My Friend's By-Pass

Visited my friend this evening at 4.00p.m. He looks okay after a week's rest at home.

So what happened to him? Seems he felt a pain in his stomach after being on the treadmill. So he went to see a doctor who gave him some medicine for his suspected reflux problem. After that, he went back on his treadmill and could not survive even a minute. So he went off to see a cardiologist and did an angiogramme. The angio showed 5 blockages. These blockages were elongated, too close to each other and one was at a vein intersection. Angioplasty (balooning) was therefore out of the question. It had to be the mandatory open-heart by-pass.

He contemplated on the ops for a week, waited for his doctor brother to return from Italy and had his bypass done at the Damansara Specialist Hospital. It was a four hours major operation. Thank God everything went well. The ops cost him 30 grand.

So now he has to have a life-style change. No more gouging on cholesterol-laden food and more walking exercises until he fully recovers within 6 months. There will be the periodic checkups. The first one is due next week. Then it would be monthly check-ups followed by three monthly visits; 6 monthly visits and finally the annual checkups. According to him, he will be on life-long medication and has to have a strict exercise and diet regime. At all cost, he must managed stress. So he will be winding down his business and probably do some consultancy work .

Left his house at 5.30 p.m. with hopes and a fervent prayer that all will be well with him.

Heartsong