Wow! You just never know

[RaceCraftBearings]

Hello all, at first I wasnt going to share this but I think its best that I do because if I can send even one wake up call to someone it is worth it that everyone knows.

Monday at 1:00 PM I had a minor heart attack while at work and I have spent the last 4 days in the hospital which to me is like being in prison. They used a cath to go in and find 3 blocked arteries one 90 %, one 80% and a third was minor. They put in 3 stints to open the blockages.

I am only 48 years old (Yeah I know to some of you young bucks that makes me a dinosaur ) anyway at 48 yo I never dreamed I would have a Myocardic Infarction (heart attack). I can tell you that if you ever feel a sharp pain in your chest and down into your left arm you are having one. I just wanted try and send a wake up call to anyone who may need it so that maybe they can remedy the problem before they expierence what I did.

If your male, overwieght and smoke you have 3 strikes against you and need to get rid of the two strikes that you can!

If you smoke STOP!

If your overweight: start eating healtier and exercise.

SMOKING: I really enjoy smoking, I was not addicted to smoking but I still thought it would be tough to quit. Thankfully that has not been the case and I have not had one since 1 hour before my problem began (almost 5 days now)

EATING HABITS: Now eating I am addicted to and I will tell you I love all the stuff that isnt good for you, this will be my toughest hurdle to clear but so far so good.

EXCERCISE: No just going to the lake and running /retrieving your boats wont do it, neither will mowing the grass on a weekly basis nor sitting on the couch watching the tube or at your cpu reading the posts on IW so I am gettting up from here to go out and walk around the lake and I plan to do this habitually cause I really dont want to see the inside of that hospital again nor do I want to feel that sensation of a heart attack again.

I really hope I woke someone up so that they may do something about it before its to late!

I will say that I feel great so dont worry about me I will be fine!

Your friend in model boating!

Ron Byrd

 

[Slideblues]

Excellent advice Ron, Im a member of the "BIG 50" Club and it aint what its cracked up ta be :lol: :lol: :lol:

I am a smoker too, cut way back on drinking but Im always on tha go so the excersise thang is already covered.

One question thou, was the pain just on the left side? Seems like I was told it can be either side and that one confuses me cause the heart and arteries are on tha left :blink:

Gene

 

[MarkScott]

Glad to hear ya doing well Ron.. Happy that I don't smoke.. But still have those other two strikes on me.. Working on them..

To add to his story, a cleaning lady here at work had the same problems Ron described. The first day, she ignored the pain. The second day, after she collapsed, they took her to the hospital. She didn't make it. Don't ignore what your body is telling you. Get it check out...

Mark..

 

[Grimracer]

Ron

Thanks for sharing.. your heath is the most important thing you have.. with out it you have....well... just things around you.. most of those you can not control.

Now for you health that is something you have a ton of control with.

3 years ago i decided to get fit.. sure i was not fat but i liked my food and still do..i just pay attention to what i eat.. that in its self is a huge help.

If you are healthy and you drop dead.. so what you were going to go anyway.. its the quality of you life when you are sucking air that is the BIG DEAL..

I waters challenge

PARK YOUR CAR THE FURTHEST FROM THE DOOR AT WORK. AND RUN TO THE DOOR..

WALK 1/2 hour 3 times a week..

Im preaching...sorry.

Grim

 

[tracerbob]

**** Ron, that is a wake call! I quit smoking 12 years ago but I've fallen off the wagon 3 or 4 time since then. Can't seem to shake off the demon. For me, it's very hard to quit. But when I do, I start to feel alot better in about 2 months. Hope you can stay smoke free. I do get lots of excerise though. Their names are Katie and Toby, two very active Lab mixes who need to exrcise or they drive me nuts!

 

[Ron Olson]

Ron, this is WAY too weird! About 2:00 PM on Monday I went to ER to get myself checked out as I had been having some chest pains for a few days that didn't go away. They kept me in there and Tuesday I went in for a Heart cath. Two of my previous stents were 90% blocked. Those were cleaned out and I had 3 more installed, the new Radioactive ones. In the recovery room they hooked me up to a Nitro drip that bottomed out my blood pressure to 40, 38 and you're in a Coma! Needless to say, I freaked, thinking (Dale Jr. phrase), I'm dying! I had my act together enough to yell for the Nurses who surrounded me doing who-knows-what to bring me out of it.

I was released yesterday around 11:00 AM and have to take it easy for a week before I have to head back to work.

