 Notes
from the Coronary Kid: Getting
My Cholesterol Checked the Hard Way,
or How I Spent My Winter Vacation
By Dan Zodun
posted Friday, April
29, 2005
WITH THE RECENT PASSING of Springer
sports legends Dennis Story and Ben
Riggin, as well the tragic Christmas
Day death of Maritza Harris (the mother
of Springer footballer Victor Harris),
life seems more precious than ever,
and we pull our loved ones closer,
hoping to protect them as best we can.
It is in this spirit of friendship
and concern that I implore every member
of this site and everyone
you know to get their cholesterol checked
and do something about your diet and
exercise. If I had listened to these
very words, they might have kept me
off the operating room table. It might
have prevented me from needing Coronary
Artery Bypass surgery.
After weeks of recovery since
the January 25th surgery, I returned
to work on March 18th. Things are coming
along fine, thank you. I
am driving again – stay
off the sidewalks if you don’t
like the way I drive – and doing
almost every other thing I want to.
I am not able to dunk a basketball
and not able to hit a straight tee
shot, but I couldn’t do those
things before anyhow. But because of
the surgery, I will have plenty of
beautiful days to tweak the slice out
of my driver. Without the surgery,
I would probably now be the EX-Admin
of the Springer Connection. EX-everything,
really.
OUR BASSET HOUND SAVED MY LIFE. Gracie
loves to play, and she is very nimble
(but not necessarily graceful). On
January 22, while playing with Gracie—hands
and knees on the floor— I experienced
dizziness and a sudden rush of heat
in my chest. The dizziness subsided
after about 30 minutes or so. I was
concerned but not alarmed. The next
day, Gracie wanted to “run me” again.
After the previous day’s experience,
I was more cautious, and just sat on
the edge of the couch as I played the “hand
game” with her. As she bounced
out of reach, I leaned over to reach
for her, dipping my head as I stretched
out my arms. The dizziness struck again,
much worse this time, and the effect
didn’t lessen as it had the day
before. Instead, I felt cold and disoriented
the rest of the day (sort of like taking
a test in Mr. Buckner’s Physics
class). Since the next day was a holiday
for many, I decided to visit my physician
and get it checked out.
Until that visit to the doctor, I
had never even had my blood taken,
much less spent any time in a hospital.
There are SICK people in the hospital,
and I was one of those guys who almost
never got sick (unless we decided to
ditch class and ride around in Ron
Perry's SS). Three days later, having
failed a cardiac stress test and having
been advised of major blockages identified
by a process called cardiac catheterization,
I had no choice but to undergo the
bypass surgery.
As it turns out, Coronary Bypass Surgery
is now the most-performed major surgery
in the USA. With better nutrition,
exercise (and better drugs), hopefully,
that number will go down. Years ago,
before this procedure was available,
a guy like me just went down in his
dinner plate, as my uncle did decades
ago. It turns out that four of my mother’s
brothers died in a five-year span,
and all of them were less than fifty
years old. Can you say “heredity”?
IN CASE YOU DON’T KNOW what
Coronary Artery Disease is or even
what the coronary arteries DO (I didn’t),
here is a short tutorial: The heart
pumps all the blood for the body. The
coronary arteries pump blood to the
heart muscle ITSELF. The heart feeds
itself first (pretty sensible, huh?)
before sending blood to the rest of
the body.
The blood passing through our bodies
carries all kinds of stuff, including
fat. Depending on what we eat, how
much exercise we get, and the genes
we have inherited from our ancestors,
the level of fat in our blood can get
pretty high. Cholesterol and triglycerides
are measures of the fats floating around
in our blood.
Over the years, these loosely-floating
particles, called plaque, can
attach to the walls of
arteries,
mainly
the Coronary arteries. This is known
as Atherosclerosis, or Coronary Artery
Disease. In time, the plaque actually
slips past the
wall
of
the artery and is absorbed right into
the muscle of the artery itself. The
plaque builds up, shrinking
the open
area INSIDE the arteries,
until, eventually, the Coronary arteries
become so blocked that blood cannot
flow to the heart muscle itself. Very
bad things can start happening from
here, including pain, shortness of
breath, heart attack and death.
To get the blood around these blockages,
the surgeon takes a piece of vein from
the leg or arm, and runs it from the
aorta
to the artery BEYOND the clog, getting
blood flow back to the heart muscle.
It's major surgery, and they crack
the patient's chest open to do this
work. By the
way, they don't sew you up anymore
- they use glue!
I WAS FORTUNATE in that I did NOT
have a heart attack, just a heck of
a wakeup call. So, I have a healthy
heart and new, clean pipes that bypass
the blockages in my coronary arteries.
But that is not as good as if I had
kept my arteries clean in the first
place. For one thing, the bypass grafts
that the surgeons made may not last
more than ten years or so. They MIGHT
last
20 years or more, but it would have
been better to have my original arteries
clear and healthy.
And that is what YOU need to do. Get
your blood checked, eat better and
do simple cardiovascular exercise,
like walking around your neighborhood
or riding a stationary bike.
IF YOU DON’T KNOW what your
cholesterol level is, please get it
checked. If you have health insurance,
you can have it done by your doctor.
If not, you can have it done in the
Richmond area for a mere $25 dollars
at your local Ukrop’s store’s “Wellness
Day” (Here’s the LIST of
Wellness Days coming up this month).
It only takes a minute, and they just
stick your finger, not your arm. You
get the results before you leave the
store. If your cholesterol is too high,
they may suggest that you visit your
doctor for a prescription or other
ways of lowering your cholesterol.
But at least you will KNOW.
It is rare to get a perspective on
losing the great opportunities that
life offers. With the passing of friends
and acquaintances we are reminded that
life can be short, too short. We owe
it to ourselves and our loved ones
to be there for as long as we can.
It is not that difficult to take care
of these things. You don’t have
to eat a perfect diet, or live like
a hermit. I am going to eat better,
take my Lipitor and do my exercises.
But I am going to continue to enjoy
great, healthy food and drink fine
wine.
Life is sweeter than ever, and I intend
to live it to the fullest. I hope you
will too. Get your cholesterol tested,
stay healthy, and live a long life.
-Dan
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