Why the waiting is what turns something small into something serious
“If that blood clot dislodges and goes to your brain, you could pass out and die. You can’t drive yourself — I’m calling an ambulance now.” That’s what the doctor told me, after four days of brushing off a cough I should have dealt with on day one. Years later, a very different moment at work showed me how far I’d come. This one’s about the habit so many men over 50 share, especially in heart attack recovery: waiting to see if it passes.
Stronger After The Storm podcast logo in navy blue with red cracked heart and pulse line running through left to right.
Watch on YouTube
You can watch the full episode on YouTube.
A Wee Cough on a Steep Hillside
This was early on, only a week and a half into a new job, subcontracting on the forestry, planting up a steep hillside in the central Borders.
First day, fine, no bother. Second day, something felt off. A wee cough I brushed away without a second thought.
Third day, fourth day, same again, worse each time.
Climbing up to the roundel where we were planting, the other lads striding on ahead and me falling further behind. Coughing. Unable to draw a proper breath. Plant two trees, take a few steps, stop.
I couldn’t get air into me at all.
Not Wanting to Be the One Who Couldn’t Keep Up
One of the lads, Billy, told me straight: “You’re not in a very good way today, Dougie. You might want to do something about that.”
I tried to carry on anyway. New to the job, I didn’t want to be the one who couldn’t keep up.
The contractor arrived soon after, saw me, and offered to run me home. I felt rotten taking him up on it. But I already knew by then something wasn’t right.
“No. An Ambulance. Now.”
At the doctor’s they questioned me about what I’d been up to. Asked about any recent flights. Strange, I thought, but I had just flown back from Cambodia two weeks before.
They thought it might be a blood clot and told me I needed the hospital. When I said that’s fine, I’d just drive myself over there now, that’s when I got the line: no, an ambulance, now.
It turned out to be bilateral pneumonia. A week in hospital, heavy antibiotics, and three months rebuilding before I was fit for work again.
That’s the part that stays with me. If I’d gone to the doctor on day one, it’s possibly a short course of antibiotics and a clear-up. But four or five days of brushing it off gave that infection room to take hold properly, and it turned into something far bigger and far more dangerous than it ever needed to be.
This Summer, a Different Response
That lesson took a long time to properly land.
This summer, out on a job in East Lothian, my legs went light, then my head. I didn’t feel right at all.
I told the lads straight away I needed to sit down. My head went into overdrive. I took ten minutes of calm, gathered myself, then got up and carried on with “just take it very easy” running through my head till I got back to the car.
Then at breakfast break, I phoned the doctor. I told them exactly what happened.
It turned out to be a heart arrhythmia. Not nothing at all, but caught early, dealt with, and I was able to get back on with things quickly.
That old lesson, finally learned.
“The waiting is what turns something small into something serious, not the thing itself.”
Same Body, Same Instinct
Same body. Same me. Same instinct to push through and see if it passes.
A different response this time, though. One phone call, on the day, there and then, instead of four or five days of hoping it’ll sort itself out.
That’s really the whole of it. The waiting is what turns something small into something serious, not the thing itself.
Knowing When to Get Help
If something doesn’t feel right, the NHS, the British Heart Foundation and the American Heart Association all have clear guidance on recovery and on when to get checked. In the UK, NHS 111 is there when you’re not sure, and in an emergency, always call 999.
I’m not a doctor. This is just what I’ve learned the hard way: the phone call is almost always easier than the waiting.
Listen and Read
You can listen to the full episode in the player above, or watch it on YouTube. If this one landed with you, you might also find something in The Hard Days Still Come, Why Support Matters and Face to Face With Your Own Mortality.
Final Thought
Most of us are wired to push through. To see if it passes. To not be the one who makes a fuss.
But listening to your body isn’t weakness. It’s what lets you keep doing the things you love, for longer.
If you’ve ever felt something wasn’t right and talked yourself out of doing anything about it, that’s a mindset thing, and it’s exactly what the 7-Day Mind Reset Plan is built to help with.