Underwater waterfront stadium knocks others out of park

I have to admit I was never keen on spoiling the Auckland waterfront further with a new stadium, but Phil O’Reilly’s “Crater Arena” design is absolute genius (Crater arena pitched for waterfront, April 30)! This is the internationally recognised landmark we’ve all been waiting for — and it won’t block anyone’s view. He has ticked all the boxes and hit this one out of the park. If you build it they will come. As a visiting 65-year-old Masters Athlete participating in 55-plus Men's Basketball, I would like to pass on congratulations on behalf of my team to the Kiwi people for being gracious and kind hosts to we visiting masters athletes. Welcoming, helpful, friendly seems to apply generally to the people of New Zealand, certainly the folk of greater Auckland. It has been a wonderful experience for us all and, remember: “Old Age Ain't For Sissies”! I am writing to express my serious concern (Sit on the fence? It’s a shocker, April 30). Whilst this is not the first instance that someone has converted their atrial fibrillation to normal rhythm with an electric fence, this practice is highly dangerous. When we electrically cardiovert a patient with a defibrillator, the shock is critically timed to avoid risk. If the shock occurs at the wrong time of the cardiac cycle, this can cause ventricular fibrillation (multiple short circuits in the lower chambers of the heart) and if this is in an unmonitored setting, almost certain sudden death. In addition, unless the episode of atrial fibrillation is relatively brief, there can be up to a one in 20 chance of stroke with cardioversion unless adequate blood thinning precautions are taken. Whilst I have no idea about the details of this case, it is highly likely the need to wait for a further six hours was to allow fasting for