38 And I May Have A Bad Ticker

CCT70

Member
My fiance recently had a major heart attack at 43 years old. Blew me away. I was out of town working and got a frantic call from her daughter. I had no idea that folks that young could *have* a heart attack. Definitely opened our eyes. Also amazed me at how fast you can drive 219 miles when an emergency erupts. I averaged 91.4 miles an hour up I-5 back to Stockton and that was stopping for gas once. It's a scary time and definitely reminds you of mortality. The slightest little thing would set her off with chest pains for several weeks afterward. Thankfully she's doing much better and is at the doctor right now taking a stress test while I am at work. Thank GOD for my mother, she not only saved Alicia's life, she takes her to all of her appointments and has always been there for her. Being used to being a workaholic though and having to stay at home the past couple of months now though is driving her nuts, so my brother brought her over his collection of MDC Roundhouse boxcar kits. There are almost a hundred of them and he can't put them together because he has a nerve disorder and his hands shake fiercely, so the partnership on that project has been great for both of them. He is getting his cars built and she's having a great stress relieving time building cars and learning more about model railroading. She's now talked her ex husband (who is my best friend) into letting us rebuild my layout at his house since he has a big garage and doesn't use it and mine is full of crap from work. :mrgreen:

Take it easy and find some projects to keep your mind and skills sharp and your stress level low and don't sweat the small stuff (or the big for that matter). Life is WAY too precious.
 

jeffrey-wimberl

Active Member
Medicine costs can really do you in, financially. I'm glad I have Medicaid to cover that. All I have to pay is a small co-pay on each prescription. $1 at the lowest, $3 at the highest.
 

Renovo PPR

Just a Farmer
Well I hope you two get well soon. Sorry to read about you CB and glad your doing better Gill.

Insurance is a funny thing when it comes to the medical side. I have read DF's experience with his wife and we all know someone where things went bad.

It appears that one day with the modern advances in medicine some procedures may in fact be out of reach for most people. I don't blame the medical insurance providers for this. The simple fact is they need to make a profit or at least stay even. We certainly have more life saving options than we ever had and this does come with a cost.

There are other factors that come into play but the simple part is that company CEO's want to make a profit and the employees want a higher raise each year. Materials and manufacturing cost are higher each year and the medical community rushes to use the latest equipment and drugs to help more people live longer than they did with older medical treatments.

So who do you blame? I guess this is the one time I will say the customer who taxes the medical system to the breaking point. Our system helps since most people can get treatment at the drop of the hat not like the controlled systems in Canada and Europe.

I recently quiet a job that I liked because they had a poor medical insurance program. I understood why they had it and agreed with their decision. Though that left me paying $780 a month for my treatment.

I had to stop the treatment and I suffered. The funny thing is that just 5 years ago this treatment wasn't available and I would of had to suffer and possible die because there wasn't an alternative.

This is the only effective treatment for my asthma and believe me it is no funny not being able to take some air into the lungs.

So I did what was the normal thing to do I looked for an employer who had a health plan that would cover the treatment. it took me 6 months but I found what I was looking for along with another great job and a better paycheck.

So today I head to the hospital twice a month for my Xolair shots. Life is now better and the insurance company pays out more than I make a month to cover the cost of the shots.

I don't know about you but I think the insurance company is doing more than it's fair job. I even felt the first insurance was doing a fair job when you consider the total cost of the monthly shots.

My friends it is about life and how the medical system operates. I don't blame any of them after all it is me that wants to live a long life for a disease that would of killed a person when medical costs were more affordable.

Like I always have said there are trade offs in life. However I'm smarter than the system and willing to find away to live longer without taking the time to blame a system that is rooted in my needs.

If you have sever asthma ask you doctor about Xolair. The downside is finding a way to pay for it and spending two hours in the hospital to have the shot given but the long term affects are great. I just can't blame a system that is going to extend my time on this good earth. I certainly don't expect you all to help pay the bill which is far more than I earn a year.
 

N Gauger

1:20.3 Train Addict
Yeah............ Med's are going up in price here too... :( and the generic makes me nauseous - go figure.....

We just had our medical coverage at work "Re-evaluated" = we're paying more - getting the same service... :( :(

I always try to have some kind of external input (Friends, Radio, TV etc) something to always keep my mind busy...

I use music (Mostly 60's ) to keep upbeat and thinking positive.. The best 2 songs though are Bat Out Of hell (meatloaf)and Hell in a Bucket (Greatful Dead) Both are interesting in their own rights.. The only other song like this is "Objects in the rear view mirror (May appear closer than they are)" -- Meatloaf It reminds me of the things I lost and makes me appreciate life every time I hear it.... :)

Remember - you don't want to be in the coffin, lying there.... You want to run in screeching to a halt, jumping in and yelling WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!!! LOL

You don't want people saying how "good" you look -- you want them to say he looks like he went through hell :D :D :D

During the week, my body is a Temple...... On weekends it's an Amusement Park!!!!!!!! sign1sign1sign1sign1sign1sign1
 

Printer

New Member
Yeah............ Med's are going up in price here too... :( and the generic makes me nauseous - go figure.....

