Folks Of Interest SERIOUS AS A HEART ATTACK

March 12, 2004 I had a heart attack and dissected aorta. Dr gave me 20% chance. The fourth day after surgery I still had my hands tied down, couldn't communicate just nod my head. I finally moved my hand around enough my wife ask if I wanted to write something. I couldn't see what I was writing I just scratched out eye on paper. She got a warm wash cloth and wiped the sleep out of my eyes, you cannot imagine how good that felt. Little things you never think about take on a new perspective.

 

I don't know what the average age of a H.A.M.B. member is, but I think I would be safe to say "middle age" would be correct.
Us "Hot Rodders" will spend endless hours building, driving & spending money on those must have pieces for our ride. After all, it's a sense of accomplishment to have a one of kind hot rod or custom.
We make sure that motor is tuned to perfection and all the mechanical issues are tended to, yet we don't treat our body with the same respect. Yes heredity can be a factor, but for some all those years of drinking, smoking, lack of exercise can make your senior years one of pain. We all know fellow hot rodders who died too soon.
Life is short and take the time to make a change and include healthy habits in your life style. Your family and friends want you around.... And you will more quality time to put lots of miles on your Hot Rod! It's not too late!

 

I got someone to take me out today in my Ford and it was a warm day, over 70. But a little much on me and I'm shot right now. Picked some hot peppers from my garden, will make salsa if I can glom a ride to the store tomorrow. I'm still eating a lot better than I have in years and will be trying new things. Aside from the fatigue I feel better after than before the heart attack.

Ran into a guy who had a quadruple bypass 4 days before I did, I'll say I look a lot better than he is but I was in decent shape prior to my heart attack. I've never been in bad shape. After my 4 day coma, the muscle on my arms and legs were slack, probably from lack of food, some of that is filling back in.

 

Best of luck

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Glad to hear your on the mend. Take care and hope you get back to 100%.

 

They were probably checking to see if their services would be paid for.

 

For those of you wondering.......sept 11 was my big date, it's oct 30, and I'm finally almost back where I was, a heart attack knocks the crap out of you, it takes a long time to come back. I go for a stress test tomorrow, I'm still not 100%, but most of the way there. Look after yourself, change your ways, you don't want to experience what most of us here have posted about, IF you live through it.

 

If you were in decent shape before, you bounce back a lot quicker. I had my PT guy tell me that people over the age of 75 have a poor recovery rate from a HA. I have an echo-stress test scheduled for 11/21 and I see my surgeon on 11/8. Hope I get to drive after that.

I was outside the other day quite a bit since it was so warm. You sure miss a lot of cool things when you're dead. I had posted upstream here about the guy I know, 20 days after me he has his, same ER, same doctor and he's no longer with us. I read that 40% of people with my type of attack wind up with some degree of brain damage after. Which makes me doubly-lucky. Trollst, it sounds like you're doing the right thing. For breakfast I am having egg beaters and a piece of rye toast.

 

"You sure miss a lot of cool things when you're dead."

Very profound Bob, very true also!

 

This kind of crap comes to you when you get all 10 toes over the edge and look down.

I was out scavenging hot peppers from my fading garden and listening to blue jays fight in the woods next door.

 

First. Quit F*CKING smoking if you do. Second. Drinking a 6 pack a day or more is not having a beer. When you turn 40 find a Dr and get a checkup/blood work every 6mo or year. Just do it. 2013 my total cholesterol was 170. 2014 it was 250. So I started Lipitor. Last week it was total 153 73/80. This spring my Blood pressure went from 125/75 to 140/110. So I started on Diovan and it is back down to 120/80. Diovan sucks but the alternative is worse. By the way the Dr's do not prescribe the low sodium diet for high blood pressure any longer. Turns out you have a higher risk for Heart Attack or Stroke on a low sodium diet than on a normal diet. I weigh 5lbs less than I weighed in High School and about to turn 45. Start as early as you can. Don't wait until something happens to start seeing a Dr.

 

I quit smoking 30 years ago, but had slacked in recent years as far as getting physicals went. This is real important as you hit 50 and beyond. My BP was up and down, now its perfect. I'm on Lipitor too. I'll read up on the low sodium thing, thanks. But I was retaining water.

I've scaled back my drinking quite a bit in the last year. I'll get my blood work results at my next doctor visit. I'm on potassium which may go away as I improve. I went from using a water pill 7 days a week down to 3 days.

 

100% you can not take Diovan for HBP and potassium. Diovan slows your body's processing of potassium. I can't even drink Gatorade on Diovan.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/25/a-low-salt-diet-may-be-bad-for-the-heart/

The actual paper
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)30467-6/abstract

 

I'm on something else for my BP but not Diovan. Thanks for the links. They mentioned a teaspoon of salt per day 2.3 grams. You do need sodium for certain and lots of foods have it. Almost inescapable once you start reading labels.

