Medical problems led me here

Hello all. My name is Michael and I'm from Northville, MI. I started brewing with a friend at a time that beer selction was pretty crummy from what we had seen. We thought we could do a better job then the big boys and we did actually I have not brewed in many years for some reason that pasts all understanding really. This past few months has been pretty rough and my interests in things has reached an all time low. I am someone who is always in about a dozen things at a time, so this has been a concern of people who know me well.

It started out as the stomach flu... or thats what the ER doctor had told me. After four days of intense headaches I went to another ER. My left eye was closing on me and someone told me that the symtoms I had could be Spinal Menigitis. Well they took one look at my eye and ruled out that. I got a CAT scan. They thought I had a brain anyism, but could not find anything. So I got a ride in an ambulance to another hosipital (morphined up... wow... great stuff). The next day I got just about all the tests that I could image a person would have. They found a tumor attached to my pituitary gland. Doctors said...well if your going to have a tumor... that's the place for it.... most of the time it is not cancer and they just go in and go out. So that was the first week of November.

They were going to operate and everything... ten hours before the operation to get the tumor out they told me that they could not. That my heart was beating at 22%... I have also had several heart attacks.. one was in my mid 20s from what they figure (I am now 38). So they said to operate now would be a max risk operation... they have to operate on my heart instead and put in a stent... should give me about 8 more percent. So went in and out... meanwhile I am on Vicodine... great stuff... ruins your day as it wipes you out but your out of pain at least. So recovery was ... 6 weeks.

Thursday before yesterday was the big day to get tumor out. Believe it or not they went through the nasal passages. Imagine having to blow your nose but can't.... thats what I have been going through this past week. But the tumor is out. I am told that it saved my life. My body was preparing for another heart attack and at 22% I would not have lived.

So now I am learning how to eat. Ahh.... how to eat correctly that is. No more fast food.... a cardiac diet is anything but fast. Low sodium... anything you find in a box... forget about it. But I am also told that my choice is real simple. I can choose to change my eating and living habbits... or I can choose to die. Does not get too much simplier then that huh. I keep thinking ... well I did not add much salt to much of anything... don't smoke... I'm a little overweight but nothing excessive here. Need to excercise more that much is certain. Starting to learn about Geocaching.... theres some reasons to excersice

So when my wife caught on to the interest to start up again she grabbed the oprotunity. Started when I found my equipment last month in a box we never opened. We went out to the store today and got a bunch of stuff. 6.5 Gal carboy (like to see the action without taking the top off), 5 Gal. I love Sam Adams Cherry Wheat so thats gonna be my first, back to brewing batch... a better Sam Adams (specifics of what I am thinkin of is in the Beginners thread).

What is after.... gonna start a Merlot I think. They say that red wine is very good for your heart... 4 to 8 oz a day has a lot of good cardiac benifits.

And check out the lastest anti-cancer research http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2005/Oct05/beerandcancer.htm

I'm seriously considering making a zinfandel. The white zin thing has just about eliminated red zins.

http://www.howtobrew.com/ Is a great site to refresh your memory.

If you could find someone that has scuppernong grapes and can press them for you, scuppernong grape wine is 5 times more heart healthy. Im glad to see that you made it through your ordeal. Man that must be something. Im also glad that we didnt lose another homebrewer or winemaker either, we need ya. I raise my glass to you brother

semper fi

They have a scuppernong winery in NC.

I feel for you brother. I had a HA at 42. I didn't smoke for 8 years then and didn't use table salt for about 20 years then. I'm 51 now. Cholesteral and BP is in safe limits, but there are no guarantees.

Good luck with the diet. I travel a lot so sometimes I just don't try to maintain a healthier diet. Funny thing is, as bad as a Big Macdaddy is on the health scale it is healthier than the salads at Applebeebrainer.

Any references to similarly named trademarks is purely coincidental.

homebrewer_99 said:

They have a scuppernong winery in NC.

I feel for you brother. I had a HA at 42. I didn't smoke for 8 years then and didn't use table salt for about 20 years then. I'm 51 now. Cholesteral and BP is in safe limits, but there are no guarantees.

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Do you have a pacemaker or a defib? They want to put a defib in me in about 3 months. I started reading things on the net you know and got nervous (read that they can go off)... but doctor said that they dont have problems with them anymore.

One big mistake men make is that they don't have regular physicals when they are younger. They only see doctors when there is a big problem. I've had several friends die from heart attacks. And in each case attributed to not getting a hold of the problems early on. Glad you both have recovered as well as you did.

On the diet, people often lower cholesterol on the Atkins style diet. Lots of meat, dairy, just the things you always thought were bad. I think carbs are the real villian. Carbs are pumped into everything and a direct cause of diabetes. (suprise, beer is much lower than a soft drink on carbs).

Yesterday, I donated another pint of blood. I do that in part because it is healthy to do, every 56 days. Lowers chloresterol, generates new cells. I get my blood pressure checked (110/66, pulse 52). And it makes the beer that much better.

Glad you are with us and hopefully you are just approaching the half way point in your lives.

Genghis77 said:

I get my blood pressure checked (110/66, pulse 52).

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Geez, I'd of been happy with that 30 years ago...let alone now. I assume you work out a bit?

Michael_Schaap said:

Do you have a pacemaker or a defib?

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No. Nothing except Chlor and BP medicine.

Just remember...doctors bury their mistakes!

Actually no. Just good genes. Everyone in my family has either died in their mid 90' s to 100's unless killed in an accident or war. I had a great great grand father who died crossing a flooded river during a storm..... at age 96. What a great way to go.

Only exercise is reasonable walking in a rather mountainous area.

Wow, what an ordeal! And I thought I was having a bad week because things were slow at work!

Glad you are doing better - and that you found this site! FWIW, my Great Uncle has had a pacemaker for years. He never had a HA - they caught it in time. He is 91 and gets around better than his 'younger' 88-year-old brother - my Grandfather!