at approxamatly 2:00 Sunday afternoon, while getting things ready around the house and finishing up some things on the motorhome and trailer she hit me with chest pains and a resulting heart attack, wife shipped me to the hospital and straight to the operating room for a stent in an artery called the widow maker,fast forward to yesterday and I was released with a fist full of papers and good results on my screening's, and the Dr telling me I was a lucky man, much longer and it would of been worse so now comes a lifestyle change, no smoking, diet and cardio exercises, no driving untill next week after I see my family Dr,, so I looks like Chrysler Power Classic is out for this year, but after that I have 4 more Chrysler events scheduled, so I need to be a good boy and clean up my lifestyle, and slow down and enjoy what's left of it.

I'm glad to hear your going to be okay instead of hearing on here that you didn't make it
Fate can be a fickled mistress, thanks to God for good Doctors and your good luck and a smart wife who acted quickly in your behalf

It's too bad people have to wait until they get hit with a sledge hammer in the head before they decide to make lifestyle changes. keep your chin up and your stick on the ice.

Wow Close call!Take care and stick around for a while.

I told my wife that I can't go now,,I got too many people to pizz off. lol she just shook her head

Wow Bill that was a close one glad you cheated the reaper.

Think you can make it up to the Mid Ohio Show at D42 next month?

Be a good boy and do what the doc says and you should be racing for a long time

Gus

Not good news that you needed medical attention, especially heart issues, but sounds like things went as well as could be expected, Good luck with it Bill

thats the next one on my list Gus

thanks Glenn, I am 62 years old and I need to quit acting like I am 32 and bullet proof.

Holy crap Bill!

Glad you're alright. Take care! You have some racing to do!

Casey FJ

This should be a wake up call to everyone. Throw those coffin nails away, eat sensibly, do go to the gym or at least do some kind of cardio. Most health issues can be avoided with common sense.

I am glad you survived.

Glad you were pro active on it. Could have made a terrible turn. Get well soon.

Kenny

Well Mother Nature just gave you a warning sign and now to have to react to it in a positive way. She can be fickle so pay attention to what she is warning you about!!!!Glad you came out of it as ok as you did and listen to the Dr's advice. It's quality of life so get better and get back to doing what you love!

The first swing dont kill most, its the second or third. Make the changes for yourself and the ones who love you.

Good luck.

Glad you are okay Dartman. But am wondering why God is being called mother nature? It is okay to Thank God. We don't have a muslim president any longer.

Welcome to the Lucky SOB club. Coming up on 10 years since my left anterior descending and right coronary arteries hung clots to the tune of 100% and 99% blocked.

The left isn't called The Widowmaker for nothing. You're usually dead before you hit the ground. I was fortunate because my body had grown a secondary circulation path that flowed enough to keep me going until they could put 2 stents in. Got away with minimal damage all things considered. My ejection fraction is now around 48-50%. I was told anything north of 60% is considered normal cardiac function. I was 43% post infarction.

I personally don't think they really have much of a clue what causes plaque to form in arteries. They use a different unit of measurement in Canada for cholesterol and mine was 5.6, which is just over the high normal of 5.4. I had just had a stress test which showed almost no sign of a problem, 2 heartbeats out of however many running WFO on the treadmill for 15 minutes. Not enough to call for an angiogram I was told. Scheduled an appointment 3 months out and the Doc wanted me to be 25 lbs lighter and he wanted to see my cholesterol 4.5 or less. 4 days later I had a heart attack.

Now they want my cholesterol under 2 so they put me on Crestor and in a week it's at 1.8, should be good to go right? Tuned up my diet, eliminated the junk food by 99% and lost about 30 lbs.

Fast forward 7 years and I've put most of the weight back on because while I eat healthier stuff I still eat too much of it and since I went back on the road, the 30 minutes on the treadmill every morning didn't continue. So I'm in for another stress test and zero issues show, my cholesterol is still 1.8 but my new Doc sends me for an angio anyway because my system has demonstrated it doesn't follow the rules. Stent in the left is 95% blocked, The one in the right looks like they just installed it but there is just the beginning of a blockage downstream from it and now my circumflex which had no problem last time is now pushing 90% plugged.

Triple bypass time...

Sorry about the rambling.

Heart Attack, 10 minutes to have one, a lifetime to bore people with the details.

Kevin

Wow. Glad everything worked out. Your family, I'm sure, is relieved to know, you'll be in their life for as long as possible. Get well, and take care.

Best of luck to ya Bill! We are all getting older and sure can't do what we used to!

Glad you're going to be ok. This getting old crap ain't for kids.

Glad to hear your alright and recouping. Wish you a speedy recovery.

Scary sh!t... I hope you get back to "normal" (whatever that is these days) ASAP.

Welcome to the club Bill.. I have 16 stents
now and been split open twice.. I'm learning now
what to do.. we dont live forever but we can try
to get on with life.. good luck buddy

Get well soon glad you are doing better....

