Some comments as I reflect on the whole thing:
1 - Just because you are thin outside, doesn't mean you aren't clogged up inside. I've been saying this for years, but never knew how right I was. I was pretty much telling myself that all my exercise and lack of weight gain was going to beat the rap for me. But nobody beats the rap.
2 - I was well on the road to a heart attack. Thank God for good doctors and the various factors that got me in for the angiogram. I am amazed now every day how different I feel. You just don't notice (the boiling frog) as things are slowly going downhill and it is easy to dismiss it as "aging".
3 - None of this would have been detected if I had not been active. It was due to some distress when doing strenuous uphill hiking that I got refered to a Cardiologist in the first place. And it was when I pushed hard for nearly 5 minutes on a treadmill test that my EKG showed things that were indicative of reduced blood flow to the heart. Had I been I couch potato, I would probably already be dead and buried. My EKG without stress was entirely normal.
4- I am making drastic changes to my diet. It took me 72 years to get 90 percent clogged up. I can't afford any more clogging. Some people think statins are the answer, but I think a change in diet can be as effective if I am serious about it. The enemies are meat, cheese, butter, dairy. The end result of course if you are just logical about it is to go Vegan. I am heading that way. No more breakfast with fried potatoes with lots of grated cheese melted on top and an egg on top of that (my previous normal). I have switched to oatmeal the past week and I am doing just fine. No more liberal slathering of toast with butter. No more unlimited ice cream in the evenings.
5 - A change in diet isn't just negatives and restrictions, but it is new things.
Less of some things and more of others. Vegetables! Fruit! Nuts!
I am already good friends with beans. I honestly could be
completely happy living on beans and rice.
On a visit to my regular doctor I mentioned it, and he refered me to a Cardiologist. He had me do a stress test, but I was disappointed that the tech would not let me push myself. He saw something (I'm not sure what) that concerned him. The doctor also had me do an echocardiogram, which revealed that I have a somewhat leaky aortic valve. The only thing mentioned to me at the time was the leaky valve, which they wanted to keep an eye on.
On a visit in 2025, I mentioned that often when I am hiking, I just feel generally miserable. I found it hard to describe, but it was something different than the fatigue I have often felt when pushing hard on uphill trails. He had me do another stress test, and this time the tech let me push myself until I had enough. I pushed until my heart rate got to 160 (I am 72 years old), then called it enough. I had a long wait while the doctor looked at the EKG results. Under stress, the EKG showed "ST depression" -- the graph dips after each big spike. The doctor said that this often indicates trouble with blood flow to the heart, although in about 25 percent of cases it doesn't indicate anything at all.
So I was scheduled for an angiogram. He found an artery (presumably the LAD) 90 percent clogged and put in the stent.
Some of the stent nay-sayers say that claims that you will feel better are false. That has certainly not been the case with me. I was surprised and amazed how I felt better than I had in years just a couple of days after the procedure. So I am already wondering why these people are lying to me.
I don't doubt that some doctors perform procedures that aren't strictly needed, just out of habit, because that is their style of dealing with things, and in some cases because of a profit motive (conflict of interest).
Tom's home page / tom@mmto.org