The Visitor part 3

The Visitor Part 2

Poem by Dan McDonald

The Visitor (part1)

Just after the 'cardiac event' walking on the Greenway behind the house where it all took place was not easy. My colleague from the Achill Writers Group wrote a poem: The Visitor. The visitor was death and it described how you reacted to death when it came on a visit to someone you know. I made drawings to go with the text but made it so death was waiting for me.

The daily walk

After the ‘cardiac event’ I got a lot of documents. One of them was the ‘activity and exercise guidelines for the first six weeks at home’. Taking walks is one of the most important things to do. It begins right away in week 1 after the ‘event’ with a daily walk around the house and garden which increases with an added five minutes every week till one has reached half an hour at the end of six weeks. The walk is described in detail: ‘walk at a pace where you can have a conversation or whistle a tune. Choose a route that is level and remember, when you walk a distance you have to walk the same again to get back. It is best to avoid hills, however if there is a hill take it on your outward journey as it will make the return journey easier.’ As it turned out strong winds were the thing I had to deal with.

Walking the bog road

In the beginnig every time I went out to take a walk on the Greenway or on one of the adjoining bog roads I drew a picture first from the car.

Walking on the Greenway

I used to take a walk on the Greenway every day. The Greenway is right behind my home. In the summer I walk to it over the bog and in the winter when the bog is too wet, I take the car. No small wonder that I got the heart attack there too. For the cardiac recovery program taking a walk every day is a must. It wasn't easy to go back to the Greenway with the ghosts of past pains and discomforts still around. I sat in the car and hesitated and made a drawing first...