We just had our medical coverage at work "Re-evaluated" = we're paying more - getting the same service... :( :(

I won't go in to the politics of 6 and 7 digit salaries for the big-wigs and then the 6 figure bonuses' they receive or the RECORD profits. they're OBSCENE, all at the expense of the working dog. They don't "Work" they just push paper and buy another Lexus or third home that they'll never live in.:curse::curse::curse:

I use music (Mostly 60's ) to keep upbeat and thinking positive.. The best 2 songs though are Bat Out Of hell (meatloaf)and Hell in a Bucket (Greatful Dead) Both are interesting in their own rights.. The only other song like this is "Objects in the rear view mirror (May appear closer than they are)" -- Meatloaf It reminds me of the things I lost and makes me appreciate life every time I hear it.... :)

OOooo a Dead Head?
Meatloaf, The Stones, and things like the Kinks and The Who have been playing thru the speakers lately. All of them remind me of days gone by. Happy days gone by but none the less the PAST. THAT... at times depresses me but I just have to remember that I still can do quite a bit.:wave:
 

Chief Eagles

Active Member
Nothing wrong with me. Working in the heat of the summer lifting large pieces of monument [tombstones] and cementing them into pond spillway [rebuilding it]. No problems. Went for a lung CT [followup as I had pnuemonia so many times]. We see some build up around your heart. Tread mill with xrays. We see some areas not get bllod like it should. No blockages but a restriction at the branch of 4 arties. No stint. 6 by-passes later [4 years ago], I'm fine. Would i do it again?? Yes.
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
Nothing wrong with me. Working in the heat of the summer lifting large pieces of monument [tombstones] and cementing them into pond spillway [rebuilding it]. No problems. Went for a lung CT [followup as I had pnuemonia so many times]. We see some build up around your heart. Tread mill with xrays. We see some areas not get bllod like it should. No blockages but a restriction at the branch of 4 arties. No stint. 6 by-passes later [4 years ago], I'm fine. Would i do it again?? Yes.
Yep, but could you do it over again if it wasn't for insurance or Medicare? I surely couldn't. A year ago tomorrow, I went to the ER. I spent two days in ICU, another trip to ER and two more days in the cardiac unit. Total cost to me, $400. Total cost to someone else, $87,000. Knowing that, was enough to get my heart pumping again. The pacemaker? I never saw the bill for that, but I could easily see that coming up to another $100,000. I couldn't have done that on my own, but I'm grateful that all my hard work over the years made it possible for me to have the coverage I needed.
 

Cannonball

More Trains Than Brains
I had my followup appointment this afternoon with the cardiologist to give me the complete rundown on all my tests.

24 hr heart monitor- normal
Bloodwork- normal (cholesterol is normal)
Stress test and Echo- normal
No hardening or blockage in my arteries and my heart is normal.

Basicly what it boils down to is lose weight and quit smoking and I could be off my meds within a year.

The weight is slowly coming off. :thumb:

The smoking, not so good. :(
 

Nomad

Active Member
CB, That is great news! Now ,what everybody told me is try the quit smoking aids. ( patches and stuff ) Some areas also have quit smoking support groups you can join. Keep trying, you will make it yet. If I can do it (smoked for over 40 years ) you can to.

Loren
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
I quit smoking probably 45 years ago. I don't know how I did it, but I know why I did it. There was only one way to quit then, cold turkey and it was hard, but I looked at my future and decided I would have a much better chance of one if I didn't smoke. It took willpower, but I succeeded and with today's aids, one should be able to quit a lot easier. With the incentive you have, I'd think it would be a no-brainer... I would think loosing weight would be a lot harder, and the two go hand-in-hand. You'll find out when you actually quit, so good luck, go for it.:thumb: :thumb:
 

Printer

New Member
GREAT NEWS Cannonball. Good for you!. Now shed a few of those pounds and PLEASE do everything you can to put the smokes down. I used to smoke like a chimney. I quit just before all of my health troubles. That's what made me so upset. I should have quit years ago. Hind sight is 20/20.

I haven't had a smoke in nearly 7 months now and have no desire to pick them up again. It's a most difficult habit to break. My drive to stay off them comes from looking in the mirror and seeing the Grim Reaper staring back at me. Do the best you can and again... Congratulations on the good news.

Scoot
 

N Gauger

1:20.3 Train Addict
Cannonball - Try that pill. There's' a few people I know that quit with little problems by using the pill... Good Luck!!!
 

Cannonball

More Trains Than Brains
Cannonball - Try that pill. There's' a few people I know that quit with little problems by using the pill... Good Luck!!!

I've tried it a couple of times.
I actually quit for 6 months at one point and then we had a whole world of problems crash down on us at once. Got stressed to the point where I picked them back up again. Now I've got to get myself together and put them down again.

Thanks for the moral support, everyone. It's been greatly appreciated even if I haven't been back to post much lately. :)
 

Kanawha

Member
Good Luck Cannonball!! My dad and cousin tried to quit several times and finally did. You can do it too!! Try the pill, it worked for my uncle. (lot of smokers in my family)
 
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