Had some heart surgery......
 

I figure the issue was actually showing up back when I was still racing the 914-6 vintage car when I would be driving very hard such as trying to keep up with Wayne Baker, my chest would hurt from the heavy breathing so I generally would only drive at 80% or so. In 2010 I sold the race car as my arthritis was getting worse and it was unsafe to drive with the pain meds. Last September I had a non bleeding mini stroke with little loss of actions and over a couple months fully recovered. The neurosurgeon had me get a cardiologist appointment which I did at the end of April. He had me schedule a heart stress test that was done on 5/8 at 2:00 PM and at 3:00 PM I was admitted for a heart catheter as I had a heart attack about 20% of the way into the test!

So on Friday 5/9 I was knocked out and was checked and when I was told I could go home right away AFTER the heart surgeon talked with me, I figured things were not well? I was right and he said at least 3 of the passages at the heart were 70% or so blocked and asked if I wanted the bypass surgery and I said yes. He already had me on his calender for 5/20 and so I spent the following week getting pre-op tests and exams done and all went well as expected.

By 6:16 AM on 5/20 I was getting told I would be getting some meds in one of the 4 IVs to help me relax and the next thing I remember was waking up in the ICU with all my daughters there trying to say high, crying, trying to hug me, etc, etc and the nurses trying to make sure that none of the pacemaker wires, EKG wires, drain pump lines and chest pressure sensor tubes would get pulled loose. The next thing I remember was waking up Thursday morning and seemed to have missed Wednesday completely somehow?! Anyways they starting unplugging me and the doctor came by and went over what was done to me. He actually did 5 bypasses as all looked pretty bad and closed an atrial-septal defect which had never fully closed as I was growing up. He said the hole was small and easily patched once they put my blood flow on a machine and stopped my heart! That made me think I had been a pretty lucky boy all those years racing motorcycles, bicycles and running 10ks, etc. He noted I was at probably 90% of the best blood flow possible so I could probably have won more races than I did!

So on Memorial Day I got to come home and the sunshine never has felt so good as when the "mover" wheeled me out to the car and we drove all the way home with the windows open, no A/C as I wanted to enjoy the San Diego air. In thinking back, my cholesterol levels are 80% of the limits and have been for years, my blood pressure is normally 120/65 and better at most times, why the plugging? The surgeon said it could also be genetic and be glad we caught it before a real heart attack happened and he hates to have to do these surgeries in a big rush and we had plenty of time?! Some medical humor there I guess.

Glad your better John :)

John, that's quite a story and I'm happy you came out of it with good results. I guess sometimes we really don't know the real story about our health. You're lucky to live in a time when they can successfully fix these kinds of things to allow us to go on with a long & happy life. Fifty years ago, it would have been a different story. Keep it up & here's wishing you that long life you deserve.

That's great news on the overhaul, John! Lots of miles ahead. SmileWavy

Glad you are doing better now.

Wow, thank God for talented doctors and nurses. Glad you're ok!

Wow, nice save!

How old are you John if you don't mind me asking. Glad you're on the mend.

Thanks for sharing John. Enjoy that sunshine!

so three years ago I got a call from my mom; my father had been having what he thought was heartburn, but was in for a cardiac stress test and didn't even get to take the test they told him he already had a heart attack. that night he had triple by pass surgery- a stint was not even offered as a option.

Nice to hear things are better for you John. Heart health and health in general requires work. We sometimes take better care of our cars than we do of ourselves.

Mike

Damn john! Glad you are on the mend!

It's all routine stuff....until it happens to you or yours. Glad you're doing well!

Glad to hear you are recovering from your heart surgery.
Heart surgery seems so common these days.
But to me its anything but routine and the chances for complications are great.
My father never woke up from his heart surgery at UCLA.
Happy to hear yours was successful, that stuff scares the **** out of me!

I have a racer buddy that had his bypass a year ago and he is racing again.
Start planning your come back now! :D

Thanks everyone for the thoughts. I think mine is probably genetic or predisposed if you will? When asked about family history I say my father and grandfathers died in their 90s when their hearts stopped, same with my mother who had a stroke when she was 82, past the age when it would be a shock? My risk factors, as they say, have all been controlled since the 70s when I quit drinking and smoking. I'll be 69 in a couple days and as I told the doctors assistant when doing the preop interview, I can go into this happy knowing I might not wake up. She looked puzzled and I said I had done good things and bad things, gave life to children and killed some bad guys who probably really needed it, showed junior engineers what is the right way and won at everything I had competed at even not intentionally trying to win. So I considered my life pretty well full filled and said to proceed. She was surprised I was as calm and ready as I was and I said well if I come out of all this then I figure there is still more for me to do yet.

Glad to hear they got you fixed up. Hang in there John.

What a story! Glad to hear all is well.

Be well, John.....

Whew!!!

Wow....great news and glad to hear all is well now. Nice save indeed.