Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated
Just wanted to inform my friends in the Forth community that
I have survived a recent heart attack and am mending nicely.
I owe my (continued) life to three things:
1. I never smoked.
2. I have led a physically active life and exercised
regularly, hence had plenty of collateral circulation.
3. my wife's driving, that got me to a well-equipped
emergency room BEFORE my heart stopped.
Balloon angioplasty and other scientific wonders made all
the difference. In fact, barring a negligibly small infarction,
my heart is now sounder than it has been for years. I have no
doubt that many of the imaging devices and other medical instru-
ments used on me were actually programmed in Forth, even if no
one trumpets the fact.
A cautionary word: I have had regular stress tests and compre-
hensive EKG's, with no sign of an impending attack. I never felt
angina or other sign of coronary insufficiency while exercising
vigorously. My angina took the form of a feeling of indigestion,
and the pain was quite mild. The m{*filter*}is, I guess, that my friends
in their 40's and 50's should not hesitate to rush to an emergency
room at a good hospital, should they feel similar symptoms. Definitely
do not ignore them. Remember that most people who die of heart attacks
die of arrythmia rather than of any damage to the heart muscle. So
the ER is the place to be, not home or a car, if your heart decides
to go into ventricular fibrillation and/or arrest. If you get there
early, streptokinase can dissolve a clot blocking an artery (the
usual cause of myocardial infarction) before any damage has been
done.
Regards to all,
--
Julian V. Noble
