Six weeks ago I was adjusting to my new ICU bed after waking up from Quadruple Bypass Heart Surgery

[Tom Rinaldo]

Fortunately the surgery went well and my recovery is proceeding nicely. In my case I skipped right past the typical preceding heart attack directly to fix. If you're gonna have quadruple bypass heart surgery, that's the way to do it. It's scary enough to contemplate heart surgery without factoring in heart damage already suffered. Which leads me to this OP..

There is absolutely nothing unusual for a 72 year old man to need heart surgery, but it sure as hell seemed unusual to me! I had not experienced any obvious signs of any impending heart attack. I've pretty much never been laid low by anything before, neither injury nor illness. I don't take sick days, and I get my share of exercise working part time with dogs. I am accustomed to being fully operational and spry for my age. There was little to warn me that I might be living on borrowed time.

I choose those words carefully. I got a couple of warnings, but they sure seemed subtle at the time. An example: a couple of times last winter while walking a dog who was feeling particularly peppy in 15 degree morning air, I had to restrain her after about 150 yards of sucking in cold air at a near trot pace. I felt momentarily breathless, plus some minor tightening in my chest. Not pain mind you, nothing dramatic, and less than a minute later all reverted to normal again for the rest of our walk.

I'm the type of guy who typically looks for a reason to forget something like that, especially if it "goes away". I almost did in fact, but during my annual physical later in the summer (the one that was already a year late because I wasn't visiting any medical facilities if I could help it before I was double vaxed) I mentioned those few incidents to my doctor. He wasn't exactly alarmed either, but he was concerned enough to give me a referral for a heart stress test. Which I promptly failed to book for another two months before my procrastination failed me. That test came back poetically labeled "abnormal, but the picture painted by a subsequent procedure was less ambivalent: 100% blockage in one artery, 80% in another and 50% in a third. That night a kindly ambulance crew transported me to the Westchester Medical Center for surgery the next morning.

I skated right on the jagged edge between taking care of myself and blowing off my own health for months, even years. Ultimately I fell on the side of taking care of myself, but I was lucky as hell that my body granted me the time it took for me to finally come to my senses and get checked out. I was helped by a good friend, a damn good musician by trade, who at the last concert that he performed for our concert series went out of his way to share with the entire audience the full story of his then recent heart attack, which until then I knew nothing of. He was on tour and due to return home in two days. During a shower he felt shooting pains across his chest. It freaked him out but they went away, and he vowed that he would get checked out as soon as he got home. His heat attack hit the next day. He managed to get help in time, and he is doing well today I am happy to say. The message he had for us that night, the same one he shares now every time he performs, is listen to your body, your life might depend on it.

Like I said, I'm dense. I blocked out the signs for a long time. But in the back of my mind I heard what Gurf said, and when my routine physical was ending I finally spoke up and alerted my doctor. I might not be here to type this had I not.

[oldtime dfl_er]

1. So glad you got proactive

and so glad you're in recovery. A great cautionary tale!

[BeckyDem]

2. Thank goodness you are doing well!

Good advice, thank you, Tom.

[flying_wahini]

3. I'm happy that you did finally listen to your body. It is easy to dismiss symptoms that don't

Stick around. You were one of the lucky ones. Now keep it up. Eat right and get some exercise,
and have a Happy New Year!

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. Yeah, I've accepted that my diet has changed, and yes I'm getting my prescribed exercise.

I've been a vegetarian for 50 years, but light years from being a vegan. It hurts to cut back so much on dairy etc,. but I'm doing it. There's something about a ten inch scar down your chest that's motivating!

[Elessar Zappa]

9. There's a book

called “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” that has excellent results for many. The diet is super strict vegan and very low fat but I have a friend whose cholesterol and triglycerides went down significantly. Personally, I could never follow a diet so strict but you might look into it. Here’s to your health!

