Following on from my previous post, I decided it was time (way past time, really) to get a full medical checkup.
I haven’t had one in far too many years and, of course, Hazel’s death has brought my own health risks as a 65-year-old into sharp focus.
The doc checked my blood pressure, looked at my history and, after a chat, sent me to pathology to have blood taken for a barrage of tests, get fitted for a 24 hour blood pressure monitor and arrange a Calcium CT scan of my heart.
A week later, the results were back and the doc sat me down to discuss the results.
Extremely high blood pressure (160/90), extremely high cholesterol, and considerable calcium buildup in my heart.
That alone put me in the high risk category or, as the doc said, “You have an 80% chance of a fatal heart attack in the next 10 years”.
Oh.
This was almost entirely due to my excessive consumption of alcohol.
Ah.
In comparatively good news, my liver is in pretty good shape, as are my kidneys – both indicators that if I quit drinking, the damage was likely reversible.
Other test results apparently bear this out. Lungs are OK, muscle strength is good, circulation is OK, other organs are in fair to good shape.
The problem is my heart and, with a family history of heart trouble, the risk of stroke or cardiac arrest is high.
The doc has arranged for me to have an angiogram, ultrasound, and a stress test with a cardiologist.
So.
Clearly, I need to take immediate steps to start to reverse the damage.
No fatty foods, no processed meats, no butter or cream, no cakes or biscuits, no chocolate or ice cream, no pies or pastries, and nothing deep fried.
Low fat milk, low fat cheese, low fat yoghurt – all in moderation, no more than one egg a day, less salt, and no more than one cup of coffee a day.
More oily fish, green vegetables, fresh fruit, raw nuts, seeds, brown rice, legumes, and olives.
And no more than one standard alcoholic drink a day, preferably none.
More aerobic exercise, muscle strengthening, flexibility, and focused relaxation.
That sounds like a lot but much of it is already standard practice for me. I gave up sugar last year, rarely add salt, eat a lot of fruit and veg, and rarely eat red meat.
I gave up smoking tobacco in 1990, and marijuana 18 months agao.
The hard ones for me to give up will be processed meats (bacon, ham, chorizo, sausages, salami, prosciutto), cheese, coffee, and – inevitably – alcohol.
I’ve been doing stretching exercises for 20 minutes a day since I was in my 20s, walk everywhere, and, while I don’t play football any more, can add more aerobic exerciae without too much difficulty.
One step toward this is that, since we sold the car because there was no-one to drive it, I’ve turned the garage into a gym, with exercise bike, weight bench, weights, skipping rope, yoga mat, and a football for kicking against the wall outside.
The bike will take a bit of work to make roadworthy, but I can do that. Might even see if I still have any skateboard skills.
Now, lunch is something like a boiled egg on wholegrain toast, a small bowl of raspberries, strawberries and grapes, a glass of low sodium V8 vegetable juice, and a cup of green tea.
Dinner could be brown rice with barely pan-fried salmon and asparagus, olives, tomato, and red onion, or a warm tuna and beans salad. These are all things I like to eat anyway.
I have a blood pressure monitor at home, and already it’s settling down out of the high risk range.
Naturally, after what happened to Hazel, I’m intensely aware that despite all this, I could die suddenly. But I’m going to do whatever I can to reduce the risk.
It’s not a bad thing to increase my fitness for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and I have other things I want to achieve in coming years (I won’t call it a bucket list, that would be tempting fate).
I do feel I’m entering a new phase of my life, forced on me in part by Hazel’s death and also by my own health risks.
It’s up to me to ensure that’s not a bad thing.