airdvr 210 #1 January 10, 2010 For the second time in my life I'm living on bonus days...what do you call that? Bonus days squared? Friday afternoon a blood clot completely closed my left circumflex artery. That'll get your attention in a hurry. I'm now the proud owner of a pretty large stent. Watched the whole thing on the screen. Feeling better than I have in a long time and back to work by the end of this week. On a related note 37 employees at R J Reynolds have been given layoff notices.Please don't dent the planet. Destinations by Roxanne Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beerlight 0 #2 January 10, 2010 Wow...that was a close one. What type of long term changes will prevent this in the future? Bonus days are nice! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airdvr 210 #3 January 10, 2010 The biggest is the smoking. I've known for a long time that I was slowly doing damage but ignored it. I'm not typical for this type of problem. No high blood pressure, cholesterol isn't too bad, not a diabetes candidate. If this would have happened while were were in the Grenadines...well...I don't think they have an abundance of cath labs in those islands.Please don't dent the planet. Destinations by Roxanne Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidB 0 #4 January 10, 2010 Congratulations & welcome to the "I bruise with a hard look" club. Wish I could have watched mine going in... When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lippy 918 #5 January 10, 2010 QuoteThe biggest is the smoking. I've known for a long time that I was slowly doing damage but ignored it.. Glad to hear you're still around! I don't want to sound like I'm preaching (I've only been off the cigarettes for 10 days), but I went from smoking over a pack a day for 14 years to smoking nothing and it's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. If you decide you want to quit, check out 'The Easy Way to Quit Smoking' by Allen Carr. It was recommended to me by a DZ.commer when I came on here and said that I was going to quit (that was an attempt last year that lasted about 3 weeks). The mindset that the book got me into helped, and continues to help, me through this initial stage of recovering from the nicotine addiction. Again, I'm glad to hear that things worked as well as they did and I wish you the best of health!I got nuthin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jceman 1 #6 January 10, 2010 Welcome to the Double Bonus Days club. I didn't get to see them work on my heart last July as they don't like you to be conscious when they lay your chest wide open. My right was 80% and the left 90% with the circumflex totally occluded -- they ended up putting in five (that's right, I said five!) bypasses. The experience sure does change your views on some things - I still really want a good cigar after a nice meal (which can be heart healthy AND delicious, btw), but like I said to some other friends, "I'd kill for a cigar, but I won't die for one." I am also of the opinion that despite the thriving quit-smoking business, there is only one way that works, and that is to quit. Period. Not to say that it is easy, but the only people I have known who have successfully stopped are those who did it cold turkey. Good luck. Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, more money. Why do they call it "Tourist Season" if we can't shoot them? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites