SRGC Glasgow Show at Milngavie 3rd May 2008

[Lvandelft]

I am sure you will all wish to join with me in wishing all the very best to "Secret Squirrel" for a successful outcome to his heart operation and to a speedy return to good health and the Show Halls!

Best wishes from me too!!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

And from me !!!! 

[Maggi Young]

An update on the health of our own Secret Squirrel... Cyril Lafong..... I have just spoken with him on the telephone. His heart procedure went well - according to his surgeon... though I think from Cyril's point of view.... lying wired up, often in considerable pain for the  three and a half hours that the procedure took... Cyril was not entirely convinced of that at the time. He is at home now, taking things easy and being tended by his wife Annielle ( think Dionysia 'Annielle'!!) and can only wait for a few weeks to see if there really is an improvement.  I have passed on your good wishes to Cyril, who thanks us all for our caring interest. 

[David Shaw]

Three and a half hours heart surgery on Wednesday and Cyril is home on Friday! What happend to the two weeks in Intensive Care!
Whatever, I am pleased that the op whent well and Cyril is OK.

[Anthony Darby]

Changed days indeed. My mum first went through open heart surgery in 1965. I stayed with dad but my three siblings spent several weeks in care while my mum stayed in intensive care. Last week she bought a bungalow in Dunblane, sent a van load of furniture to the auction in Kinbuck, picks up her new car on Monday, put her house on the market and she's 79! Cyril is probably i n the best place - home. "Speedy recovery" is probably not the most appropriate wish as healing can't be rushed, but gardening at a gentle pace would be the best therapy.

[Maggi Young]

Friends, be calm, Cyril hasn't had open heart surgery... no-one said he had had that... he has undergone a long procedure under mild sedation.... though it turned out to be very painful and required morphine at times to get through it.... I believe this to be a more involved and perhaps newer type of angioplasty.  I begin to regret opening this subject.... I meant only to express the good wishes of us all to a good friend undergoing serious heart problems, not enter into a medical discussion!

[Maggi Young]

Cyril, bless his heart, if you'll pardon the pun, has been good enough to get in touch to clue us in on what has been happening....fascinating to learn this and since Cyril has sent  the details, , here goes...
"Hi Maggi
 
I've been catching up on the SRGC forum now that I've got some time taking it easy after my cardiac procedure.
 
There seems to be some misunderstanding about the procedure and some people seem to think this was open heart surgery.  I know you did not intend this to develop into a medical discussion but I hope the following helps explain the procedure more accurately. The procedure is called 'catheter radio-frequency ablation of the pulmonary veins' which is different from an angioplasty (I've had two of those already !).  This is done for troublesome drug resistant paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter (episodes of irregular rapid heart rate) which has bothered me for some time.  Basically this makes me short of breath, faint and unable to think straight and I am aware that my heart is pounding and labouring.  The procedure takes so long because the operator who is a cardiologist called an electrophysiologist feeds a catheter through the femoral vein (in the groin) and the subclavian vein (underneath the collar bone) and go round the 4 pulmonary veins to map out the trigger of these abnormal heart beats.  This takes about 1 and a half to 2 hrs.  The rest of the time is taken doing the actual ablation (radiofrequency generates heat about 45-50 deg C) through a sprinkler catheter which cools around the ablation area as thin-walled vessels are invloved.  Each ablation (there must have been about 40-50 of these) lasts 8-10 secs.  That's when the pain sets in, a crescendo pain that becomes quite severe at times.  I am completely aware of what is going on all the time and can see the pictures as they happen.  I certainly needed the sedation and the morphine to go through the whole procedure!
 
This is a relatively new procedure which they have started in Edinburgh for 5 years now.
 
I'm improving everyday but it will be 6 wks before I know whether the procedure has been a complete success.
 
Best wishes
 
Cyril"

So, there you have it, poor Squirrel was awake as his heart was mapped and zapped .....flippin' terrifying and no mistake 

[Lesley Cox]

Our very best wishes from the deep south too, to Cyril. LIke Paddy, I've not met Cyril but his fabulous plants are a great pleasure and inspiration to us lesser mortals on the alpine scale.

Don't regret mentioning this Maggi. We all have only Cyril's best interests and full recovery in mind - and of course, the reward for us, of many more of his plants on the Forum, in future months and years.

[David Nicholson]

With all best wishes Cyril and I do hope you soon feel well enough to get back to your magnificant plants. 

[ChrisB]

Whilst I've never met Cyril personally, his talk at the Glasgow weekend last year was most useful to me to understand what has to be done to create the plants he is now so famous for.  So if you are reading this, Cyril, all the best for a speedy recovery, you, and your plants will be missed until you can return to them and us.

[Maggi Young]

Friends, I have just had a message from Cyril........
" Please send my thanks to all the forumnists who have expressed their good wishes (since I don't know how to do this myself).
Kind regards
Cyril "


Perhaps as part of Cyril's recuperation he should undertake a wee course in Forum posting   Then we could get the benefit of his own photos of those great plants of his.... and of such things as.... how he repots those huge cushions, for instance!!    

[Lesley Cox]

That's an excellent idea Maggi. 

[Anthony Darby]

I did not mean to imply that Cyril had OHS, but the above sounds like quite an elaborate procedure? I think some of the ops that my mum has had could now be done 'through the keyhole'? I take my hat off to the skill and dedication of the surgeons. Worth their weight in gold, unlike the spivs that have caused the financial crash. They definitely live up to the name 'merchant bankers'.