Did I cause my heart attacks?

This is a question I've asked myself over and over.
Since this is my first post I should bring you up to date on my life.

In January 2007 I decided I needed to get in shape. I weighed 230 lbs. My cholesterol, LDL the bad stuff, was 360. My HDL, the good stuff, was around 40. I also had high blood pressure.

All of these things were being monitored by my PCP. I was never given a stress test.

So back to January, Like most people, I made a New Years resolution. Loose weight and build muscle. But unlike most people I stuck too it.

I began slowly. I had a brother turn me on to the "Abs Diet" diet. I started following the diet and started walking during lunch break where I work.
I was loosing weight but was unhappy with the way I looked. So I added weight resistance. This I could also do at work. So I did this for about 6 months. I was progressing pretty well but I wanted more. We bought, my wife Cathy and I, a treadmill and I started running. I got to where I could run 3 miles. No Ron I don't know the time.

After a while I decided to join a gym and hire a trainer. I needed structure and a program to get me to my goal as soon as possible.

It was the best of things and it was the worst of things. Sounds like Charles Dickens.

It was the best because I had gotten down to 183 lbs. Denis my trainer was not a slacker. Talk about drill sergeants. After my first session I got in my truck and drove home. When I got out of the truck my legs could not hold me . I went down as if my legs were jello. I crawled to the front door.

Eventually I got used to the workouts. I became stronger and looked better than I ever have.
I'm not a young man. I'll just say I'm 50......ish. What the heck I was 53 going on 30. I had a lot of energy, people wanted to know my secrete. My mood even improved. I liked the way I felt and looked. I felt young and alive. Invinceble even. My doctor was impressed and couldn't believe the change in such a short time. I didn't think it such a short time. He told me to stop loosing weight. But in actuality I was gaining muscle and loosing fat. And to me it seemed like it was taking an eternity to reach my goals.

In fact I kept raising the bar. And I thought I would never realisticly reach the ultimate goal. The problem is I compared my self to 20 and 30 year old guys who had been working in the gym for years. I set the bar too high and started becoming unhappy with the way I looked. But I wasn't discurraged. I just had to work harder. I started blaming Denis. He wasn't working me hard enough.

I sought the help of a 60 yo body builder friend of mine, Gene, who also worked out at the same gym. Gene was not a fan of Denis. I first met Gene here at work. I work in radiology and he was having some test done. We struck up a friendship. Little did I know he worked out at the same gym. He kept telling me Denis was not the trainer for me and he, Gene, could get more results without paying for it. Yahoo free? I would also like to tell you that Gene's partner won the Hurricane body building contest in 2006 and then had a quadruple by bass. So we had some things in common.

Now for the worst of things. I was ignoring the cholesterol and high blood pressure. I was healthier than I have ever been. And I was invencible. I was vain and enjoyed the praise of fellow workers. I probably thought I looked better than I actually did. Bring in the shrinks.

I told Denis that I could no longer affored his services, which was true, Cathy and I were having financial and other problems. So free sounded good.

Denis felt sorry for my financial situation so he wrote out a schedual to follow. I had not started with Gene yet so I decided to use the workout Denis gave me.

The first day working out on my own was Monday Feb. 25, 2008. The workout was going pretty good. But I noticed I was sweating more than usuall. I ignored this and just drank water.
I was working on legs and tricepts. While doing squats I started feeling a pressure and tightness in the chest. Thinking I was dehydrated I started drinking more water. I finished squats and started tricepts. The pain was so severe that I gave up tricepts and went to shower and get ready for work. After the shower I sat on the bench by the locker and told my self "it's not a heart attack" "it's not a heart attack".

I dressed and got in my truck headed for work. The pain was getting worse. I called Cathy and said I thouht I was having a heart attack. Cathy has been in cardiology for 22 years and could tell by my breathing something was wrong. She told me to pull of the road and call 911. I said no that I could make it to the ER at work.

Cathy called back 5 minuts latter and said the ER was waiting for me and asked about the pain.
I said it was getting worse. She insisted I pull of the road and call 911. I was getting scared so I complied. The ambulance arrived in 5 minuts. They asked a bunch of questions and did a bunch of test. They determined that indeed I was having a heart attack. Because I was in good shape the EMT insisted I must be on some kind of drugs like cocain. I told them absolutly not.

I was rushed to the closest hospitsl (ST Jo's) . I had 100% blockage of the LAD and 95% blockage of the DIAG. This is called the widdow maker. I was lucky I got there so fast.
Two drug eluding stents were put in place.

Every thing happened so fast but when I got to CCU it hit me and I broke down. I couldn't believe after getting in such good shape I could have a heart attack.
I went into depression and Just as I was feeling better, pow another one. That's for another blog latter.

So did I cause this by ignoring the medical problems, or the financial problems, or the marriage problems. Maybe all of the above.
Next blog will deal with heart attack number 2.
Oh I did get down to 183 lbs through all of this.