Scared Straight — To The Treadmill

By John Boel

It's Dec. 26th, the day after Christmas. Before most people even wake up to return their gifts, I am up, to return to the hospital with my father. After quadruple heart bypass surgery 10 years ago, and after receiving a surgically implanted heart stent a few years later, he's scheduled for another angiogram. He's been short of breath lately and his cardiologist fears another blockage. Huge cloud hanging over the holidays. Huge cloud hanging over life.

Before my dad can even get wheeled off to surgery for the test, there's a code blue next door. Hours later, after he's been wheeled back to the recovery room, we can clearly hear the man in the next room being informed his angiogram has found another major blockage and he'll have to come back for surgery.

We're set for the worst, but the news is the best. The cardiologist says he can't find anything that explains why my dad's heart isn't getting enough oxygen, so he concludes it must be lack of exercise. He's going to put my father on a strict exercise regimen to get his heart pumping. It's the greatest news we could have possibly received, in more ways than one.

You see, I've been busting my tail for decades to lead by example when it comes to the health of my family. When I visit my parents in Wisconsin, I run at least an hour every day, even though it's taking valuable time away from a family I seldom see because they're 450 miles away. I buy them good running shoes, and other items, so there is no excuse. Still, no one else in my family catches on, despite some serious health issues. Now, I have a cardiologist ordering my dad into an exercise program. But there's more to this story, one that serves as a lesson to all of us.

After performing quadruple bypass on my dad a decade ago, the doctor called me out in the hall and said, “I don't mean to scare you, but this is hereditary. You need to be extremely concerned. If you smoke, you need to stop yesterday. If you don't exercise, you need to get started yesterday. And if something you're eating tastes good, spit it out."

Then, not long after that, the same cardiologist who was lecturing me about heart health suffered chest pain himself on a drive home from work. And now he's dealing with heart issues. And that's a good thing, because he's gotten up close and personal with the benefits of exercise, and he's preaching to his patients in a way they can no longer avoid.

For example, we had a long talk in the recovery room about how much exercise is enough. For years as a news anchor here at Newschannel 32, I reported health stories that claimed all you need is 20 minutes a day, three days a week. Then the ‘experts' upped it to five days a week, at least 30 minutes at a time. But the cardiologist hit my dad with a stunner, when I asked him how often he exercises.

“Every day,” he said. “Every single day. Even if I don't get home until 1 or 2 in the morning, which happens frequently in my profession, I get on the treadmill for at least 30 minutes.”

After a recent physical, my own doctor here in Louisville explained to me how exercise can dramatically impact your ‘good' cholesterol reading, while heredity largely controls your ‘bad' cholesterol number. And sure enough, my good cholesterol number is great, while my bad cholesterol level is borderline. If there's something I can do myself to control my own heart health destiny, that doesn't include drugs, why wouldn't I do it?

My dad, lying on his back in the recovery room, has hopefully been scared straight. He dodged a big time bullet. Much like the Christmas story of Ebenezer Scrooge, he woke up with a second chance. After viewing the person he's been in the past, and the person he is right now, he has the power to change his future. And it's doctor's orders too.

After prescribing exercise, the heart doctor went home and exercised his heart. So did I. So should you.

John Boel is a 41-time Emmy winning news anchor at WLKY-TV. He's married, with two daughters, and is an avid runner and triathlete.