Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

A "stint" in the hospital

Tomorrow I go back to the hospital to receive another STINT, which is a heart procedure designed to open up some partially clogged arteries.

It's a first stage intervention to prevent an imminent heart attack.

In my case there was little evidence in the Lab Tests to suggest I had some blockages. Even a stress test on the treadmill showed no abnormalities. However, the chemically induced stress test showed otherwise, indicating some significant obstructions.

During the procedure it was discovered that I had occlusions in three major heart arteries.

The only thing I noticed different was that when cutting and stacking wood I became fatigued earlier and had to stop more often and rest. These symptoms were easily attributed to age.

The reason I mention this, is to emphasis the importance of taking a proactive role in your health care and report changes to your doctor. Nobody is going to live forever, but by paying attention to diet and doing moderate exercise, disease can often be diagnosed at an early stage when treatment has a higher likelihood of success.

Nobody is immortal and as individuals we are the major stakeholder in the state of our health.