21/01/2010 – Phillip Holt's World

I had been to the Penang Adventist Hospital the previous day for a CT Scan on my heart. Now it was time to collect the results.

So, I give you my heart.

The heart of Phillip Holt seen from the front view

CT Scan stands for (CT) or Computerized Axial Tomography(CAT).

The 64-slice CT scan imaging method, produces a series of pictures, only two of mine is shown above and below out of hundreds, that are then reconstructed by using computer into cross-sectional views. Then doctors can view parts of the body they were never able to see before. The GE LightSpeed VCT Scanner (64-slice) installed in the Penang Adventist Hospital can capture this information in about 5 seconds. the system creating 64 credit card-thin images, totaling 40 millimeters of anatomical coverage. These images are combined to form a 3D (three-dimensional) view of the patient’s heart or other selected part of the body, for the doctors to view and analyze.

The images are captured onto a computer, which the doctors can now store in a databank, disc or CD for future viewing and reference, and for me to keep and to take back to Dr Tan and my own doctor in the UK for a diagnosis.

They did not make sense to me, but I made a visit to Queensbay Shopping Mall, and the Borders (MY) bookshop, and a book presented itself to me, The South Beach Heart Heath Revolution, by Arthur Agatston, M.D.

Firstly let me explain what was in the report, not the actual report but the pictures which were captured of my heart, perhaps this will help you understand your heart.

At the top of the above picture showing my heart is the main aorta leading from the heart

There are four main chambers to the heart, the upper two chambers are the left and right atrium, and the lower two chambers are the left and right ventricles. The atrias supply blood to the ventricles, whilst the right ventricle pumps the blood into the lungs, and the left ventricle pumps blood into the blood circulation system (systemic circulation) through the aorta for the rest of the body.

So, the oxygen poor blood enters the right atrium and is the pumped into the right ventricle, from there through the pulmonary artery to the lungs. In the lungs, the blood is enriched with oxygen, and the carbon dioxide removed. This newly oxygenated blood is now sent by the pulmonary veins to the left atrium then to the main pump the left ventricle.

Various one way valves are in the heart, thus allowing one directional flow of blood.

Stay with me, I know you will find this interesting and could one day save your life.

As blood enters the aorta artery, the light coloured tube at the top of my heart above. it is directed to coronary arteries, these look like roots of a plant in the picture above surrounding the heart and these supply the heart with blood and oxygen.

A heart attack occurs when one of these arteries is blocked for more than twenty minutes, thus depriving that part of the heart on blood and oxygen, so that part dies. Should sufficient amount of heart muscle die, then there will be insufficient pressure to supply the body and this will result in heart failure, it could also mean that the lungs cannot send the oxygenated blood out, making breathing difficult.

The heart of Phillip Holt seen from another angle showing the (LAD) or

left anterior descending, with the stent shown in white. Further problems shown

in the first diagonal, plagues, again showing in white

The above picture shows the left coronary artery with the stent I had inserted three years ago shown as two white lines, and with a branch coming off known as the first diagonal, showing more problems, plaques, again shown in white.

There are many more pictures in the whole CT Scan, showing the whole of my heart, and I wanted to share the above with you to give an insight to the human body normally unseen. I am not giving a diagnosis on my own body as I am not medically trained.

Until I had my wake-up call in Antalya, I was I considered, a relatively healthy person, yes overweight, somewhat unfit, but I knew of nothing unduly wrong with me, apart from sweating to much and a few aches and pains, just that I was like my old RX7 car, needing a little care and attention.

Do you know if there are problems in your body?

I will next tell you about the bookThe South Beach Heart Heath Revolution, by Arthur Agatston, M.D.

My articles may help you, to look at your lifestyle, your own body, and if it does, I have done my job.

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Back in March 2007 I wrote in my blog Monday, the day before my birthday, how I had to under go an angioplasty, that is to have a stent inserted into a constricted artery in my heart. A common procedure.

Previously I had noticed that I was sweating a lot, especially after a long walk, and at that time I when I was working in Istanbul I was staying at a place called Tunel and then walking up to Taxim Square, a twenty minute or so walk. It was a walk I used to enjoy, but was beginning to find I did not want to do, only to arrive in the course with my shirt soaking wet.

I was asked to give a course in Antalya in the South of Turkey by the sea, and my translator at the time, Asuman Yildirim, decided to learn scuba diving in the evenings. I am a Master Diver with over 600 dives under my weight belt, and my metaphors in class obviously was an inspiration for her to take up the hobby. On her qualifying dive I joined her and her instructor, only for my world to turn up side down, literally, I had to abort my dive.

Getting back to the UK, I went to my doctor to checkout my little ailments, and after cardiovascular stress tests and angiogram, I was given the stent, and tablets to take for the rest of my life.

I listened to what the medical professionals had to say what was happening to me, and thought I understood, but really it was like the Energy Saving Lamps articles, all I knew was at the surface level, I did not really understand.

Yes, I was modifying my life style, eating differently, difficult when staying in hotels, eating in restaurants in foreign countries, not knowing what I was eating. I tried to modify my daily exercise by walking more, doing exercises.

I had an idea why, because exercise helps you loose weight and strengthens the heart, and eating good food helps stop the fatty food, cholesterol entering the blood system, thus clogging the heart.

Then there were all these good fats, bad fats, trans fats, triglycerides, HDL’s, LDL’s, plaque, lipids, cholesterol, hypertension, high blood pressure, figures and measurements that just meant nothing to me.

All I knew was there was something wrong, I had procedure which involved placing a stent in my heart which widened the artery.

It was as if I was looking at the white Energy Saving Lamp, not knowing what was inside or how things work.

As I monitored my own health, my well being, I began to notice changes, I had slowed down, at one time I noticed my short term memory had gone due to the drugs I was taking then, and I had aches and pains, one in the right side of my neck. Just a dull pain, like a stiff neck after a bad nights sleep.

I sometimes got an indigestion pain from eating too many cashew nuts or too much beef, (yes I am strange), and as I reported these to my doctor in the UK, my medication was modified. But I felt like a hypochondriac, always having something wrong with me. I was like my old Mazda RX7, getting on in years, a collectors item, worth its weight in gold, but bits and pieces wearing out and needing replacing.

My visits to Malaysia with the high temperature and humidity makes my ankles and feet swell, not an uncommon symptom for non tropical climate living visitors I am told, but when I mentioned something else, I was taken, against my wishes, to a local doctor, Doctor Tan Hong Ping of the Pusat Pakar Union practice in Alma, Bukit Mertajam.

Dr Tan listened to my story and put my mind at rest, along with others, but suggested that I should have a CT Scan on my heart at the Penang Adventist Hospital, just to see if anything was wrong there.

A starvation diet was requested, well no food after 12 midnight, for my 9am appointment. A quick check of my blood pressure and heart rate, which needed to be slowed down a fraction, then it was into the CT Scan room.

A very simple procedure, just to have an intravenous drip placed into the arm to feed a dye into the blood stream, which will then show- up on the CT Scan, it as a matter of just to lie there and follow instructions.

An arch was remotely moved into position over my chest, with its internal components spinning round, and the instruction to hold my breath three times was given. The only uncomfortable part was when the dye was pumped into my blood stream, this gave a warm sensation in my ears and the same warm sensation in my private parts. Interesting.

That was it, let the computer do the rest, to give a three dimensional representation of my heart, and for me to go back the next day and get the results.

So of we went, to visit Queensbay Shopping Mall, the Borders (MY) bookshop, and for a book to present itself, to jump off the shelf, I was not even looking for a book on that subject, consciously that is, that will change your life. Those who have taken my PhotoReading course will understand.