by Dr. S. Russell Vester, MD
1. March 2010 09:00
So how do you keep yourself from being considered "pre-op" by people like me? The ongoing answer to this question will be the subject of many future installments of this blog. It’s what we in the profession refer to as "risk factor modification." It’s what most people think of as preventive medicine. But it's not "medicine" really. We're not talking about treating anything. What we’re talking about is doing some things - or not doing some things as the case may be – to avoid the need for treatment of problems (i.e.-diseases) of your heart and/or blood vessels.
I’ll tell you what I tell my patients. In the natural course of things, if you don’t die of cancer, if you don't die in some unfortunate boating accident and if you don't die from getting hit by a bus because you thought you could make it, you're going to die from some issue related to your heart or blood vessels – your cardiovascular system. And on average you’ll probably do this somewhere between the ages of 76 and 80 years, man or woman.
So does this mean that it probably doesn't matter what you do, you're gonna die from something? No. Hardly. Remember, what we're talking about is the average age of death. Around that 76 to 80 age range, folks are kicking off in their 40's and 50's looking like two miles of bad road and others are “going to the light” in their 90's still with plans of what they need to get done tomorrow.
Which group do you want to be in? That's what we're talking about here.
Really.
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