My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

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ColinOldnCranky
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My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Thu Jul 28, 2016 1:43 am

Eleven days ago I had a heart attack.

A small vein on the outside of my heart failed to let sufficient blood through. It eas just a tiny blockage but it was enough to cause some muscle to fibrillate and therefore the whole system failed to pump blood to itself or the rest of the body/.

I was in a coma for a few days and can only go n what is reported to me third or fourth hand. ButI understand that I passed out of slipped off the unicycle or whatever right in front of a GP. There were also two cops within a couple of minutes of me and a nurse also came into the picture. CPR is a highly energetic activity which so a team of this size and a short interval was my greatest fortune. It also means that ischemic attack was minimal to nothing so I have pretty much all muy heart muscle intact.

A long second affecting the favourable outcome was my otherwise good health.

The MRI indicated a tiny bit of scar in my brain from an earlier unnoticed stroke but further sscans have indicated that there is nothing in blood flow that makes it's any more likely that I will happen. Sometimes it just happens they tell me.

I am now good though I am told to avoid any heavy work for a couple more days due the small risk of an undiscovered temporary clot being in the vein in my arm where the stent was inserted. My chest also hurts like hell if i sneeze (and I mean REALLY LIKE HELL!) and it is bit uncomfortable to get up out of a chair or roll over in bed and I have had to develop my own techniques to reduce this. Broken ribs and so forth.

I have an info session tomorrow but on Friday I will be riding into Sassys at last part way. I had a short ride this afternoon to make sure that there were no balance issues. Expect to see me on my usual routes an distances soon as possible after that.

I have to take a handful of drugs every morning and evening for a short while. After that I expect only to be on low dose thinners for life (modified aspirin) to keep platelets from clogging up the tiny stent that the body will see for wha t it is - a foreign body to be defended against.


Bottom line=========================================
  • You can seem totally healthy and still be bitten.
  • It takes a team to keep a person alive with CPR so that they not only survive but do with with the minimum of of permanent damage .Brush up on your CPR.
  • Thanks to all those helped me in th street.
  • Thanks to all those professionals in the CCU at RPH.
Unchain yourself-Ride a unicycle

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find_bruce
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby find_bruce » Thu Jul 28, 2016 5:57 am

Glad to hear you are still with us Colin

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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby Aussiebullet » Thu Jul 28, 2016 6:57 am

That's a great outcome, glad your doing well and it's fantastic that you can go back to your active life so soon.
The sore chest has something to do with the post-op or CPR I take it, but the broken ribs are they from when you slipped off the unicycle?
Also are you saying a regular visit to the GP prior to your heart attack would not have picked up the defect?
Makes riding alone on quiet country and dirt roads seem quite a gamble as one ages.

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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby Nobody » Thu Jul 28, 2016 9:18 am

Glad to hear you survived and don't appear to have any long lasting injuries from the ordeal.
ColinOldnCranky wrote:The MRI indicated a tiny bit of scar in my brain from an earlier unnoticed stroke but further scans have indicated that there is nothing in blood flow that makes it's any more likely that I will happen. Sometimes it just happens they tell me.

....where the stent was inserted.
Now you've shown a susceptibility to atherosclerosis with the previous stroke and the heart attack, I suggest that once you are fully recovered that you get regular blood tests for the inflammation marker hsCRP.
The evidence for the effectiveness of hsCRP as a Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) risk marker is shown in table 2 from this study. The table shows hsCRP to be the most telling single blood marker for CAD between the two groups (separated into two lists by the screening technique, so four columns) of known CAD or non-CAD study subjects. While many other blood markers had little or no average change.
Also this AHA article shows more evidence from the Framingham Study on hsCRP as "a strong independent risk factor for cardiovascular events".

I would be surprised if your average hsCRP result was below 2 without medication, considering what has happened.

