That was not fun AT ALL

[JFSanders]

Worked Monday the 11th all day and felt terrible all day. Could not get my breath at all. Told my wife when I got home and she said we were going to the ER. I felt bad enough that I didn't do my usual routine and just got in the truck. Spent the next five days undergoing all manner of tests! At this point I cannot go through the TSA scanners as I would set them off. Saturday morning I had a heart catheterization procedure and I watched it all happen. It was amazing to see my heart pumping in real time and to see the cardiologist moving the catheter around in my heart. When she shot the dye into me it gave me a warm sensation that I could feel moving around my arteries and then my veins. It moved very fast!

The upshot of all of this money spent was that I have an enlarged left ventricle and damage to the lower end of my heart muscle. I am now on a restricted diet until I get down to 200lbs and I have to begin a exercise program on a six day per week schedule. The nice part is that yoga and other types of martial arts can be substituted for the parts I don't like such as riding a bike. So I will be swimming, hiking, weight lifting and doing yoga, jiu jitsu and maybe ballet (not)

I am glad to have caught this early and I will dearly miss the food and drink that I use to consume. I think it will be a good trade in the end as I may live long enough to see some grandchildren.

Jim

[Tito87]

This can be a good excuse to start taking long walks with your camera. You may get something nice out of all this exercise. Wish you a quick recovery.

[milosh]

Glad to hear you're OK now, and you'll get used to the new regime in no time!

[Barbara V]

All this must've been a shock to your system. Glad you got it all done in time. Scary stuff. Good luck with your exercise regime, and take it slow.

[mad editor]

So glad you caught it when you did! I'm tying to get used to a healthier lifestyle myself - once the weight starts to come off and you feel less tired and more energetic, you'll be glad you did it. Yes, more walks with the camera to your eye are in order!

[First Light]

Glad you got it checked out! I see people every day in Rehab who didn't, and the long-term effects are much more devastating.
Hang in there, and take it one day at a time!

[Izzy]

Well you scared the hell out of me just reading it. Glad you got it all checked out. I trust you will adjust to the new parts. They say it takes about 30 days to make habit of it all.

[SwissJon]

Glad you're ok.. From someone who was forced to give up drinking for health reasons before my 40th birthday, I can tell you, it takes a bit of adjusting to, you suddenly start to see how entrenched in our society is with alcohol, BUT the flip side of that is cutting out alcohol means your weight will fall away real quick, and you'll start to feel really good in yourself, seriously, it's like being young again, you'll start to be able to do stuff you had forgotten you could, and you'll find that you have more time in the day.. There's soo many benifits to this change in lifestyle.. No more hangovers, being able to drive home after a night out... Only thing that needed to change is the mindset.. These days I "pretend" to get drunk when I go out.. People soon forget you're on soft drinks and you can still join in and be silly if you want.. Don't let yourself regret the change, if you do, you'll not stick it out, of you don't regret it, you'll feel LOADS better..

Keep well mate..

[gturner]

Glad you found it! It is a lesson to everyone... heart disease is the silent killer.

Stick to your plan, don't shift for ANYTHING of anyone!

[Bruce A]

That's not great news Jim, yet in a way it is. You can consider yourself "told" and that should be all the motivation you need to stay on top of your health. You have everything to gain by a change of lifestyle. Both my wife and myself have had to do this. My wife has a second chance in life after being brought back from the other side. She suffered a cardiac arrest at work in 2006 and a year before I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. These things come as a shock, but we need to consider how fortunate we are to live in this age where we get 'previews' of what might be and the abilities to turn things around. Stick to it and enjoy life.