Right now a man lies in Intensive Care at a major hospital after undergoing open heart surgery just 24 hours ago.  This man is very close to me, and I don't know that I will identify him during this hub.

I guess this is a warning to anyone who thinks that their lifestyle will not impact on their health.

This man has been overweight for most of his life.  Courtesy of the wonderful home cooking by his mother, who kept on feeding him.  Courtesy of a wife who tried for many years to change his eating habits.  If a healthy meal was placed on the table, this man would find other things to eat - bread, cheese, sweets.

A nagger she became for some time, but as the man was in denial, his treatment of his wife over the issue he will probably soon admit to regretting.

Not oly did he eat too much, but he drank too much. Alcolhol.  Beer.  Wine.  Never until recently would he accept that it might cause him some trouble later on.  He was a smoker, but fortunately gave that up many years ago. 

Some time ago, he was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes which should have perhaps been a big WARNING to him, but he learned that taking the prescribed medication his blood surgar level would be seen as normal especially if he curbed his ways just before his regular blood tests.

Previously he had his veins "stripped" due to varicose veins.  His blood vessels were under pressure from his excess weight, and he would learn that this would be a complication later in his health management.

Exercise was not a big issue in his life - occasionally he would take to walking, but really it was always a half hearted attempt, and in the end he did little.  His bicycle that he bought to use, and protect his now painful knees, has seldom seen the light of day.  Seldom used. 

The next complication in his health, was the knees.  Soon his knees revealed the damage from carrying his excess weight, so 2007 saw him undergoing surgery and having two knee replacements.

Big surgery.  And his body then revealed other problems.  LIver damage.  Unhealthy spleen.  His body's production of platelets was compromised.

A mild bout of chest pain and breathlessness followed about 4 months after the knee surgery.  Initial tests failed to reveal anything.

An angiogram did.  It revealed that at some stage he had already had a heart attack (though no one can recall any such event), and that one coronary artery was 95% closed.  Another two had minor blockages.

One treatment of this condition is to insert a STENT, to open up the blockage.  Surgeons attempted this procedure but it failed.  His artery was beyond accepting this treatment.

Yesterday, open heart surgery was undertaken.  With few veins to use for the graft (he'd had them stripped to treat variocse veins), they found one in one leg, and had to use a vein from his arm for the other graft.  They could only do two of the blocked veins.  The third one is only minor so it will be a "wait and watch" policy.

So far so good.  He has survived his first 24 hours post operatively.  But he has quite a few hurdles to overcome yet.

It will be interesting to see if he is willing or able to change his ways. This man celebrated his 65th birthday this week.