A new era for DH!

A few years ago DH scared everyone, including himself, by collapsing on the golf course. (his second home!) A similar incident had occurred a year or two before this,  but on the latter occasion while being taken to hospital his heart stopped twice!! Originally these passing out incidents were written off as 'sugar problems' as an angiogram showed no blockages, narrowing or damaged valves etc in the heart. But with the data collected by the paramedics in that ambulance it was soon ascertained that the 'electrics' of DH's heart were a bit bodgy to say the least. Suddenly all the fainting episodes over many years made sense. So now DH has a pacemaker and hasn't looked back healthwise since.

But the legacy of that day was that he became anxious about walking the 18 hole course, as he had done for the 40 or so years that he has played golf. He started hiring a golf cart for the 3-4 days of each week that he played but started making plans to buy his own. He had already put his name down for a spot in the big sheds at the course where people can rent a place for their cart to be stored. Actually buying the cart would wait until that spot in the shed was his! A few months ago DH's name came to the top of that list so immediately the search was on for a good quality refurbished cart for DH to buy.

Within 10 days, delivery day came.

The cart was driven to the golf course on a trailer of course. We watched as it was driven off the trailer...

 

DH was invited to drive his cart into the shed and I went along for the ride...I tell you what...that thing could really move and I found myself clinging on as we drove around a few corners, into the shed and then backed it into its spot!

 

The man from Yamaha took DH through all the basic things he needed to know, including checking the batteries regularly etc, and of course plugging it in to the power supply while it's in the shed to keep it charged up.

 

DH had asked me to take photos that he could send to all his friends and family. But I also took photos of the old buildings near the cart shed that were the remnants of the old farm on which the golf club was built...I love history!

 

It took a few weeks after delivery of his new buggy for DH to actually use his new toy. You see, our part of Queensland had days of heavy rain which turned the course into a quagmire...and electric/petrol etc buggies are banned in those circumstances until the ground dries out. But he's had plenty of use since then.

Back on course...

Yesterday, DH played his first game of golf in 5 1/2 weeks; the time which has elapsed since he collapsed on the final hole of that same golf course, early in December.
This was his chest a day or so after the pacemaker was implanted...still a bit swollen then of course. 

The plastic adhesive over the wound meant he could continue to shower as normal. The dressings were taken off a week after the operation and over the weeks the swelling and soreness had completely disappeared. Golfing was off the agenda for a while as the electrodes which had been attached by tiny screws into heart tissue could be ripped out by the action of the golf swing and the  follow through. After 4 weeks the electrodes would be anchored firmly by tissue growing around them.
Yesterday's game went well with him being placed 18th in a field of well over 100 players. So he came home feeling rather pleased.

But one day last year in July he was even more pleased with his game. After 40 plus years playing golf, he finally achieved that 'hole in one!' And in November we both attended the club's presentation night so that DH could receive his trophy.

The table all loaded up with the various trophies...

The main guest speaker for the night was another member of the club, who happened to be an Australian tennis champion from the 1950s to the early 1970s, Mal Anderson. My mum had been a really big fan of Mal and I remember how chuffed she was when her granddaughters had tennis lessons with him at their school. Mal was a very entertaining speaker having embraced golf after his 'tennis days'.  

 

 

After speeches, it was time for the trophies to be distributed...DH receiving his...

 

 

A close-up; it is the actual ball that he used that day. The club takes it and sends it off to the trophy maker to be incorporated into the piece. There were a few 'holes in one' winners last year; not all on the same hole as DH. His achievement was on the 16th.

 

 

So it's good to report that DH is now back golfing and possibly hoping to replicate last year's achievement; the hole in one that is...not the collapse or 'dispsy doodle' as he described it! lol