Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
Well, it’s been a most unusual week on my planet. On Tuesday, I went to my doctor about some recurring chest pain I’d been having. He gave me an EKG and a complete physical. He told me that there had been some changes since my last EKG (in 1985), and then asked me something I greatly hope that not one of you ever gets asked. He asked me, who was my favorite cardiologist?
I allowed as how I didn’t know one cardiologist, and I’d never given the question a moment’s thought.
So I said that my father-in-law, who is 85, had a cardiologist I’d never met. I’d take his. My doc said go. That was Tuesday
Early Wednesday morning, I found myself in the cardiologist’s office. He turned out to be like my doctor, warm and informative. His assistant hooked me up to another more complex EKG machine. Then they gave me an “echocardiogram”, that was fascinating. I could see my heart beating, and watch the valves open and close … astounding.
However, when the cardiologist read the EKG and echocardiogram charts, he told me that I’d suffered a heart attack. He said it was an inferior myocardial infarction. Inferior? Really? I have a heart attack, and it’s second-rate?
He made an appointment with the surgeons for the next morning. He said said they would thread a tube through my veins into my heart, release some dye, and take pictures to see exactly what was going on.
But there was more. He said they did the whole thing in one go—after the dye test, if the plumbing was clogged, they’d likely put in a stent.
He also said that if it was really bad, they’d cut me open right there and and do bypass surgery … dangalang, that’s not the kind of thing a man wants to hear, and certainly not before 10 AM. He gave me some nitroglycerine pills to take home with me … that was Wednesday.
Thursday I checked in to the cardio unit at the local hospital, accompanied as usual by my gorgeous ex-fiancee, who is a Family Nurse Practitioner and my main medical squeeze. First thing, they shucked me out of my clothes and had me put on one of those hospital gowns, the kind I call “fundamentally drafty” because the draft is on … anyhow, the nurse was asking me all these questions and came to “Are you taking any medications on a regular basis?” I said no … she said “Really? We hardly ever see anyone in here who isn’t taking some regular medication”.
“Not me,” sez I, “not even aspirin.”
She looked at me with a wry smile and said matter-of-factly “Well … that’s over.”
Dang.
The surgeon came in, again a warm and encouraging man. He said if they could put the catheter in through my arm and I had to get a stent, I could go home that day. But if they went in through the groin, I’d have to stay overnight.
“OK,” I said, I was only a pawn in the game at that point.
So they took me away to the Operating Room, and I woke up with a stent in my heart. They put it in through the arm, so that same day I came home. That was Thursday.
The whole crazy sequence of events has been relatively painless, except for my arm where they put in the catheter. That still aches, but that’s minor. And I’m enjoined from pounding nails or lifing anything heavy or doing anything strenuous for a week.
So no condolences or the like are necessary. I count myself among the most fortunate of men. Heck, since I can’t work at house building, I’m free to do more research and writing, what’s not to like? …
What do I take from all of this?
Well, it sure was great to wake up after going under. And it is always good to be reminded of my mortality. It let me know that I need to keep the pedal pressed firmly to the floorboard, and that I need to produce during my days, for the night is assuredly headed my way, wherein no man can produce …
Finally, it is very strange to think that I have a piece of metal mesh in my heart … first step to being a cyborg?
I go back to see my new favorite cardiologist on Friday.
My best to everyone,
w.
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Brian H says:
November 10, 2013 at 4:44 pm
Fortunate it wasn’t cancer. Of the 8 people I know who did, all suffered terribly from chemo, and died. Bad odds on that small (but personally impressive) sample. One was my next younger brother.
Just what Willis needed to hear, I’m sure. /sarc
First, my thanks to everyone for their well-wishes.
A couple people said it was surprising coming so soon (five years) since my last full cardiac workup which gave me a clean bill of health … hey, you think you were surprised, consider my position. My doc says it can come on fast …
Many people have said that diet is critical … sure ‘nuf. I lost about twenty pounds in 2009, just wanted to get back to my fighting weight. So I plan to examine what makes up my current diet, eliminate some things, make some changes, follow up on some of the things folks have posted.
