Numbers Don't Lie

As most of you know, in November I had a heart attack. From the first minute I began feeling chest pain to when I went to the hospital, I wasted 3 hours. If you don’t get to the hospital within the first hour, the likelihood of heart muscle damage is very high.

My waiting caused some heart muscle damage. I went into emergency surgery and had 2 stents placed. Immediately my heart began receiving blood supply to the heart muscle.

While I was at the hospital, they performed a test that is called an echocardiogram. This test measures the heart function and its ability to pump blood throughout the body.

A perfect heart function (Ejection Fraction) score is 70. After my heart attack, my score was at 45. A loss of 35% heart function. I was told that I could restore some of my function, but we wouldn’t know until after a month.

I was given a bunch of medication to help control my blood pressure and heart rate.

I was given quite a few medications because my blood pressure was hard to control.

My blood pressure kept running high and they kept increasing my medication.

I was told that I needed to get started with cardiac rehab to get my heart muscle back into shape. I work out pretty regularly, so getting into the groove of the cardiac rehab was a piece of cake.

Every day, I would check my blood pressure 4 times per day and work out every day. Then I would report my readings to my doctor. As I worked out and my heart became stronger my doctor would have to adjust and lower my medication. My blood pressure was getting lower as my heart strengthened.

My doctor told me that my hard cardio work was getting my heart stronger and required less medication to work at a healthy state. My doctor predicted that when I performed my follow up echocardiogram that my heart would be functioning at full capacity.

Two weeks ago, I had my echo and as my doctor predicted my heart function had a full recovery. My ejection fraction score came back to a perfect 70.

When I spoke to my doctor about how he knew that I was going to have a full recovery, he told me my numbers were telling him my body was responding well. He told me that he kept lowering my medication and the results were telling him that my heart was responding well to cardiac rehab.

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I wanted to share the good news with all of you. And I wanted to thank everyone for their support and concern.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to listen to your body. Whether it is chest pain, tooth pain or bleeding gums. It all means something is not normal. And you should never ignore it.

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We always strive to offer care customized to your needs and a non-judgmental approach to dental care.

If you would like to re-evaluate your oral health, reach out to us at mydente.com or call 773-292-1911 today. We will be happy to help!

Floss Like a Madman!

Emilio “Choose Health” Couret

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