Peg and Roy - Interview 12

Age at interview: 71

Brief Outline: Peg and Roy both took part in screening for unrecognised heart valve disease in 2010. Roy's result was negative and Peg's was positive. Peg was told she would have a follow-up appointment but she hasn't yet heard when this will be.

Background: Peg and Roy are married and are both retired. Roy used to be a motor technician and Peg was a benefits manager. Ethnic background/nationality' White British.

More about me...

Roy received a letter inviting him to take part in research involving screening for unrecognised heart valve disease. As Peg was also eligible, she made appointments for both of them. They were happy to get the scan, both for their own benefit and to help others. They were satisfied with the information in the letter. Peg had come across heart valve disease before when she as working and a colleague developed heart problems. 

 

They found it convenient that they could go to their local surgery for the screening. The appointment itself was very straightforward and they didn’t mind stripping to the waist. The person doing the screening explained what she was doing and why. They found her very friendly and helpful, though Peg would have found it useful to be able to ask more questions.

 

Roy was relieved to discover that there was nothing wrong with his heart, though he hadn’t been particularly worried beforehand. Peg was a bit worried because she was told that something wasn’t right and she’d need another appointment, but at the time of the interview she hadn’t yet heard anything about a follow-up appointment. She would have liked to have been told how long it would be before she’d hear anything.

 

Both Peg and Roy have diabetes. Roy has no other health problems, though he suffered from osteomyelitis as a child. Roy was active when he worked but now neither of them does much exercise. Peg has had various other health problems, including high blood pressure, an underactive thyroid, fibromyalgia and recently a suspected TIA (transient ischaemic attack or minor stroke). By coincidence, later on the same day as the screening Peg had an unrelated appointment for another scan, in connection with a heart murmur. She told the doctor doing the second scan what had happened at the screening, and he reassured her it was nothing to worry about.

 

Peg had previously been invited to take part in research into osteoporosis, but she chose not to because it required her to take tablets without knowing what they were. She felt she was taking enough tablets already and didn’t want to take any more. Peg is against animal testing and embryo research, because she feels it is interfering with nature.

 

Roy recommends that anyone who is invited to take part in the screening should go, because there is nothing to lose and so much to gain from it. They both feel it is a good thing that doctors are now much more open than they used to be.

 

Roy got a letter about the study. His wife Peg rang to fix an appointment and was asked if anyone else in the house was aged 65 or over. She was already being investigated for a heart murmur but was able to take part.

Well, we first heard about it when, it was Roy who had the letter come through and we made the appointment. And I’d been to the doctor and she said, she examined me sort of thing for another something I went for, and she said that I had a heart murmur and that she hadn’t heard it before. And she would make an appointment for me to have an echo sounding. Then when the letter came through for Roy and I rang up the appointment, for the appointment, they asked me at the surgery, was there anyone else in the house over sixty-five? And I said, “Well, yes, I am.” So they said, “Well, would you like to come along?” And I said that I’d had this appointment with the doctor and that she was going to send me for an echo sounding. She said, “Well, this is entirely different. Would you like to come along?” So I said, “Yes.” So we both went along. 

Peg had been asked to take part in a drug trial but decided against it. That seemed more risky than having the heart scan, and she takes enough tablets already.

Peg' I did go for something else that was research, which was a bone [tut] for, what do they call it, osteoporosis.

 

Ah ha.

 

Peg' And they wanted me to take part because apparently one of my hips is a bit funny. But I wouldn’t take part because it meant taking a load more tablets, and I take enough at the moment and I didn’t feel that I wanted to do that. But this, it was just a scan and nothing - as I thought at the time - nothing more would come of it. So that’s why I agreed to go along. And I think, as you’re getting older, if these things are offered then you should take advantage of them because it not only helps you but it will help other people.

 

Peg' So I just think that if it helps other people, I mean the other business would have helped other people with the bones and what have you, but I just wasn’t prepared to take another load of tablets on top of what I’m taking. I’m lucky to be here and I don’t want to damage that effect, sort of thing, by taking something that I needn’t take if I don’t want to.

 

So that would have been a trial comparing one -

 

Peg' A four, that was a four -

 

Drug against another.

 

Peg' No, it was a four year trial.

 

For the bone disease, sort of thing. And they, they’d taken all the X-rays and what have you and they wanted me to take part. But they wouldn’t tell me whether it was a tablet that was a drug, or whether it was a tablet that wasn’t a drug, sort of thing, and I didn’t want to take that chance that it would mess around with what I was already taking. Although I was assured it wouldn’t. It’s just that fact that when you see my little dish of pills in the morning, to add another one or two to that would have been horrendous [laughs].

