Egad! I had a heart attack.

[Zkribbler]

Wednesday, I was having some chest pains. I figured it was just a stress reaction, but to be on the safe side, I went down to the Kaiser E.R. They ran an EKG on me and, later in the day, gave me the ol' treadmill test. I passed both test, but they told me to see my primary care doctor.

This afternoon, she gave me the bad news. Although it was true that I didn't have a heart attack last Wednesday, she said I had had one sometime before that. From the test results she was looking at she couldn't say when.

It's somewhat unnerving to be told you've had a heart attack when you haven't noticed anything. Anyway, I've already started on the baby asprin and the long walks. Tomorrow, I start on a diet to drop about 40 pounds. I'm back for another looksee at the doctor on Dec. 7th.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Hopefully this is the last of that!

[Zkribbler]

I keep thinking of John Wooden. He retired from coaching at U.C.L.A. because of heart problems and lived for decades and decades more.

[Lancer]

Zkrib, I'm so sorry this happened to you my friend.

[Krill]

Take it easy mate...

[Lancer]

If you come to the Phils to visit, it's only small rocks at first. No really, a change of scenery might be good for your diet, plus there's so little fat in the food here. Why not come over and we'll lose some weight together?

[Kuciwalker]

Good luck.

[Berzerker]

silver lining - it was apparently quite small, and we all need a kick in the pants to keep our attention when he get up there in years

keep the faith, baby...

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Sorry to here about it, Zkrib. Good luck with the weight loss. (I could stand to lose that much myself, or more, so I'm rooting for you!)

[Straybow]

I'd say you dodged a big one, Z!

When my Uncle was retiring from the Navy (1972) his final free complete physical revealed that he had suffered a heart attack at some time in the past. He was a Quartermaster on Kitty Hawk in 'Nam, which means that whenever planes were arming he was on duty (not quite 24/7). He recalled that one particular day had been a "bad one" and he'd felt horrible and achy all over, but no classic heart attack symptoms.

Apparently, this is not too rare for stress-related attacks among men in their 40s. More common are the kind that start out as nearly asymptomatic but then progress until there is very little living tissue left and the victim dies quite suddenly (and without possibility of revival).

[Zkribbler]

Lancer...tempting, very tempting. But to be honest, right now I need the humdrum of work, not an out-of-country adventure. However, I am certainly thinking more about an early retirement.

When are you retiring again? I'm still thinking hard about joining you.

Originally posted by Berzerker
silver lining - it was apparently quite small, and we all need a kick in the pants to keep our attention when he get up there in years

keep the faith, baby...

QFT Berzerker. My doctors, co-workers and fellow Polytubbers have all been telling me I have to get back to excercising. I just haven't felt like it. But when faced with something like this, one's attention becomes...ahem...more focused. --& Inez over at Jenny Craig will be overjoyed to see me again.

[Lancer]

If you decide to retire here that would be out friggin standing! Also, once you make the decision don't dick around before buying oceanfront, it's going up like on speed, and imo it's just the beginning.

They're building an international airport on Panglao which will be finished in 2010. Hopefully they'll have direct LA/Bohol flights. So, property is likely to continue increasing.

Well, that's super. Get out of the daily grind! To answer your question, God willing we'll be retiring in 5 years. However that's not set in stone, alot depends on the dollar and what makes Dolores happy. Also, social security...I have to find out what happens to both our rates if we quit working early. Dolores particularly. She'll have her 40 quarters in for certain, but if you stop making payments your monthly payout goes down. Don't know if there's a minimum...anyway, we have some stuff to find out before I can give you a better answer.

[Dinner]

Wish you all the best.

[Lord Avalon]

Zoiks! Zounds! ZOMG!

Wishing you good

[Pekka]

You will be fine. Take it as a motivation to diet and live healthy. You will be fine then. If you had these miniature attacks... I mean this won't take you down, but it should be a sign that you seriously need to make some changes, however, you'll be fine at the end.