Back in 2020 when my first post was published, I thought that I would be able to keep this up for probably around six months, maybe a year at a push. As this post proves however, The HopScot is still very much around and I like to think that in the last three years it has evolved beyond its original purpose…
Tag Archives: Heart Condition
BA 13: A Stunning Weekend
I was heading to London to take part in an event hosted by the British Heart Foundation. The Weekend Stunner. It was a three day residential event that would allow us to take part in activities and…
PA 13: What Happens Next?
I was starting to feel a whole lot more human again and although I was still being monitored for several things (I can’t remember what they were and am not absolutely sure I knew even back then), my doctors were very happy with the progress that was being made…
BA 11: From A Certain Point Of View
Back home meant back to school, even whilst continuing the powerful drug therapy that was fighting to stop an aggressive bacterial infection slowly eating away at my heart. (Can you tell I enjoy a bit of drama?)…
BA 10: Supply Shortages
After thinking I was going into hospital for a minor procedure, only to find out that I was being prepared for open heart surgery, the only logical thing to do was drive a couple of hundred miles to Southport beach and hide out for a week…
BA 9: Sun, Sea and Surgery
It was midsummer in the year 2012, with the hot sun scorching the cracked paving stones of Glasgow when I showed up to hospital in innocence, expecting to undergo a simple keyhole procedure to help with the troublesome infection which had been plaguing me for many moons…
PA 9: In The Neck Of Time (Part 2)
There I lay, my face covered with a large green sheet and warm fluid flowing uncomfortably freely from my neck.
For a brief moment I though to myself, “Oh come on, I’ve just survived a major infection, open heart surgery, a surprise amputation, kidney failure and now a tiny cut in my neck is going to do me in…
BA 8: A Key Moment
After over two months in hospital being pumped full of powerful antibiotics and seeing very little reduction in the severity of my infection, it was becoming depressingly clear that the previously suggested “six weeks” of treatment was going to need to be extended…
British Heart Foundation: The Ticker Tapes Podcast
A couple of months ago I was asked by the British Heart Foundation to have a chat about some of my story in an episode of their podcast series “The Ticker Tapes”.
BA 7: With a Little Help from my Friends.
A couple of weeks into my daily routine of waking up, antibiotics, watching Frasier, more antibiotics, going to the hospital café for a dream ring (best part of the day), antibiotics, playing Minecraft, antibiotics for supper and then sleeping, my mum got a phone call from my head teacher…