As you may already know, exercise helps to a degree, but diet is the most effective way to prevent further problems.
http://www.dresselstyn.com/site/articles-studies/
And you cannot out run/ride a poor diet.
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/arterie ... s-runners/
ColinOldnCranky wrote:Bottom line=========================================
  • You can seem totally healthy and still be bitten.
Indeed. From memory, you are among the approximate 50% of people who's first symptom is a heart attack.
Last edited by Nobody on Thu Jul 28, 2016 9:36 am, edited 3 times in total.

madmacca
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby madmacca » Thu Jul 28, 2016 9:25 am

Thanks for posting Colin.

And well done on carefully selecting and vetting the audience in front of which to have your heart attack!

fat and old
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby fat and old » Thu Jul 28, 2016 9:35 am

ColinOldnCranky wrote: I passed out of slipped off the unicycle or whatever right in front of a GP. There were also two cops within a couple of minutes of me and a nurse also came into the picture.
Sometimes you get lucky :D My mum had a heart attack a few years ago; she was in a pharmacy.

And you're quite right on CPR.

Good luck with it, from a 3 time stroke receiver :)

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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby Kalgrm » Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:18 am

Few, that was a close one!

I'm so glad you're still here to tell us about it Colin. Keep well mate.

Cheers,
Graeme
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby ball bearing » Thu Jul 28, 2016 11:52 am

You were a so fortunate that there were qualified medics on the scene. Take care and get well.

Did you have any idea that you had CVD before the attack? Were you taking statins prior to the attack?

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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby Mulger bill » Thu Jul 28, 2016 6:32 pm

Ow...
Glad to hear you got lucky Col, hope you're back out there soon.

Shaun
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby rolandp » Thu Jul 28, 2016 7:45 pm

Glad you are on the road to recovery. We can swap heart stories next time we see each other.

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ColinOldnCranky
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:23 pm

I am in the motions of addressing various issues through RPH and it's relelvant services. however I am still happy to receive advice from anyone except the laughable banana boy.

Yes, the broken and bruised bones are from the CPR. It is hard to fall badly off a unicycle in the normal course of events though I am thinking that, until I have reason to dismiss the possibility of another non-compus fall, I may wear my helmet. I could, conceivably, take a fall backwards onto my head.

I should be riding to Sassys tomorrow just from home to train and train to Sassys. And the same return. I will henceforth be taking my Glycerol Trinitrate spray.

It is annoying that the Heart Foundation have chosen to NOT put out a version of "My heart, my life" in windows format.
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cp123
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby cp123 » Fri Jul 29, 2016 11:38 am

wow. good to see you still alive and kicking. look after yourself.

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foo on patrol
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby foo on patrol » Fri Jul 29, 2016 9:12 pm

Just goes to prove...............you never know! :wink:

Good ya still with us Colin. :D

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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby NASHIE » Fri Jul 29, 2016 11:53 pm

Glad to hear your on the mend Colin. The diagnosis of 'sometimes it just happens' does mess with your head for a while after when your a fit and healthy individual. Makes you smell the flowers a little harder :wink:

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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby Baalzamon » Sat Jul 30, 2016 6:46 am

Wow you got really lucky colin! I've been on the other side of the fence and seen it happen right in front of me with 0 help.

Chiming in here with Nobody. Homocysteine implicated in atherosclerosis. When I had mine tested it was a shocking 16. I'm getting retested shortly to find out if what I'm doing is working or not. And I'm getting my hscrp tested instead of my CRP which my doctor ordered. CRP doesn't read below 4. So you must get hsCRP tested
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby billy70 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:49 am

Really glad that you are still here to share this Colin. Many of us in Perth have seen how fit you are so its definitely a cautionary tale ... with a rather large dose of good fortune.

Wishing you a full and speedy recovery.
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby gabrielle260 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 11:09 am

Oh Colin! So glad you are still with us and able to write about it!!
It's a scary thought that despite keeping fit and eating reasonably well it can still happen!
Best wishes for a speedy recovery- especially the ribs!
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby Nobody » Sat Jul 30, 2016 11:29 am

gabrielle260 wrote:It's a scary thought that despite keeping fit and eating reasonably well it can still happen!
The problem is when you are genetically susceptible, "eating reasonably well" usually isn't enough to prevent further events. After all, the term "moderation in all things" was a saying popularised by the cigarette companies.

