Coronary Heart Disease

CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE  by Dr. Rusty Oats

I would like to address a situation that was brought about by my open-heart surgery. When I first became involved with Shaklee, it always amazed me when someone who used Shaklee food supplements suffered from some acute or degenerative disease. If Shaklee food supplements were so powerful, why hadn’t the victim been protected? Now that I’ve had open-heart surgery, I’ve heard people (even friends) say, “I thought you were taking all those vitamins so you would stay healthy.    What happened?” I’d like to spend the next few minutes telling you exactly “what happened.”

First of all, let me tell you a little about my background. Both my parents died at an early age of heart disease.  Neither one of them had a second chance.  My cholesterol level has been as high as 480. When I was in college, it was 360 and no one cared!  In addition to having the familial history of heart disease, I consumed a very high-fat diet. When June and I were first married and she was finishing Pharmacy school, we would eat a half of beef every six months…just the two of us! Also, during my late teens and early twenties I smoked cigarettes. I gave up cigarettes during my tour of duty in the U S Army in favor of a pipe. I continued smoking a pipe (and an occasional “mooched” cigarette) until I was 40 years of age.

In 1983 we were introduced to Shaklee and we began to study and learn about nutrition and its effect on the body. We began eating low-fat meals and increasing the fiber in our diet. Along with these dietary changes, we began a complete program of Shaklee nutritional supplementation. I watched my cholesterol level drop to an all time low of 180. I have always monitored my blood pressure and presumed that my blood pressure of 120/80 mm Hg was well within the normal parameters.

In January of 2000 while in Florida on business and vacation, I awoke one morning with pain in my left arm and slight tightness in my chest. It did go away after a short period, but upon returning to Nebraska, I decided to see a doctor to find out why. He thought my blood pressure was a little high and put me on a very low dose of blood pressure medication. He also determined through blood work that my cholesterol was a little elevated. He did assure me that because of my physical condition and my appearance, he thought a heart attack was out of the question. We scheduled a complete physical exam because it had been 4 or 5 years since my last exam, and he told me that I might want to consider taking one of the medicines that will lower cholesterol. Two weeks later I had a physical examination and he explained to me that I was in pretty good health. He had run a lot of tests except for an EKG. I asked him about the EKG and he said that because I had one during my sinus surgery a year previously, it probably wasn’t imperative; but that he would do one anyway. After seeing the results of the EKG, he became concerned and said that it looked like I had an “event” and he referred me to a Cardiologist.

I met with the cardiologist the following week and he reviewed my tests. After examining me, he thought that I was in too good of physical shape to have a heart problem. The EKG did have some irregularities and he wanted to do some additional testing. He ordered an echo-cardiogram and a stress test. Less than an hour after the stress test was completed at the hospital, he called me at home to tell me that an angiogram would be necessary because the tests showed that part of my heart was dead! I indeed had suffered an “event”…a heart attack at some time.

The angiogram only confirmed the worst. I had several blockages in my coronary arteries and open-heart surgery was indicated…as soon as possible. I had the surgery.  The  surgeon performed a quadruple bypass. The four major coronary arteries were blocked at 100%, 99%, 97% and 93%. He says that I am the luckiest man alive and that I should have dropped dead from a heart attack long before now. When I explained my diet and my program of supplementation with soy protein, essential fatty acids and others; he told me that without those changes to my lifestyle, I probably would not be alive today. He said that the supplements had added 15 years to my life. Without them, I would have needed the surgery 15 years ago and the prognosis would not have been as good. While recuperating in the hospital, the lady who administered the stress test came to visit me. She just wanted to look at me because she claims that with the very little blood flow to my heart, I should have died on the treadmill! My cardiologist then explained to me that if I returned to work, he would give me just two years to live! Thanks for Shaklee and the choice we had that allowed me to never return to my job again.