Home Security and Safety Blog

Heart Healthy July 21, 2009

A friend of mine had a heart attack last night. He’s only 45 years old, he works out on a regular basis and yet, he had a 99% blockage in one of his valves that caused a heart attack. That’s entirely too young and too random of a person for heart disease to attack. I know he’s been under a great deal of stress, working a full-time job and doing several additional odd jobs to make ends meet. I honestly can’t say I know what his eating habits were like but with as healthy as he was in working out, I assume he had to have taken some amount of care as to what he put into his body. Yet, somehow, he had a blocked valve and it caused a heart attack.

The doctors had to place a stent in the valve, which I was really not sure about what it is. I’ve heard the term many times before, so I went to the American Heart Association’s website and looked it up.

“A stent is a wire metal mesh tube used to prop open an artery during angioplasty. The stent is collapsed to a small diameter and put over a balloon catheter. It’s then moved into the area of the blockage. When the balloon is inflated, the stent expands, locks in place and forms a scaffold. This holds the artery open. The stent stays in the artery permanently, holds it open, improves blood flow to the heart muscle and relieves symptoms (usually chest pain). Within a few weeks of the time the stent was placed, the inside lining of the artery (the endothelium) grows over the metal surface of the stent.” This sounds really painful but apparently, the surgery is very minor and it’s something from which my friend will be leaving the hospital within a couple of days!

It’s really true that during a heart attack or stroke chewing an aspirin can save the patient’s life. With as young as my friend is, I’m going to carry some tablets with me from now on. I know my body is relatively healthy, my blood pressure is low, and I eat well. I thought my friend was in the same condition.

This is yet another reason why having a home alarm system is so beneficial. In an emergency situation like this, calling for medical help is simply a button press away.

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