I gotta quit burning the Cowboy Killers, go on a low-fat diet and exercise.

Glad to heard that your OK.

Oh yeah, this isn't my 1st time. My 1st was at 46 and just had my 5th Heart Cath.

For the rest of you, this is nothing to mess with. don't be a He-man and poo-poo it, get your ass to a Hospital ASAP. I lost a friend last year because he didn't heed the warning signs and thought that he had a bad case of indigestion. Pains in any extremity of your body, arms legs, neck or in the center of your back, sweating, high pulse rate, lightheadedness or a feeling that you can't get comfortable are some clues to get yourself checked out ASAP!

 

[not2bright]

holy crap my dad is 47. that would be pretty scary if my dad had a heart attack. im glad all is ok with you, it would really suck to lose another boater

 

[Slideblues]

Well Crap ! Between the two Rons Im a cardiac sandwich here

One two years younger, the other two years older,

Do have a fibulation (leaky valve) that causes sweats, better to aire on caution's side

Thanks for the advise Guy's,

Gene

 

[wswatzell]

Another strike to look at is Family history. My wife's family currently has the oldest living Male ever, & he is only in his early 60's. He had a heart attach he survived, when he got home from the hospitial, he bought a tread mill, & quite smoking. he walked that tread mill for 4hr, yes 4hrs a day every day. He burned up 3 tread mills in the 1st year and a half following. My wife's dad died from a major heart attach almost 12ys ago on Easter Sunday. He was 49. The old saying holds true, "if you attach your heart, it will attach you."

Also, smoking doesn't just affect the person with the cig in there hand, it affects everyone around them. If a smoker is living in a house with children, there children are smokers too, even if they never touch a cigarette. It has been proven that kids who grew up with a smoker in the house, faced the same risk levels of future smoking related illness as if they had smoked all there life. The smoke irreversibly damages there lungs while the lungs are still developing. so if you smoke, quite not just for your self, but for your loved ones that live with you. You are putting them at risk as well. oh, & don't tell your self " oh, I only smoke outside", & think that you arn't still putting your family at risk. the smoke sticks to your hair, skin, & cloths. Have you ever went outside for a smoke, & then went inside & gave your wife or kids a hug? well, you just exposed them the the toxins that are still on you.

Sorry, I am very passionate about not smoking

Ok, off my soap box.

 

[Pennywizz6]

IM SO GLAD YOUR OK! And im glad your back and healthy! My stepdad had a sudden cardiac arrest and was dead for 11 seconds then theyrevived him. Very scary. It happened at the mall of america and luckly my grandparents were around, they worked at a hhospital and were able to give him CPR until the medics arrived. Hes all good now, they gave him a pacemaker! Scary stuff! I unfortunately have one strike. but cant get rid of it!!!

Ron O, im glad you are ok too!!! Good thing you got it checked out!

Phil

 

[RaceCraftBearings]

Gener, my pain was on the left just as I have always heard and I am not sure if the right side would mean the same but if it hurts have it checked out! I dont drink alky so thats one strike I dont have against me

Ron Olsen this is my first time and I am listening intently! I dont mean to preach but you gotta do the right thing as soon as possible or your quality of life will go down hill from there. I know someone who had one at 30 and he kept on doin the same things that put him there and back he went several times and know he cant work cant work and barley gets around due to shortness of breath.

Grim watching what I eat will be my toughest challenge! I love to eat !

Thanks all for the well wishes and for those who need to heed these words of wisdom please do because as N2B said it would really suck to loose another fellow boater!

TC and GB

Ron!

 

[Cleatus Cooper]

Gee Ron Byrd My favorite -----

Sorry to hear that. Must say been there done that but only wound up with 2 stents.Just hope it does not trigger the diabetes thing like it did to me. July 2000 lol guess I'll never forget that. Must agree with you about the pain altho I thought it was just heartburn at first and when all the rolaids did not do any good and my elbow was on fire I saw I might have a lil problem. One trip to the horsepitable lol and the next morning all pain was gone and could not wait to get home. Now the hard part. Can't eat anything you like to eat and still ain't kicked the smoking thing. Feel better than I have in years but just a minor touch of heartburn now scares the crap outta me. Best of luck to ya Cleatus

 

[jeff baham]

Gee Ron Byrd My favorite ----- Sorry to hear that. Must say been there done that but only wound up with 2 stents.Just hope it does not trigger the diabetes thing like it did to me. July 2000 lol guess I'll never forget that. Must agree with you about the pain altho I thought it was just heartburn at first and when all the rolaids did not do any good and my elbow was on fire I saw I might have a lil problem. One trip to the horsepitable lol and the next morning all pain was gone and could not wait to get home. Now the hard part. Can't eat anything you like to eat and still ain't kicked the smoking thing. Feel better than I have in years but just a minor touch of heartburn now scares the crap outta me. Best of luck to ya Cleatus

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ronbyrd, my nephew went in the hospital today, to get an angegram(spelling) and luckily no blockages he is 40years old.

