Rumors Of My Death Were Greatly Exxaggerated! lol

[Guest wbottomley]

Fantastic!

[scubado]

Glad to hear you're doing great! I've got no rythm either, probably can tell in my sequences!

[evan.a]

Glad to see you back on things.

[Guest wbottomley]

Glad to hear you're doing great! I've got no rythm either, probably can tell in my sequences!

White boys, including myself, have that problem.

And... this is meant in a good way.

[Ron Boyd]

Though I ONLY had three bypasses the first one bypassed a vein that runs down the center of your heart and is called the widowmaker because when it fails you are gone. I had three blockages there, two on the lower left side of my heart, and becuase I never make anything easy for anyone there were two on the back side.

My wife is a Heart Cath RN. She's told me of the Widowmaker. that is definitely a nasty one. Just to help you keep things looking up, a couple of years ago my uncle had a 90 something % blockage in that one, he had a triple also. Today, you would never know he ever had a the heart attack.

So, Glad to hear you're feeling better. Our prayers are with you. Take care of yourself and do as the Dr. says. Many more years to you, my friend.

God Bless,

Ron

[Cray Augsburg]

Wow! Just caught this thread . . .

My turn was last August. Middle of the night . . . clutching my chest . . . quick ride to the ER (thank the good Lord they weren't busy).

Low door-to-Cath Lab time. Two coronary stents (Right coronary artery and Proximal circumflex artery). Managed to avoid the cardiac surgeon (who I know and have worked with). He was pacing the room in the background like a vulture buzzing over fresh road kill.

Fortunately I didn't have to join the zipper club, but like others here, I can identify with much of what you've been through. Bottom line is, it does make you stop and appreciate things a bit more. And you kinda look at things a little differently and make different choices (steak fries? well, maybe I really shouldn't eat those four times a week, hmm).

Glad you are where you are now. And hope for continued recovery. My thoughts and prayers go with you.

Cray

[caniac]

Wow! Just caught this thread . . .

My turn was last August. Middle of the night . . . clutching my chest . . . quick ride to the ER (thank the good Lord they weren't busy).

Low door-to-Cath Lab time. Two coronary stents (Right coronary artery and Proximal circumflex artery). Managed to avoid the cardiac surgeon (who I know and have worked with). He was pacing the room in the background like a vulture buzzing over fresh road kill.

Fortunately I didn't have to join the zipper club, but like others here, I can identify with much of what you've been through. Bottom line is, it does make you stop and appreciate things a bit more. And you kinda look at things a little differently and make different choices (steak fries? well, maybe I really shouldn't eat those four times a week, hmm).

Glad you are where you are now. And hope for continued recovery. My thoughts and prayers go with you.

Cray

I can identify as I am now a recovering steak fry junky, occasionally tear up as I pass up those and my beloved hot wings from BWW. Sad thing is had I not listened to the better half I would have thought it was all nothing but gas and stayed home that night. She insisted and I told her she would have to take the responsibility of any methane deaths if I was correct. As is almost always the case she was right and I was wrong. Good thing I was in the ER and not in my recliner.

[Cray Augsburg]

Yeah, we're too smart for our own good. I had been having odd little pains in my chest for a couple of months. But that night, the pain woke me up about 12:30am. So I got up, took a bunch of Tums, saw the aspirin in the cabinet and said "what the heck" and took 5 of those. Went out back and made myself a deal -- I smoked two cigarettes WITH the personal understanding that if the pain hadn't gone away when I finished the second one, I'd go wake the wife up. Please understand, ALL pain eventually goes away (just like ALL bleeding eventually stops). Obviously I survived the smoking test. So, when I wake her up, she says "Go take some Tums and aspirin." Yeah, well . . .

She got me to the ER and I made it.

Tell me this (and BE HONEST): Deep down, you knew what it was before you agreed to go, didn't you?

Yeah, me too. All in all, it could've turned out far worse a wake-up call. I'm glad it didn't for either one of us.

[caniac]

Yeah, we're too smart for our own good. I had been having odd little pains in my chest for a couple of months. But that night, the pain woke me up about 12:30am. So I got up, took a bunch of Tums, saw the aspirin in the cabinet and said "what the heck" and took 5 of those. Went out back and made myself a deal -- I smoked two cigarettes WITH the personal understanding that if the pain hadn't gone away when I finished the second one, I'd go wake the wife up. Please understand, ALL pain eventually goes away (just like ALL bleeding eventually stops). Obviously I survived the smoking test. So, when I wake her up, she says "Go take some Tums and aspirin." Yeah, well . . .

She got me to the ER and I made it.

Tell me this (and BE HONEST): Deep down, you knew what it was before you agreed to go, didn't you?

Yeah, me too. All in all, it could've turned out far worse a wake-up call. I'm glad it didn't for either one of us.

Yep, knew the night before but figured it would pass. then that day the pain continued and both arms ached like I was coming down with the flu. but when I got real clammy I knew my goose was probably cooked, she didn't have to twist my arm too hard to go but it sucked. Told her it wasn't a good time, had too much sequencing to do! lol

[Cray Augsburg]

". . . Told her it wasn't a good time, had too much sequencing to do! lol"

Yeah, my display last year was static.

Sounds like you're back in the swing now, though.

[milateket]

Caniac,

Are you going to change your name to Cardiac?

[caniac]

Caniac,

Are you going to change your name to Cardiac?

why would I do that? One doesn't equal the other, Caniac is the nickname of fans of the Carolina Hurricanes NHL Hockey Club. Cardiac refers to the heart.

[k6ccc]

Cray and caniac,

Glad you both are doing well. Unfortunately I figure I will be there one of these years... Had a scare (that wasn't a MCI) a few years ago, but one of the fallouts of that is that I carry aspirin with me at all times, and I am far more aware of what I'm feeling. See a cardiologist couple times a year (see him next Monday), and taking a pile of BP meds... Really do need to lose some weight though.

[caniac]

Cray and caniac,

Glad you both are doing well. Unfortunately I figure I will be there one of these years... Had a scare (that wasn't a MCI) a few years ago, but one of the fallouts of that is that I carry aspirin with me at all times, and I am far more aware of what I'm feeling. See a cardiologist couple times a year (see him next Monday), and taking a pile of BP meds... Really do need to lose some weight though.

I have dropped 70+ since going on a strict diet, low sodium, low carb, low calorie. What my cardiologist told me was the damage I did was done in my twenties and came back to haunt me 30+ years later. The thing you have to do is look at how many of the risk factors you have (weight, sleep apnea, smoking, high stress job, etc.) and reduce those. The guy in the room next to me had 7 bypasses (because after they put in 9 stints they all collapsed), he smoked 3+ packs a day. The whole time he was up their him and his wife would argue with their cardiologist about quitting smoking. They didn't seem to care that it would kill him and eventually her, they just didn't want to give it up. Sorta sad to have such little respect for your life and that of your loved one.