A heart surgeon nearly died because he ignored his own heart attack

All day he felt bad but told himself and his wife that it was just a symptom of heartburn. In the morning, when the couple went for a walk, he began to sweat profusely like he was bathing in the chilly December air. The unusual signs kept flickering. Whenever he sat down to rest, he felt better, but as soon as he walked, he immediately relapsed.

These are all typical signs of coronary artery blockage, something that Dr. London is very familiar with in his daily cardiovascular surgery work. “I exclaimed: ‘It’s over’. I knew exactly what it was. Symptoms appear with exertion and subside with rest, which is angina due to coronary artery disease until there is evidence to the contrary. That is my expertise every day,” Dr. London later shared. However, he couldn’t believe this was happening to him.

Basically, London has done everything right to protect health. He eats scientifically (his wife is a holistic nutritionist), regularly trains intensely for triathlons, and practices jiu-jitsu. But in the middle of the forest that night, when darkness enveloped him and the pain made him collapse, London could no longer lie to himself that it was just heartburn. Apparently, he was experiencing a heart attack. When he was taken to the emergency room, doctors discovered that his right coronary artery was 99% blocked.

That incident happened in 2022. Now, at age 59, Dr. London shares that his near-death experience is a reminder of how easy it is to neglect our health or ignore warning signs, even if you are an expert. At the same time, he also emphasized that just a few small changes can make the difference between life and death.

“The core problem is that many times we know clearly what is good but do not follow it. That is a trap that anyone can fall into. I wonder if anyone understands this issue better than a specialist like me?”, he said.

During the process of recovering from a heart attack, Dr. London was forced to frankly face the truth about his own health. Although he maintains a very good exercise regimen, because he is engrossed in pursuing a busy career and active lifestyle, he has neglected other healthy habits. “The most important thing to you is the thing you’re doing worst at,” London asserts. “For me, it’s sleep.”

After decades of working non-stop and always being on call for emergency treatment, the doctor lost the ability to relax, and his mental and physical health became a mess. To fix it, he had to start over from the most basic steps of adjusting his sleeping habits, controlling stress and finding ways to restore overall health.

However, when he began to pay more attention to his health, he realized that many of his long-standing habits were not healthy at all. London was shocked when she tried a continuous blood glucose meter and discovered she was pre-diabetic. To stabilize his blood sugar, he started practicing the habit of taking short walks after each meal, taking advantage of light exercise many times a day, and especially always paying attention to adding enough fiber and protein to each diet. The doctor also regularly replenishes the body’s water intake by drinking water immediately after waking up and always carrying a bottle with him so he can sip throughout the day.

“With busy schedules and hour-long surgeries, drinking water is easy to forget. Even though I don’t always do it well, I always try to proactively replenish my body’s water whenever possible,” he said.

For London, realizing that he had neglected his health care and missed all the warning signs of heart disease was an expensive lesson but also an opportunity for him. The doctor said most people don’t realize that heart disease, not cancer, is the leading cause of death among adults in the United States.

Whether age, genetics or environment all affect the heart, the best way to protect yourself is to clearly understand important body indicators. The first is blood pressure, which is considered the “silent killer” because the symptoms are difficult to recognize. Next is blood sugar, a key measure of metabolic health; If blood sugar is stable, it means the body is processing energy very well. Third is cholesterol. Although the body still needs this fat, excess bad cholesterol (LDL) will cause atherosclerosis and blockage of blood vessels. Finally, there is weight. Maintaining a reasonable weight level helps reduce heavy pressure on the heart and circulatory system.

Once you clearly understand basic cardiovascular indicators and know where your condition is compared to age standards, building healthy habits will be on target and achieve the best results. “There are very simple methods to improve the situation, help prevent cardiovascular events or restore health if unfortunately infected. However, simple does not mean easy to do,” said Dr. London.