I very much enjoy watching CNN and Sanjay Gupta.Gupta is a pretty outstanding figure for heath care. However, there are times when I think really bad things happening to people is hyped more than what they should in my opinion. The topic CNN is currently focused on Cheating Death has been done exceptionally well. I can speak first person when I say that cheating death is something that I am very proud of accomplishing.

The moment I was told in the ICU that I had flat-lined 6 times will be a moment that I will never forget. That moment was one of total disbelief and shock. At the same time it helped confirm what I had experienced in thoughts regarding seeing the bright light, closer to God, tranquility, calmness followed by feeling of reaching Mount Everest.

Whenever I watch CNN and Sanjay my first reflex when I realize his story is next I want to turn channels as I emotionally do not want to go there again. My second reflex is that I want to learn from other peoples experiences. While I no longer live thinking death is bad, as I am no longer afraid of it, I find myself reliving my experience for sometimes an entire day when I watch Guptas story.

Cheating Death is something that I will always feel good about, the fact is that we really never cheat death but rather delay. If Sanjay ever called me I would insist that my story be focused on what took place in my life that led up to the “cheating death” opportunity. I would very much want viewers to see how heart disease can be devastating, traumatic, and in the end fatal. My story Sanjay would be a heart attack commercial with a cheating death chaser…and not the highlight of the story.

Tags: Acute Coronary Syndrome, American Heart Association, Anderson Cooper, Angina Pectoris, Angiogram, Angioplasty, Artery Blockage, Bad Diet, Blockage, Blocked Artery, Bypass, cardiac arrest, Cardiologist, cardiovascular, Cardiovascular Disease, Cheating Death, Congenital Cardiovascular Defects, Coronary Heart Attack, Coronary Heart Disease, Defibrillator, Depression, Diabetes, Disney World, Dr. Oz, Echocardiogram, EKG, Family History, Flat Line, Heart Association, Heart Atack Emotions, Heart attack, Heart Attack Brigh Light, Heart Attack Emotions, heart attack recovery, Heart Attack Risk Factors, Heart Attack Survivor blog, Heart Blog, heart disease, Heart Failure, heart hospital, Heart Hospitals, Heart Patient, Heart Stent, heart stops, Heart Transplant, Heavy Drinker, High Blood Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, High Lipids, ICU, Illinois Heart Hospital, Massive Heart Attack, Massive HeartAttack, miocardio infraction, Motivational Speaker, nuclear stress test, Obesity, Official Heart Attack, Official Heart Attack Blog, Official Heart Attack Web Site, Open Heart Surgery, Oprah Winfrey, Overweight, PAD, Patrick Fox, Patrick J. Fox, Peripheral Arterial Disease, Plavix, Post Traumatic Stess Disorder, Power Walking, Rockford Heart Hospital, Shortness of Breath, Smoker, Sonja Gupta, Stroke, sudden cardiac event, sudden death, Swedish American Hospital, Teen age heart attack survivors blog, teen age sudden death, teen depression heart attack, Teenagers, The Widow Maker Heart Attack, The Widow Maker Heart Attack at age 48, TheDoctors, Walt Disney, Widow Maker, widow maker heart attack, widowmaker heart attack

Today I met with my psycologist and I discussed my pending teaching disability and the difficulties I experienced last week while teaching. I discussed with her the difficulties of dealing with stress and my priority of staying alive. I discussed my opinion that I really did not have any risk prior to my heart attack on March 31, 2008. We discussed that while I had been taking cholesterol medicine for 25 years my cholesterol numbers were never “completely” under control thus a risk factor did in fact exist.

The second factor while I don’t have to agree with, the fact still remains that technically I am considered overweight for my height. I would argue that the doctors that created that Body, Fat, Index were poor eaters and skin and bones and not of the linebacker physic like I am, the fact is I did suffer a heart attack and the chart was “correct”. Darn Chart….

Tags: Acute Coronary Syndrome, American Heart Association, Anderson Cooper, Angina Pectoris, Angiogram, Angioplasty, Artery Blockage, Bad Diet, Blockage, Blocked Artery, Bypass, cardiac arrest, Cardiologist, cardiovascular, Cardiovascular Disease, Cheating Death, Congenital Cardiovascular Defects, Coronary Heart Attack, Coronary Heart Disease, Defibrillator, Depression, Diabetes, Disney World, Dr. Oz, Echocardiogram, EKG, Family History, Flat Line, Heart Association, Heart Atack Emotions, Heart attack, Heart Attack Brigh Light, Heart Attack Emotions, heart attack recovery, Heart Attack Risk Factors, Heart Attack Survivor blog, Heart Blog, heart disease, Heart Failure, heart hospital, Heart Hospitals, Heart Patient, Heart Stent, heart stops, Heart Transplant, Heavy Drinker, High Blood Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, High Lipids, ICU, Illinois Heart Hospital, Massive Heart Attack, Massive HeartAttack, miocardio infraction, Motivational Speaker, nuclear stress test, Obesity, Official Heart Attack, Official Heart Attack Blog, Official Heart Attack Web Site, Open Heart Surgery, Oprah Winfrey, Overweight, PAD, Patrick Fox, Patrick J. Fox, Peripheral Arterial Disease, Plavix, Post Traumatic Stess Disorder, Power Walking, Rockford Heart Hospital, Shortness of Breath, Smoker, Sonja Gupta, Stroke, sudden cardiac event, sudden death, Swedish American Hospital, Teen age heart attack survivors blog, teen age sudden death, teen depression heart attack, Teenagers, The Widow Maker Heart Attack, The Widow Maker Heart Attack at age 48, TheDoctors, Walt Disney, Widow Maker, widow maker heart attack, widowmaker heart attack