[Tom Rinaldo]

13. Thanks. Taking lots of stuff under advisement now, that book can be one of tehm

I'm not that good at strict anything. I always knew I loved pizza and cheese enchiladas too much to succeed at being vegan. Sadly I don't enjoy cooking that much so meals have to be either simple or store bought, and those dairy alternative items can get pricey. But I'm open to ideas from anywhere.

[appalachiablue]

38. Glad to hear from you, keep up the good work

and have a peaceful, joyous holiday. All the best!

Many people have put off medical appts. due to Covid, and the effects can be scary.

Two well known physicians who advocate preventing and reversing heart disease through diet and lifestyle - Dr. Dean Ornish who advised Bill Clinton, and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn at the Cleveland Clinic. Reviews and critiques of their approaches can be found online.



https://www.dresselstyn.com/




http://deanornish.com/

[blm]

4. ((Tom))

[Sogo]

5. Thanks for the post.

It may have motivated me....but I'm a procrastinator.

I have a screening for many indicators this Friday, but I do need to set up an appointment with my physician.....

[vanlassie]

35. You need to. Will you?

Not to belabor the point, but if you need to then if you say I WILL make an appt by Xxxx date, we can, or you can ask someone, to follow up with for accountability. I have to do this myself.

[SheltieLover]

7. Thank you for sharing your story

And that of your friend! Scary stuff!

[FakeNoose]

8. Congratulations on taking the right steps at the right time

Isn't it great to be living in the time of modern medicine and awesome life-saving procedures?

[Tom Rinaldo]

11. There are miracles that have essentially become routine. I'm amazed at the team...

that pulled me through this and the skills they collectively possess. As soon as I enabled them to help me by letting go of denial, my prognosis became excellent. But they couldn't take that step for me.

[bucolic_frolic]

10. A speedy recovery to you

and thanks for posting the body's warning signs.

[malaise]

12. Glad you're recovering

Sound advice

[Shrek]

14. I had a heart attack and triple bypass a year ago

Today I'm walking 25 miles a week and I just took up pickleball.

Good luck and I'll be rooting for you.

[Tom Rinaldo]

15. Thanks for all the well wishes.

From all knowledgeable reports I am doing really well. It took a little pushing from others to get me to take care of myself, and that's the spirit I was hoping to tap into in case anyone else out there could use one more small shove toward preventive care. I may be offline now for the rest of the day. Thanks again everyone

[The Magistrate]

16. Glad To Hear All's Well, Sir

They can do wonders nowadays.

[elleng]

17. THANK GOODNESS!

[bahboo]

18. not nearly as dramatic, but I had a similar experience....

noticed some weird heart rhythms...would feel just a bit off. Couldn't see doctor during Covid, so mentioned it when I finally did. Like you, I was prone to ignore it if it went away....and had been a vegetarian for over 30 years. Turned out to be Afib...wore a Zio patch which records your heartbeats for 2 weeks. Results were so concerning the cardiologist called me in for an apt. that afternoon. Pacemaker then installed in a couple days.

Moral of the story....get shit checked out, if it's even a little weird. You never know. I'm 68 and hope to have quite a few years left.

Glad you're doing well!

[SheilaAnn]

19. Wishing you good health and a happy, healthy heart..nt

[babylonsister]

20. So happy to read you are doing well, Tom!

This is indeed scary. Getting old is not for sissies!

I don't want to hijack your 'good' news, but I feel the need to share what else could have happened.
My dear departed friend Kevin went in for a double bypass in October. The first day of recovery he had a stroke, which is apparently relatively common after heart surgery. It's in the fine print you sign before surgery.
Due to that and being on dialysis, he just gave up; he was 68 and died November 2.
So everyone, listen to your body and take all necessary precautions; it could save your life.

[Hortensis]

21. That WAS close! "That night." So glad you're here with us, Tom, and

with all the others whose lives you're part of.

[yonder]

22. Thanks for the clarion call, Tom. For myself and others.

Last spring at my annual, I mentioned similar things to my doc and he promptly ordered a stress test which did not reveal anything unusual. At the followup, he suggested some diet/exercise changes which I mostly followed, that is until this holiday season.

