Sunday 21 October 2007

Hole In One?


Since Last Post P/L: £315.99
Monthly P/L: £684.80
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You may remember from this post back in August that I'm due to become a Dad for the first time in March. Well, this week was the time for Nicola to have her 20 week scan so we trudged off to the hospital on Wednesday to check that all was still in order. Now, I'm not a big fan of hospitals at the best of times as when I was younger I seemed to spend most of my life there for one reason or another and now whenever I return they always tend to leave me feeling a little queasy. This day was no exception.
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I used to think that this stage of a pregnancy was the exciting bit - the time when you could start looking forward to the big change on the horizon and to start buying clothes etc. but my vision took a bit of a knock as soon as we entered the dimly lit room. As soon as the lady explained that the scan would take up to 20 minutes as they had a checklist to go through my stomach started to churn - had I taken a wrong turn and parked my car outside Kwikfit?
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Sure enough, a couple of seconds later and we were off...legs...CHECK...arms...CHECK. The organs and limbs started coming thick and fast and it wasn't long before I felt close to shouting, "HOUSE!" but I resisted the temptation and bit my tongue.
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It was at this point I started to have sympathy for all those players that only ever get a line.
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The lady began to stutter when looking at the baby's heart. She went back and forth many times and after 10 minutes (it seemed much longer) she announced that there was a shadow on the screen that she wasn't very happy about and that one of the Doctor's should come and have a look. Our faces dropped. Excitement was swiftly replaced by fear and when the Doctor came even she couldn't ease our concerns. The diagnosis wasn't great - it appeared that the baby's heart had a possible 'VSD' which stands for 'Ventricular Septal Defect' and is a posh term for a 'hole in the heart'.
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This does sound dramatic but on the bright side apparently the size of the hole is the crucial factor in what happens next. As you would expect the larger the hole the bigger the issue but unfortunately due to the size of the baby and the way he was lying (yes, it's a boy) they were unable to tell how big it is. As you can imagine, this all leaves us in a bit of a 'no mans land' until we go back for another scan in a couple of weeks but after a bit of research on the internet I'm taking inspiration from Danny Swanson's story. If he can defy the odds and play Professional football then there's still a chance my son can end up captaining the Welsh rugby team!
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You can see it's been a testing few days so please forgive me for the title of this post - I had to try and put a smile on my face!
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In a bid to take my mind off things I've also got involved in a bit of trading and these are my results since my last post:
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Tennis
Murray v Nadal = £19.56
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Rugby Union
France v Argentina = £207.41
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Cricket
India v Australia = £128.14
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A shame about the Tennis but even though I only dipped my toes into the water I can see this as a sport you can make a lot of money from if you know what you're doing. At Christmas, I'll be conducting an end of year review and as part of that I'll be evaluating if I should invest more time in this sport and if so, which of my current portfolio should drop down the list to accommodate it e.g Darts?
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As a side note, I'd like to say well done to the English rugby team - you didn't win the World Cup but it was a fantastic effort to reach the final and you can be very proud of what you've achieved.
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Have a good week everyone and thanks for dropping by.
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8 comments:

dip said...

Hi Mark,
Hope you will find it useful http://www.childrens-heart-fed.org.uk/resources/heart_disorders/detail.cfm?contentid=138
As per my knowledge if the hole is less than 7mm which will be best diagnosed 1 week after baby birth by 2D echo/doppler study it will not cause much problem.
All the best
Dip K

Man of Mystery said...

Sorry to read your recent post Mark. My son was born on August 7th this year and I count my blessings every day. I know you do as well. Sir, good luck and have faith.

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Dip,

Thanks for the link as it's very interesting reading.

I'm now praying that the hole will be smaller than 7mm.

All the best and thanks again.

Mak

Mark Iverson said...

Hi John,

Thanks very much for your kind wishes.

It's strange how it takes things like this to remind us how lucky we are for the majority of our lives.

All the best for you and your family.

Mark

ekcite said...

All the best wishes for you and your familiy... especially your kid! I hope everything will turn to good account!

Mark Iverson said...

Hi ekcite,

Thanks very much for taking the time to leave a message and thanks for the support.

All the best,

Mark

Ray said...

Hi Mark,

I can only imagine the thoughts and fears you have at this moment. Children are the reason we are here and I wish you, your wife, and your son all the very best.

Ray

Mark Iverson said...

Hi Ray,

Thanks for the good wishes - I'm very much hoping that this is just a scare and that all will be put right on Thursday.

Thanks again & all the best,

Mark

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