I will tell you what. The folks at University of Wisconsin-Madison are fantastic. The professionalism they showed in performing the swallow test was just awesome. Should get results next Monday or Tuesday. Spent time with one of the doctors reviewing the x rays and getting a education on the art of swallowing and how it works.  Stay tuned….

Tags: Acute Coronary Syndrome, American Heart Association, Anderson Cooper, Angina Pectoris, Angiogram, Angioplasty, Artery Blockage, Bad Diet, Blockage, Blocked Artery, Bypass, cardiac arrest, Cardiologist, cardiovascular, Cardiovascular Disease, Cheating Death, Congenital Cardiovascular Defects, Coronary Heart Attack, Coronary Heart Disease, Defibrillator, Depression, Diabetes, Disney World, Dr. Oz, Echocardiogram, EKG, Family History, Flat Line, Heart Association, Heart Atack Emotions, Heart attack, Heart Attack Brigh Light, Heart Attack Emotions, heart attack recovery, Heart Attack Risk Factors, Heart Attack Survivor blog, Heart Blog, heart disease, Heart Failure, heart hospital, Heart Hospitals, Heart Patient, Heart Stent, heart stops, Heart Transplant, Heavy Drinker, High Blood Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, High Lipids, ICU, Illinois Heart Hospital, Massive Heart Attack, Massive HeartAttack, miocardio infraction, Motivational Speaker, nuclear stress test, Obesity, Official Heart Attack, Official Heart Attack Blog, Official Heart Attack Web Site, Open Heart Surgery, Oprah Winfrey, Overweight, PAD, Patrick Fox, Patrick J. Fox, Peripheral Arterial Disease, Plavix, Post Traumatic Stess Disorder, Power Walking, Rockford Heart Hospital, Shortness of Breath, Smoker, Sonja Gupta, Stroke, sudden cardiac event, sudden death, Swedish American Hospital, Teen age heart attack survivors blog, teen age sudden death, teen depression heart attack, Teenagers, The Widow Maker Heart Attack, The Widow Maker Heart Attack at age 48, TheDoctors, Walt Disney, Widow Maker, widow maker heart attack, widowmaker heart attack

Arrived at the University of Wisconsin – Madison Health Clinic a tad bit early for my fun thrilled barrem swallow test. I can think of rough 1,000,006 things I would rather be doing this afternoon rather than this test. Hopefully, they will determine that the discomfort with every swallow has a real good reason. Wednesday when I visited for the first time we learned that the trauma of inserting tubes during the heart attack might have damaged the throat area. Stay tuned…..

As I sit in the waiting room a young women just walked up and started to play a baby grand piano beautifully. This may help the entier experience.

Tags: Acute Coronary Syndrome, American Heart Association, Anderson Cooper, Angina Pectoris, Angiogram, Angioplasty, Artery Blockage, Bad Diet, Blockage, Blocked Artery, Bypass, cardiac arrest, Cardiologist, cardiovascular, Cardiovascular Disease, Cheating Death, Congenital Cardiovascular Defects, Coronary Heart Attack, Coronary Heart Disease, Defibrillator, Depression, Diabetes, Disney World, Dr. Oz, Echocardiogram, EKG, Family History, Flat Line, Heart Association, Heart Atack Emotions, Heart attack, Heart Attack Brigh Light, Heart Attack Emotions, heart attack recovery, Heart Attack Risk Factors, Heart Attack Survivor blog, Heart Blog, heart disease, Heart Failure, heart hospital, Heart Hospitals, Heart Patient, Heart Stent, heart stops, Heart Transplant, Heavy Drinker, High Blood Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, High Lipids, ICU, Illinois Heart Hospital, Massive Heart Attack, Massive HeartAttack, miocardio infraction, Motivational Speaker, nuclear stress test, Obesity, Official Heart Attack, Official Heart Attack Blog, Official Heart Attack Web Site, Open Heart Surgery, Oprah Winfrey, Overweight, PAD, Patrick Fox, Patrick J. Fox, Peripheral Arterial Disease, Plavix, Post Traumatic Stess Disorder, Power Walking, Rockford Heart Hospital, Shortness of Breath, Smoker, Sonja Gupta, Stroke, sudden cardiac event, sudden death, Swedish American Hospital, Teen age heart attack survivors blog, teen age sudden death, teen depression heart attack, Teenagers, The Widow Maker Heart Attack, The Widow Maker Heart Attack at age 48, TheDoctors, Walt Disney, Widow Maker, widow maker heart attack, widowmaker heart attack