These are words you never want to hear. I know because I heard those words on the night of January 7 in the hospital emergency room. The doctor first used a calm voice as he directed nurses, likely to keep me, my wife and others calm. He then discreetly turned to a nurse and directed him to get a defibrillator. He added the word “now” in a quiet but semi-urgent tone. Suddenly I became concerned. I was already light headed, sweating and now I was scared.
I obviously survived the incident. I am wiser and would like to share what I have learned. My cardiologist tends to be blunt. He is brutally honest and unapologetic. He educated me that heart disease is the number one cause of death for men and women in the United States, not by a little, but by a large margin. Almost 25 percent of all deaths in our country are from some form of heart disease. Most people first discover they have a heart issue by having a heart attack.