Anyhow, mostly I just wanted to express my appreciation to y’all for the good thoughts, wishes, and even prayers. What a curious place WUWT has grown into … I am indeed among the most fortunate of men.
w.
Serious skeptical take down of statins, so be wary of medicine:
http://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/why_statins_dont_really_work.html
Willis,
I’m sorry to hear about your heart and wish you the best.
Now then, how many different cardiologists does anybody know and how would they go about picking the best? If you personally know somebody who works for a hospital or clinic you can ask them which doctor they would see if they were sick. If you don’t know them personally, you’ll get an answer such as “all of our doctors are the best.” But if you know them and trust them, you’ll often good a candid answer.
Willis Great but one thing. You never mentioned who paid. In the UK or perhaps the whole of Europe it would not have arisen. The NHS is recognised Europe wide and I could have received treatment anywhere, which is important as I am off for a week in Malta early December. But who has paid. I understand the US system – why should I pay for the guy next door – that’s his responsibility. But in the UK we make it everyone’s responsibility. I am a libertarian up to the gills but I don’t know the answer to this.
And please read this book:
The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It, My Malcomb Kendrick, M.D.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Cholesterol-Con-Disease/dp/1844546101
BrianJay says:
November 11, 2013 at 12:33 pm
In the US we do pay for the guy next door if he’s too poor to afford his own health insurance. It’s called Medicaid. We didn’t previously pay for those who could afford to buy insurance but chose not to. Instead of a national universal health service, we need only to help out those who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford a plan covering expensive treatments such as for cancer. There are good free market means of doing so without adopting the monstrosity of Obamacare. I don’t know how a libertarian can support completely socialized medicine. If there were private insurance in Britain, Malta would probably accept it.
stay healthy and keep writing.
regards
Willis,
glad it went well and wishing you a full recovery
London247
Willis,
I hope you right your ship to enable it to sail for many more years.
Best wishes,
William
Ageing is certainly not for the faint-hearted. I’ll be 85 this year, and the prostate cancer doesn’t seem to have got me, although it tried. Even my GP agrees now that I’ve gone past my use-by date. I am planning to marry again, anyhow.
Glad to hear everything has gone well. I am a recently retired medical specialist (Thoracic Medicine) in the UK. I agree with the above bloggers about the cholesterol scam. The parallels with AGW scam are interesting. The epidemiology of ischaemic heart disease suggests that an infectious origin might be relevant or at least a co-factor. Also,in the UK there is a clear risk with diminished sun exposure, the disease being more prevalent with increasing latitude. This north-south variation is not seen in the US but is seen E-W with diminished risk at altitude over the Rockies.
The origin of the word ‘stent’ is from a 19th century English dentist called Charles Stent who used a variety of materials to support tissues in the mouth. See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Stent
Keep moving Willis!!
Well done on your recovery and your attitude. You’re an example to us all.
tobias says:
November 10, 2013 at 9:27 pm
@ur momisugly Mario,(Nov 10 8.37 pm) “I need a checkup every three years due to my age”, “I was born in1965,”,
That is a frightening environment to work in You are barely , into your 50′s ?
What is a “competition” license? Can you explain? Is a like a permit to practice? Thanks, Tobias.
Oh and BTW get better soon Anthony.
++++++++
Thank you for asking. I do not want to steal attention from Willis… but it was so close to home, because it was only two weeks ago for me.
I have a competition race license. I also instructor and coach other race car drivers and instructors. I guess they want to make sure I don’t die while I’m going around a corner at 135mph 🙂
I am so glad that all went well for you. I was not so fortunate. I had a stent and six (that’s right, six) bypasses grafted onto my heart. I also was taking no medications of any kind prior to my heart attack. At 55 years old, it was quite a shock. But there was one aspect of which you should be aware, depression.
It is common for this to result in depression. Crying over the least events was very common. Others in my physical rehabilitation class also experienced this, even men much larger and hardier than me.
It has been more than 4 years now. The depression is long gone. I exercise daily, my body mass index is down to 24, my total cholesterol is 122 with an acceptable LDL to HDL ratio, and my diet includes lots of fruit and vegetables (all I can eat thanks to Weight Watchers).
