I can haz a new Car and a free.......

[Welly]

Heart Attack.

Yep Sat 27 Feb I had a major Heart Attack, left anterior descending artery was blocked 80% after a blood clot formed. Known affectionately in the medical trade as a "widowmaker" heart attack. Charming.

Luck was on my side, we were out food shopping and I ended up parked outside an emergency medical centre for help and was given a GTN spray and Asprin to calm things down and then Blue-lighted to Leicester's Glenfield specialist Heart Hospital. After 4 days of being analysed I had 2 x Stents fitted in the LAD artery and I'm now at home recovering. Been left with heart damage (45% 'ejection' volume compared to a healthy 55 to 75% normal volume) but I'm here to tell the tale and generally fell well in myself now.

And this came just 10 days after collecting our new family car, an Infiniti Q30 registered early 2018. Not many know but Infiniti is Nissan's luxury brand but the car basically has all the same running gear, platform and sussy as a Mercedes GLA but at a much reduced cost, just under 17k miles with full history and one owner it's pretty much brand-new in my mind. It's a 1.6 Pez Turbo with a 7-speed DCT box, fully spec'd out too including LED adaptive headlights which I thought would be a gimmick but are actually blooming ace and thanks to the first keeper who spent large dollar on optional kit

So there you have it, that's me checking in and best of wishes to all current members reading, thanks Welly.

[Doggy]

Horrified to hear what you've been through, but really good to know you're over the worst and hopefully on the way to a full recovery.
Take it easy and let the rest the world do your share of worrying for a while.

Never noticed/not heard of the Infiniti Q30, but I guess there's some tie-up - the 180 CDi Merc version is blessed* with the Renault 1.5 DCi engine* so I understand. Daughter-in-law's GLA is a 220d with the 8-speed ZF slushmatic, (currently off the road awaiting a new starter battery [yes, it has 2] which seem to be out of stock everywhere for some reason).

[steve_earwig]

Jesus H. Christ! That's extremely scary, I am so glad you survived. And I thought you was fairly fit amongst us olds. I guess you never know Mate Max had horrifically bloodshot eyes after his, do you look like an alien too? He reckons his heart will gradually recover but he's also doing bugger all about it

My god, I look away for 5 minutes and... Welly's off having a heart attack And after the last time I was worrying about your absence I kind of convinced myself that, no, he's fine, just busy...

There are quite a few Infinitys (infinities?) here, some of them sound quite tasty (mmm, V8) but I'm not sure about the overall look of the things, kind of like a car having an allergic reaction. I also know that Nissan stopped selling Infinity across Europe a year or so back, I was wondering how they're going to get spares but I guess it'll be from Nissan anyway.

[Welly]

I am fit, 49 years old and 11.5 Stone, never get out of breath or tired Just never saw it coming, although I had shoulder pain for a week before which also radiated into the chest (I thought I’d trapped a nerve).

[steve_earwig]

I'm 56 (almost), smoke, take very little exercise, get out of breath quite a lot, wake up tired - how is this fair? I guess a blood clot isn't the same as arteries filling up with clag and it's bad luck where it ended up but it's still quite worrying. What's the prognosis?

With the "widowmaker" I meant to say there's a lot of black humour in medicine, it comes over as a bit tasteless but I guess if they take it too seriously all the time they'd go mad.

[GingerMagic]

I'm glad your feeling better Welly, and not dead.
I can imagine that was a scare for you and the immediate family, I hope they are also helping you deal with this hiccup.

Sadly this runs in my family ( my Dad passed away at 52 ) and I'm only 6 years away from that day, but although I'm not a keep fit freak I do spend quality* time at work* outside in the fresh* air which I'm hoping will help.

Fingers crossed there are no more complications, other than finding spare parts for a Nissan/ Mercedes combo..

Wcpgw.

I'm glad your back on the forum, and the ticker blip* hasn't adjusted your humour* levels.

[Bailes1992]

Glad to hear you've come out the other side Welly!

We recently lost my Wifes Mother. She was watching TV about a month ago and had a massive stroke. 57, not overweight and reasonably fit. She was our full-time childcare which means my Wife has had to quit work so it's had some massive financial implications for us. But life goes on!

None of us knows what's around the corner!

I know a handful of people who have purchased Infinity's. They always seem build very well and none of them have given them any issues. They've always been a great second-hand buy too!

Is this to replace your Volvo or the Citroen?

[dirtydirtydiesel]

O.M.G
Welters old boy, glad to here your still with us.

As others have said (now stop sweating the small stuff) Lifes too short

Take care of yourself & yours

[WillNZ]

Unfortunately I know EXACTLY what you experienced. I am also a rare survivor of a blocked LAD artery heart attack. 2 stents inserted and a lifetime of 7 various pills a day to look forward to.

My brother in law (doctor) got all the details from the hospital/specialists after the happy event and said that I should have croaked as my LAD artery was almost totally blocked. Mine occurred 15 June 2019 after a day of cutting down some trees with a chainsaw. Rattled some gunk loose which lodged in the LAD. 66 years old at the time. Reasonably fit, not overweight etc so totally out of the blue. Scary....

