So many instances of cardiac arrests or heart attacks to be read, heard and seen everywhere around us. And in the recent times, the frequency seems to have somehow, insanely increased.
Be it popular film and television actors, the so called fitness freaks, melodious singers, neighbours, friends, they seem to be dropping down like pins. The aftermath of suffering an attack of the heart.
Many theories, schools of thoughts have as usual proclaimed numerous reasons for the occurence and uprise of the deadly drop. Some say it is the after effects of long Covid, others say it is the evil vaccine doses doing the damage while others say it is the extreme lifestyle habits(read strenuous exercises, protein shakes, steroids and crash diets) that are force shutting down the central switch of our machine, leading it to collapse.
And mind you, there is nothing intermittent here, the heart just stops...constant flat line.
Before one can even utter keto, there is complete shutdown…heart has the final veto.
The power house goes powerless.
There is a connect I am trying to build here, because I want to share a heart stopping experience with all of you, my dear readers.
And no, this is not for the weak hearted.
After a rather mundane, normal, yet tiring shopping expedition, I returned home one evening and decided to watch a movie to shake off some of the shopping fatigue. I was watching some heart wrenching movie, crying my heart out and simultaneously gorging on fried potato chips to soothe my bruised heart. I realised by the end of the movie, my heart and stomach were filled with potato fries to the brim. I had managed to wipe off almost a quarter kilo!!! The only thing that I perhaps missed out was drinking a quarter along with it!!!
After effects of this tragic movie was a heavy heart and a very light, almost empty potato chips box.
Too many heart idioms and phrases to digest? Yes…Maybe.
But my stomach could not digest the chips I had greedily gobbled.
It all started exactly after midnight. Make a mental note of this too, dear readers. Action of all kinds, happens only at night, and if it is post midnight, it would definitely turn into a melodrama.
As the night got darker and more sinister, in my case, I started feeling uncomfortable. It is difficult to explain in words, but empathise when I say, I could not sleep a wink. Hot flashes, sweat beads on my face, random heart beats(it is all heart, my friends) and shortness of breath were the symptoms I experienced.
Amidst all this I decided that these were definitely signs of a pre-heart attack. Faces and voices of all my family members, my dearest friends, my loved ones popped up in my mind (heart was busy, you see!!!)
I, in fact even caught a glimpse of my whole life…flashback…in a flash…it flashed through in a jiffy. I even gave a short and crisp mental vote of thanks to everyone who have been in my life, apologised to some whom I might have hurt or offended.
Never even for a second did it occur to my poor heart that it could be the potato filled gaseous spirits doing their dance of glory in my digestive system.
A conscious feeling…of life being taken away from you…is inexplicable.
A human being with heart doesn't want to die…period.
I was, in Harry Potter parlance, hit hard by a “Petrificus Totalus” spell. Utterly petrified and stupefied.
Fortunately after sometime, the gases decided to settle down and gave me some room to breathe. I was able to take longer breaths and finally the discomfort reduced.
After the clouds of gas vanished, did it become clear to me that it was not the poor heart which was under working, but the potato chips that were overworking in my system.
It was just a bout of severe gastric attack, my first one.
As the dark night pressed on, I could breathe a long sigh of relief, my heart was overjoyed, once again.
I was alive!!!
This whole episode made me realise a few things. Never take your health and heart for granted. Eat mindfully. Avoid gases and smokes of all kinds. Do not take or give stress. Stay fit. Spend your time well. Thank and apologise to your loved ones more often.
Stay young at heart, don’t let it grow old!!!
And most importantly…Live your life to your heart’s content. You never know when it might suddenly decide to go shhhhhhh!!!
That’s all for now folks…until next time…from one heart to the other!!!
Keep floating…I mean…beating!!!
