Wednesday 18 November 2009

Time's Up

A medical opinion has it that when your time is up, there is no easier way to cross over than through myocardial infarction.

So what is this mouthful-of-a-pathway that leads to the other side?

It is one that may be provided to us when there are traffic-jams on the roads leading to our heart.

Somewhat like the Damansara toll plaza on a rainy workday evening.

You have a small lorry turned-turtle metres shy of the NKVE exit road and traffic stalls for 6 km on the expressway. None able to get to the toll short of the police and PLUS personnel providing a bypass through one of the free lanes.

Failing which, you have the right conditions for an infarction.

The word "infarction" comes from the Latin "infarcire" meaning "to plug up or cram." In a myocardial infarction there is death of myocardial (heart muscle) tissue due to sudden (acute) deprivation of circulating blood.

In normal lingo, this is termed a heart attack.


Heart muscle dies during a heart attack and loss of the muscle is permanent, unless blood flow can be promptly restored, usually within one to six hours.



Some of the classic symptoms of a heart attack include:
But there are also vague symptoms which victims may have ignored like:
  • General malaise
or even
  • No symptoms (Approximately one quarter of all heart attacks are silent, without chest pain or new symptoms. Silent heart attacks are especially common among patients with diabetes mellitus.)




And a debilitating feeling of tiredness was what Joe had felt yesterday morning when he accompanied Nora for her routine check-up.

But the night before he was cheery as always as he talked to Dr. Jack asking about Nora's allergic condition in 3rd trimester pregnancy.

After dropping Nora off at work, he drove himself to the hospital out-patients clinic whereupon the exhaustion overcame him and he collapsed.

Recognising the condition, the hospital immediately put Joe on Code Blue. He held on for four hours only.

He was 58 years old.

Nora was his daughter. Jack, his brother-in-law.

The hospital found four blockages.

But all he had felt was extreme tiredness.

Could any other way be "easier"? Only Allah knows.

May Allah grant mercy upon his soul, and may his family be patient in their bereavement.





Go here for some heart-attack information for the layman.



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13 comments:

Capt's Longhouse said...

Dr. Zen,

,,,since marooned (leave stranded on a desert island without resources; "The mutinous sailors were marooned on an island" hehehe !!) on Kapas, my blood pressure is nowadays 120/80 and sugar level back to normal,..Yoo !! High Blood & Diabetes both GONE for good !!
,,,the trick is to get your LIVER back to health so that it can produce good quality blood again for your heart mah !! by getting rid of your gallstones via the natural treatment-lah..serious ini, PLEASE do it and you can feel the difference almost immediately-lah. All the symptoms of potential heart attack as mentioned in your list will disappear too if you have any.
,,,If you have gallstones, your LIVER will not be healthy and you will indeed end up with a heart attack as the end result !.
,,,O.K. am not a Doctor but studied lots of nonsense on my own and 'experiment' on my own body via healthy living & lifestyle. So far, very positive results-lah hahaha. (Pipe still puffing away only yaa hehe)

mamasita said...

Dear Zen..the more I read about heart attacks the more I worry for my dearest loving husband..I must ask him to see a cardio specialist..mesti check just for precautionary purposes..nak buat sehari sehari..ok besok I paksa dia check..

Zendra-Maria said...

Tabib Uban the Naturopath (... a person who practises a system of therapy that relies on natural remedies, such as sunlight supplemented with diet and massage, to treat illness, hehe)

Congratulations on achieving healthy blood-pressure and sugar levels since marooning yourself.

Questions:
How would I detect that my liver is unhealthy in the first place?

How would I know that I have gallstones?

Is it true that drinking pure apple juice help to loosen gallstones stuck in the bile-duct?

Check out my Prof Zen picture.
1 x Fresh unsweetened apple juice is what I drink most days.

This consultation ...mmm FOC?

Zendra-Maria said...

Good for you mamasita. Go for the full executive screening which has the treadmill test included along with the blood and urine test. Is a must for over-fifties who are quite sedentary - from what I read lah (not saying Dato' is sedentary - he probably kick-boxes a lot). I don't know how they check for joints wear-and-tear esp. the back and knees, but I think joint flexibility is important too for good quality of life.

Cakap orang pandai. I myself have not gone for the executive screening!

Tommy Yewfigure said...

Hi Zen,

Sorry for your friend passing.

This post have got me all stressed up & beginning to chain smoke :((

I got a friend in JB that manage to survive a scare last month but the hospital specialist bill nearly kill him instead!!!

Ya, u tend to change ur whole outlook perspective in life once u been thru' such an experience.

Ppl like Capt & I, well we like to think we'll live longer with our carefree lifestyle, 'Thai Hoi Tik'or to 'see openly la'in Cantonese. Leave it to the hands of the Almighty!

Hey u & RA take it easy too.

Cheers,

Tommy - I don't wanna talk about it, how u broke my heart....hehehe

Tommy Yewfigure said...

Rod Stewart discovered Amy Belle busking in the street of Glasgow, & introduced her at his Royal Albert Hall concert. Her voice is so captivating; ‘I don’t wanna talk about it’ {Won’t u listen to my heart’ not heart ATTACK!!!};

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RkWs6P2IwE

Cheers, live life to the fullest!

Tommy

Zendra-Maria said...

Hey Tommy you got only one jantung so jaga dia baik-baik. As Tok Uban the naturopath says, jaga hati dulu nanti jantung pun A-OK! Drink quarts of apple juice then take epsom salts to expel those hidden green gems. Your heart will go tick-tock like a young Apek again :)

Got Rod and Amy on my new playlist - tq

Tommy Yewfigure said...

Hey why do I want to expel those hidden 'GEMS' in my heart for...hahaha. They make me feel beautiful & shiny mah.

I see u got 'heart' in all songs in your new playlist. Bet all the guys esp RA & Capt got this album in their heroic days :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIdKTgS1c08

anneaziz said...

Zendra,

Life's so fragile, hmmm?

Lee said...

Hi Zendra, regret read of Joe.
I sure learned some new words today, big mouthful, tongue twister too....guess will stick to either cardiac arrest or heart attack...as I cannot spell your, ha ha.

Only this evening in our car on the way home my wife seeing a road accident, it was raining, some nut chatting on his h/phone did not notice front car stopped..and ambulance carrying someone to hospital, anyway she checked with me about my ID, in my wallet, in my pocket and to refresh her memory, to call CAA if my car badly damaged, tow my car to my mechanic's shop...

Or maybe I get intensive cardiac arrest...she joked when seeing me glance at a pretty lady driver in a car at traffic lights, ha ha.
Have a nice day, Zendra.....by the way, you drive that gorgeous Alfa? With your designer Dior sunglasses on your head....ha ha, lee.

Zendra-Maria said...

Haha Tommy, those gems are more likely to be in your gall-bladder, not your heart. When they get stuck in your bile duct, that's when your fat digestion becomes impaired and the liver has to work doubly hard to clear the cholesterol so they won't clog your heart arteries. Ask Tok Uban, he took pictures of his gems - they are in his blog - eeewwwhhh!!!

I think the old pirate really got marooned - virtually too hahaha

Zendra-Maria said...

anne, isn't it? Thinking about it, my bekalan belum cukup sejemput lagi, rasanya.

Zendra-Maria said...

Dear Lee, I'd suggest for your wife to check the insurance too hahaha. Me, i don't drive the alfa..... yet. Let me check MY insurance first hehe