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Health scare


Mike36

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Let me start this by saying I am not looking for sympathy, but instead want to raise your level of awareness. I know many of you are in my age group, I turn 73 this year. All of those years I have been blessed with excellent health. Almost never sick, no allergies, just one good day after another, for over 70 years. I have spent my entire life eating anything I wanted, no problems. About a year ago, I started noticing shortness of breath when exerting myself. I have had a wood stove in my shop and wood burning fireplace for 40 years. Always enjoyed being in the timber cutting wood. Last fall I was only able to cut about 5 minutes and needed a break. Sat there grasping for air. The last several months I have felt very tired all the time.  When Life Line Screening came to my town, I signed up. And paid extra for more tests. All tests were satisfactory. Somewhat of a surprise to me as I was sure something was not up to par. Next I visited my family doctor. After hearing my story, he set me up for a stress test (the good ole treadmill). Couple of days later his nurse calls me to let me know I have a appointment with a cardiologist. After consulting with him he said nothing was showing up as a problem, but I might want to do an angioplasty to be safe. I said yes. I am nowhere near being a hypochondriac, but I wanted a definite answer, not just an opinion. I knew something was causing my symptoms beside my age. The angioplasty found 3 arterial blockages. One was 50%, the other two were 90%. All three in the same artery, the one known as the “ Widowmaker”. The cardiologist said, “you dodged a bullet, many men their first warning of this situation is when they’re falling to the ground dead”. Had I not paid attention to what my body was telling me, and not vigorously pursued an answer, that would have been me. I now have 2 stents, but a future ahead. Pay attention guys or someone else may be driving your Flathead.

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Mike, my father 30 years ago, near same story. He asked if they had done every test available, "haven't done an an angioplasty". He demanded, they obliged, five nearly blocked arteries, he went from that to surgery the same day. Things have a way of hiding. I'm 80 in September and lately have noticed a difference! 

 

Photo taken a year ago with sons on the left and right , and my Polock son in law in the middle. Every father needs one, LoL 

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Pflaming, I see your father was a wise man. Glad he attended to business, and know you are too. Believe it or not, my son in laws last name is Polich. He’s a welcome addition to our family, and a very good mechanic. Owned his own shop for several years. I will tell you of an incident I was witness to many years ago. 5 of us guys were standing around talking one day when one in the party got going on pollock jokes. After telling a few, my friend Ernie Sarnowski looked at him and asked “ do you know why the bottom of a Pollocks feet are brown “? The jokester laughed and said no. Ernie then said “ it’s from stomping the s- - t out of people that tell Pollock jokes. True story.

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Mike, glad you caught it. Hopefully you'll have many good years to come. My dad died in 1967 at age 59 from a massive heart attack. He'd had a previous heart attack approximately 10 years earlier. I've kept up my own preventive maintenance, including bi-annual checkups, colonoscopies every five years since age 50, frequent bp monitoring, and as surprisingly controversial and misunderstood as it seems I removed all animal based products from my diet 20 plus years ago. Too many decades of hard physical work have taken a toll on just about every joint in my body but so far the rest is holding up!

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36 minutes ago, MackTheFinger said:

Mike, glad you caught it. Hopefully you'll have many good years to come. My dad died in 1967 at age 59 from a massive heart attack. He'd had a previous heart attack approximately 10 years earlier. I've kept up my own preventive maintenance, including bi-annual checkups, colonoscopies every five years since age 50, frequent bp monitoring, and as surprisingly controversial and misunderstood as it seems I removed all animal based products from my diet 20 plus years ago. Too many decades of hard physical work have taken a toll on just about every joint in my body but so far the rest is holding up!

Good job Mack. I think many don’t pay enough attention to this subject thinking they will be all right. I was one of those. When I found out a 10% blood flow was the only thing keeping me alive, it scared the hell out of me. If my post will help save one of the guys on here that will be a happy day for me.  I see you are in Sikeston. My Great Grandparents are buried there.

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58 minutes ago, pflaming said:

I have absolutely no complaints about my son in law. He's a polock I'm a Kraut, and both are pleased with the other. 

Harmony in a family is a wonderful thing. Glad you have it.

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