Fair Warning
I just turned fifty this past September, and I thought I was in
the best physical condition of my life.
Susan and I would get up four mornings a week at
The problem was the burning seemed to be getting a little
stronger, and the shortness of breath came a little quicker, or was it just my
imagination? Maybe I rode a little
harder this time, or ran up the steps a bit quicker than last time. This pain
was easy to ignore. If it hurt you
slowed down. That was the problem. It was too easy to ignore; until the day
after Thanksgiving when Reece and myself went mountain bike riding.
That was the day I knew something was wrong. I couldn't ignore that pain, and even
stopping only dulled it.
Fortunately we were able to cut
the ride short and head back with out any problems. I just laid down and slowly the pain and
nausea went away. Again I just tried to
blow it off as too much Thanksgiving food, or just a bad day. I could not believe that my heart could be
giving me problems. Hadn't I been taking
care of it this past 3 years? I know the
first 47 were tough, but I was young and so was my heart. I was serious about taking care of it now,
and I expected no less than the same out of it in return. The past stuff was history. The only problem with hearts is nothing is
history. It remembers all those
cheeseburgers, all those cigarettes, and all that overindulgence.
Tuesday morning after Thanksgiving Susan and I started our
morning walk. This time there was no
mistake. Something was wrong. My chest really hurt this time, and I wasn't
riding up a hill, or running up steps. I
had merely walked a 100 yards down the street.
Slowing down helped, but didn't stop it. I knew it was time to call the doctor.
I found out they do not play around with chest pain, and in less
than a week I have gone to wondering what my problem was to walking around with
a Stent in my chest.
Stent, one of the new words I've learned this
week, like Angina, Coronary Angiogram,
Angioplasty, platelets and CAD. I even got to watch my own heart
catheterization. It was during the cath that I got
the dreaded good news bad news.
The good news was I didn't have a heart attack. The bad news was the artery was ninety
percent blocked and starting to clot. My
doctor told me we caught it just in time.
He said there was no damage to the heart. Forty five minutes later I had a small piece
of surgical stainless steel holding my artery open like some kind of miniature
scaffolding. It was amazing that he did
all this through a hole in an artery in my right leg. I find it hard to thread a needle, and this
guy has a major construction project going on through a hole not much large
than a needle eye. I was assured it would not rust, or move (it sort of
bothered me that he felt the need to tell me it would not rust. Was rusting a problem in the past? I mean there are some things that go without
mentioning. You know; the earth is
round, the sky is blue, your Stent WON'T RUST). Well,
…all is well that ends well. He told me
I would be walking by the weekend, and riding my bike by the following
weekend. That was good news since Susan
and I just bought new bikes for each other for Christmas. I am now even more motivated to pump those
pedals and walk those miles.
My symptoms came so slow and were so subtle that it was almost
too late when I had them checked. I was
very close to having a heart attack. I
am convinced that had I not been exercising I would never had known I had a
problem, and therefore would never have had my heart checked. Now I expect to lead just as active a life as
before. I hope it will even be better
with out the pain. As you can see by the pictures (click here)
it’s gone from ninety percent restriction to hundred percent open. It does come with one hitch. Every little burp, each little chest tinge,
one gasp of breath and I'm wondering if I should take a nitroglycerine
pill. I hope this will go a way with
time, because I liked it better when I didn't even know I had a heart. Now it seems like that's all I think about.
There is just one other little problem, but the doctor again reassures me that
it's normal for a man of my age. I hate
it when they say that. I do have 20-30
percent blockage of my other arteries.
70 percent just never did sound that great, but what are you going do?
The fair warning is this,
"If it can happen to me, it can happen to you". If you have any doubts about that burning in
your chest, or tightness or heavy feeling, see your doctor. If you need motivation to walk or exercise,
just look at the "before picture".
The doctor circled the area of restriction, but I don't think you need
to be a heart surgeon to see it. With
the risk of sounding melodramatic, I'm just happy to see another Christmas with
my family, and watch Abby enjoy her first real Christmas experience. After looking at those pictures I realize how
close the possibility of not being here was.
So if you think there is a problem, don't wait too late!
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