 

So....back on the nag again.....went today for an echocardiogram, stress test plus an ultrasound, done at the same time, shows what your heart is really doing during a workout. Anyway, came away to find I'm gonna need a heart valve within five years, which I'd never known had I not had a heart attack.
This is not aimed at anyone, it's aimed at everyone, scaling back the booze, cutting back the smokes, while your scale reads 300 plus is bad.
I'm starting a build that will have split bones up front, a T spring in the back, a 29 dodge body modified into an extended cab pickup, big power, open headers every time it's fired, gonna go fast, cause it's time for me to get building while I can. Once again, life is good, don't take it for granted. Never, ever thought this would happen to me, I'm the Troll, but, it has happened, never smoked, haven't drank in forty years, blood pressure normal, no cholesterol issues, no stress, no history of heart disease, most of all, I had no warning and it just about killed me.
This forum is all about traditional rods and customs, take a young guy under your wing, show him stuff, help him get started, (her?), continue on with the tradition while us old farts still can. There's no fun left when you're dead.

 

I hope you get back to doing what you do as quick as possible.That's what it's all about.

 

Glad to hear you are ok and priority one is getting you better and do what the Dr says. I had one also speaking from experience. I call 911,meat wagon showed up and off we went, my problem was vehicles not yielding to the emergency vehicle. What the hell is wrong with people. Anyway good luck with your recovery, you'll be fine.

 

I'm due for a test on 11/21 with my cardiac doctor, something like echo stress? If its what I think it is, not a bad test to take.

My weight was never horrible, I was a strong 260 before and am now around 235 and lost a lot of muscle along with the fat. My son took me food shopping before when he got home, I did a lot of label reading and $286 later we were going home. Some of what we got was fish and not cheap. But we had a low fat low carb dinner that was tasty. He made guacamole, I made salsa to go with the 85% lean peccadillo (Cuban dish) and brown rice.

I had little warning with my HA too. I've had little and not so little pains that I thought were part of my back injury. When it wasn't going away I lit out for the ER.

 

Crazy people out there, I always yield to emergency vehicles. I did the math, I was feeling crappy but a steady crappy. Figured the whole dealie with dialing 911 would take 10-15 minutes to get me to the ER, and there are 2 of my streets in town, what if they went to the wrong one? All of this went through my head in about 6 seconds. So I drove myself there in less than 5 minutes and coded about 2 minutes after I got in the ER and they started taking info.

 

I thought I should update this as it might help somebody else.

After reading this thread I thought I should get more exercise and decided to walk more. I decided to start out just walking around my yard with my dog. He's 13 and not up for much walking. It didn't take long for both of us to get winded and tired. Some online research suggested I should check my blood oxygen level so I bought a pulse oximeter that clamps on a finger for $30. It should be between 95 and 100%. It came in the mail when I was in the yard walking with the dog. I checked and my oxygen level was 84%. Checking online this was considered very low. After I found that, I checked it again and it was 94%. I checked it while walking and it went down to 84%. Walking faster took it down to 81%. When I wake up in the morning it's 98 or 99% but I don't have to do much before it drops into the 80s.

My annual physical was yesterday morning at 7:30. I mentioned it to my doctor. In the exam room it was down to 84% on the unit I had. They checked it and got the same reading. He didn't examine me just sent me to the emergency room.

I was put in a room, hooked up to oxygen, a pulse oximeter, ekg and blood pressure monitor. They drew blood, took chest x-rays and took a CAT scan. My pulse oxygen didn't go up when I was breathing oxygen which puzzled them. For some reason it did go up after the CAT scan where they injected an indicator. They did an arterial blood oxygen saturation test which confirmed the low oxygen level. They want 80 and mine was 56 but they couldn't find a reason. My heart is working fine and no blood clots in my lungs. For some reason my lungs aren't transferring oxygen to my blood. 8 hours in the emergency room and no answers. At least now I know that it isn't just me being lazy. The muscles, including the heart, need oxygen to work

They wanted me to stay in the hospital but couldn't tell me what good that would do so I didn't. They want me to do as little as possible and talk to my doctor to decide how to proceed.

It may well be my lungs just failing and there's nothing that can be done.

Checking blood oxygen levels is not part of a normal physical but it seems to me like it should be. The check your pulse and this is just a clamp that goes on your finger and takes about 15 seconds to get a reading.