In Cholesterol Lowering, Moderation Kills


http://nutritionfacts.org/video/everyth ... t-disease/

I know it's an unpopular message, but it may help someone who doesn't want to have another cardiovascular or stroke event in the future. Changing one's diet is usually only difficult for the first 3 weeks until it becomes habit.

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ColinOldnCranky
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Sun Jul 31, 2016 6:04 am

On Friday I took my first tentative ride since.

I rugged up excessively which contributed, I suspect, to an irrational sense of anxiety. But as even a mild sneeze will lay me out completely I was and am still wary of any chance of catching a cold. A snezze is like a bomb going off in my chest when it happens and I guess it'll be that way until the ribs are mended.

I used the train for the most of the ride, just pedaling the Bateman to Bull Creek Station and the Esplanade Station to Sassys. So around 7km instead of the usual 35 or so. But I'm not complaining, any time on the unicycle is good atm.

I'll be holding off for dry and warmer conditions before I try my full length early morning rides.
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby Rex » Mon Aug 22, 2016 4:27 pm

I rode past you the other day and was thinking it had been some time since I've seen you, even since post-retirement.

Glad the damage was minimal and you have recovered well.

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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby outnabike » Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:02 pm

Hi Colin,
A shock to the system alright, and as good an outcome as possible. Take it slow and steady and all the best. the worll needs all the single wheel riders it can get. :)
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby piledhigher » Thu Aug 25, 2016 11:33 pm

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/watching-this ... 1785704293

Starting to understand what happened Colin..

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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby foo on patrol » Sat Aug 27, 2016 8:28 am

Be patient Colin and you'll be back there with ya fitness. :wink:

Foo
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ColinOldnCranky
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Mon Sep 05, 2016 9:34 pm

I joined the extended family on Saturday for an eight birthday party.

Everyone was surprised. I was apparently supposed to palid, slow, stooped and doddery. Rather I am flat out riding, packing furniture, filling up the the skip, working on the Land Cruiser. And with the blessing of my cardiologist. About all that I am missing is the excess of sugary treats and greasy food. :(

A great salve for the ego. :mrgreen:
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Re: My heart attack - Are you as healthy as you think?

Postby Cowcorner » Tue Dec 20, 2016 8:53 pm

OK - thought I'd post on this subject given my experiences of late. I'd always considered myself to be reasonably fit - yes I could have lost a bit of weight, but otherwise ok for a 50-something guy. My riding was essentially commuting 2-3 times a week (55km return).

Anyway, at home the Thursday before last I started feeling pressure in my chest accompanied by a feeling of just being "not right". I was toying with the idea of whether to wake SWMBO when the pressure turned to pain and spread to my elbow. Next thing you know I was in an ambulance on the way to the Cath Lab at Sunshine. The prognosis - a STEMI caused by a 90% blockage in the Left Anterior Descending artery which required an immediate stent, and a 80% blockage in the Circumflex which will require a stent sometime in January.

I have some lifestyle issues that I need to address (specifically diet and stress), but most of my situation is genetic factors - my father had his first heart attack about the age I am now. The alarming thing is that I had pretty much no prior warning other than (possibly) a slight breathlessness when I walked up stairs. Certainly cycling was not an issue.

The moral of the story? If you experience any sort of chest discomfort or pain that doesn't feel right, don't delay and never feel embarrassed about calling an ambulance, particularly if you have any sort of family history. The doctors told my family that most people with my type of STEMI don't make it to hospital and, in my case, it's only because we called it in early that I'm still here.

Now looking forward to getting the second stent out of the way so I can start the recovery process in earnest.

Merry Christmas all. Stay safe. 8)
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