Glad you got through it, take care.

[PeterN]

Nasty experience Welly. My wife had three stents fitted about 12 years ago but that was as a result of chronic angina and no energy and she is still fine at the spritely age of 77.

I have never had heart problems and am now nearly 82 although when I went into hospital a few years ago they said I had a heart murmur which I knew nothing about, they still gave me an anaesthetic and went ahead and did the op though. I have since been treated for prostate cancer but am OK at the moment.

What would we do without the NHS!

Peter

[DaiRees]

Damn Welters, what you playing at me old china? We'll have less of this scary shyte from you thanks! Grad to hear you're on the mend mate.

Been sitting here working from home for a year now taking no exercise and generally getting fatter and slower, daily step count is usually in the low hundreds rather than the 6 to 10 thousand it used to be. Decided a few weeks back to lose a bit weight and do a bit of exercise so I've been calorie counting and been for a couple of bike rides and walks over the last few weeks and am amazed just how unfit I've become. Strange times indeed

The company I used to work for made bits for your Infinity, can't actually remember what bits exactly because it was a very low runner. But I hope it gives you much delight to learn that some parts of your luggage compartment trim were moulded in Merthyr

[Welly]

Thank you all forum friends!

I feel pretty good now, they want me to try a new diet with less flour-based foods going forward; although I always thought we ate a good quality diet (all home cooking with real ingredients) but some aspects were less than ideal for health apparently, FFS what can you eat now? trouble is because I'm so active I've been (unlucky) enough to not put on any noticeable weight so have never really been concerned about food/diet types.

They said I could almost be classed as being fat on the 'inside'

Long-term for me is a slow natural repair of the damaged heart muscle which I'm assured will help itself out and stay on the meds.

One thing I didn't realise was that if I had have got that Covid it would have taken me out of the picture I think, it would have exposed the Artery blockage (80% blocked) and lead to big trouble. As far as I'm aware if Covid exposes underlying health problems then they don't set about fixing those whilst you have 'it'. I'm now in the 'vulnerable' category so I'm having my Covid Jab this week.

Car-wise the Infini-des is proving itself to be spot-on, with the low age and mileage I'm not expecting any issues other than routine oil and filters, seems to be very economical too and very stable and comfortable on Motorways (although only done that the one time before all this health stuff). The idea behind the car was to have something modern and comfortable to take the load off the pretty frequent long runs we do visiting family and stuff.

Dai - I'll keep an eye on those Merthyr-based luggage trims in case they fall off

The Volvo of plenty is now going up for sale, which after 12 years feels a bit weird but just hope someone buys it and takes care of it.

[steve_earwig]

FFS what can you eat now?

I know what you mean, e.g. for years I was told eggs were a total no no, now they seem to qualify as a health food I think the answer is anything in moderation. Obviously avoid processed stuff, anything of questionable origin (no more burgers for you), anything stuffed with sugar or additives. Hey, you won't live forever, it'll just feel like it

Mate James was the opposite, he started getting rather large so he went for a health check and was surprised to be told everything was fine. It's not a matter of weight I guess, you could eat absolute garbage but still be stick thin. Some of us are also predisposed to have high cholesterol (and rock and roll) or whatever, it's just how we're made and all we can do is keep an eye on it. I have high tri(nitro)glycerides, they go up, they come down, although never below what the expected high is.

I suppose the covid thing makes sense, although it's not there's no point in wasting resources as you're a gonner anyway, more it'll put even more strain on your system, your chances are slim enough already. Congrats on the jab btw. Looks like we're a long way from the front of the queue here

[WillNZ]

My doctor brother in law owns/runs a rehab facility dealing with all sorts of physical and mental health problems. He told me to try to eliminate anything that contains flour or refined sugar. This I did. He also told me that eggs are "eggcellent", have 2 a day. I get my sugar needs from fruit. Just doing this has resulted in a radical change to both my cholesterol and my weight. Cholesterol was quite a bit above what is considered healthy. Within 6 months it had dropped below the healthy threshold upper limit and now is well inside the limit. I also lost my middle age spread, came down from 86kgs to 79kgs (I am 6'1"), a weight I was when I was still running ultra distance marathons and racing off road endurance events on my motorbike before a really big crash in 1999 broke my back and ended my extreme physical endeavors.... my heart has now bounced back from the sorry state it was in post attack and credit its recovery mostly to this change in diet as I have not changed anything wrt physical fitness post attack.

Brother in law also warned me that I had to avoid covid at any cost because of my physical state post attack and the drugs I am on which have a negative effect on my immune system. These 2 combined would most likely end me if I caught covid. I feel lucky I am in NZ then... will get my jab was soon as it is made available to me.

[Welly]

WillNZ - I agree and I've been told to avoid: Grains, Potatoes and Sugars and above all eat 'real food' which I mostly do anyway. I now eat Walnuts, Almonds and dried Sultanas/Apricots for an alternative to Crisps and so far I like that.

Carbohydrates raise your blood Glucose alarmingly and make your body produce insulin which over time leads to insulin resistance and eventually diabetes