January in Melbourne. Hot and dry. But in that moment, the heat of summer dissipated and a sudden cold spread throughout my veins. The hospital walls began to merge with the face of the Doctor becoming one, as the floor began to gently sway beneath my feet. Her voice warbled as if she was underwater. I wondered why she sounded like that but the thought was fleeting, replaced by a sudden pain in my chest. As the seconds slowly moved and a pulsating noise reverberated in my ears, the pain squeezed me a little more tightly. I had to make a conscious effort to breathe. My fingers tingled. I was so cold.
Standing in the corridor of the Emergency Department, I was being delivered the news that my husband was having
