Mended Hearts Open Forum

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  • 1.  Jaw ache

    Posted 02-03-2020 02:35
    I recently had a painful jaw ache I think due to stress. My cardiologist has told me ifI experienced a jaw ache to go directly to ER which I did.
    They wasted no time in getting be to an angioplasty and then put a balloon in instead of la stent.  
    My problem is I worry that a balloon is not going to last and I will be back to ER.
    Bill Garner, Ventura CA


  • 2.  RE: Jaw ache

    Posted 02-04-2020 10:29
    ​Hi Bill,

    My father had a mild heart attack and balloon angioplasty back in 1990.  He died in 2016, at the age of 92, from Alzheimer's.  During those 26 years, he never again had a heart issue and the balloon angioplasty apparently held up just fine.

    None of us has any guarantees, but worrying about things that may or may not happen in the future because of events that happened in a past that you can't change is just an exercise of your imagination rather than reality. I used to worry about dying from cancer, and then I had a mild heart attack, just like Dad, followed by emergency quintuple bypass surgery (definitely not like Dad), followed by a two week medically induced coma for inhalation pneumonia. 

    I still don't want to get cancer, but I don't worry about it anymore.  I also don't want to get Alzheimer's like Dad (who was diagnosed in his late 80's), but I figure I won't live long enough for that to happen.  Look at the bright side.  As Jack Nicholson said, while vomiting in a hospital bathroom from his cancer treatment, "Somewhere right now some lucky bastard is having a heart attack."  

    Best of health,

    Ira

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    Ira Reid
    Hoboken NJ
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  • 3.  RE: Jaw ache

    Posted 02-04-2020 11:00
    Ira, 
    You are SO RIGHT. I have several friends who died from cancer and suffered for years before passing. Most of my older relatives have passed after cardiac issues. They did not suffer for a long time and some went in their sleep.
    If we have to choose the way we want to go out, having a heart attack and dying is probably one of the better options.
    Having had balloon angioplasty at 42, quad bypass at 54 and ICD at 47, I am in better health than when I was in my 30's and 40's. I am always trying to lose weight and eat healthier. But I am positive and living life like it was my last year.

    --
    Frank Caruso
    WWW.CARUSOIMAGES.COM
    440-829-1386





  • 4.  RE: Jaw ache

    Posted 02-04-2020 10:46
    ​That Jack Nicholson quote was from his character in the film "The Bucket List" costarring Morgan Freeman.  Don't want anyone thinking it was Jack in real life.

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    Ira Reid
    Hoboken NJ
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  • 5.  RE: Jaw ache

    Posted 02-04-2020 10:52
    Thank you for the encouragement on my balloon implant. I appreciate it. 
    Bill G

    Sent from my iPhone