Cardiology and Genetics

We spent most of Thursday morning at Leeds General Infirmary, looking into genetic risks of heart complaints, and then actually giving the girls a thorough physical examination. Both girls had an ECG and an ultrasound scan. It showed up that Sophie has a murmur, and Alex is borderline for having one. Not anything to worry about at this stage, but they will be having an extended ECG over 24 hours in a few weeks' time.
I am relieved to have discussed my fears with the doctors, who were very sympathetic about my concerns. They will be writing to the hospital where the post mortem was carried out, through the Foreign Office. I could do it myself, but it is more likely to be successful if the hospital does it. We are hoping that a full post mortem report will be available, which should then give more indication as to whether Nigel actually died of a heart attack. It is possible that he died as a result of something which had similar symptoms to a heart attack, so seeing the full report should help to clarify this.

I am struggling just now with misuse of the term 'widow'. I hear people describing themselves as 'football widows', 'exam time widows', 'wii widows' etc etc. I know people do not mean to be offensive, but the reality of being a widow is massively different to being denied a little time with your loved one like this. Yes, it seems enormous at the time, but it is, in the bigger picture, only a very short term thing. Being a widow is something that doesn't go away. Even if I were to find someone new, I would never leave being Nigel's widow behind. Some days I wish I could, but I know I will never be able to fully. So please, find some other way to describe the fact that you can not spend the time you would like to with your loved one. I wish I was a football widow just now... it would definitely be preferable to being a heart attack widow...

I leave you with a quick card I made today, using the May kit from Scrapagogo. It was in response to a challenge set by Sally to case a card using a Scrapagogo kit. So I promptly cased one of Sally's own cards!



I have more stuff to photograph, but the light was hideous by the time I got round to taking the pics!

And really to end with, a song I am enjoying just now. Listen to the words...