Good news from the cardio front

After suffering a major heart attack over the holidays, getting a stent put in during January, losing almost twenty pounds since then on top of the nearly forty I had lost before (Well, there’s overlap, I’ve gone from my all time super obese high of 210 pounds to about just above 160 now), quitting smoking, stopping bad food and consuming nearly zero cholesterol, and enduring all kinds of panicky neurosis for the last few weeks — much of it made worse by my terrible day job pay and low disability payments based on that pay — my cardiologist gave me a clean bill of health today. I still have some anxiety issues, but for the most part I feel so good it can flirt with feeling high or a little bit manic at times.

He said using only the data gathered this week, detailed EKGs, blood work, and direct examination, he would never be able to tell I had ever suffered a heart issue of any kind, let alone a massive MI. In another three months I’ll get the full echo-sono-stress test work up to compare cardiac function with past tests which he suspects will yield the best prognosis possible. I just wanted to pass that on and thank those of you who provided all kinds of support through this ordeal, up to and including sharing your own personal stories and encouragement with me via email and coughing up heard earned dough when I was in dire need.

I’ll be on the air shortly

Technology notwithstanding, I’ll be on the air at Daily Kos radio with Kagro in the Morning and guest Dr Greg Dworkin. This show streams live and it can be downloaded for podcast. If you want to listen live, my scheduled time is 9:15 –  10 AM Eastern, and I have a lot to cover. The link below usually works, but I’ll have another page linked if you have issues with other options.

Can’t see the Flash player? Click here to download the stream directly.

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I have reached and surpassed my goal, many, many thanks!

Thank you all from the bottom of my healing heart. I have reached what I need and even have a little cushion. All told FtB readers generously pitched in several hundred dollars, easily covering the shortfall caused by the inevitable delay of a badly needed short term disability check and then some. That check didn’t come again today, so sure enough, your donations made the difference. I was able to get my critical meds refilled and go to cardiac rehab because of you. Thank you all so much! I am really touched, last night when those emails started showing up I had to wipe away some tears.

I will never, ever, let anyone ever tell me again that atheists can’t possibly have a sense of right and wrong, or that we lack morals or empathy because we don’t believe in super natural beings, after this. Even if I have to be a little bit rude about it. I just won’t tolerate it ever again.

I’ll be on Kagro in the Morning tomorrow, Thursday, discussing science and anti-science, heart healthy month and if time permits the ACA, better known as Obama care. Times will be announced and linked tomorrow at 8 AM Central time here on this site!

I suffered a massive full-blown widow-maker heart attack

Update 3 Jan 2015: Med students, heart patients, and interested people, here is an actual post written detailing the signs and symptoms felt while I was suffering what was later diagnosed by a cardiologist as a major heart attack. If you’re up for kicking in a few bucks to help with spiraling healthcare costs due to heart attack and poverty level disability pay, my paypal email is posted above.

So I got the cath results: It wasn’t a minor heart attack folks. It was a full blown widow maker where a primary coronary artery got blocked 100%, and that blockage was right at the top, high enough up that the bottom two-thirds of my entire heart could have been deader than fried chicken. I would have been dead before my body hit the floor.

How am I still alive, much less able to spend the last several hours running up and down stairs, straying all over the hospital, flirting with night nurses (Oh man, the brains on these gals, I can’t stop talking to them, their science-y minds are so incredibly hot!) just a few hours after the cath that confirmed a massive myocardial infarction? Well, it’s not a miracle … [Read more…]

The Heart Cath

8:40 AM Central: Driving to St. David’s North Austin Medical Center, I don’t know if I’ll have Internet access or not, but I smuggled in a tablet. I’m geting a heart cath shortly, will tweet under tag #heartcath using @SAndrewDKos. BTW, my aol email address is completely borked and the cust service I got when I called in to get it fixed was horrific. Later this week I might call them and record how terrible it is for Kagro on the Morning and me to ridicule.

The godbots descend on the bad news of my heart attack

Now that the word is out that I probably had a heart attack last month, my email runneth over. Most of them are dear friends and family members wishing me the best, a few with questions asking about morbid details, what did it feel like, what’s the prognosis, do I need anything, etc. But there’s been one threatening me with eternal hellfire, a few telling me this is God-eh reaching out to me, and one trumpeting it as God’s punishment, basically for being a progressive and supporting Obamacare. Selected excerpts below:

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Another day in the life of a middle aged peasant

Update: Medical students, cardiopulmonary specialists, and heart patients, this is an actual post written while I was having what was later diagnosed by a cardiologist as a relatively ‘mild’ heart attack. Bear in mind no heart attack is truly mild in any sense of the word. Read below, learn what NOT to do when having symptoms.

So I’m having the usual holiday AS flare up, it seems to get worse in December like clockwork every year. And yesterday afternoon there’s a new worrisome symptom: chest pain! It was kinda behind the sternum, seemed to be in the base of the throat a little bit. It wasn’t debilitating but given my age, 50, and general risk behaviors, eating crap and smoking, not to mention constant high blood pressure and high blood fats, I’m a prime candidate for an MI and this could be a warning sign. To complicate matters, I also used to suffer from chronic panic attacks, so last night was real fun. [Read more…]