 

Roy' She pours milk on them like cornflakes [laughs].

 

Peg' [Laughs].

 

[Laughs] so is that like high blood pressure, or?

 

Roy' Everything.

 

Peg' We’re both diabetic. I’ve got high blood pressure. I’ve got trouble with my thyroid, an under-active thyroid, and I also have fibromyalgia. So taking that lot, I don’t want to have anything else, sort of thing. I’ll take anything that’s - health wise, we take a cod liver oil capsule every day sort of thing, both of us. 

Roy and Peg hold different views about animal testing. Peg is against animal testing and any other research which is interfering with nature, such as research using embryo stem cells.

Peg' Yes. I think it’s dreadful that they use the animals. I know we wouldn’t have all these things, but I just feel, because I just love all animals, sort of thing.

 

Do you feel differently, Roy?

 

Roy' Well, I mean, you know me. I’m too laid back anyway.

 

Peg' Yeah.

 

Roy' I mean, I suppose if they’ve got to - a lot comes out of this business of using animals, because they can’t use people, can they? There you go. I think a lot of it is to do with the monkeys and things like that which people are uptight about. But if they do it with pigs and things like that, I don’t think people would worry so much. Well, that’s right, isn’t it, if you think about it?

 

Yeah, people are, there’s something.

 

Roy' Anything that you’re going to eat, an animal you’re going to eat, is different to one that you see swinging around in the trees, isn’t it? I mean, that’s what I think.

 

Peg' I don’t know how else they’d do it, but I still don’t agree with it. But then that’s just my view.

 

And do you have any views about embryo research? You know where they use the stem cells from embryos and?

 

Roy' No, not really.

 

Peg' I just think it’s interfering with nature. I mean [sighs] we haven’t got any children. And it wasn’t by choice, was it? I was just unfortunate.

 

Roy' That’s right.

 

Peg' I had a form of cancer for the first pregnancy and I just couldn’t - well, I could get pregnant but I couldn’t carry the children, and I just think that’s God’s way of saying, you know, you can’t have children. And I don’t think human beings should interfere with nature.

 

Roy' You look at the little tykes now I’m not so sorry we haven’t had them [laughs].

 

Peg' [Laughs].

 

[Laughs]

 

Peg' And all this business when people part or and what have you and they have cancer and they can’t reproduce and all the rest of it. That’s God’s way of saying you can’t have children, or something like that.

 

Is religion important to you in these things or?

 

Peg' Well, no, no, it’s not. It’s not. It’s just, I just don’t feel that it’s right that you should interfere with human nature. 

Peg and Roy said the screening visit was very simple, just like going to see their doctor. Peg was not worried about having to undress to the waist, but thought younger women might be less willing.

And so the actual appointment itself, Roy, why don’t you tell me what it was like from your perspective and what happened when you got there?

 

Roy' Well, the girl just said to me, they were doing this survey, so to speak, and she said, “Would you be interested?” So I said, “Well, yes.” I mean, it’s no problem and they could do it straight away anyway, so that was that.

 

And did you have to wait long?

 

Roy' No, no, she did it as I was there, really.

 

What actually happened? Can you talk me through what she did?

 

Roy' Oh, I can’t remember.

 

[Laughs] Can you remember what she did?

 

Peg' Yeah, well, she explained what the survey was about.

 

Roy' That’s right, yeah.

 

Peg' What she was going to do, and that she could see on her screen everything that was happening, sort of thing, and that she would show us afterwards. And she also explained that we would get a written result, and if there was any further appointments necessary at the hospital or anything, then they would get in touch. And it was just, well, it was just so simple. It was just like going in, you had a couple of wires attached to you and all the rest of it.

 

Roy' It was like going in to see the doctor, really, wasn’t it.

 

Peg' Yeah, well, it was.

 

Roy' Yes.

 

Peg' But

 

Roy' That’s as far as I could see, you know.

 

Peg' But it wasn’t quite so formal, was it?

 

Roy' No, no, no.

 

Peg' She was a very nice young girl, actually, that did it. She chatted all the time and what have you.

 

And you had to strip to the waist I think.

 

Peg' Yes.

 

Was that all right? Because I know they’re, they’re concerned that people should feel it was dignified for them. Was it okay?

 

Peg' Yeah. Yeah, that was no problem at all, you know. If you go to the doctor and they ask you to, you know, strip or something, you do it automatically. And I mean perhaps if it was a younger person then they wouldn’t be quite so willing to do that, but we both knew that it was a research.

 

Roy' That’s right.

