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THAT HEART ATTACK  -  and the next 112 days


It started like most days.Number 11 Publishing
    There is no rush, I do not intend to appear at college much before lunch today. I turn to my drawing board with pleasant anticipation, still in my pyjamas. The barn conversion, mark 2, is coming together very happily.
It was while standing before the mirror that it started. A dull pain like indigestion in between my shoulder blades. The pain was heavy, crushing, bending me over it seemed.
"If I get to college they can send for an ambulance."
    And this became the goal. It never occurred to me to sit down and dial 999. I could die alone waiting for help to come.
    I picked up my jacket and my brief case - heaven knows why – and somehow got the car out of the garage. I was sweating profusely. Then I decided I could not make college and far more sensible to drive round to the doctor's surgery.
    I don't really remember the drive. Oh yes, the bloody milk float nearly blocked me in and I had to manoeuvre between it and the wall.
"Typical. You're dying and the milkman calls."

So started Tuesday 30th June 1987 for Dennis Berry, due to retire from Kingston Polytechnic at the end of August and designing a barn conversion in Devon for the next stage of his life.  A massive heart attack changed those plans. 
This account covers his experiences through the medical tests and hospital routines, and his fears and apprehension of what had happened to him and what his new life would be like. His wry observations are mingled with comments covering a multitude of topics that occurred to him at the time - from cricket to traffic congestion, architecture to fashion, Rudolf Hess to the hurricane.
This experience could happen to anyone at any time and this is the account of how one person – Dennis Berry – dealt with it.


THAT HEART ATTACK  -  and the next 112 days
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