Sheila's computing course proves lifesaver for husband

Sheila's computing course proves lifesaver for husband

Published Date: 05 January 2009
By Sue Gyford

WHEN pensioner Sheila Imrie overcame her nerves to sign up for an introductory internet course, little did she know that she would learn skills which were to save her husband from a potentially lethal drug reaction.
Her husband Bob Imrie, 71, who was in the army before running a DIY store in Dalry, suffers from kidney disease and diabetes, and has carried out home dialysis four times a day for seven-and-a-half years.

He is also allergic to beta blockers, a condition which was discovered when he first took them several years ago. He had a severe allergic reaction and as his body started to shut down, medics at the Royal Infirmary needed to cut his chest open and restart his heart.

He recovered from that reaction, but has not taken beta blockers since.

When, earlier this year, Mr Imrie was prescribed eye drops and began feeling ill, his wife turned straight to the internet for help.

Mrs Imrie, 69, said his eye problems had arisen as a complication of his other conditions, and added: "He went blind overnight in one eye so he was prescribed a lot of different types of eye drops. He started to feel a bit unwell and I thought I'd have a look and see what was in his eye drops.

"I searched for them online and then I saw it had a beta blocker in. I phoned up the hospital straight away and explained. I was scared and angry when I found out. I wouldn't like to think what might have happened if I hadn't found out. He probably would have taken a really bad reaction again."

Mr Imrie stopped taking the beta blocker eye drops and quickly felt better, although he never regained the sight in his eye.

Mrs Imrie's internet research skills have also proved useful after her husband's kidney transplant last month.

He is now back at home where she is caring for him.

Mrs Imrie said: "I went online and Googled 'after kidney transplant' and found out information about how long the medication lasts for, how long they have to stay on it, and so on."

Mrs Imrie is one of the success stories of Everybody Online, a three-year national pilot project running in Gorgie and Dalry to teach internet skills to people who wouldn't normally use computers.

A grateful Mr Imrie said: "Her new skills are quite handy, I'm definitely impressed. I've never been one for using computers – wrong age, wrong era. But I might even take it up myself."

Mrs Imrie's tutor, internet project coordinator Kirsten Cook, said: "Sheila's fantastic, I think what she's achieved is remarkable."

Dr Charles Swainson, medical director of NHS Lothian, said: "We encourage patients to use internet resources and we are glad that Mrs Imrie was able to access useful information from our own website."

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Sheila39s-computing-course--proves.4842719.jp