 

Peg' And that we had to do what they wanted us to do.

 

Roy' I didn’t get her excited.

 

Peg' We didn’t have to [laughs]. We didn’t have to do it.

 

Roy' No, but I mean that was it.

 

Peg' We volunteered to do it.

 

Roy' Yeah, yeah.

 

Peg' Which we thought was the thing to do.

 

Roy' Yeah. 

It was a relief for Roy to be told his heart was fine. He wasn't worried beforehand, but you never know.

And how did you feel, Roy, when you got the results, when she told you she could see nothing?

 

Roy' Well, I mean, you know, it was a relief, really. I mean, when you have something like that you never know, they could come up with something, especially when you’re knocking on a bit. I mean, you just don’t know, do you really? And that was it, really.

 

Was it something you’d worried about going into it or?

 

Roy' No.

 

No.

 

Roy' No.

 

Peg' He doesn’t worry about anything.

 

Roy' No good worrying about it.

 

You’re not a worrier [laughs].

 

Roy' [Laughs] no. She does it all for me.

 

[Laughs].

 

Roy' No, but, you know, I mean it’s no good worrying about things. It doesn’t – that won’t do any good to anybody. 

Peg was worried about her screening results. She was glad she had another appointment the same day to investigate a heart murmur, because it meant she could get more information straightaway about future treatment options.

And what about you, when you were told the results? How did you feel about that?

 

Peg' Well, she never went any further, sort of thing, at that point. She just said that she could see the bits and pieces that were, weren’t right and that I would have another appointment and what have you. And I did worry a bit about it, but then again, when I went to the other one later on in the afternoon--

 

Roy' [laughs]

 

Peg' - which was done by a doctor, he then went on to explain what would happen. He said, “There’s nothing, it’s nothing to worry about at this point in time.” But they’ll just keep an eye on it and if, at a later date, anything had to be done then he went on to explain what would be done, which I found quite interesting, really.

 

And what did he tell you might be the options later on?

 

Peg' Later on, is to have this - I know some people when they’ve got a bad heart they have what they call a stent put in, which is this umbrella thing, isn’t it, which goes in the groin. Well this, he explained to me, would do, they’d do the same thing, going in through the groin but instead of it opening up like an umbrella, sort of thing, it would take the place of the valve and pump for me. But he said that’s a long way away off. So I was quite relieved about that, because I didn’t particularly want to go in again [laughs].

 

[Laughs] Now most people, I guess, well, virtually everybody probably won’t go straight on to another heart scan later in the afternoon [laughs].

 

Peg' No! [laughs].

 

Roy' Well no.

 

And have that.

 

Roy' That was just how it worked out, really.

 

Peg' That’s just how it worked out. And I ummed and ahhed about it, and I did explain to the doctor when I got there at the hospital that what had happened. “Oh, well.” He said, “We’ll see if we come up with the same results.” And of course they did which was - but he, being a doctor, was able to explain, because I mean I don’t know what training the young lady had that took our scans, sort of thing, had, but he then went on to explain what would happen. 

Roy sees himself as quite lucky health-wise and does not worry about it much. Peg has had more ill health so she thinks about it more.

Roy' I went along for the ride. [Peg' laughs] So to speak.

 

[Laughs]

 

Roy' That’s right, isn’t it?

 

Peg' I coerced him into going sort of thing because, you know, we’re both getting on.

 

Roy' That’s one of the reasons. I’m past my sell-by date aren’t I, now? So, you know.

 

Peg' Poor old thing.

 

Do either of you, have you been for any other kinds of screening? Have you had the prostate screening or?

 

Roy' I haven’t, no. No, I haven’t had any of it.

 

[laughs]

 

Roy' Only to have this up the road.

 

Peg' Roy tends to [sighs] let things ride, sort of thing [laughs]. I think he had enough when he was a youngster and that one, and as I say, touch wood, he’s been very, very lucky, very lucky.

 

Do you sort of consciously try to keep fit, and things or not even that particularly?

 

Peg' We do make an effort to go down, you know, walk down the road.

 

Roy' Oh, yeah, I go down there every day and get the paper.

 

And I open one eye in the morning, close it [laughs].

 

[Laughs]

 

Peg' We don’t, we don’t exercise, if that’s what you mean.

 

Roy' No, no, no, because mind you--.

 

Peg' I mean, when you were working you [clock chiming] were quite.

 

Roy' Well, I had to be, didn’t I? Active.

 

Peg' Active then. But I didn’t. I just -

 

Roy' Sit around, you do.

 

Peg' --sit in a chair in front of the screen.