I try to keep fit, OK I like a beer and a bag of popcorn, but I've always thought I did enough to stave off any heart problems. Until last Monday..
So I took my mountain bike off down to local canal path last Monday evening, it was bitterly cold and dark, and I didn't have enough layers on top and my chest got cold. After a mile I started to get chest pains and though "you idiot" for not wearing enough layers. I had to stop as it hurt bad, no arm pain at all, and just blamed the freezing cold weather. Same after mile 2, mile 3, 4 etc up to mile 8 when I got back home.
Through the week I walked vigorously for 2 miles each lunch break, no pains.
Saturday morning taking my son to soccer practice I had the pain again and had to sit down, after a few minutes it went again. Now I'm worried. When we got home I did a gentle run around the yard and more pains so that's when I decided to visit the local hospital, luckily 2 miles up the road.
Turns out I had a coronary artery in the heart which was 95% blocked, so on the bike ride I'd had a warning shot, on the Saturday I'd had a minor heart attack. Been in the hospital acute assessment unit for 5 days and went for an angiogram yesterday where they found the issue and put a stent in there to open the artery again. I'm now on pills for life, and lots of them.
The surgeon who did the procedure said that by not coming in after mile 1 of the bike ride "I'd walked to the edge of the cliff and had a look over the side". I know some on here have already been there, but please guys, if you get any chest pains don't be an idiot like me.