by S. Russell Vester, MD
19. February 2010 09:25
Does it take the best cardiologist money can buy? Does it take regular CT scans to track your calcium score? (More on calcium scores in future blogs.) Does it take a special diet and a personal trainer only George Clooney could afford? What does it take, really?
At the risk of sounding hopelessly cliché, what it really takes is you. And you have to care that it’s important. Your heart is the motor that runs the bus. You have to understand that if your motor breaks, you don’t make it to the next stop. You’re toast.
Fortunately Mother Nature has geared us for survival. You get the privilege of exercising poor judgment regarding heart maintenance for a while, but don’t take it for granted. You may think that smoking “just” one pack of cigarettes a day isn’t so bad. You may think that having a fast food bacon cheeseburger three times a week is part of a balanced diet. You may think that because you ran varsity track back in high school you got all the exercise you’ll ever need. And you may think that being only forty pounds overweight is tolerable.
If you find yourself holding any of these beliefs or others like them, I need to be honest with you. I and my fellow cardiac and vascular surgeons refer to people who hold such beliefs using one word. And that one word is "Pre-Op."
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