Hi Bill, thanks for sharing all that. I'm going to follow this advice for sure along with what the doctors said. Hearing your story makes me more than a little worried actually as I might be unknowingly placing too many demands on the heart and there is no way to know unless I do a comprehensive exam. That will certainly happen next trip.

Heart

I have been a cyclist and distance runner since the early 1960s. My heart rate stayed around mid 40s. For years I bike commuted 12 miles each way about 3-4 times a week. Every online heart health quiz I took had my heart attack risk below their lowest level. In 2010, I ran a 5k in 21:20, winning my age category by over 5 minutes. A month later, 23 Sep, after finishing my set of 200 pushups, I felt a strange twinge under the middle of my sternum, kind of like if you make a fist and squeeze hard for a while... not pain, but not good and unpleasant. Having retired from being a Safety professional Jan. 2018, I was familiar with all the "heart month" information that is put out every Feb. and because of the location, I got on the internet and searched heart attack symptoms. Only the location of an unusual feeling prodded me to go to the hospital, where they hooked me up to all kinds of leads, gave me nitro, a couple IVs, took blood samples and would not let me do anything. They asked how I felt every few minutes (heart attack victims normally feel like the world is about to end) and took blood samples every 6 hours. After the 3rd one, they came in and said I had high enzymes indicating heart damage and took me up to put in stents and kept me in the ICU for 3 days and general hospital room for 2 more.

Cardiologist said I should not have had a heart attack, but had a "widowmaker" By all rights I should have died, but he said all the physical demand on the heart over the years as the LAD cardiac artery slowly narrowed caused it to develop collateral circulation. I ended up losing about 1/3 of my heart's pumping capacity due to scarring, but recovered well. No more sub-6 miles. Now, if I trained hard (can't do that with failing knees) I could do a 9. The Cardiologist said I had 2 other partially blocked cardiac arteries and I could expect another, possibly fatal attack within 3 years. He said by all rights I should not have had a heart attack, but I am the one in a million that proves it can happen to anyone. (I believe it was decades of high stress that caused mine)

Lots of internet research and I found a number of research articles showing that blockage can be reversed (slowly) using diet and exercise.

I quit eating sugar, refined flour, processed meats, reduced my consumption of dairy, meat, salt most fats to near zero and have done far more than the recommended 20 minutes of cardio exercise 3 times a week. I asked my cardiologist if I could go off the statin if I continued, and he said he would recommend against it. I asked why and he said people can't stay on the dietary regimen. It will have been 14 years ago soon. I have stuck with the diet and exercise. The cardiologist retired a few years ago. Got a new one who was reluctant to let me off statins the first 2 years, but my blood lipids were so good, he relented and last year I got off statins. Next Feb. I am due to get my annual blood drawn and am confident that with all the anti inflammatory and antioxidant foods and supplements and spices I consume, things should be fine.

Yup, It takes a generation from the time medical research is done to the time it gets implemented by the medical community.

Keep on exercising, stay away from alcohol, sugar, refined flour, processed meats, most fats (especially saturated fats) and you should be good to go.

"Alcohol is just a deceptive crutch." No idea where I first heard it.

Prepping for winter Olympics?

I've had a BofA account for 37 years and I can't get more then $200 out at a pop either.

Vancouver is a beautiful city, I always love visiting there.