Cardiac Risk?

So why did it happen to me?  Could it happen to you?  I don’t know.  I lost my faith in righteous living equals healthy.  Being righteous, at least the way I was, wasn’t effective.  I may have been able to do things differently.   Should I have stuck to a Lipitor regimen 10 or 15 years ago when I first took it?  That might have helped.  Less French fries and hamburgers? Yes, that would have been good too.

I ate a pretty healthy diet, brown rice, a lot more food from the plant kingdom than manufacturing plants, more chicken than beef.  Since my 30s I’ve tried to stay in good condition.  I’ve always been a little overweight, but still in what I thought was good cardiovascular condition.  A week before my heart attack I paddled a kayak across Raccoon Strait against the tide into a headwind for a good hour of strenuous work.  I didn’t feel bad afterwards.   

Here are my numbers, before and after:

                      Date                                     5/2009                            1/2012

                      Blood Pressure                    141/81                            112/79
                      Total Cholesterol                     205                                154
                      Triglycerides                              61                                 97
                      HDL                                           55                                 46
                      LDL                                          138                                 89

The afternoon of the heart attack, May 3, 2010, my blood pressure was 157/89

I quit smoking cigarettes and cigars in 1984.  I went back to smoking cigars in 1999 and smoked cigars off and on until 2008. 

So I probably should not have gone back to cigars.  I should have curbed my enjoyment of hamburgers and French fries.  I probably should have taken cholesterol medication before.  I could have worked on my closet Type A personality, not taken things too seriously, a little more letting things go and meditation. 

I give myself credit, my conditioning was probably the difference between a fatal heart attack and a minor heart attack.  And as one doctor said, “You sure have a talent for making plaque without that much cholesterol.  That’s genetic.”

I had a heart attack at 63, which now days seems way too early.  My good friend in high school Joe Quattropane died of heart attack a year later.  If you smoke or eat poorly, I’d recommend you stop smoking and eat decent food, less fat, more vegetables.  If you’re overweight or out of condition, do something about it.  And if your numbers are bad talk to your doctor. 

It’s been a real shock for me.  I am trying to live more healthily.  I take medicine for my heart, Lisinopril, asprin and simvastatin.  After the heart attack for a year I took Plavix and Metoprolol.  I try to walk vigorously every day for a half hour or more.  

I hope I live a healthy life for another 30 years give or take.  And I hope you do too. 

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012

Have a Heart

I borrowed an image for this poem from Jimmy Santiago Baca’s poem “As Children Know.” 

I used to be a banker

not known for my generosity.

have a heart

sure, of course I do,

don’t I cry at Disney movies?

and then it failed

choked off as it were

clogged from lack of attention

it began to die on me

an infarction

sounds like something in the bowels

a plumbing glitch

was the problem

not enough blood

I had heart

but not enough blood. 

and so I stood there dying

but I didn’t. 

Moment stopped

no tunnel

just a half a minute or so

maybe longer

that I stood dying

clutching my chest

wondering why I couldn’t

breathe. 

And children leave toys

in the sandbox

overnight

abandoned

waiting

the early morning

sun rising

dew drying

And so it’s been

for two years since.

I don’t take my heart

for granted
as I once did

but I don’t trust it

anymore.