Your post has prodded me into once again getting back on the straight and narrow. Thanks again.

[DFW]

23. Join the club.

I had two arteries 99% blocked. I noticed twinges in my shoulder and some shortness of breath when climbing a hill. Now this was 17 years ago, when I was 52. But two of my grandparents died of heart attacks before they ever got to age 70, so i had my antennae up for warning signs already. Had I not, I would have lost a round of "Beat The Reaper" in 2004.

With Germany's two tier medical insurance system, my not being in it saved my life. After being suspicious of my symptoms when they occurred late in the week in Italy, I called a cardiologist here in Germany the following Monday morning. His staff told me they had an appointment open in two months. Ummmm, no.

I then remembered the German insurance system, and said I was from the USA, passing through, and I would pay cash up front. Oh, well, in THAT case....could you come in at 5:15 this afternoon? I did, took a stress test, and got that "in my office, please" that no patient wants to hear. He said there was something, but he wanted to be sure. He asked if I could come in again Wednesday when he did his echo stress tests. I said sure. Two days later, he stopped the test with a sterner "in my office, NOW."

He said he was calling up to the cardiac clinic in Essen to get me in for priority handling. I said I was free as of the following Monday. He said, no you're not. Go up up there NOW. They will be waiting for you. I said is it THAT serious? He said he wasn't positive, but I could NOT afford to take the chance. My wife drove me up there (half an hour) and they had a wheelchair waiting, and someone to carry my small suitcase. I said they didn't have to overdo it, I could walk and carry my suitcase. They said get in the wheelchair and don't touch the suitcase! Oops, OK. The next morning the head surgeon came, looked at the chart the cardiologist in my town had sent up, and said, "clear my schedule, this guy comes on at noon," and left.

An assistant came it with a list of things that could go wrong. I had to sign it, indicating I knew the possibilities. All of them ended with me dead by the end of the day. I said, just give me a pistol, then, and I'll save you the trouble. The doctor laughed, and said none of those things ever happened, but they were required by law to inform me that they COULD happen.

So, at noon, I got taken down to the OP, was given a local anesthetic, and in they went. I was awake for the whole thing. The heart has no nerves, so when he said, right, I'm fooling around in your heart now, I said, OK, if you say so. There is more to this, but the end of the story was that he put in two stents, said I would be fine, but that I was the luckiest man in Europe that day. He ran the tapes back, and showed me the before-after pics. I had two forward coronary arteries 99% blocked, and I was ABOUT to have a massive heart attack that I might or might no have survived. He said he could save about 70% of the patients he saw, but that was predicated on their being alive when they got there. He said there was an ambulance with full life-support equipment right outside the door in case he didn't get the stents in before something evil happened--i.e. if i needed a bypass. That was in another wing. He spoke in German the whole time until after the stents were in. He then said in English, "Just in time!"

By the way, there was another bypass patient I know who didn't have a full coronary, but was about to. This was just over 15 years ago. He did not have the healthiest of diets (you are a vegetarian, if I remember correctly), but did keep up an active schedule. That' sort of came with the territory in his line of work. His name is Bill Clinton. I had known him both "before" and "after (he became a vegan after his bypass op)," and he must have lost a third of his body weight after the bypass operation (quintuple with him). But he is still with us. As am I. As are you. Take the gift fate offered you, as I did. Life is not a rehearsal.

[Tom Rinaldo]

45. Any club with you in it can't be all bad, lol.

Thanks. There is something deeply unsettling going from a normal sense of time where it always seems there are endless weeks ahead of us to get around to doing whatever it is that we think we should get around to doing at some point, to a sudden shrinking of the time horizon, whereby delaying.even another day or two could make ever doing anything againtoo late!

