A Hernia of the Heart

Added: Tue Apr 29th 6:02pm
Posted in: Conditions & Diseases

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It hurt. It always did. I just got used to it. After all, isn't that easier than doing something about it? Anyway, who has time in their lives for distractions like medical ailments. But it wouldn't go away. In fact, it kept getting worse. I couldn't bend over without looking like a 90 year old (my apologies to all the 90 year olds on growingbolder.com who are in better shape now than I ever was!).

So after putting it off for a few months (okay, my wife just gave me an elbow in the ribs and wants me to clarify that when I say put it off for a few months what I really mean is put it off for YEARS!), I found myself in the office of a general surgeon. (Good luck finding one of those! There just aren't nearly as many as there used to be but that's a blog for another day. It was at that moment I realized I didn't need to be there, that the pain was just part of getting older, that it was all in my head. But it was also at that moment the doctor gave me one of those, "ah HA!" looks, shook his head and went to get the nurse to schedule me for surgery. How ridiculous is a hernia anyway? For a condition that inflicts mostly men, it's not a very manly condition. Everybody at work was so concerned they practically stuck me in a wheelchair and slapped a hockey helmet on my head.

Then, a really lucky thing happened to me. When I went for my pre-operation visit, my blood pressure was through the roof. I've never had any blood pressure problems before and figured maybe it was just my nerves, but the nurse wasn't so convinced. That's the lucky part. Did you miss it? I did. But the nurse told me it was lucky so it must be. See, taking your body to the doctor is like taking your car to the mechanic. You may go in just to have the tires rotated but you know they're going to find a whole lot more that needs to be fixed. So, now it looks like I have high blood pressure and some lucky pharmaceutical company will be able to profit on me for a daily basis for the rest of my life.

Oh, I guess I could simply exercise. Hang on a minute, my wife is laughing hysterically and I can't concentrate. Like I said, I guess I could simply exercise. But my doctor is more in touch with reality than I am so I guess I'm destined for another daily pill to accompany my cholesterol medication. But here's the bottom line. My hernia may have saved my life.

It uncovered a huge warning sign that could have been missed for who knows how long. It could be lurking in you, too. Hypertension affects 50 million people in this country. It's considered to be a silent killer because the symptoms of high blood pressure are often unnoticeable until it triggers something much worse. Diabetes affects more than 16 million Americans, and is listed as an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease.

In other words, it sets the stage for a heart attack, stroke or kidney failure without you having a clue that you're headed in that direction. In fact, by the time things have gotten bad enough for you to become aware, it could easily be too late.
I had to have a hernia before I realized I was headed head-long into trouble. Don't let that happen to you. What you don't know CAN hurt you.