Finding out the rules also apply to you
 

I think in my case riding a bicycle gave me an attitude that has far as health issues goes riding will keep me healthy. It has to an extent. I think I almost got arrogant in that thought with less then good eating habits and disregarding family history. Well this Monday I went into the hospital and had two stints placed in my heart for a 99% closed artery. I was lucky I didn’t have major attack but have to admit this had definitely caught my attention. I’m not sure why I am writing this or what great wisdom I’m trying to convey other then the obvious; the rules apply to me to

As has been proven in the past, the amount of exercize does not go hand in hand with the amount of "good health" that a person has. I remember a famous {ok i remember he was famous but not his name} runner that died all of a sudden with a heart attack... just saying, we all need to watch our health in all ways.

You are not alone.
After 9 yearsof cycling- I was probably at the fittest I had been for 20 years. Training for a big ride so 65 miles offroad with a very fit mate and at the end- I just said to him- Lets do one more hill. All I got from him was a groan. Following weekend and a Very fast 25 miler offroad and I stayed up with the leaders half my age. Following weekend and metric on the road that I did every year and the first 30 miles was uphill. Got there in the quickest time I had ever done it. Last 35 was still hilly but took longer as I had to wait for my fit mate again- but 4 hours for a metric on a mountain bike on a very hilly course.

So I was fit. Then going into work on the wednesday- Got stuck in a traffic jam. Sat there for an hour and Got bad indigestion. 3 months later and a triple bypass.

If it is in your genes- you will have a cholesterol problem. Nothing to do with your diet- your fitness or how much you exercise.

And 3 months after getting the plumbing sorted out- did a 40 miler that if I had known how hard it was- I would have trained for. So even a bypass doesn't finish your cycling activities either.

A healthy lifestyle is great. But it does not guarantee longevity. There is the famous "Winston Churchill Syndrome" where one "eats like a pig, drinks like a fish, smokes like a chimney and lives into ones nineties". Sometimes the best thing you can do is choose the right parents.

Jim Fixx?

Get well soon Jim.

Yep. I know I'm starting to pack on a few pounds again after losing so much. I ride 16 miles a day commuting, play tennis most days, and ride distance on the weekend. It's not enough. I guess I have to stop being a pig.

Jim, how are you doing? What's projected recovery? When do you ride again?
Good luck!

I had to have a stint put in 7 years ago. I missed a half-day of work as I had it done on a Friday afternoon and was home by Saturday afternoon. At work on Monday. Many bounce back very quickly.

But if you don't do it, you do run a very high risk of dying. A baseball player, Darryl Kile, died in his hotel room in 2002, at the age of 33. He was in the starting rotation for the St Louis Cardinals and was expected to pitch the next day.

An autopsy found that he had 90% blockages in two coronary arteries. If he had taken a stress test, they would have been found, he would have had two stints put in and would have been fine.

This was a seemingly healthy professional athlete. On June 18, 2002 he started against the Anaheim Angles, pitched 6 1/3 effective innings, allowing only 1 run, and the Cardinals won 7-2. On June 22nd, he was dead. During his entire major league career, he had never once been on the Disabled List.

If this can happen to someone like Kile, then it can certainly happen to any 50+'er. Certainly an excellent example of preventative treatment.

This happend to my brother, who's fittness category would fall into the slug range at the time. 95% blokage and almost croaked.

Now how about this statistic I saw somewhere last night on a TV ad. For every hour of vigorus physical exercise, walking was the example, you extend your life expectancy by 2 hours! So I calculated that I added at least 1 month to my life expectancy by cycling 4300 miles last year. Didn't even count gym time or mowing the lawn or walking the dog. Now the magic question is that if you do this for the next 20 years is it like compound interest? You could live forever!!!!

I'm glad they caught it in time, Jim. Yes, we cyclists are still vulnerable.


Last week there was a high school kid from this area, a three sport athlete, who died after finishing his track event. He was discussing something with his coach after his run when he fell over. All attempts at resuscitation failed. Sad, very sad.

I'm up and around and feeling ok. I have to go back for another stint in a couple of weeks.The Doctor said that after some rehabilitation bicycling is highly encouraged. So I'm still standing.

Jim, glad you're doing well. Your note is a good reminder.

Hope to run into you on the Cedar River trail some day soon!

BB

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Fixx

James F. Fixx (April 23, 1932–July 20, 1984) was the author of the 1977 best-selling book, The Complete Book of Running. Best known as Jim Fixx, he is credited with helping start America's fitness revolution, popularizing the sport of running and demonstrating the health benefits of regular jogging.

Fixx died at the age of 52 of a massive heart attack, after his daily run, on Route 15 in Hardwick, Vermont. The autopsy revealed that atherosclerosis had blocked one coronary artery 95%, a second 85%, and a third 50%. Many who opposed his beliefs said this was proof running was harmful. However, Fixx came from a family where the men had poor health histories. His father suffered a heart attack at the age of 35 and died of one at 42. Given Fixx's unhealthy lifestyle until he took up running, many argued that running added many years to his life.

Who knows how long Fixx and Kile would have lived if they had been treated. All of that running probably would have done a lot for Fixx. Fair chance that he would still be alive today.

I know people who have had 7 stints done. It's a very common and easy procedure nowadays. It's a shame for someone to die for the want of not having this done.

alos read somewere that he ignored Dr's advice and still ate junk food.

But, please, people...the thing that's inserted into the artery is a stent, not a stint. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stent

There are many sources that state it can be spelled either stint or stent.

http://www.heart-stint.com/category/angioplasty/

http://drwinn.com/heart_stints/

However I believe you are correct in that stent is the more accepted spelling.

Genes and luck do matter, but there is much each of us can do to improve his/her odds. The stories of fatal heart attacks among athletes do not scare me, because in every case there is a logical explanation, usually either a high-fat diet or a lack of gradual conditioning and training. Nathan Pritikin was able to demonstate the immense circulatory benefits of a low-sodium, low-fat, high-fiber diet.

I see something remarkably similar in the automotive world. I drive a VW Passat with an Audi 1.8T engine, a high-tech race-bred, German-designed, Hungarian-built marvel which is also famous for failing from loss of lubrication caused by blockage of the oil pump inlet screen by oil coke granules. As an active member of various VW and Audi forums, including MyVWLemon.com, I hear plenty of horror stories, but in every case, the engines which die young were originally fed a steady diet of mineral/dinosaur oil, rather than the heat-stable synthetic oil for which they were designed.