Two Stories That May Save Your Life – Part Two of A Two-part Series

In last week’s post, our first story in this short series related the story of Paul, a retired airline pilot and aspiring 70.3 triathloner, who averted a possible heart attack through proactive testing that revealed a significant blockage in his “widowmaker” artery.

His is a fascinating story of a journey from daily half-triathlon training to quadruple bypass surgery back to training for another half-triathlon, all the space of a month. Had he not pursued proactive testing, his story likely would have had a much different, and ominous, ending.

This week, the story is different but no less revealing of the importance of being proactive about heart health in our later decades.

In story two, we meet Scott Fulton, entrepreneur, longevity advocate and teacher, and health and fitness advocate who “walks his talk” with personal fitness that positions him in the upper 10% for his age.

I’ve been fortunate to have a few conversations with Scott and find his depth of knowledge on the impact of our lifestyle choices on our longevity to be off the charts. His mission aligns with mine: raise the awareness of our longevity potential and the role of our habits and choices – especially in our third age –  in achieving that potential.

I encourage you to visit his website and, in particular, spend 11-minutes with this video which really encapsulates Scott’s mission and message.

It was with this perspective of Scott, his fitness, and his commitment to healthy lifestyle habits that I was shocked to read, on a LinkedIn post, of Scott’s encounter with a cardiovascular issue.

Here are Scott’s own words from that post. I’ve taken the liberty to bold a few sentences for emphasis.

“I have maintained an active, healthy lifestyle for years. It wasn’t always like that. I burned the candle at both ends in my 20s and 30s, and only in my 60s did the damage caused during those “young and invincible” years habits reveal themselves.

A year ago, I proactively requested a CT Coronary Artery Calcium scan (CAC) and discovered that I had an abnormally high calcium score (calcified plaque deposited permanently in heart arteries).

No symptoms. Never had high #cholesterol.

Two weeks ago, I set a cycling PR (personal record) on a local hill climb, placing me in the top 10 for all ages. Not bad for a once mildly overweight 40-year-old, with no elite cycling background.

One week ago, I had a 1-year follow-up Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test (CPET) and scored in the highest fitness class – excellent. My sports cardiologist however noted a drop in O2 rate at maximal effort and ordered a Cardiac Catheter scan with blood contrast.

Yesterday, scan revealing a 90% block in my Right Coronary Artery. BAM!
Subsequently treated immediately on the table with a stent.

Today I am back, able to resume normal active life without limitations or fear of a heart event.

Despite being vigilant about my health and proactive with biomarker and fitness testing, I barely dodged a fatal bullet.

In a world filled with technology, most of us avoid health data at our fingertips, as though it were a threat to our health. Yet, we quickly ascribe to the popular marketing message that we’re all living longer. It speaks to our view of health as fantasy vs reality.

Living longer in poor health is the ultimate curse. We may tell ourselves we’re eating better and exercising more, OR that we’re young and invincible, OR that it’s too late to make changes, OR that we’re too busy caring for others, OR… but regardless, without data, we’re operating on blind hope. Next time you plug an address into your phone, expecting the data to guide you to your destination, ask yourself, “Why aren’t I doing this for my own healthy longevity?”

Healthspan is a long life, supported by optimal health in our later years. It’s a journey we all hope for, yet struggle to take measurable actions, allowing fear to overrule our daily decisions.

Doctors are amazing at saving lives, but saving health is on each of us. Most chronic diseases sneak up undetected and can hit like a freight train. Usually, however, they are very slow-moving bullets and can almost always be avoided with advanced notice. Break the cycle and pause long enough to check for bullets. One just might be headed your way.”

CAC vs CPET

Some of you know my story – first-ever heart scan (CAC) at 73 revealing a calcium score of 600+ (anything above 400 is considered high-risk for cardiovascular disease) followed by echo and nuclear stress tests to determine if blood flow is affected. Fortunately, things appear to be normal with no major occlusions and, thankfully, my left anterior descending artery (LAD/widowmaker) is apparently clear.

Scott shared with me, in a call I initiated after reading his LinkedIn post, that his first CAC (in his 50s) revealed a calcium score of 1700 and that he has a family history of heart issues.

Because of his teaching, he is very aware of the nuances and insidious nature of heart disease and has connected with lots of prominent cardiologists. With that, he was familiar with the “next level” of cardio-testing called the Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test (CPET) which is also referred to as a VO2 (oxygen consumption) test, a specialized type of stress test or exercise test that measures your exercise ability. Normally reserved for testing of athletes, CPET testing is available from a limited number of facilities.

Scott pushed the envelope and leveraged his cardiologist connections to take testing to the next level. He did two CPETs with nothing showing up on the first test but with the second test at a higher rate revealing the fall off of O2 uptake which led to the cardiac cath test that revealed the right coronary artery blockage.

It’s interesting to note that Scott doesn’t feel the stent is the permanent solution. With the improvements in stent technology, he feels it provides a ten-year bridge to what may eventually be bypass surgery as the next life-extender.

This is a mindset that obviously comes from in-depth learning and attention to data.

Takeaways from these two stories

I see two key takeaways from these two stories:

1. Take charge. Be proactive. Push. Scott’s opinion is that CAC tests should happen at 40 to find out what track you are on to give you more time to address any issues that are revealed. I would add to that test a carotid and abdominal artery scan. Assume that your doc isn’t going to bring them up unless there are symptoms that would indicate that a problem already exists. Let’s be honest, if we aren’t tuned in to our own health, we fall victim to a health  medical system that only cares about the “cure” and not about “prevention.” There is a reason your doc wants you in and out of his exam room in 15 minutes. It’s the business model to which he, in turn, is a captive.
2. Understand and use the data. A physician once told me that our biggest healthcare problem isn’t disease, it’s healthcare illiteracy. We take our biological naivete into a broken disease-care system when things go awry and accept the drug- or surgery-based  “cure” message and fail to consider that we have technology that can tell us more much about where we are and what we should be doing proactively and preventively to preserve and extend our health. Do you know where you stand on all of your key biomarkers? Do you understand them? Have you had a serious conversation with your PCP about your biomarkers? Have you pushed for these types of baseline tests?

Paul was astounded by the amount of health data he received when he switched out of large health system to an independent concierge preventive medicine physician. The discussion of his initial wellness physical test data was a two-hour conversation with the physician with baselines established that had never been part of discussion with a system-based PCP.

Don’t be a statistic

Over 600,000 people have a first heart attack in the U.S. each year. Only about half survive the attack.

Avoid being a statistic. Push the envelope.