The good news is that Mum's recent fainting spells were not, as first suspected, mini-strokes. It was her heart, not her brain, that was the problem. She was having an ECG when she again passed out, and they were able to see that her heart stopped for 9 seconds. Yikes. So this afternoon she was fitted with a pacemaker. My sister and brother are in Sydney at the moment, and I will fly up on Sunday. We're all very relieved to hear it wasn't a stroke. Hearts are less complicated than brains. And we're also relieved to know what the problem was, and to have such a straightforward remedy. I am also getting retrospective heebie-jeebies thinking about her collapsing from heart failure when she was travelling alone in Italy last year. It was bad enough when we thought she'd fainted. She was lucky to just have a cut on her head really.
Couch Cubbyhouse
Meanwhile, this is what happens if you leave cooking chocolate in a cupboard during a heatwave.
We were able to use it all up in a very nice batch of brownies so all's well that ends well.
So glad you've gotten some (good!) answers re: your mum. I have an uncle who's had a pacemaker for years and years and he is going strong, travels all over the place and just lives his life as he normally would. And I have NO IDEA how you all are handling the heat without air conditioning. Our summers are blazing hot like that here in Texas but we have whole-house air conditioning and I'm not sure we could live without it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathy. And living in high heat without aircon is miserable, and why I hate and fear summer! I ended up buying portable aircon unit, which helps, but is not nearly as effective as the proper ones.
DeleteWhat a frightening time for you all. I'm glad it turned out a little better than you expected although still scary. Kindest thoughts to your mum.
ReplyDeleteAck! I didn't even think to check the cooking chocolate in the cupboard! I can feel some brownies coming on...
ReplyDeleteCarolyn
Good news about your Mum.
ReplyDeleteYes we have some very melted Tim-tams in the bottom of the cupboard!
That is the biggest chocolate chip I have seen.
ReplyDeleteDibs.
Glad to hear your Mum will be able to have a pacemaker. Hope it all goes well!
ReplyDeleteWe rediscovered our crappy air conditioner in the heat wave and it saved our sanity I think.