1. (read me first) An accident waiting to happen
- srsandsberry
- Mar 18
- 2 min read
I don't believe any of us is truly ready for abrupt massive change unless it's a change we have planned and emotionally prepared for, such as relocating, starting a new job or getting married. A medical calamity is like none of those, and with the obvious exception of a fatality-causing event such as a massive heart attack or aneurysm, I can't imagine a more abrupt or impactful massive change than the one I experienced in the early morning of June 8, 2016. I was two months shy of my 64th birthday, was (or so I believed) in excellent physical condition, having been a runner, a workout junkie and a frequent backpacker for my entire adult life. outwardly, I appeared to be a vision of health.
Inwardly, though, I was something of a train wreck. I had battled high blood pressure for years and for four decades had been a newspaper journalist with daily deadlines, an inherently stressful gig if one is passionate about doing it well, which I was.
Unbeknownst to me, this combination of HBP and job stress had turned my carotid artery into a replica of Seattle rush hour traffic. Nothing was moving, because the roadway was blocked. I learned later that my carotid artery was 98 percent occluded. I was a stroke or heart attack under construction. Worse, I had no way of knowing it because I hadn't been astute enough to recognize my risk factors and had not scheduled a Lifeline screening that would have revealed my carotid blockage. Not exactly the brightest bulb in the box here. I certainly hope others can learn from my experience and employ the forethought necessary to avoid repeating it.
My wife had a heart attack without having any red flags - no high blood pressure, no high cholestoral, no high stress. Doctors inserted a stent the next day so we are so fortunate she has no long-lasting effects. Sometimes genetics is a factor, which was her case as her father had heart issues. You are so right, Scott, about being unprepared for unforseen medical changes.
My younger sister, who was a longtime smoker, rarely exercised and thus was not a picture of good health, recently had a series of mild strokes. It was during this process that she discovered her right caratid artery was almost completely closed, like 98 or 99 percent. This happened knowing that our mother suffered a major stroke in her 40s. Most strokes are explained because family history leads us to that conclusion. Yours is hard to explain, which is harder to accept because, it seems, you did enough to avoid it ever happening ...