 

[Don Ferrette]

Ron-

Most important thing is you're ok. It's amazing how we don't think about things as we age until ...WHAM! you get your ass kicked. At 44 I'm startin' to realize it's high time for me to get a little more careful as each year goes by............ :blink:

 

[jaso]

Hope ya feelin ok now Ron, take care of yourself.

My dad has had two quad bypasses in the last 15 years and he is 74 now and still going. I have one strike going against me but the trouble is I think it's in the blood on my fathers side due to my three uncles all having the same trouble.

They have all had tube trouble with two of them having bypasses and the youngest has just had a few stents put in.

My dad was the only one that smoked out of them four and he is the oldest.

I've just hit the 30 so I guess I should start to take some more care of myself and do some more exercise . Wouldn't hurt to stop smoking either I guess.

 

[RaceCraftBearings]

Pennywise and Jaso Thank You guys for the well wishes and yes I am feeling just fine!

Penny it sounds as though your step dad was very lucky to have the right people around when it happened Glad to hear he is ok!

Cleatus I am not now diabetic but you have me curious as to when you aquired it in relationship to your first attack. It seems like I cant read much of anything without some reading glasses now which doesnt thrill me because that could hurt my ability to stay on the buoys when I get back to racing

Jeff glad to hear your nephew is ok! Tell him to keep up the good work!

Don thanks for the kind words! Its always tough to face up to the fact that we are aging and can't keep living that youngazz lifestyle anyway good luck on your keeping the gremlins out of your way!

Ron

 

[Cleatus Cooper]

(Cleatus I am not now diabetic but you have me curious as to when you aquired it in relationship to your first attack. )

Ron

They told me about 3 weeks after the heart attack that it triggered the diabetes. I argued the point as I had never had any problems with that but after 3 different Dr's all saying the same thing i relented and went on the pills. Really have to watch what I eat but so far so good. No Breads except for wheat bread. No corn,potatoes or anything that contains a lot of starch. Sometimes I feel like a blame walking pill bottle as with all the vitiamins.blood thinners. etc I now am taking 8 and 1/2 pills in the morn and another 7 and a half at nite. Expensive to say the least but sure beats the alternative. They say it is relativily common for the heart attack to trigger it when your in as they say the middle age bracket. If your very concerned about it have your blood sugar checked. Was 50 when mine happened now 54 lol. Just make sure that you have a good Dr. as the first quack I had put me on a bike 2 weeks after the attack for 30 min the treadmill for 30 min the stairclimber for 15 and when I said I was tired he did a chemical stress test which he said I failed (electricity flickered causing cumputer to glitch) which led to yet another heart cath.

 

[Ron Olson]

Good morning gang. I thought that I'd let you know that shortly after I posted in this thread that I started having chest pains again. I went back to the ER and had my blood enzymes monitored for over 24 hours. They let me out at 11:00 PM last night without telling me a whole lot of anything, that possibly the pain was from my Heart getting used to the new stents.

I developed Type II Diabetes after one of my Myocardial Infarctions along with an Anxiety disorder which is a chemical imbalance caused by the Heart Attacks. The scary part of those is that almost half of the symptoms of an Anxiety Disorder are identical to the onset of a Heart Attack. If you start having fears of doing little things like walking out to the mailbox and not knowing that whether or not you'll make it back to the house alive, blurred vision, sweating and other symptoms and your Doctor can't find anything wrong with your ticker, get checked for this.

 

[Joe]

Ron Byrd,

Hate to hear of your problem. I just started to take better care of myself also. Hope we both can stick to it. Tell your mom I said hellow.

Friend in Jackson Tn.

Joe Grace

 

[TimD]

Ron(s),

I was really blown away when I read this thread. What a bad run of stuff you guys have had lately :unsure: Hope things start improving for you both.

Tim.