It is with great sadness that my longtime friend Dana, LACruiser, passed away on Sunday morning.
Below is a message that Dana sent out recently. I had talked to him on Saturday and he seemed to be fine and in good spirits. One thing that was important to him was other other learned to not wait until you have a problem before taking care of yourself. I include this message in the hope that others might read, learn and hopefully prevent problems.
Since this is a public forum, I will only post certain information as the information is available. Please keep Dana's wife and three children in your thoughts and prayers.
A scary UCLA episode
Date: Wed 17-Mar-2010 07:47:17 pm
From: Dana Adams <fj40dana@hotmail.com>
Hi All,
I just wanted to let you know what happened. I know some of you have seen emails or FB messages about an incident that I just went through.
Here's a recap of what happened, and the latest.
Last Sat morning I awoke to a strong ache and pressure in the middle of my chest. This lasted only a minute or two, then repeated itself a couple times in the next half-hour, so off we went to the ER. After downing an aspirin, Jill drove me to UCLA Medical Center, because they are the best hospital around for anything like this.
After a quick blood test they determined that I had elevated cardiac enzymes. These are markers for heart muscle trauma. Fortunately for me, the numbers were very low, so the likelihood of any kind of major damage having been done was almost nil. However, "something" had happened, so they admitted me to the hospital.
UCLA works on a "committee" style. There are a number of cardiologists, they all consult each other on all the patients, and there is a consensus that is reached, the results are discussed with the patient, and that is the course of action that is recommended. So you are getting a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th opinion, all at once. Of course, the individual physicians may recommend different courses of action.
To make a very long story short, I ended up taking two imaging tests, an echo cardiogram, and a nuclear stress test (involves a treadmill). I came through both with perfect results.
So the end result is that I have been diagnosed with a NSTEMI, which in layman's terms is a mild heart attack. There is some muscle damage, but best they can tell, whatever artery is involved is only partially blocked, not totally.
They are convinced that I can manage this condition with diet, weight loss, exercise, and medications. So on Friday I was on zero meds, and as of now, I'm on quite a few! This condition (partial blockage) is apparently reversible over time.
And now I'm going to pay a WHOLE lot more attention to that nutrition label on the food containers.
This incident is of my own doing. I've been ignoring high blood lipids, blood pressure, and excess weight for some time, and it could have killed me. The nurses informed me they see many people every week come through there in exactly the same situation, only much much worse. Again, people who have ignored their "numbers" for years, and now are paying a very heavy toll.
In retrospect, I'm a very lucky guy. I now see the light. I've learned that despite intense exercise, you really DO need to watch what you eat, and watch those numbers!
Many thanks to those who visited/called/emailed to express their concern and support. Those feelings are greatly appreciated, believe me.
Dana
Below is a message that Dana sent out recently. I had talked to him on Saturday and he seemed to be fine and in good spirits. One thing that was important to him was other other learned to not wait until you have a problem before taking care of yourself. I include this message in the hope that others might read, learn and hopefully prevent problems.
Since this is a public forum, I will only post certain information as the information is available. Please keep Dana's wife and three children in your thoughts and prayers.
A scary UCLA episode
Date: Wed 17-Mar-2010 07:47:17 pm
From: Dana Adams <fj40dana@hotmail.com>
Hi All,
I just wanted to let you know what happened. I know some of you have seen emails or FB messages about an incident that I just went through.
Here's a recap of what happened, and the latest.
Last Sat morning I awoke to a strong ache and pressure in the middle of my chest. This lasted only a minute or two, then repeated itself a couple times in the next half-hour, so off we went to the ER. After downing an aspirin, Jill drove me to UCLA Medical Center, because they are the best hospital around for anything like this.
After a quick blood test they determined that I had elevated cardiac enzymes. These are markers for heart muscle trauma. Fortunately for me, the numbers were very low, so the likelihood of any kind of major damage having been done was almost nil. However, "something" had happened, so they admitted me to the hospital.
UCLA works on a "committee" style. There are a number of cardiologists, they all consult each other on all the patients, and there is a consensus that is reached, the results are discussed with the patient, and that is the course of action that is recommended. So you are getting a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th opinion, all at once. Of course, the individual physicians may recommend different courses of action.
To make a very long story short, I ended up taking two imaging tests, an echo cardiogram, and a nuclear stress test (involves a treadmill). I came through both with perfect results.
So the end result is that I have been diagnosed with a NSTEMI, which in layman's terms is a mild heart attack. There is some muscle damage, but best they can tell, whatever artery is involved is only partially blocked, not totally.
They are convinced that I can manage this condition with diet, weight loss, exercise, and medications. So on Friday I was on zero meds, and as of now, I'm on quite a few! This condition (partial blockage) is apparently reversible over time.
And now I'm going to pay a WHOLE lot more attention to that nutrition label on the food containers.
This incident is of my own doing. I've been ignoring high blood lipids, blood pressure, and excess weight for some time, and it could have killed me. The nurses informed me they see many people every week come through there in exactly the same situation, only much much worse. Again, people who have ignored their "numbers" for years, and now are paying a very heavy toll.
In retrospect, I'm a very lucky guy. I now see the light. I've learned that despite intense exercise, you really DO need to watch what you eat, and watch those numbers!
Many thanks to those who visited/called/emailed to express their concern and support. Those feelings are greatly appreciated, believe me.
Dana
