Just realized doctors really saved my life..

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Praline

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Dec 18, 2005
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Louisiana
This past Tuesday, I went to the funeral of a coworker's husband. He died from a massive heart attack. He had a heart attack a week ago Sunday, was taken to the hospital where they put in stents. He was too weak for OHS. He was doing fine during the week but last Sunday he had another heart attack and they could not save him. He was 49.
He had a 99% blockage in the main artery in the front wall leading to his heart. He also had some other blockages. He had a lot of other risks.

I had an 80% blockage in the same artery. If my PCP had not found the AFib and sent me to the cardiologist who found the severe mitral valve regurgitation and strongly recommended surgey, there would have been no reason to do an angiogram. That blockage would have probably gone undiagnosed until something drastic happened. I had no symptoms. I was not a high risk... do not smoke, no high blood pressure, cholesteral borderline,ate halfway healthy, definitely not overweight, not diebetic...

It makes me wonder if some kind of test to check your heart should not be part of your yearly check-up, especially after 40. Many people die from a heart attack that could be prevented if the problem was diagnosed early.
 
Praline said:
This past Tuesday, I went to the funeral of a coworker's husband. He died from a massive heart attack. He had a heart attack a week ago Sunday, was taken to the hospital where they put in stents. He was too weak for OHS. He was doing fine during the week but last Sunday he had another heart attack and they could not save him. He was 49.
He had a 99% blockage in the main artery in the front wall leading to his heart. He also had some other blockages. He had a lot of other risks.

I had an 80% blockage in the same artery. If my PCP had not found the AFib and sent me to the cardiologist who found the severe mitral valve regurgitation and strongly recommended surgey, there would have been no reason to do an angiogram. That blockage would have probably gone undiagnosed until something drastic happened. I had no symptoms. I was not a high risk... do not smoke, no high blood pressure, cholesteral borderline,ate halfway healthy, definitely not overweight, not diebetic...

It makes me wonder if some kind of test to check your heart should not be part of your yearly check-up, especially after 40. Many people die from a heart attack that could be prevented if the problem was diagnosed early.

Sorry about your co-worker's husband. I'm glad you are still with us. I agree early diagnosis would save a lot of lives.
 
Hi, Praline, so sorry for your loss... I agree with you, there are not enough precautions taken for the heart. I, luckily, changed doctors in November 2004, the new doctor heard my bad aorta valve and immediately sent me to a cardiologist. Eight months later I had my aorta valve replaced.. I am very thankful for this new doctor and feel that he saved my life.. Obvioulsy the other doctor that I had was not too much on the ball!!! Rose
 
Condolences to you and your co-worker ....

I also agree...

My murmur was only RE-discovered when I changed doctors after moving state...and also those of our 3 boys :eek: ...

I dont even want to think what would have happened if we had stayed in our home-town with my dear old Dr Geoff who always claimed he was a little deaf!

It was always a huge worry of mine that my Dad died suddenly at 38 of "heart-something" (they didnt autopsy him, and put it down to coronary occlusion and/or MI complicated by severe uncontrollable-hypertension)...

I think its lalesson we here are fortunate to know but definately I would go for everyone to have echoes in my opinion...especially kids when they are new-born...I mean how hard would it be to give them a quick once-over to detect congenital heart-defects...

Education of the masses...its a mission of mine to educate everyone about this sorta stuff.

Its so sad to lose friends and family unecessarily...I am grateful you got saved Praline and all us here have been saved too.
 
sorry for your and your co-workers loss.

I agree -- so many heart problems not caught earlier enough. My dad went in for a regular physical for his job. He had an irregularity on the ekg and was sent for a follow up with a cardio. There they did every test they could do in an office and said the only option left if to do an cath and see what's going on -- 50/50 chance of finding anything. My dad opted not to do the cath, and his cardio told him -- that's ok if you choose not to but if you feel anything out of the ordinary -- go straight to the er. long story short 6 mos. later - after dinner he sat down to watch golf and he said he felt like an elephant sat on his chest -- went sraight to the er - heart attack - 2nd major artery blocked 90-95% -- stent and angioplasty done. So be careful and if you don't feel right -- go to the er -- better safe than sorry.
 
It seems like anytime I hear of someone dying of a heart attack more often than not, they are young. A member of our church died suddenly from a massive heart attack last year. He was 40. He left a pregnant wife and 2 little girls under that age of 5.

How often do we hear "You're too young to be having heart problems." I don't hear it so much anymore, now that I home test (and I'm 47 :eek: ), but just about every time I'd go to the lab for my INR, the tech would say something like the above statement.

So I think you're right, it seems they need to begin checking earlier for trouble.

A good friend of mine's husband dropped dead playing racketball. He was 36. The autopsy showed he had almost complete arterial blockage in the heart. His cholesterol was 1500 - yes 1500. This was about 18 years ago when they weren't routinely screening cholesterol. He had just had a company physical a month prior to his death. They immediately tested all his family, as well as his 3 year old daughter. As it turned out, they all had abnormally high cholesterol. The daughter, at 3, had 365. She's now almost 21 and doing well. But she has to keep a very good hold of her eating habits.
 
Everyone complains about the number of medical appointments they have, especially with valve related heart problems, but I really believe that it is a fortunate thing. Many of the "baddies" are discovered early on with so many docs peering into every aspect of your body.

I know for a fact that this has been true for Joe. He has had so, so many terrible problems which, if let go for any length of time, would have taken him. He has an extraordinary number of medical appointments, and from all different disciplines. They have, as a group, discovered all kinds of things which had a treatment available.

He has had the "end of life" lectures, but because of his good care, he has managed to stay above ground. And he has outlived some of his classmates who were in "superb" health, but rarely went to the doctor.
 
Praline,

First, sorry to hear about your coworker's husband. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. I know I went for years with my head stuck in the sand, not wanting to hear anything the doctor had to say. Even after my "near death" experience, I'm still bad about not wanting to "take the time" to get to the Doctor (it will go away in a while). Most men are guilty of this. Thankfully, I also got my wake up call before it was too late.

Ever since we started having stories of folks who were in great shape suddenly having problems things have gotten a little better. We had a friend who's teenage boy went to have a mandatory phyiscal before he could play high school baseball. Of course, he had been playing for years before but no one had checked him out. They found he had a hole in his heart, probably since birth. They went in and fixed it and now he is playing ball safely. As one Doctor told them, "he was a walking time bomb"!!!!!

I think insurance (or sometimes lack of) is a large road block to more thorough tests being done. Insurance companies don't take kindly to the Doctor that wants tests just because they have a "gut feeling" something is wrong. Of course, every one that comes back against the Doctor's "gut feeling" just reinforces their view.

May God Bless,

Danny
 
Praline said:
...Many people die from a heart attack that could be prevented if the problem was diagnosed early...

I will never complain again about getting routine physicals, checkups, etc. I'm 44, and my mitral valve problem was discovered for the first time during a routine physical just last fall. Just by a thorough, competent doctor who had never seen me before, by listening to my heart. So it was fixed before I had any symptoms, and before much permanent damage had been done. I'm grateful.

-Paul
 
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