It sounds like you were really a ticking time bomb back then with that ticking just loud enough to fortunately get your attention! I was pretty stunned when, after my second test gave discouraging returns, my what I thought was a very reasonable request to schedule the logical next procedure (angioplasty with the option of open heart surgery depending on what they found) for 8 days later, instead of for the next day, was out of hand rebuffed. What do you mean it can't wait a week, I thought? I feel fine...

I was supposed to cover some shifts for a co-worker that week who couldn't cancel her travel plans without losing money. Surely I could check in for treatment as soon as she returned instead? Uh, no, no I could not. It needed to happen tomorrow. That was pretty damn sobering. We grow so accustomed to counting on some slack, but in the realm of life and death there isn't always slack available.

I'm glad I was given enough time to absorb that lesson. Yes, it's a gift, one that I am very very appreciative of and taking very seriously.

[DFW]

51. Thanks! There are some on DU that might disagree vehemently with that !

But since this thread is about being here to tell the tale, I think the nasty stuff can be relegated to the Alfred E. Neuman department for now.

[marble falls]

24. Just think: six years ago today you'd never have thought you'd ever need to say that! ...

... Good job dodging the bullet!!!

[BobTheSubgenius]

25. I'm glad it went so well for you, considering everything.

I hope you had some time to practice the "hands-free" protocols - getting in and out of bed, and so on. My surgery was an emergency; my deteriorating health turned out to be a staph infection in two valves and a piece of the muscle.

I urge you continue to take care of your health, and live to an old and venerable age.

[dchill]

26. Thank you, Tom!

[Hekate]

27. Thank you very much for sharing this

[Crunchy Frog]

28. So relieved you're OK Tom. Had no idea you'd just gone through that.

I've missed you around here lately.

[70sEraVet]

29. Thanks. Certainly a good reminder for those of us who have been postponing regular exams.

There is no telling how many people have unnecessarily passed away in the last two years (not from Covid) because they had decided to avoid their routine checkups. I know my wife and I both cancelled our colonoscopies that were scheduled in March 2020.

[oldsoftie]

30. And MOST men ignore those signs. Thank YOU for posting this info. You may save someone.

I belong to a local civic club and we had a speaker from the local hearth cath lab. He told all of us that yes, numbness in the arm or chest pain can be signs of a heart attack, but also to pay attention to ANYTHING different that you may feel. He said a heart attack or blockage can show itself as even back pain.
Stories like yours have always scared me and thats why i get a physical every year. I think my next time i'll ask about a stress test.

[DFW]

37. ALWAYS get a stress test

It saved my life (see my longer post on this thread). I get one twice a year. If anything is wrong it is one of the first places a cardiologist can detect a problem, and the sooner a problem is detected, the sooner it can be treated. The sooner it is treated, the better your chances of survival.

[oldsoftie]

39. Wow, thats another scary story. but we all need to listen to these. Thanks.

[multigraincracker]

31. Best wishes.

My advice is to keep moving.

[chia]

32. VERY glad you're here to tell us about it. Best wishes for a long and happy rest of your life

[Solly Mack]

33. Thank you.

Glad you're still here and thankful you shared your story.

[BootinUp]

34. Glad you got it done and it went well

Great news Tom.

Jim4wes

[Stuart G]

36. Thank You for posting...K and R..

[S/V Loner]

