I can share this information now that my medical procedure was completed this week. I didn't watch the movie, but I suspect my story may be part of what we were lead to believe.
I am a very unfit individual with a very high body mass index. I have eaten poorly with very little fruits and vegetables and highly fatty foods my entire life. I drink a lot of beer and over the last 5+ years most of it is very high calorie craft beers. I have not exercised in over 20 years and the five years before that was very little and limited to softball and basketball games. Certainly not the model for Fitness magazine.
I had a stress test echocardiogram at the end of the Summer. There were some issues that were discovered during the procedure. I have been having some follow ups to determine cause. Haven't got fully there yet. However, I did have a cardiac catheterization procedure this week to assess the blockage of plaque in my artery walls. I was going into it believing that they were going to be clogged and that they would potentially put in a stent where necessary during the procedure once they found 70%+ blockage and where the stent would need to be placed.
Much to my surprise, I had 3 places where the max blockage was ~10% and the rest of the plumbing was wide open. I can tell you that I have been taking statins for over 20 years amongst the cocktail of medications and supplements that have been prescribed and recommended to me by my doctors over the years. My goal has always been to be medicated for my lifestyle. Well, low and behold, it appears that has been the case. I still can't believe the results.
I will say though that for the last 3+ weeks I have been eating fruit pretty regularly. I have also started to eat more grains and less white flour bread products in an effort to purposefully get 25+ grams of fiber a day. Both of these are big changes for me and I am handling them pretty well and could see them being permanent changes even with the good news related to the blockage (or lack of).
Moral of the story. Get a family doctor that is thorough and makes you get routine blood work studies, the annual EKG, stress tests and other exams/procedures as needed. Track your vitals - blood pressure, pulse, oxygen levels in your blood, bloodwork results, etc. Get to know what your normal is so you know when something trends higher may be a problem. I am convinced it saved my life a year ago when I somehow got Legionnaire's Disease. I knew something was wrong and went to the emergency room and they took care of it in 48 hours. I probably would have died if I stayed home for those 48 hours thinking it was the flu and was going to pass in a few days.
Here's to a slightly newer me going forward.
