Dear Readers, you were all so supportive when I announced that I had a ‘dicky ticker’ as Monsieur Alphonse used to say in unreconstructed BBC comedy  ‘Allo ‘Allo that I wanted to send you a quick update. The echocardiogram did confirm that I am the proud possessor of a bicuspid aortic valve, but my GP decided to see if she could find a cardiologist to tell her a bit more about how bad it was, based on the report. At the moment there’s a three-month waiting list to see someone if you have a heart problem, and as I am off on holiday shortly (more details tomorrow) she wanted to check what I could and couldn’t do, and what I should be aware of.

And at this point envisage unicorns and rainbows, because not only did my GP manage to get hold of a helpful cardiologist (a feat in itself considering how overworked everyone in the NHS is) but the consultant said that the report showed that my heart was currently working well, and that all that was required was a routine referral to cardiology, followed by an annual echocardiogram to ensure that all is still well. The cardiologist apparently finished the call by saying ‘tell your patient to go off and enjoy her holiday’.

So that’s exactly what I intend to do, and what a relief! I will still, of course, be sensible and build up gradually to anything strenuous, but at least it looks as if open-heart surgery is not immediately on the cards, and the prognosis for anyone with a bicuspid aortic valve, with monitoring and treatment, is as good as it is for anyone else.

So, while I’m not a great fan of real fireworks, here is a photo from Vancouver, which just about sums up how I feel.

Photo by Larry Chen from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons