Please give me a minute before disecting any one word/phrase. This is a serious post.
There's a well known advertisement: Don't let a friend drive drunk. I wish us "Males" had a saying: Don't let a friends bad heart, Hunt. Maybe Founder can have a contest for the best such: "Saying".
However, we never know about such heart conditions usually, until something happens. So....why even have such a Saying...? I have only one thought that has me typing such an almost silly statement. It is to be: Proactive, instead of Reactive. Maybe just the seed in our minds to be checked by a Physical or Chemical (Yucky) Stress test, may save our Family members massive grief's. Procrastination's and Denials + every other excuse, had me never making such a specific appointment myself until I reached my Later 30's.
Be it responding to a 911 and having a man down then having the family members grab me tighter then a Grizzly and scream in tears; "Save him" (Imagine how this feels) to countless Autopsies (unrelated to medical deaths) and seeing how our insides truly "Are", for my Family, I endured the Dr's tests.
A time arrived when I did "Ignore" Left Arm & Chest Pains. Skipping details trying to be brief, My Wife was Home and saw me in such pains and said shut-up, You're going to ER. I later was taken by an Ambulance to ER from a fire Dept with Blood Pressure's of 280 over 140 or higher..? The ER Dr made me promise to seek a Cardiologist the next work day, I agreed. Day's later the Cardiac Dr said I was to strong to actually have had a Heart Attack. He began tests and I went Home. As days turned into weeks and I was taking up to 14 Nitroglycerin (Nitrostat) pills a day, my Wife said no one should be eating Nitroglycerin Pills as if they were Candies. She raised hell and before I knew it, I was in a Hospital, awake, looking up at a TV screen and watching a wire go up from the groin/leg Artery through my Chest, to the Heart. I had a 99.9% Blocked Major Artery. They inserted a Stent. They said I should have Died on many previous days but that I had a rare heart Warning system few have and there was no Heart Muscle, etc..damage. Maybe it was the drugs or my humor so I asked; "Is your work so good that I can run out and rape a buss load of Nun's..?". They had humor and said with laughter; "just wait a few weeks first". For me personally, humor has been a self survival tool and being so crude in an Operating Room, gave me confidence things will be better.
I was smart in my late 30's but became over confident and stopped stress testings. I began reading and found smoking, drinking, bad foods etc...are not the real killers. The killer is; "Not being Tested". Yes, the previous bad things are now socially advertised as bad and I am not saying they are not. The strongest factor is Genetics and the unique manners inside of us as to how our one body has formed/grown. This includes not always hearing our Wives.
I Really, Like, Love, Enjoy each person here on MM's. The above post's come from the Heart's. I am very impressed with this group. One Gentleman said "Keep Posting Jagerdad, we'll adjust to your long messages". I hope this is true. In advance, I apologize if I use an incorrect word/meaning and write to much.
What's "OUR" Takeaway...?