I am so glad you are doing better, but be aware of the depression factor. Discuss it with friends that have also had cardiac problems or join a rehabilitation class, you will find lots of understanding friends there.
Take care and get better soon.
“I was only a pawn in the game at that point.”
If you really want to use a chess metaphor, you are closer to being the chessboard than a pawn. 🙂
nobody going to mention Obamacare?
richardscourtney says: November 11, 2013 at 9:44 am
Thank you Richard for your informative comments.
I neglected to mention that my uncle Donald Fraser MacRae did receive the Military Cross from George VI based on his Dieppe experience and was trotted around the UK. He was given a set of Hardy bagpipes by the City of Edinburgh or Glasgow, I’m not sure which, and I believe they were donated late in his life to Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
I guess there was not much to celebrate in 1942. Wonderful year for Chrysanths …
Best, Allan
I’m very glad of the positive prognisis, Willis.
Folk who’ve glimpsed the Reaper oftentimes choose to live more fully thereafter, but given your tales and your substantive contributions to clear thinking here at WUWT I’m not sure that’s practicable.
Willis the Bionic Man!
Let us hope he uses his power for good, not evil. 🙂
Willis Eschenbach says:
November 11, 2013 at 11:15 am
First, my thanks to everyone for their well-wishes.
So I plan to examine what makes up my current diet, eliminate some things, make some changes, follow up on some of the things folks have posted.
w.
======================================================
You are truly blessed to live at a place and time when such life saving miracles can happen within days. (God help all of us Americans in 20 plus years).
As far as your diet and life style changes, sometimes “stuff just happens” that you can’t control.
Heart disease runs strongly in the male side of my family. My father died of a massive heart attack in his early 50s, and his father died of heart problems before I was born. My doctor has me on statin drugs, and BP meds. I run long distances to try to keep in shape, even though I’m 66. So given my family history, what test do doctors insist I take regularly? — A COLONOSCOPY The only one who had cancer in my family was my mother — she had breast cancer when she was 96, and even she died of a heart attack. In all fairness, when i worked for the US Geological Survey, they gave me a complete physical, to include an EKG, every two years. But they told me the EKG wouldn’t really show anything unless I was having pretty bad problems when they took it. (BTW, I know — when God says your time’s up, YOUR TIME’S UP).
Willis. in a previous comment I suggested that you get ‘religious’ about the statins and an anti-platelet like Plavix for the first year and I stand by that. I also agree with most of the comments about cholesterol, but with a stent just introduced into the human body within the last 6 to 12 months, we are talking about something entirely different.
My cardiologist, (who taught at the University of Texas for 20 years),his associate that performed the procedure and most of the nurses on my floor (entirely devoted to cardio) where fully aware of current thinking on cholesterol and reiterated some of the same literature I had read prior to my heart attack, ie. Cholesterol has little effect past a certain age, no effect on a large gene pool and even the suggestion that the only thing that centenarians have in common is HIGH cholesterol.
But a stent, even a coated stent, is a foreign object and everyone responsible for my care went out of their way to make it clear to me that without anti-platelet and statins, they had lost patients in DAYS. A piece of metal in your knee is not the same as a piece of metal inside a crucial coronary artery.
I also have little doubt that, like so-called climate ‘science’, medical consensus, in many areas, is driven by dollars. That said, you are not going to get your body to accept your pretty new stent with aromatherapy, candles, prayer or any of the hundreds of diets at your disposal. So until your artery grows new tissue around the stent, stay the fuck away from any new-age, feel-good-fairy dust. Don’t pull a Steve Jobs. After a year…. knock yourself out with whatever floats your boat.
Well, Willis, your sense of humor didn’t need a stent.
Good on ya, Mate.
Warmest best wishes, Willis,
It’s wonderful to wake up breathing!
I am thankful for this every day, and those who say that ageing is not for the fainthearted are wrong, as ageing is a boon not granted to all.
It’s marvellous that your writing and your sense of humour are as healthy as ever.