In today’s Western View, I’d like to tell you the story of how my Apple Watch saved my life.
A few months ago my nights rest was interrupted with a coughing fit. Some thing was choking me up. I dealt with it, went back to sleep. But when I woke up the morning my watch said I had an a fib attack. I didn’t believe it. I hardly knew what it was, just that it had to do with my heart.
I knew I had had some thing like asthma. So I didn’t worry about it after all my blood test has shown good triglyceridel and cholesterol levels for years. I had no pains in the chest or other indications. So I didn’t worry about heart trouble.
About two weeks later The same thing happened. And this time I mentioned it to my wife who insisted that I go see the doctor. So I called and, magically, there was an appointment made available for me that afternoon I went in and after they thumped my chest and listen to things they called a heart specialist and made arrangements for me to see him.
The cardiologist ran a number of tests, none of which were conclusive. But he told me he wasn’t satisfied; that he still felt there was something going on he couldn’t put his finger on. He scheduled an angiogram for me and told me we would talk afterwards.
Before the angiogram could be done I felt some weird little pain to my chest nothing major just a minor uneasiness. And they were none of the other symptoms we all I’ve heard about the tingling in the arms the painful left arm and so on. So I wasn’t too worried but my wife insisted I go to the emergency room and have it checked out and I did. Still without pain or any indication of troubles, for some reason the doctor admitted me and the angioplasty was made the next day.
You can probably see where this is going I had 80% blockage of the vain they call the widow maker and the doctor told me I probably needed a triple bypass. He also said if I hadn’t checked this out, there’s a very good chance I could’ve had a fatal heart attack in the next couple of weeks. As for my good triglycerides and cholesterol, some people have a genetic predisposition for heart trouble. It may not show up in lab tests.
Recovery From the surgery has been difficult, but much easier than it would’ve been from a heart attack. I still have a ways to go to Get back to normal. But I’m grateful for many things, a smart wife, Good medical care, and the advanced warning that I got from this little electronic device on my wrist. I’m a believer in the Apple Watch.
I’m Len Wilcox and that’s the Western View from AgNet West and Citrus Industry Magazine.
About the Author
Len Wilcox
Len Wilcox is a retired scientist who also ran a newspaper and has written for agricultural publications since the 1980s. He was a regular contributor to California Farmer Magazine. His commentary “The Western View” is a regular feature on Farm City Newsday and AgNet West.