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A loud warning to middle-age men!

 Women seem to generally see their doctors on a regular schedule. Men, conversely, often avoid medical pros like the plague. In my early 50's, I was one of them. But that changed.


"Your first symptom may have been to drop dead!" 

My story is not an uncommon one. It started with a hernia that needed repair. But my blood pressure was sky-high. And I had no symptoms. No surgeon would operate until that BP came down.

My general practioner, David Spiegelman (Pepperell, MA at the time) was on it. The BP became controlled, and the operation was successful. Than came the high PSA - followed by a biopsy that revealed prostate cancer. Once again - no symptoms.

The prostate was removed - followed by 37 sessions of radiation. This all took place roughly 19 years ago. However, four years ago, Doctor Spiegelman, during a routine exam, found that I had a heart murmer. Any symptoms, you may ask. NOPE!

A cardiologist determined that I had "aortic stenosis", a clogging of the aortic valve. The bad news was that it needed eventual surgery. The good news was that a relatively new procedure called TAVR (transcatheter aortic valve replacement) would be a viable option when the surgery was required. Prior to the TAVR, my heart surgeon said my first symptom may have been to drop dead. He was not being dramatic.

Three years ago the replacement valve was inserted via a groin artery - as opposed to the full-scale, chest cutting procedure of the past. Now, at the age of 81, I am healthy, viable and devoted to my medical teams.

But as I write this, my 58-year-old son resides in the intensive care unit of Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH - and my wife and I await further news on his condition. Like so many men, and despite our pleas, he avoided going to doctors and had no alarming symptoms - until several weeks ago when his heart started quickly failing. His heart is very weak, and a blood clot in the heart is a serious kicker. He had a test procedure this morning, and we hope for good news.

Hopefully, my warning will be heard by at least one guy out there that will heed it and not avoid regular medical checkups.



Comments

  1. My name is Craven, and I’m from New York. I used to suffer from Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and I want to share my story to show that healing is possible, even from illnesses that seem incurable. I know how difficult and frustrating COPD can be because I lived through it. Conventional treatments didn’t bring the results I hoped for. But everything changed when I came across (www.earthcureherbalclinic.com) through a simple Google search and contacted them by email at (info@earthcureherbalclinic.com). Their natural healing program made a profound difference in my life. Today, I am completely free of COPD, and I couldn’t be more grateful!!

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