All this week, listen to Newsradio 780 for a 10 part series on heart disease. It can strike anyone at any age, and WBBM’s Steve Miller just went through it. He had a test one day, and triple bypass surgery the next.
CHICAGO (WBBM) - Imagine going in for a routine medical test - and less than two weeks later you're having triple heart bypass surgery.
That's what happened to WBBM's Steve Miller. Today he begins his series, "Life as a Cabbage."
What is a cabbage? I am a cabbage. C-A-B-G.
"Coronary artery bypass graft. Cabbage."
That's Dr. Richard Lee, my surgeon at Northwestern. The man who made me a cabbage, as they say in the jargon of the medical profession.
An acronym so quirky it almost takes some of the fear out of the process.
But then you remember, to do the surgery, they stopped my heart. For about an hour.
"This is you from the inside."
Dr. Lee goes over my angiogram. A test I had before I knew I'd need surgery.
"You can see here, right there. This is your left main coronary artery. See how wide it is here? So how narrow it is here? It's probably more than half... this is probably more like 70 percent reduced. So this is a very dangerous lesion. If this goes off, then you've got no blood flow to the entire left heart."
I had had no chest pains, no shortness of breath. And my life was about to change.
Don’t miss this series, Monday through Friday this week, at 6:21 a.m.(repeated at about 9:30 a.m.) and 3:21 p.m. (repeated at 5:40 p.m.).
Bypass: A WBBM Special Series - Part 8 WBBM's Steve Miller had triple heart bypass surgery four months ago, and he's been reporting on his experience with heart disease. Recently, he observed a bypass operation at Northwestern.
Bypass: A WBBM Special Series - Part 7 WBBM's Steve Miller had heart bypass surgery four months ago, and he's been reporting on his experience with heart disease. Recently, he was in the operating room for a bypass operation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Bypass: A WBBM Special Series - Part 6 WBBM's Steve Miller had heart bypass surgery four months ago, and he's been reporting on his own experience with heart disease. Now he reports on other people who have shared their stories on the eve of their surgery.
Bypass: A WBBM Special Series - Part 5 He flunked two treadmill stress tests, then chalked up a worrisome angiogram. Then four months ago, WBBM's Steve Miller had triple heart bypass surgery. He continues his reports now on heart disease.
Bypass: A WBBM Special Series - Part 4 WBBM's Steve Miller has been describing his own experiences with heart disease - first flunking two stress tests, then taking the test that would determine whether he needed surgery. Here's that report.
Bypass: A WBBM Special Series - Part 3 WBBM's Steve Miller has been describing his own experience with heart disease - four months now since his triple heart bypass surgery. He continues his reports with a look at the test that found the problem and changed his life.
Bypass: A WBBM Special Series - Part 2 WBBM's Steve Miller had heart bypass surgery four months ago. Today he continues his story about heart disease with a look at the risk factor that's unchangeable: family history.
Bypass: A WBBM Special Series - Part 1 Imagine going in for a routine medical test - and less than two weeks later you're having triple heart bypass surgery. That's what happened to WBBM's Steve Miller. Today he begins his series with "Life as a Cabbage."
WBBM-AM 780 has been the consistent all news radio voice in Chicagoland for over 35 years and is now streaming online for free. Listen online to Chicago news as it happens around the clock, along with Chicago traffic, Chicago weather, Chicago sports and Chicago business. Subscribe to WBBM's free podcasts for additional Chicago business and Chicago community reports and listen to Chicago news on demand. WBBM news radio is also the home for Chicago Bears, Chicago Auto Show and Chicago Air & Water Show. www.wbbm780.com
E-Mail Story
Print Story
