99-yr-old body can’t take any big strains
WHEN I first heard that The Duke of Edinburgh had gone into hospital, I thought it was a little more than a precautionary move.
But at 99, a human body really can’t take anything very serious.
And the Duke has a stent in one of his coronary arteries, inserted several years ago because it had furred up. The stent was a way of keeping the artery open so blood can get to the heart muscle.
A stent in itself doesn’t weaken the heart, in fact it strengthens the organ.
However, if a 99-year-old heart has to deal with an infection as the Duke’s clearly is, it is under strain.
Despite antibiotics, infection is always accompanied by inflammation, and inflammation isn’t good for any of us, let alone someone of the Duke’s age.
The inflammation also puts a strain on the rest of the body, in addition to the heart, and any infection of the lungs – such as pneumonia – is a particular burden.
We don’t know that he has a lung infection but during the winter, with cold and flu viruses about, a cold can quickly descend to the lungs in a person of the Duke’s age.
I’m extremely glad that he’s been transferred to Barts, a hospital highly renowned in the field of cardiology.
There he will be in the best hands and have the greatest chance of a full recovery.
Here’s wishing him a rapid return to the Queen in Windsor Castle.