospital and off I headed.
The pain became a bit intense, and common sense took over, so I pulled over and called my daughter who took me to the local hospital, Cabrini.
The triage nurse advised that I had to do a covid swab before being processed. Now as most of us know the people that do these swabs are under some misguided understanding that they are brain surgeons trying to extract some grey matter. Not a pleasant experience at the best of times, and there was no way anybody was shoving anything up my broken nose at that particular point in time. I advised them that they can take a swab from any opening on my body, but just not the nose. Quickly resolved with a mouth swab, and a short wait before they admitted me to the Cardio ward.
It was promptly determined that I was an elite athlete.
Well, they weren’t the doctors words exactly. What he did say was that my heart rate was at 39 beats per minute, and that is usually the domain of elite athletes. You have to take a compliment wherever you can get it.
A few nights wired up like the back of a full-on entertainment system and was given a couple of options.
A pacemaker the next day, or a 6 week trial with a Holter (an electrical tracking device). Taking a couple of days to think about my options. No driving at all until I get it resolved one way or another, and similarly off work until it gets resolved.
i did ask if a dietary change would perhaps be an option. i.e increasing cigarettes and coffee intake to get the heart rate up but i sensed a strong preference for a more traditional medical approach
Unfortunately for Mr. Jonathan Aleck the CASA Executive Manager of Legal, International and Regulatory Services, that means I have lots of free time to type way and hold him accountable.
So that’s where we are at. I'm feeling great, energized, and looking forward to coming weeks. Mr. McHeyzer has departed CASA, Mr. Shane Carmody has departed CASA, Graeme Crawford has departed CASA, and I’ve just heard that maybe Mr. Craig Martin has departed CASA.
Only one more to go, I tremble with anticipation as I type that sentence. Thanks for sticking by me folks. Cheers. Glen. I miss this industry, filled with a lot of good people.