40. Somewhat similar situation here.

I had a regular physical and the EKG showed a slight change. I was sent to a cardiologist and he wanted me to have a catheterization to check it out. It turned out I had a 100% blockage in one artery and 80% in two arteries. I asked how could this be? I told them I was a wildlife photographer and I carry 20 lbs. of gear into the woods every morning (this was the winter) until I got hypothermic, hiked out of the woods and repeated the process at the end of the day. All this and I never had chest pain or shortage of breath. It just didn't make sense. The surgeon only said that my body must be dealing with it but that seemed to me one of those answers designed to just make me be quiet. I researched it and found out that my body had created collaterals. Yes, a real thing and once I mentioned it to my cardiologist he agreed that it was probably collaterals. Those are small arteries that my body created to bypass the blockages. My cardiologist honestly said that I may never have an issue but then, I might. I figured that if I did have an issue I may be a mile back in the woods and no one would find me for a week and because I was feeling great I might as well have the triple bypass done.
Long story short, they split me in half and replaced the arteries. I made the right choice. Both my surgeon and cardiologist said that my recovery was off the charts. Two weeks after being discharged from the hospital I was back on the river with my camera which was really dumb because if I fell I could split apart my chest and that would be a big problem. My doctors laid into me and I took it easy for a while.
I was lucky. Lucky that they found the issue, lucky that I went into surgery healthy (if that makes any sense), and lucky that my recovery was easy. Because I never had a heart attack I just look at it as getting my hoses changed. That was 5 years ago and I am 68 now... and still taking my camera gear into the woods.
I certainly made the right choice.

[oasis]

41. Thankfully you're here to share your story.

[NurseJackie]

42. Glad you're still here...

...

[Liberal In Texas]

43. Welcome to the zipper club. Similar story here.

I knew something wasn't right and after an office EKG my primary care person sent me to a cardio guy who after his office EKG, he sent me down the hall for an echo cardiogram. When that showed some possible issues I got scheduled for an angiogram with the intention of getting a stent or two installed at that time. Instead, the angio guy said there were too many constrictions for stents and I needed a 5x bypasses. They said I could probably wait a month or two but I got scheduled for the next week and had it done.

It's pretty serious surgery. They crack open your chest and bypass the heart. The surgeon took a vein out of my leg to act as parts for the bypasses. Coming out of anesthesia is always terrible for me. They get you up and walking pretty quickly to get the old juices flowing. 5 days in the hospital and another 2 weeks resting up and then the start of physical therapy to get some exercise started up.

Now in my 70s over 3 years out I don't notice that there are any aftereffects from the surgery. I feel pretty good. EKG Monday on a follow-up was "great" (cardiologists word.) I like to ride my bike and do a lot of work around the house and yard. I'm very thankful that we have this medical technology available. I keep thinking that I wish it was available when my dad died of a heart attack at 47. Or my grandfather when he was 68.

I'm glad you got the help before some damage was done with a heart attack. You probably gave yourself many more years of healthy and active life.

[Tom Rinaldo]

44. I think stories like ours are not so uncommon. But all of us sharing them can help save a few ives

I know that my friend sharing his probably helped save mine. It is just so damn easy to put off looking into something potentially unpleasant when things for the most part seem OK.

[pandr32]

46. Good to hear you are on the mend

[Tom Rinaldo]

47. Just want to add that it has been (figuratively I suppose) heartwarming to reed replies here from...

so many of you who I have come to know so well over the years. There was a time when some of us actually connected in the physical world also, and I miss that, but it makes me smile to know that you are still out there. And you know, some of you who I barely knew before the last few years have now become warm and familiar souls as well.

I gotta share with you all what my monthly horoscope, in a regional giveaway magazine, had to say for me regarding the week during which I had my surgery. Keep in mind that I didn't read it until weeks after the fact. It said: "Open up your heart to someone new."

Always good advice, but best not frequently taken literally.

[LiberalArkie]

48. Been there and done that back in 1999.

Best thing to happen to me, made me get off my has and start exercising. At 73 going on 74, I am still at it. Now my cardiologist and respiratory docs say I am the "healthiest sick person they ever see".

[Karadeniz]

49. Good news! Hope to be hearing from you during your next 72 years!!!!

[Mosby]

50. Since your sharing with us...

Do your doctors know what caused your CAD?

Great to hear everything went well.

I had several surgeries in the past couple years, one was sort of elective, and just to play it safe I went to a cardiologist. I get PACs, premature atrial contractions. Apparently not a big deal, but I got an echo done and treadmill test. Everything was fine, but I still have borderline high blood pressure and have always had high cholesterol. I'm looking for a new PCP, because I don't like my current one.