On a side note if you need a driver I'm free new car won't be ready this year

On the Lower Anterior Descending artery, it IS the first swing that puts you in the ground. And judging by the anecdotal evidence in the above posts, it seems like a very common blockage.

Several years ago I nearly died from congestive heart failure. My ejection fraction was less than 20%. Ejection fraction is the volumetric efficiency of the left ventricle, volume out over total volume.

My doctor put me on blood pressure medicine, heart rhythm controllers, and a statin. Within a few weeks of taking the statin my cholesterol level had dropped to around 140. I recuperated under the watchful thumb of my wife and within six months my fraction had improved to slightly over 50%. Doctor discontinued the blood thinners, thank God. Now I could eat broccoli again!

I had had a cardiac catheterization before my recovery and cardiologist saw nothing to worry about. Four or so years later my heart was throwing irregular beats and cardiologist finally decided to do a stress test. Then I did a scan like a CAT scan and the doctor showed me that one area of my heart wasn't moving very well. It's pretty weird when your doctor can show you video of your beating heart.

He ordered another cardiac cath and my LAD was blocked to an opening about 1/64th of an inch. He put in a stent and I am about fine again, although my fraction is around 44% now and I get tired more easily.

My point is in a few years I grew a blockage while my cholesterol was well into the acceptable range. It isn't just cholesterol! What angered me while in recuperation fr0om the CHF, all the advice came down to lower your cholesterol. After my blockage the advice boiled down to lower your cholesterol. It was already low!

Thanks for letting me rant. I am glad that the LAD didn't claim another victim, or two or three.

May God bless us with sufficient years to unscramble our junk for the estate sale!

R

you are correct, but I guess I wasn't thinking about it that way.

to all of you that have responded,, thank you for the well wishes and even a little critisizem, this was a hell of a wake up call and I have seen that, yes it can happen to me, so changes are starting to happen, like it or not, with the exception of the effect of some of the med's I am feeling better not only physically but emotionally, people are just going to have to understand that I am not going to drop everything and jump in and help and that my health and well being are going to be first priority, I will help them if I can and if I cannot then they will just have to understand, this includes family and friends.

that track food get ya all the time.......
Ron Huntley Jr. just had heart surgery, he dose a lot of announcing for norwalk

thats about the only thing I wouldn't eat LOL

Get well soon Bill! Glad you are still with us.

not as glad as I am LOL

Sorry to hear about this Bill but you will come back stronger than ever. Thank God you had a wise Woman by your side and forced you to seek help. I was at work when I had my heart attach in 1999 and worked 6 more hours before finally going to the dispensary then to the hospital. I lost 1/4 of my heart that day that I will never get beck. My Doctor wanted me to go on a disability and not do any more Millwright work. I refused and told him to give me a plan to get back. He did and 4 months later I was back at it. Cardiac Rehab showed me when to stop and take a short break. Best of luck to you and I hope to see you again SOON.

thanks John, according to my cardio Dr. I had minimal damage so I ducked the bullet on that one too, the people at the hospital are setting me up for cardiac rehab and I plan on going to it, may be a little late in life but I have to get myself back in shape, and yes round is a shape lol

First symptom of a male heart attack is denial. lol.

Kevin

im glad you are ok bill do what the doc says you will live to be over a 100 years young take care

Damn...Glad to hear you are all right and are taking care of it.

It's not going to be easy but somthing I have to do, worse part is giving up smoking, havent had one since last Saturday partly because I ran out and partly because I refuse to buy them, Dr prescribed patches, too early to tell with them, and it's a good thing I like veggies as I see alot of them in my future. lol

Bill I understand the challenge to quit smoking. I smoked for 40 years and quit at least 50 times --- Tried everything that was out there and then tried the Chantix and that was the one!!! Once started I easily was done with smoking in 3 weeks. However I continued taking the pills for 3 months as there was still the "habit" that had to be broken. You know the one where you drive down the road and it seemed like you lit up at a certain spot - you worked in the garage and then went top the bench for a smoke - after eating reaching for a smoke!!! I didn't really want a smoke but the habit was there and after 3 months all urges and habits broke. Glad to say now that I have been smoke free for 10 years!!!! You got this....

That was a very close call Bill. Like everyone else I'm thankful
of the outcome. The life style change will make a huge difference in how you feel and it might even help your reaction times and ET's. Looking forward to seeing you at Mid-Ohio 42.

[/quote]It's not going to be easy but somthing I have to do, worse part is giving up smoking, havent had one since last Saturday partly because I ran out and partly because I refuse to buy them, Dr prescribed patches, too early to tell with them, and it's a good thing I like veggies as I see alot of them in my future. lol [/quote]
I smoke a pack of Pall Malls for 15 yrs before quitting along time ago(cold turkey long before patches), the key to quitting anything is first you have to want to
Now, if I could JUST quit drag racing