Apparently this has been going on for quite a few years with me. Knowing it sooner might not make any difference in the long run for me but it can cause damage to the heart. At least now I know not to push too hard when I feel fatigued.

 

Wild story Engineman, I hope they find out what's going on. I have had lots of doctors check my blood-oxygen levels, at rest not while moving around. That will come with my cardiac rehab which should start soon.

I was helping set up a facility for a model car show this afternoon, the show is tomorrow. I was there for maybe 3 hours and I was beat and winded. Took a 2 hour nap when I got home.

 

Comparing notes with people at the model car show that have had recent heart issues. One guy I know well, he had 6 stents put in earlier this year. He was a big smoker but quit. He dialed 911 and from that point to getting to the ER was an hour. Most would be dead by then. I talked to 2 others with recent bypasses, one guy looks a little gray in the face but he's older than I am.

 

Me again, for those of you interested, I'm about 90 percent, but it's affected me mentally. I'm sure this experience has affected others in the same way, but being men, we don't talk about it. Gonna need a heart valve in time, knowing this is down the road, I ask myself if, this is the end, or am I approaching the end of travelling great distances? Am I approaching being an old man? Don't want to be the heart attack victim, want to be the young strong stupid bull I was, have I built my last car? To cross the border now involves great cost for health insurance, now that I've got a pre existing condition, used to be cheap, so....not going to go to the exited snakes of America often, not even to my favorite Mexican restaurant. Going from a strong man to recovering from a heart attack screws with your mind, you suddenly are aware that death really isn't far away, before this experience, it happens to others, people we read about in posts here, not us, we all look at life that way.
I'm just trying here to be honest, help those who can't understand get a better grip on what can happen, maybe change what you can to get a little more longevity, enjoy our particular lifestyle longer. I love it, love building cars, I'm gonna do this long as I can, but now, I'm gonna teach more, show others how to build a traditional rod, teach young folks to weld, fit parts that never fit to begin with, make stuff with their own hands and minds.
Not preaching, only trying to show my experience, this definitely isn't something I'd want to go through again.

 

After an "episode" like the ones in here I find myself enjoying each and every day. Even small things like the sunny day after the rains and kids playing with their families brings a smile to my face. Nothing you can do about it so enjoy life.

 

You are amazing!

 

I've been ignoring this thread because I thought it had a bad ending. Glad you seem to be doing okay in your recovery. I was nursing a cold for 2 weeks and woke up Sunday, soaking in sweat and dizzy. My land lord took me to the ER. 101 temp! They pumped me full of meds and told me that at my age, 57, ignoring symptoms of ill health is asking for trouble. Funny, feeling young and being young are two very different things. DOH!

 

Been following this thread but haven't replied as I didn't think my experience was any big deal. However, I'd decided that maybe it might help some other folks who thought "Hey, this doesn't apply to ME!". Exactly three years ago I was fine; 64 years old, pretty active lifestyle, never smoked, weight within 5 lbs of my Navy boot camp graduation, 110/65 blood pressure, cholesterol around 160, NO real health problems. Had an annual check up 11 months prior with a "clean bill".

Then one cool evening while walking outside I suddenly had the classic chest tightness, discomfort in the left arm, shortness of breath and sweating. Went into the house and told my wife she needed to take me to the hospital. Twenty minutes later I was hooked up to the EKG and informed I wasn't going anywhere until I had a lot of tests. The next afternoon I was on the table receiving two stints and the day after that I was home.

I did NOT have a heart attack, I suffered an angina attack. The cardiologist said I avoided a "real" heart attack because; 1. I came to the hospital immediately and didn't screw around, and 2. I was in good physical condition. My problem was hereditary, from my father's side.

I'm sharing this because "S--T" happens when you don't see it coming, and may not give you more than one or two warnings. As a pilot, if I notice the engine temperatures going up and/or the pressures going down, I'm landing NOW and having it checked. Fortunately, I did the same for myself. Hope you do too.

 

Bob, Troll, quite a passage guys! Wishing our members the best, we've lost too many this year.
I had a very bad reaction to the chol med diagnosis that called for Lipitor. Take care, and there are other ways of
reducing inflammation.

 

I was on Lipitor for 6 years or so, worked great and then I started getting side effects. Doc said stop taking it and I did, colesterol went up and side effects stopped. Moved on to trying different meds to control it, finally found a combination thats working with far fewer side effects.......so far.

Point being is meds stay the same but your body doesn't, what always worked before might not always going forward. Nobody knows your case like you do, stay on top of it. Difficult for the Docs to help you if you don't tell 'em whats going on as acurately as you can.

Ed

 

Glad to see many people are doing well. My doctor put me on oxygen and I see the pulmonologist next month.