|
The
only non-medical problem I had with the illness was my
difficulty in obtaining life insurance at a reasonable
price. I remember being told I had about a 9/10ths life
chance compared with people without the illness. However
life insurance companies tended to load their policies by
about three times. I was now married with two children, so
life insurance was a must have.
About
25 years ago I dislocated my knee playing squash. I sat on
the floor, bashed the knee bone back in place and stood up
to carry on playing. Prudently, I decided to stop. The knee
swelled up where I had chipped the bone. I went into
hospital for two days and had a caste fitted. I took about a
year to recover.
In the
early 1970s, I set up a design company working specifically
for the cosmetic industry with an ex-Revlon colleague, after
being made redundant from my job as advertising manager at
Coty. It was hard work but by the early 1980s we had a staff
of over twenty and our clients were most of the big names in
the beauty and fragrance industry. It was a stressful
lifestyle; my problems would come not from Addison's but
from other medical factors.
In 1982
I started to suffer from heart problems; I was getting chest
pains every time I walked for more than a few hundred yards.
At the time I smoked, took no exercise, ate big company
lunches and drove into the west end of London every day to a
stressful 10-hour job. I was a classic case.
I had a
heart by-pass operation at the early age of 44. From then on
I tried to take a more relaxed view of life. Ate more
sensibly, gave up smoking and took up tennis. At the end of
the 1980s the company, like many others at that time, hit
big financial difficulties and was wound up. I carried on by
myself as a sales promotion consultant to the cosmetic
industry, but working from home. During the 1990s this was
quite successful. It also gave me time to expand my drawing
and painting skills. I now paint pictures of wedding
reception venues, churches etc. called ‘Wedding Originals’,
as well as painting and exhibiting with local art groups.
My
second by-pass was 19 years later, in March 2002. The
symptoms had started coming back about six years before
that. I had an angiogram which showed my grafts (four) were
starting to narrow and my own original system was now
totally blocked. I started beta blockers, aspirin, and a
nitro spray which I used to relieve symptoms when playing
tennis. But the symptoms kept getting worse. I had a further
angiogram which confirmed this.
I had
to make a decision. My tennis was now a pain in every sense
and it was unfair to other players to carry on. I could
either lead a very quiet life and resign myself to follow my
father in a few years or go for another by-pass operation.
My
father had died of a heart attack at 66.
The
chances of failure are double the second time around.
The
main reason I went for the second operation was that in
November 2001 my second granddaughter was born. I saw Isabel
a few hours after she was born. Perhaps I am a bit biased
but she was so beautiful, I thought, I must stay around to
see how she grows up. So I went for the second by-pass.
They
have to take out the old plumbing first before putting in
new grafts. Five grafts this time. To do this, apart from
ripping my chest open with a Black-and-Decker type of saw,
they took veins from my right leg (two-foot scar) plus an
artery from my left arm (one-foot scar). This has affected
the feeling in my left thumb, with pins and needles.
I had
about 100mg hydrocortisone for the by-pass and for about
three days after. Then I dropped down to my normal 60mg
dose. In retrospect I should have stayed on a higher dose
for a few weeks to aid my recovery. I was in hospital about
nine days and felt fine on coming home but relapsed after
three weeks. I remained easily tired for about two months,
then started walking a mile or two a day. After three
months I was assigned to a gym session at the local hospital
twice a week. And then I was back to tennis.
During
the last ten years or so I have had very little problem with
the Addison’s. I have learnt to control it and listen to my
body. I now also have an under-active thyroid which was
picked up on a routine set of blood tests a couple of years
ago. I take 75 mcg thyroxine a day for this.
I had a
broken ankle around six years ago. I was in Brighton on the
way to play tennis, ran down a 45 degree slope and slipped.
Result was a 'Pots' fracture. Ambulance, hospital,
operation, bones put back and a five-inch plate screwed into
my leg. The plate still gives a bit of discomfort. Along the
way I have had also had two hernia operations.
The
body needs extra help, i.e. more hydrocortisone, to get
through these extra problems. With the physical injuries I
have never come close to going into shock, although like
anybody I felt a bit weak. Perhaps my high dosage was a
help.
I had a
bone density scan not long ago which showed that my bone
density was okay, despite my many years on a high dose of
hydrocortisone. But I do have the start of arthritis in my
knees, for which I take anti-inflammatory drugs plus
glycosomine. That’s the downside of tennis.
So here
I am. I have a very supportive wife and children (now three
grandchildren as well). I have had an interesting, if
topsy-turvy, career and enjoy drawing and painting the world
about me. I have also been lucky with the Addison’s. It
seems about 25% of people with Addison’s are like me. Once
it is controlled it does not pose too many problems. I think
it is important to keep a balance in life. Do not put
everything down to a particular illness. We all have good
days and bad days.
Alan
May 2003
|
About us
ADSHG
Website Alert