My father passed away on September 19, 2011. he was diabetic and had his first heart attack on July 11, 2011. The doctors recommended that we do a by-pass surgery. Before he could get his body in shape to do the surgery he had 2 more attacks. He was rushed into surgery they found 6 major blocks in his artery and his heart was functioning only at about 30% capacity. His internal organs were very badly damaged, he fought for 19 days in the intensive care but finally his kidneys gave up. I stopped running regularly since my father’s incident. Althought I have been doing some runs just don’t have the motivation to get started again seriously. My plans to run the Chicago Marathon in 2011 did not happen as I was preoccupied with my Dad’s passing. While I was visiting my dad every day in the IC unit, we got to talk to the doctor about why he had this problem of course there were many reasons he was diabetic and the doctors felt that he had Cardio Vascular Disease which is basically cholesterol build up on the veins and arteries that blocks blood flow in your body. It happens due to many reasons, like smoking (my dad did not smoke), heavy drinking (my dad was a teetotaler), bad food habits (my dad was very disciplined did not take sugar or eat rice since he found out he was diabetic), overweight (he was once again not overweight – 70 kgs for a 6 foot frame) etc. The main reason I felt that we could not save him was the fact that we did not detect the problem early enough.
I got myself tested with a CT Scan on my veins, arteries and my heart, much to the surprise of my doctor and myself, there was some narrowing of my arteries. The doctor initially told me that we don’t need to do a stress test but now I am on a cholesterol lowering drug and I plan to take a stress test on January 18. I have been tracking my heart rate during all my runs and this data should give more insights into my condition. I feel fine though the holiday diet has not been very helpful but I plan to get on the running trail quite soon and give a good fight to my condition.
Uncertainty 