My doctor tells me that I've got a 38% chance of experiencing a "cardiac event" in the next ten years. And of course has recommendations for reducing that risk.
I'll be taking action on at least some of those recommendations.* But she seemed to think she was giving me bad news.
Only 38%? Wow!
By the time my parents were my age, they'd both had angioplasties (my recollection is that both had at least two of those by some point), and my mom later had bypass surgery.
Of my two brothers, one is already dead -- yes, heart attack -- and the other one has ongoing heart issues.
My extended family is largely responsible for keeping southern Missouri's cardiologists and heart surgeons in Maseratis and green fees. I've got relatives who seem to pick up quadruple bypasses on a weekly basis with the milk and bread and such.
As long-time readers may remember, I had a heart scare a few years ago. A doctor looked at the first EKG I ever remember having, asked me if I'd had a heart attack, and when I said "not that I know of," replied "maybe you didn't notice." So, tests. It turned out that my heart is just wired weirdly ("left branch bundle block"). The stress test and echocardiogram showed no problems. Which I found surprising.
Everyone dies. And everyone dies of something. I've always assumed my cause of death would be (in changing order of likelihood over time) gunshot or other military incident, lung cancer, or heart attack. My supposed odds on that last one are far better than I expected.
* I've tried, and stopped taking, statins twice because they give me terrible insomnia. The doctor prescribed a third one. If that doesn't work, I'll look into red yeast rice and other "natural" statins. I'm also taking another stab at developing the habit of a morning bowl of oatmeal. And it's time to get back to more exercise. And yeah, I need to stop smoking (I'm looking at the end of the year for that).
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